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I think when Japanese developers talk about being inferior, as much as they are discussing their games they are also focusing on how design process there affects these things. Western developers have been using third party tools (re: Unreal Engine) for years now. As huge as the barrier to entry is to make a creative game like Mirror's Edge North America, that barrier is many times as large in Japan, where the market is smaller and most projects are growing from scratch. This has given Western developers the opportunity to expand, grow and change the way their games are made. This is a lot like what you said about the consoles inheriting PC development paradigms.
Whether or not this is an issue is hard to say. Regardless we have Japanese developers accepting open source and experimenting with creative processes. For every "me-too" feature of Last Remnant, the game also required a much lower investment and much less time than Final Fantasy XIII despite achieving a much higher standard of finish and sheen (Unreal Engine framerate problems aside).
There's still a lot of innovation to be had on both sides of the pond, and though Japan may have a lot to learn from the West in terms of development process I don't think it will affect that particularly Japanese style of game we'll continue to have.
Whether or not this is an issue is hard to say. Regardless we have Japanese developers accepting open source and experimenting with creative processes. For every "me-too" feature of Last Remnant, the game also required a much lower investment and much less time than Final Fantasy XIII despite achieving a much higher standard of finish and sheen (Unreal Engine framerate problems aside).
There's still a lot of innovation to be had on both sides of the pond, and though Japan may have a lot to learn from the West in terms of development process I don't think it will affect that particularly Japanese style of game we'll continue to have.
they haven't lost it , our culture just changed. the mainstream crowd used to only consist of hardcore gamers but somewhere along the lines that changed. Unfortunately the new mainstream gamer consist of people that buy whats popular. The problem with that is being popular game and being good game don't necessarily go hand in hand.
Look at halo wars ( I not saying its bad just using it as an example ) It doesn't matter if the games awful it will sell millions because it has halo stamped on it. And this has alot of japanese devs puzzled, you have crap games that sell because it has 50 cent on the box and then you have masterpieces that will barely move any copies because in order to fully enjoy the game you have to turn on more than the shoot,kill,chainsaw,sh!t talk,sex part of your brain.
Look at halo wars ( I not saying its bad just using it as an example ) It doesn't matter if the games awful it will sell millions because it has halo stamped on it. And this has alot of japanese devs puzzled, you have crap games that sell because it has 50 cent on the box and then you have masterpieces that will barely move any copies because in order to fully enjoy the game you have to turn on more than the shoot,kill,chainsaw,sh!t talk,sex part of your brain.
I mostly agree with your argument, although I argue that Shmups are far better than visual novels and FF12 was $#%^&*! horrible.
I would like to see Japanese games do more engine sharing and learn to lay off the J-pop some.
I would like to see Japanese games do more engine sharing and learn to lay off the J-pop some.
@Black Nexus - While it's true that some Western gamers will buy a game simply because it has a certain brand name on it or falls within a certain genre, the same goes for Japan - how many crappy Gundam and mah-jongg titles have become best-sellers over there over the years, and continue to do so? Japanese developers know and exploit this inclination just as well and as frequently as Western ones do.
@Killias - Interesting that you mention shmups, as that brings up the fact that "arcade culture" is, while not at the forefront, much more active these days in Japan than here, and is slowly re-planting its roots closer to home. There are few developers here who could be considered "experts" in producing those types of games (especially outside of downloadable format), and JP developers could be in a position to take advantage - I'm eager to see how well SF4 sells over here.
@Killias - Interesting that you mention shmups, as that brings up the fact that "arcade culture" is, while not at the forefront, much more active these days in Japan than here, and is slowly re-planting its roots closer to home. There are few developers here who could be considered "experts" in producing those types of games (especially outside of downloadable format), and JP developers could be in a position to take advantage - I'm eager to see how well SF4 sells over here.
@bulletmagnet
You know I actually forgot about the gundam games for a moment,However( and this is just my opinion) those games seem more niche than bad. Our games just straight up suck and people will still buy them ( I'm lookin at you 50 cent bulletproof ) Say what you will about those games but from a technical standpoint I can find at least one reedeming quality.
You know I actually forgot about the gundam games for a moment,However( and this is just my opinion) those games seem more niche than bad. Our games just straight up suck and people will still buy them ( I'm lookin at you 50 cent bulletproof ) Say what you will about those games but from a technical standpoint I can find at least one reedeming quality.
