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[PhatSaqs]

http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/recent/feature.asp

Pretty good read. Has some nice details on the Phantom Dust situation (awesome game!).

 

[Gek54]

GT4 playable?

 

[dog$]

Hooray for dcharlie's credit on the pic. Boo to websites that have a native resolution less than 1024 across.

Also, I couldn't really care about the article when it began with the same tone of "japan is doomed nothing is selling anymore - except maybe for THESE" and then it broke into a general advertisement for a few games.

 

[Sumidor]

Pretty interesting read.

Especially coming from a magazine that isn't really geared towards video games.

 

[etiolate]

Meanwhile, Western developers are making innovative strides and breaking sales records again this year. In fact, many worry that Western publishers are releasing too many quality titles this holiday season.

What is an innovative stride? Western Devs certainly aren't making innovative games. It's just more redundancy and copycats, but what their copying is more popular than what Japan is. Saying your game is "GTA inspired!" gets more sales than "Pokemon inspired!".

 

[jett]

Yeah really, where are these innovative western games? The games that break sales record are the ones like Madden and similiar shit. Innovative...hah.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

Yeah really, where are these innovative western games? The games that break sales record are the ones like Madden and similiar shit. Innovative...hah.

you forgot the bazillion and one fpses. ON all platforms (including PC)

 

[cvxfreak]

Pokemon is Japan's solution.

 

[Chrono]

Yeah really, where are these innovative western games? The games that break sales record are the ones like Madden and similiar shit. Innovative...hah.

Madden? More like FABLE OMG PWN3D!!! YoU C4N CH00SE TO B G00D OR T3H 3\/ILL!!! WHOA!!1

 

[MASB]

Madden? More like FABLE OMG PWN3D!!! YoU C4N CH00SE TO B G00D OR T3H 3\/ILL!!! WHOA!!1

The Shin Megami Tensei series has been doing that since the early 90's at least. And character aging has at least been around since Romancing Saga 2. Western developers are teh innovative indeed.

I really agree with what's been said. Both Eastern and Western developers mostly rely on cliches, tried and tired concepts, etc. It's just that Western cliches are more popular right now. I'm sure the tide will swing back toward Japanese developers at some point and then back and forth.

 

[Chrono]

The Shin Megami Tensei series has been doing that since the early 90's at least. And character aging has at least been around since Romancing Saga 2. Western developers are teh innovative indeed.

dude I was being sarcastic. I thought the l33t and caps gave it away. -__-


Not counting Metroid, Prince of Persia is the only western game I own.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Games like Phantasie on the Apple ][ (by SSI) did character aging well before just about anyone.

Still, the western console games (outside of sports) are now just hitting their stride...after being in the shadow of their Japanese colleagues for so long. It's no surprise that part of this can be attributed to the fact that the PC games market sucks and that more and more PC game-developers are either straddling the two markets or just jumping ship over to the more lucrative console side.

 

[CrimsonSkies]

I'll take Western over Eastern games 9 times out of 10.

 

[RevenantKioku]

If we're talking about sales cooling down in Japan, I think that's inevitable. It will happen to America too. They won't be a red-hot item anymore, but one day just go to another item, like a movie, book or so on. That's just what I think is happening in Japan.

And the arguments over which side is being more innovative is just stupid and silly. We don't see every game thats made in Japan, and vice versa. I would ballpark it that both are doing just alright.

 

[skip]

I'll take Western over Eastern games 9 times out of 10.

I'll take good games over bad games 10 times out of 10.

 

[NotMSRP]

I fell asleep.

 

[FoneBone]

Sigh... another retarded "East vs. West" debate.

 

[MASB]

dude I was being sarcastic. I thought the l33t and caps gave it away. -__-


Not counting Metroid, Prince of Persia is the only western game I own.

I know you were. I was just using your post to talk about other things.

 

[norinrad21]

since when did yearly updates become something innovative?

 

[djtiesto]

Things go in cycles... once videogames reach their saturation point with the mainstream, the sales for western games will go back down again. 99.9% of the interesting looking stuff comes from Japan. Look at the Wanda and the Colossus game - when has a western developer ever tried to make a game as ambitious in artwork? American developers just throw so much shit against the fan and hope something sticks.

And, all the kids who grew up on GBA and Gamecube and Cartoon Network are gonna want to play Japanese games in the future, not FPSes and shit.

 

[Prine]

I'll take Western over Eastern games 9 times out of 10.

IAWTP

Except, when it comes to fighters and action adventures

 

[RevenantKioku]

I'll take Eastern 9 out of 10!

OMG TEH CONFLICT

 

[Prine]

Oh shit, i forgot about Pro Evolution Soccer

I love both sides

 

[novery]

http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/recent/feature.asp

Pretty good read. Has some nice details on the Phantom Dust situation (awesome game!).

I pitched the story to Metropolis with the Phantom Dust angle because the game hit stores the day before TGS and it highlights how innovative games often go overlooked in Japan. Now before you post "Americans overlook innovative games all teh time you idot!!," I think it's a chronic problem in Japan.

One Enterbrain guy told me yesterday that he expects Phantom Dust to move less than 5,000 copies. You can try and blame it on the Xbox userbase in Japan, but with a half a million Xbox owners in Japan, it's hard to argue that even Xbox owners aren't nurturing innovation. Hell, Ninja Gaiden sold what? 30,000 copies in Japan?

Hooray for dcharlie's credit on the pic.

Yes, hooray for DCharlie. Boo to his new avatar. Can we convince him to bring back the winking avatar from Maximum Chase?

-rp

 

[PhatSaqs]

Good stuff man.

Up for some PD this weekend

 

[novery]

Good stuff man.

Up for some PD this weekend

I'm at TGS all weekend. Let's shoot for sometime Wednesday. I should be done with most of my freelance work by then.

Peace.

-rp

 

[puck1337]

If we're talking about sales cooling down in Japan, I think that's inevitable. It will happen to America too. They won't be a red-hot item anymore, but one day just go to another item, like a movie, book or so on. That's just what I think is happening in Japan.

And the arguments over which side is being more innovative is just stupid and silly. We don't see every game thats made in Japan, and vice versa. I would ballpark it that both are doing just alright.

IAWTP

 

[snapty00]

Just like a lot of Western games (especially in the mid 1990s), a lot of Eastern games now just seem like the same sloppy shit over and over. It seems like every Japanese game has the same artstyle, the same teenage dramaqueens, the same obsession with pedophilic references, the same feeling that guy characters must look queer, etc. The few good games coming out of Japan today seem a lot like Western games and less like traditional Japanese games, especially as far as the style is concerned.

Capcom, Sega, and a host of other Japanese companies got into that stupid "We are for style, wai wai go Japan for the goal!" rut from about 2001 to present day. I'm hoping they're finally realizing how worthless that perception is.

 

[djtiesto]

Just like a lot of Western games (especially in the mid 1990s), a lot of Eastern games now just seem like the same sloppy shit over and over. It seems like every Japanese game has the same artstyle, the same teenage dramaqueens, the same obsession with pedophilic references, the same feeling that guy characters must look queer, etc. The few good games coming out of Japan today seem a lot like Western games and less like traditional Japanese games, especially as far as the style is concerned.

Capcom, Sega, and a host of other Japanese companies got into that stupid "We are for style, wai wai go Japan for the goal!" rut from about 2001 to present day. I'm hoping they're finally realizing how worthless that perception is.

Gradius V, Star Ocean 3, Katamari Damacy, ICO, Viewtiful Joe, Pikmin, Devil May Cry, all seem like western games to you? If anything, it's the western games that seem the same things over and over... basically, take the style of PC games from the mid to late 90's, add a bunch of plastic-looking artwork, and simplifying them for the console market. Halo, Mechassault, Crimson Skies... Either that or they're part of this white-gangster trendy game genre. I would take even the maligned Mario Sunshine over any of that wigger shit. The best western game I've played in the last few years was Prince of Persia, which took many of its best elements verbatim from the Japanese-made ICO.

 

[novery]

Argue which is more innovative until you're blue in the face, but why not do it in another thread?

The point is that the Japanese video game industry is slumping. What should be done? Is this slump really that serious? Are all Japanese going to trash their PS3's and go Famicom retro in five years?

I think that's a more worth-while discussion than "Super Mario Sunshine versus GTA: Which is more innovative!!?!"

-rp

 

[djtiesto]

Sure, it's slumping, but that doesn't mean there's a shortage of great games coming out from their shores... so it doesn't really concern me. Because it'll pick up in the long run (in fact, it's slowly starting to improve, much like the regular Japanese economy), I think the days from the great video game crash of '83-84 are far behind us now.

 

[P90]

Meanwhile, Western developers are making innovative strides and breaking sales records again this year. In fact, many worry that Western publishers are releasing too many quality titles this holiday season.

Yup, Halo 2 is innovative. (It will sell well, but innovative? No.) This just in: Bioware is REALLY the developer of Katamari. GTA:SA is a complete overhaul of the GTA series. Sales, yes. Innovation, no.

 

[novery]

I give up.

 

[xsarien]

If we're talking about sales cooling down in Japan, I think that's inevitable. It will happen to America too. They won't be a red-hot item anymore, but one day just go to another item, like a movie, book or so on. That's just what I think is happening in Japan.

And the arguments over which side is being more innovative is just stupid and silly. We don't see every game thats made in Japan, and vice versa. I would ballpark it that both are doing just alright.

Thread should've been closed right after this post. This whole "East vs. West" thing stinks of nothing but an "Our developers are better than your developers" pissing contest, and it's such a misguided and ill-thought out black and white comparison to make that no rational discussion can come of it, just lists of which games people like more.

 

[SantaC]

Gradius V, Star Ocean 3, Katamari Damacy, ICO, Viewtiful Joe, Pikmin, Devil May Cry, all seem like western games to you? If anything, it's the western games that seem the same things over and over... basically, take the style of PC games from the mid to late 90's, add a bunch of plastic-looking artwork, and simplifying them for the console market. Halo, Mechassault, Crimson Skies... Either that or they're part of this white-gangster trendy game genre. I would take even the maligned Mario Sunshine over any of that wigger shit. The best western game I've played in the last few years was Prince of Persia, which took many of its best elements verbatim from the Japanese-made ICO.

This man knows something

 

[jarrod]

I'll take Western over Eastern games 9 times out of 10.

Well with an Xbox, it's not like you have much choice.

 

[Hero]

Well with an Xbox, it's not like you have much choice.

Haha.