Wow.

Anyway, Shadow of the Collosos was the best game ever made and it's by young guys from Japan with the best looking studio I've ever seen.

What games do well depends entirly on what the game is, how well they did at attracting their target audience, and what the game has to offer as a whole.

I wouldent think there are to many people who really pay attention to where the game comes from.

games like katamari donr need fancy graphics. games like bioshock do. both are good. both represent their countries well. (i think?)

way to not know anything BuckF1tches

American games don't appeal me, really. I can have a good time playing some Halo 3, Gears of War or Guitar Hero 3 but that's it. Well maybe I'm just one of these damn Nintendo fanboys... I hate em!

OMG GOD LEN IS A JAPAN FANBOY!

JAFANBOY!

ROFL!

LOL!

ROFL!

Weeaboos.

Oops, pic to small. Too bad there is no way to preview comments.

Anyone who wants to see what this pic actually says, email me or something. I'll send it to you.

I represent Jafanboys everywhere, my name is God Len.

Jafanboy wins comment of the day.

Most of my favorite games are western anyway... At least westerners are finally doing well at something!

This is coming from the same pompous guy who doesn't consider Wii a true console. Figures that he puts emphasis on strong technology.

As for Japanese vs. American games... don't give a damn about category (same for "hardcore" vs. "casual"). I just play games that are fun for me.

Contact the dictionaries, Jafanboy is going into their next editions.

Ah, nvm, just noticed the Edit XD D'oh on me.

I dunno, while as an American I find western games more conceptually and culturally accessible, typically J games have cared more about story and character, the qualities that matter to me in a game.

There are enormous stylistic and social differences between our cultures. I don't think technology has much to do with it.

All I know is that when you want to render a simple blob shape with fishy lips on it, you don't worry about optimizing your graphics renderer. I draw cartoons, but really, there is a limit to how minimalistic you can make a design and still express dedication to your trade. What annoys me about the Wii isn't that it's underpowered. What annoys me is that it's SO underpowered, as if the only requirement of the hardware is that it should handle minimalist Japanese design and nothing else. Similarly, Microsoft doesn't seem to understand Japan's design priorities, so packing a lot of power into a box that chronically overheats isn't going to win those people over. It amazes me how severely oblivious they are to that market.

Easterners also don't take audio very seriously. Every voice actor that uses the young, whiny, gasping, over-emotional schoolgirl stereotype can burn in hell. Every time I hear that, I literally have to shut off the sound. Why the hell do the Japanese love that so much and use it everywhere? Say what you will about graphic design, but when it comes to audio, westerners are a million times more creative.

Of course, western design is practically the opposite -- too much clutter. I don't want to see any more sparkley pixel shaders and browns just to render concrete walls in your latest cookie-cutter FPS, thank you. Yeah, we all want fancy presentation, but if there's a cheat code to replace all the guns with bananas, you know everyone is going to use it.

I prefer eastern creativity and weirdness, but western design and implementation. Obviously, this rare mesh makes it difficult to find games that appeal to me.

Here's what they should do: simply as a test case, developers should put together two small teams, one Japanese (or Korean, or whatever), and one American (European could work, too). Each team comes up with an idea for a simple character-based minigame, a basic graphical style, and a quick and dirty marketing pitch. Then, they completely turn over the design to the other team and let them work up an implementation for a week or two. See what happens. I have a feeling that a lot of studios don't communicate with each other very well, even when owned by the same parent company. Even if studios are competing with each other, they must all be aware of each others' development philosophies.

Capcom must benn forgotten when this comment was made. I know that they have been influenced by the west, but they have stayed true to the game company that they are. When I think of them I try to overlook what they have done to Mega Man and thank them for Drvil May Cry, Lost Planet, Maximo, Dead Rising and The new take on Bionic Commando. When it comes to Japan Capcom leads the way. Still I do admit most of my games are done by western devs.

Times change.