Quote Originally Posted by Vyk View Post
I've always wondered that too. Is it possible consoles are more popular in Japan than computers?? I know there's Anachronox and ... that one game... Septerra Core. But they weren't made in Japan, so they're not really traditional. Just borrow a lot of traditions in that vein
It is a bit odd but I guess when you grow up in the central hub of console gaming you don't think about using your PC for other things. I never realized how popular PC gaming myself was until I met people from countries that never saw whole console releases or had huge swaths of games never see release in their countries so the emulation scene filled the void. No wonder Europe was impressed with VII, those people were denied all the cool RPGs that came before.

I think I'd play Fire Emblem: Awakening more if it were on a console for some reason. Same with Bravely Default, sadly. My hands and back tend to hurt after playing handhelds for more than an hour or so. I can never find a comfortable position, and my 3DS has a jagged edge along the bottom from a battery cover that isn't molded quite perfectly. I'm constantly debating on taking it off and filing the edge a bit

I was sad when Valkyria Chronicles went portable-only. I wouldn't mind playing the other two on a console. But I guess that's a blessing in disguise since at least the PSP they were able to make a patch for. I haven't heard of any unreleased PS3 games getting patched. And not a lot of people hack their PS3. Too expensive to mess up

I kinda wish the traditional Castlevania games hadn't went handheld only as well. I realize they'd barely cause a blip on the processing power of newer consoles, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be available on newer consoles. It's all about the fun and experience rather than graphical fidelity. Not to mention the music would be a lot better for most of them

I'm sure I can come up with more
A good part of this is because console gaming is not as popular in Japan as it is in the West. Handhelds and Mobile gaming are far more popular hence why developers from Japan tend to focus on them and have slowly begun to abandon the consoles. It's helped that handheld gaming don't carry the stigma of having to be a game that shows off the power of the console which is often expensive and a risky business move considering how fickle and large the gaming community has become. They're a huge gaming market but their lifestyle no longer makes it practical to spend down time playing a console, especially if you're commuting all the time. Hence why mobile gaming is huge over there not to mention no matter how often people feel handhelds are losing to the mobile market, Nintendo releases Pokemon and everyone kind of shut ups about it. The Japanese gaming culture has just seriously shifted in the last ten years to accommodate the lifestyles of their core fanbase and my guess is that instead of throwing a bone to Western fans, they are more concerned about trying to figure out why Western fans have been so resistant to the shift to mobile.