Discussion of the Japanese Gaming Industry... there will be cake...

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm actually agreeing with the article here. The biggest innovations from Japan that are doing well are simple "anyone can play" type games. There fun but its like we've jumped back to the late 70s. The real trouble the article doesn't stress but you can read almost anywhere eles is that mainstream gaming is doing rather poorly in Japan. The article cites Okami and alludes to The World Ends With You; hell we might as well throw FFXII in there cause the game did poorly in Japan compared to the rest of the world.

I remember once reading that the most popular game system in Japan was the cell phone, seconded by the Nintendo DS. Simple (and quite a few not so simple) cell phone games are more popular than major console franchises in Japan. My friend feels that Japanese developers have just lost touch with their target audience. I sorta agree. I feel that Japanese developers have done more innovation with their games (like the titles I mentioned above) but it doesn't change the fact that many of these innovative and interesting titles are not doing well in Japan.

Western Developers have improved quite a bit while the most successful Japanese titles have only been doing well cause they stick to a formula with little changes (Mega Man syndrome). The Japanese developers don't like major changes, even when a game does make a drastic change, it doesn't guarantee success. For every RE4, there is a FFXII. Both excellent games that changed many of the traditions of their respective series, but while RE4 was a success, XII wasn't so fortunate despite being one of the most favored reviewed games in Japan. Course I feel RE4 did well cause Capcom had all but run the franchise into the ground by sticking to the same formula. RE0, RE3, and RE:CV are all basically RE2 with a graphic change and a few minor extras. RE4 changed everything up and finally fixed many of the problems the series always had. Yet the irony is that RE5 looks like RE4 with a graphic update and a different setting. The gameplay, for the most part, looks almost identical to RE4.

Zelda:TP for the most part played and felt the same as Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, Ocarina of Time, and Link to the past. Even the Metroid Prime series feels like the same game just tweaked to be better. Hell, most of Nintendo's main line games are basically the same as their 64 incarnations just with minor tweaks. Fighting games are probably the worst offenders when it come to lack of major innovation, next to FPS and Racing Genres of course. I can sorta understand the idea that "if it ain't broke don't fix it" but Capcom and a few other companies have shown that stagnation doesn't help anyone.

I found it interesting how the article says part of Japan's problem is that they don't like to reuse technology or use foreign design engines. Perhaps this is the primary fault that Japanese gaming budgets seem so much bigger.

[Croyles]

I feel exactly the same as Vyk and Wolf Kanno. We have the same points on this...

[Bolivar]

Their game design is flawed in that it doesnt take inspiration from the world, but only from itself, while the west does it differently.

I don't know about that one. How many JRPG's have you played with Churches with Crucifixes over them and monsters from greek mythology as bosses?

None if you count out FF, but that wasnt my point anyway. I wasnt talking about the stories, i was talking about game design.
How could you call that inspiration from western games? Its inspiration from the west, but not from western games...

That's strange. And to answer your question - you commented on inspiration from the world, not western games, so I was confused.

As far as your point, it's odd that you claim western games borrow from "the world" while the Japanese stick to their own... I think it's a generalization to say that certain techniques definitively belong to either, considering we could each sit here listing examples of exceptions to that generalization. Not to mention there are plenty counter-examples to your point itself. I'll just leave two big ones: Metroid Prime and Metal Gear Solid 4.

[JKTrix]

I think the main issue preventing 'innovations' in Japan stem from the fact that the Japanese in general are kind of averse to change--especially from sources outside of Japan. It's been like that throughout their history, so it's nothing new.

For game developers, I'm sure they want to (and do) make things different, but the problem is that consumers are rarely going to welcome these new things with open wallets as W.Kanno alluded to. Even just looking at Square Enix this week, they released a new and unique DS RPG called Sigma Harmonics. It didn't do so hot, considering its direct competition was a DS football/soccer RPG (which in itself is a unique game and deserves success). The traditional gamers of Japan are/were not only decreasing in number, but they only come out in droves to support familiar franchises. Making new things is risky for the Japanese market, especially if there is little intent to release the game outside of Asia.

I can't say definitively that the US is 'better' than Japan when it comes to development, but there are two key differences between the US and Japan. For one, the US is just plain bigger. This means more potential consumers for a game, with more potential sales. There's more money floating around in the US to go to both the cost of development and the buying of the actual product. Both important for the success of a game.

The second one is that I don't think western folks are as closed-minded as Japanese folks are, both the game companies and the consumers. Companies, particularly the big ones, have little fear of creating and releasing decent new franchises since they know it won't be entirely shunned by the public. As such, we see things like Assassin's Creed become incredibly successful over here, where things like Valkyria Chronicles perform modestly at best over in Japan (though this particular example can be attributed to a low install base).

I think Capcom was the first Japanese company to really capitalize on the ripe western market, releasing Dead Rising and Lost Planet early in the 360's life (while the 360 was/is still both Dead and Lost in Japan). It certainly paid off for them, both games did respectably well. Square-Enix's first attempt at specifically targeting westerners comes next week with Infinite Undiscovery, so it will be interesting to see how that works out considering it's head-to-head with its recently released step-sibling Tales of Vesperia. I don't, however, think the answer lies in 'targeting western audiences', but rather bringing us more in sync with their development plans. People who like Japanese games like Japanese games. People who like Japanese games don't like waiting up to a year or more (if ever) to play Japanese games. I think if more Japanese developers, regardless of size, would be more willing to swiftly release their games out in the west and have them be fairly successful, they won't have to be limited by the claustrophobic gamer mentality of their home market and be more willing to innovate.

Also for what it's worth, Metroid Prime was made in Texas.