What's up with Japan?

Nice article here on TA.... Link. Worth a read if you like Japanese games and culture. Two journos discussing if and why Japan are falling behind with the quality of their games.

Some points mentioned include:

The weirdness of Japanese games.

The over sexualization of Japanese games.

The willingness of Capcom to try something new and attempt to give everyone what they want.

Japanese devs unwillingness to learn from overseas developers.

Good read..........

Read this and found it an interesting read. Personally from my point of view I love Japanese games. I also think that almost every chart topper is naff, so i'll be very glad if Japanese and indie/XBLA devs keep there ideas and don't try to imitate the big sellers. I do still keep an open mind for all games and make sure I have played them before I judge. Through trying everything I have still came across some great chart toppers sucxh as the bioshock series (greatly anticipating inifinite)

IMO gaming has been declining for a number of years and in fact I had all but given up on current gen consoles until 2010. I got my 360 in Dec 2005 but barely played until 2010. XBLA and the odd - often Japanese - retail title, such as Nier, Deathsmiles, Beautiful Katamari, Child of Eden, Venetica etc. If not for games like these. I'd likely just stick to retro consoles.

In the end my viewpoint is this. Developers should keep on making titles like COD, GOW, RDR and Assassins Creed. They are not my kind of thing but a lot of people enjoy them! I also believe that Japanese gamers should make their own games and not try to imitate Western games, XBLA/PSN/Steam/DSiWare devs need to keep producing original ideas, important for the future of gaming.

Variety is the spice of life, as they say. So hopefully gaming remains varied to suit all audiences. If a gamer dislikes any type of game, they do not need to play it. Hopefully greed doesn't stop devs seeing things this way.

I'm with you on this one Slayer. I love retro stuff and Japanese stuff a great deal. I would like to see more east and west collaborations and new ideas, but they just aren't commercially viable it seems. Publishers are unwilling to take the gamble on new ideas as we all know, as they just don't sell enough. Neverdead was a great idea and a good collaboration, but never sold enough. It was flawed but it would be nice to see them try and continue and improve the IP, but I can't see it happening. Vanquish was also an amazing game but has sold just 350,000 copies worldwide.

Neverdead is a game that greatly interests me, though I haven't got around to it. Konami are one of my favourite Gaming companies of all time.

I've heard a lot of good things about Vanquish from those who have played, Binary Domain also gets a lot of praise but sold hardly any copies (I have 2 copies of this and intend to start it soon with Choskie and others).

it's just a shame many gamers are unwilling to venture from GOW to enjoy games such as these.

Especially as these are third person shooters - an extremely popular genre - it must leave greedy publishers weary of publishing a new platformer IP for example. I know Rayman Origins and Sonic Generations didn't do too bad but they were already secure big name series.

Hopefully the future of gaming is bright and varied. Rumour has it MS are going to significantly reduce patch costs and digital 'shelf space' costs next gen. Hopefully that leads to a more relaxed/open attitude from publishers, at least if they plan digital releases. Digital releases might also mean they would worry less about the preowned market they the gaming industry hates lately.

On a side note, I'm thinking that games a few years into next-gen will focus a lot on gameplay, and/or story for RPG's. the past 2 gaming generations (especially this gen) have had a lot of emphasis on graphics... sometimes at the expense of other aspects. I think once they get used to programming next-gen graphics and AR features the quality of games will improve. Graphics will surely be at their peak? they look almost real and AR puts it in your room. it's not far short of VR which I think is many years away yet if it ever happens.