Inafune agrees with the Bore - Japan sucks and is finished

[Great Rumbler]

The best games I've played this year have been from Western developers. Cant' really think of any great Japanese games I've played from this year.

[Third]

Demon's Souls is the best game of this year. It's Japanese. But ironically, it looks like a Western game.

I'd say, when it comes to development teams:

1- Japs
2- Euro's
3- Yanks

[The Fake Shemp]

I can guarantee the 6th or 7th Ratchet game since the series started is going to be innovative as hell, as well as the 6th Call of Duty game, and another Halo game. And I like what I've played of the Ratchets

I can say the same with Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and the rest of the Japafag games you play.

Way to ignore original IPs like Brutal Legend, Dark Void, Borderlands, Dragon Age, etc.

Actually I find many American made games to be much buggier and unpolished... they may look graphically very nice, but usually feature game freezing glitches. *cough*Bethesda*cough*

 

I am not 'holding on to dear life'... just because I tend to prefer a genre you hate.

I don't, I'm just not close minded enough to think JRPGs, which are incredibly stale by general consensus, are the last bastion of ingenuity in the videogame industry.

Like I said, I find being 'open minded' overrated.

Obviously.

Enjoy your one original IP, some game with an unknown title that hasn't seen much playtime and your laundry list of JRPG sequels.

[Kestastrophe]

Actually I find many American made games to be much buggier and unpolished... they may look graphically very nice, but usually feature game freezing glitches. *cough*Bethesda*cough*

I don't know how you can categorically say that, smh.

The best games I've played this year have been from Western developers. Cant' really think of any great Japanese games I've played from this year.

RE5 goty for me so far

[Bocsius]

I think both sides of the argument are right.

The majority of Japanese games suck. But so do the majority of western games.

Let's all be happy with the handful of games that are worth playing.

[EmCeeGrammar]

in every single, genre.

Are you out of your mind?  What western developer makes shmups? or platformers? or competent fighting games?

[Don Flamenco]

the majority of my disc based games are Japanese (about 70%), while most of my XBL/PSN games are western.  Interesting.


there's no doubt in my mind that the Japanese seem to "get" the finer points of certain genres better than Western counterparts.
--Simplicity and polish in RPGs (not saying JRPGs are better...I like both for different reasons)
--engines in fighting games - Midway almost had a balanced and fun game in UMK3, but for the other 15 MK games, they cashed in on gore, but they even got the gore wrong in the newer games, since they seemed to run out of fatality ideas.  and that's the closest the West has come to making a competent fighter.
--engines in action games - there are plenty of reasons to like GoW better than DMC and NG, but the finer points of the combat engine are shit.  this really shows on the harder difficulty levels. 

[Junpei the Tracer!]

Dead Space for the Wii looks pretty neat.

[tiesto]

I can guarantee the 6th or 7th Ratchet game since the series started is going to be innovative as hell, as well as the 6th Call of Duty game, and another Halo game. And I like what I've played of the Ratchets

I can say the same with Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and the rest of the Japafag games you play.

Way to ignore original IPs like Brutal Legend, Dark Void, Borderlands, Dragon Age, etc.

Actually I find many American made games to be much buggier and unpolished... they may look graphically very nice, but usually feature game freezing glitches. *cough*Bethesda*cough*

 

I am not 'holding on to dear life'... just because I tend to prefer a genre you hate.

I don't, I'm just not close minded enough to think JRPGs, which are incredibly stale by general consensus, are the last bastion of ingenuity in the videogame industry.

Like I said, I find being 'open minded' overrated.

Obviously.

Enjoy your one original IP, some game with an unknown title that hasn't seen much playtime and your laundry list of JRPG sequels.

Brutal Legend - could be good, but I wasn't too enthused with Psychonauts. Will give a chance.
Dark Void - no idea what this is.
Borderlands - another hit or miss title, graphic style looks promising, will take a wait and see.
Dragon Age - trailer looked embarrassingly bad (come on, who the hell still uses Marylin Mansion in a trailer in this day and age?), and when it comes to WRPGs I prefer Bethesda to Bioware by far.

I will most definitely enjoy my 'one original IP' and 'game nobody will play', and other games in my favorite game series. If sales are indicative of quality - well, Japan has everyone beat... Nintendo and Mario Kart, Wii Fit, Wii Sports Resort... And, have you even bothered with Japanese RPGs lately? Plenty of them feature different gameplay systems - mostly innovations in the battle and character growth system. You can't really honestly say that a game like Persona 3, Growlanser Generations, Etrian Odyssey, Dragon Quest whatever, Valkyria Chronicles, The World Ends With You, and Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter are all exactly the same and clones of one another. There is a TON of ignorance out there with this genre in the American press, and with your typical 'hardcore' gamer. Of course, if you don't like the genre to begin with, it's all gonna be 'spiky haired animu kids' and 'turn based random battles'. Just like non-dance fans think every song is nothing more than 20 minutes of unn-tssss unn-tsss.

I never said the genre was the 'last bastion of ingenuity', it's just the one I prefer above all others. I'm not gonna give up and stop playing/buying them just because some message board posters don't like them.

[EmCeeGrammar]

It's pretty amazing that anyone dares to cite Western rpgs given how infamously unpolished and buggy the genre is known to be.   

[Himu]

I am currently playing Devil Survivor and Sim City 4.

Best of both worlds.

Eat it, faggos.

[Great Rumbler]

Brutal Legend - could be good, but I wasn't too enthused with Psychonauts. Will give a chance.
Dark Void - no idea what this is.
Borderlands - another hit or miss title, graphic style looks promising, will take a wait and see.
Dragon Age - trailer looked embarrassingly bad (come on, who the hell still uses Marylin Mansion in a trailer in this day and age?), and when it comes to WRPGs I prefer Bethesda to Bioware by far.

There's also these:

Rage
Brink
Alpha Protocol
The Saboteur
Alan Wake
Heavy Rain

[Human Snorenado]

It's pretty amazing that anyone dares to cite Western rpgs given how infamously unpolished and buggy the genre is known to be.   

Despite the bugs, Fallout 3 is quite easily the best rpg this gen, and possibly the best overall game.  Partially due to the lack of annoying jrpg traits- no emo main character with spiky hair, no bratty kids that join your party, etc etc.  In fact, I took great pleasure at selling an entire village of bratty kids into slavery as a form of revenge against the jrpg.

[Joe Molotov]

in every single, genre.

Are you out of your mind?  What western developer makes shmups? or platformers? or competent fighting games?

How many great platformers or shumps or fighting games have you played lately from any country? These genres that Japan dominates are all swirling the bowl, just like Japanese gaming itself.

[Junpei the Tracer!]

Why do people always the use the "emo whiny spikey hair" shit? Not all RPG's have that you know. Hell, most don't. Well most have spikey hair but still. I can honest only think of 3 games that have that description and they're all Final Fantasy's.

[Flannel Boy]

90+% of the games I own are made by Western devs (not that I play them).

[Junpei the Tracer!]

90+% of the games I own are made by Western devs (not that I play them).

Well you like the Beatles so that says a lot about you.

[archie4208]

It says he has good taste.

[Fragamemnon]

Almost everything I buy comes from Europe these days. Aside from the occasional RTS, a once-a-year decent RPG, the only thing American developers are good for is budget busting shooters, plastic instrument music games, and insufferable style-over-substance "indie" games.

Heck, even most of my PC wargames aren't from US developers anymore. I've basically ran off to board wargames since most of them are so buggy and suck so bad as to be unplayable.

[recursivelyenumerable]

Frag wins the thread

[Human Snorenado]

90+% of the games I own are made by Western devs (not that I play them).

Well you like the Beatles so that says a lot about you.

Well you plan on having your johnson cut off, so that says a lot about you.

[Junpei the Tracer!]

 :'(

[Don Flamenco]

Why do people always the use the "emo whiny spikey hair" shit? Not all RPG's have that you know. Hell, most don't. Well most have spikey hair but still. I can honest only think of 3 games that have that description and they're all Final Fantasy's.

Kingdom Hearts
Tales of blah blah blah
Infinite Undiscovery
Xenogears
Xenosaga
Suikoden

all emo, all with spiky haired characters

[demi]

Why do people always the use the "emo whiny spikey hair" shit? Not all RPG's have that you know. Hell, most don't. Well most have spikey hair but still. I can honest only think of 3 games that have that description and they're all Final Fantasy's.

[Don Flamenco]

he probably should've qualified with vertical shmups

[EmCeeGrammar]

Braid and Shadow Complex aren't exactly what I'm talking about.  I wouldn't consider Super Metroid a platformer.  Braid is more of a puzzle game.  I usually think the primary focus of any platformer is that gravity is your main enemy and you have to work with the physics to avoid traps and pits.
*shrug*

[tiesto]

in every single, genre.

Are you out of your mind?  What western developer makes shmups? or platformers? or competent fighting games?

How many great platformers or shumps or fighting games have you played lately from any country? These genres that Japan dominates are all swirling the bowl, just like Japanese gaming itself.

Platformers - Klonoa Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Contra Rebirth (run and gun but close enough), and looking forward to New Super Mario Bros Wii (perhaps more than any other game this year)

Fighters - Street Fighter 4, Blazblue, KOF XII, there's also the Soul Calibur PSP game. If anything, fighters have had a bit of a resurgence lately.

I'd be playing quite a few amazing shmups, like Deathsmiles, ESPGaluda 2, and Mushihime-sama Futari... if only Cave would localize their fucking games 

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Japanese developers peaked in the PlayStation era and never really left there since.  It is why they love handhelds: an opportunity for them to release software on PlayStation-like machines with generally low expectations.  Once the next set of handhelds has much more power and therefore, higher consumer expectations, Japanese developers will probably run to another hardware medium in droves.  Probably cell phones.  I know they do that already but it should be advanced to the point where they can remake Final Fantasy again but this time in 3D.

Anything else they do try doesn't fare so well.  Their MO:

1) PlayStation style plus MOAR.  The result?  Xenosaga and the inevitable disappointing performance of Final Fantasy XIII.
2) Copy successful J-efforts.  Result?  Monster Hunter clones popping up left and right.
3) Outside of Capcom, make timid, half assed attempts to make western like games.  Result?  Coded Arms and Metal Gear Online.

[cool breeze]

[Mr. Gundam]

As much as I bitched about parts of RgG3, I will more than likely buy RgG4 day one. Shit, at this rate, if "Yakuza 4" ever comes out in North America, the PS4 will be out first.

[EmCeeGrammar]

(Image removed from quote.)

Is that the Yakuza guy?  Dude really let success get to his head.

[magus]

ignoring the handhelds isn't currently the wii,the console totaly ignored by any sort of 3rd party developer the head honcho of the industry
nintendo is owning both japanese and western developer which is why natal and the sony wand are happening
that's how the industry is shaping
and it's somewhat sad

as for inafune,if he thinks that japan sucks he should do something about it instead of re-releasing resident evil 5 and making an half assed sequel of okami on the ds

[Human Snorenado]

ignoring the handhelds isn't currently the wii,the console totaly ignored by any sort of 3rd party developed the head honcho of the industry
nintendo is owning both japanese and western developer which is why natal and the sony wand are happening
that's how the industry is shaping
and it's somewhat sad

as for inafune,if he thinks that japan sucks he should do something about it instead of re-releasing resident evil 5 and making an half assed sequel of okami on the ds

[Junpei the Tracer!]

 

The future may be a Western direction.  :/

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

The future may be a Western direction.  :/

May?  Is.

It didn't need to be that way but instead of creating new ideas, they want to rehash their ideas that made them a killing in 1995-1999.  Next generation to Japanese developers means more anime, more cutscenes, and more...of the same.  Fallout 3 is a typical Bethesda effort on the surface: huge, buggy, and ugly, but it does have a lot of fresh, new gameplay ideas that add to the genre overall.  These new ideas are what you'd typically find on a gameplay system meant to take advantage of much powerful hardware that wasn't available before.

Capcom is one of the few exceptions because they apparently and correctly gambled that Japan's dominance was declining so it needed to diversify their software lineup.  Other developers are weakly trying to do the same, thinking that token, half assed efforts would be good enough.  It isn't.  Instead of trying, they run to the handhelds, which have much lower expectations overall, giving J-developers that chance to relive the 90s again.

I like Japanese games and I don't like WRPGs but Japan is choking off their own futures with the exception of Nintendo, Capcom, and to a lesser extent, Sega and Sony.

[tiesto]

Junpei and Tiesto, wheter you like the genres that are made in the West or not, you cannot deny that it's Western devs that shape the industry and in which direction it's going and not Japanese devs. It's also rather lame to slam Western devs for sequelitis when all you seem excited about is the most stagnant genre of all: JRPG.

Like magus said, it seems Nintendo is shaping the industry the most, with the motion controls. Obviously, among the traditional "hardcore gamers" or what have you, the west and their focus on big sandbox worlds, FPSes and online play is the most popular, and I of course don't like this direction in the slightest. Nor do I like the motion control minigame direction Nintendo is going. But the worst is, I don't think the western way of making games is all too sustainable - fund massive budget games with tons and tons of shovelware, and come out with tons of plastic toys to take up space in your house

Japanese RPGs are hardly the most stagnant genre of all, at least as far as gameplay is concerned. I am guessing you missed my post where I told Willco to compare the gameplay in Persona 3, BOF: Dragon Quarter, Growlanser Generations, Valkyrie Profile Silmeria, The World Ends With You, Valkyria Chronicles, to something traditional like DQ5. Being one of the most popular genres in Japan means that, although you get a lot of samey type stuff, you get a lot of devs willing to experiment. (and hell, there are plenty of times I'd take a well-made game that's very samey over an ambitious but broken-as-hell title)

[Beezy]

The only two that you mentioned from this gen that try new things are Valkyria Chronicles and The World Ends With You. The HD consoles have just about nothing and the handhelds are filled with ports, remakes and dungeon crawlers. TWEWY is one of the few exceptions that actually turned out to be a good game.

[Sho Nuff]

(Image removed from quote.)

Sad...so sad

[Don Flamenco]

ignoring the handhelds isn't currently the wii,the console totaly ignored by any sort of 3rd party developer the head honcho of the industry
nintendo is owning both japanese and western developer which is why natal and the sony wand are happening
that's how the industry is shaping
and it's somewhat sad

as for inafune,if he thinks that japan sucks he should do something about it instead of re-releasing resident evil 5 and making an half assed sequel of okami on the ds

[tiesto]

Some of those chicks are pretty hot.

[Don Flamenco]

Some of those chicks are pretty hot.

i bet that little angry japanese guy with the fake tan spits on them after he's done

[ferrarimanf355]

Yeah, the only good news to come out of last week didn't come from TGS, but from this.

[ferrarimanf355]

:: notes Sega Racing Classic thread ::

:: takes spooge over there  ::

[maxy]

Japan has been finished long time ago,what you are now seeing is just time waves.

First they placed all eggs in Sony basket and to their great shock Sony is nowhere to be found,not in Japan,not to mention the West.
Second,online is like a holy grail for them.

Best selling PS3 game in Japan is what?MGS4,700k something,sales like that are not even worth mentioning in the West.
And in few months finally a worthy contender to break that barrier will be released,FFXIII...one game in 3,4 years...zzzz

UK already has multiple games that have broken that barrier on 360.

The problem is that home market can't make them afloat and they have huge problems in getting West interested in their games.

Handhelds are home sustainable so the West doesn't matter much for them,but for "HD" consoles,crap software sales in the West=uh,oh...maybe you should do something else

Wii...who cares

 

[bork]

(Image removed from quote.)

Sad...so sad

Does that guy go to work dressed like that?

[EmCeeGrammar]

yeah, you can rag on wii all you want, but you can't deny its one relatively small japanese company that is shaping the industry.  Maybe the 'fad' will fall through, but sony and microsoft have already responded in the expected manners.

[cool breeze]

yeah, you can rag on wii all you want, but you can't deny its one relatively small japanese company that is shaping the industry.  Maybe the 'fad' will fall through, but sony and microsoft have already responded in the expected manners.

uh, one reason people rag on the Wii is because of how it's shaping the industry.

 

[Don Flamenco]

yeah, you can rag on wii all you want, but you can't deny its one relatively small japanese company that is shaping the industry.  Maybe the 'fad' will fall through, but sony and microsoft have already responded in the expected manners.

Sony's response seems impulsive...it's just another wii remote.  I like MS' response...mainly because it's kind of mind boggling like the wii remote was to me before I actually tried it.  

it'll be interesting to see how they both turn out.  the sony wand seems like it'll fade, but if MS is really going to pose natal as the next Xbox, it may turn out better.



or not.

[cool breeze]

Yes, jumping around in front of a camera is totally original.

Microsoft will do a good job at catering to the shallow people who bought into the Wii because of Wii Sports.  There's a good reason that whenever you see anything Wii related in the media, it's always someone playing Wii Tennis.  Sony is going the complete opposite direction and appealing to nerdy tech nerds.  It's the difference between "I can shake my hand and crazy shit moves!" and "TRUE 1:1 PER PIXEL ACCURACY!"  I like motion controls when it works (a rare occurrence) and would like new tech out there to make it better, but so far Microsoft is showing that they can capture the Eyetoy gimmick market while Sony is showing us how to produce a flop.

And Sony hasn't announced a break part controller.  They haven't even talked about packaging or anything like that,  They're so unprepared that we probably won't know until a week before release.  PSP Go comes out in 4 days and they've only detailed the UMD reward program for Japan.

[Beezy]

(thanks for fucking over leftys, Sony)

I thought the same thing when I saw them playing RE5 with it. smh

[Don Flamenco]

Yes, jumping around in front of a camera is totally original.

It's more original than "here's another wand only with a big ass ball on it"

Though Sony did beat them to the punch.

But the non-gaming media is giving attention to natal, where nobody gives a shit about the sony dildo. 

[bork]

Yes, jumping around in front of a camera is totally original.

It's more original than "here's another wand only with a big ass ball on it"

Though Sony did beat them to the punch.

But the non-gaming media is giving attention to natal, where nobody gives a shit about the sony dildo. 

All this shit fucking sucks and I wish they'd stick to regular controllers and focus on making good games instead.

[Trent Dole]

All this shit fucking sucks and I wish they'd stick to regular controllers and focus on making good games instead.

a-fucking-men.

[tiesto]

Yes, jumping around in front of a camera is totally original.

It's more original than "here's another wand only with a big ass ball on it"

Though Sony did beat them to the punch.

But the non-gaming media is giving attention to natal, where nobody gives a shit about the sony dildo. 

All this shit fucking sucks and I wish they'd stick to regular controllers and focus on making good games instead.

Finally, something in this thread that I can agree with. 

[pilonv1]

All this shit fucking sucks and I wish they'd stick to regular controllers and focus on making good games instead.

PC gaming, the last hope

[cool breeze]

Yes, jumping around in front of a camera is totally original.

It's more original than "here's another wand only with a big ass ball on it"

Though Sony did beat them to the punch.

uh, Microsoft beat Microsoft to the punch.  Natal is the second camera for the 360.  The old Vision even had Eyetoy games too, like, two or three of them including You're in the Movies.

All this shit fucking sucks and I wish they'd stick to regular controllers and focus on making good games instead.

"I'm not really interested in it. I don't think a controller should have that much influence on the enjoyment of games.  I see what [Nintendo is] trying to do, but they're putting such emphasis on the controller; 'Woah, this controller lets you do this!' and I'm thinking - are you messing with us?"

[pilonv1]

good to see there's still some sense left in japanese developers

[Mr. Gundam]

Yes, jumping around in front of a camera is totally original.

It's more original than "here's another wand only with a big ass ball on it"

Though Sony did beat them to the punch.

But the non-gaming media is giving attention to natal, where nobody gives a shit about the sony dildo. 

All this shit fucking sucks and I wish they'd stick to regular controllers and focus on making good games instead.

Hello there, good sir. I agree with you and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

LYTE

[Don Flamenco]

these new control schemes aren't total shit, they have their place, but nothing will replace a controller.

[Don Flamenco]

anyhow japan hasn't done anything a tenth as interesting as Mirror's Edge this gen and they quickly going underwater or focusing on casual gaming shit.

better to stick to the status quo than to fail as hard as mirror's edge.