Interviews On Gaming Scene In Japan Wrapped Up 13
Thanks to GameSpy for completing their feature interviewing major Japanese gaming figures, following several interviews excerpted on Slashdot Games throughout the week. Steven L. Kent, author of The Ultimate History of Video Games, "spent most of the month of March in Japan doing research for a book about the games industry", and among the unreferenced interviews are a look inside Namco Japan, a discussion of the state of the Japanese arcade, and a chat with Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, with Kent concluding: "In the early '80s, while the American home console business almost ceased to exist, the Japanese console market flourished. The reverse could happen."
Loon (Score:5, Interesting)
No, it couldn't. I know it's a stupid point to focus on, but when the author comes to such a stupid conclusion after weeks of "analysis" (which seems to consist 100% of listening to what certain hand-picked industry people have to say), some background is helpful.
In the 80s, American game companies were running themselves into the ground, simply because the industry was young here and they didn't know what they were doing. American game companies were being run Hollywood-style, going big with every release, and playing a constant game of one-upsmanship against their competitors. The crash happened because every corporate monkey in and out of the industry was trying to get filthy rich in games, instead of focusing on things gamers would actually want to buy - like good games. Pure game companies, toy companies, appliance companies, movie companies, and computer companies were fighting amongst each other for dominance like idiots, all in this new, magical, "profitable" video game market. A little market stagnation, prior to everybody jumping head-first into the industry, wouldn't have been quite so bad in comparison to the crash itself.
After all, in such an environment, it's easy to see why everybody involved would just collectively get bored of games and give up completely. This certainly doesn't sound like modern Japan, it sounds much more like modern America....again. Only here and now it's not just a bunch of American and European companies screwing themselves, we now have two major Japanese companies pitted against one major American console newcomer, amongst many pretenders (Nokia, Apex, Infinium, etc.) with dollar signs in their eyes. Notice that, outside of Nintendo (the only traditional games hardware company in the console market), these are mostly companies that have nothing to lose in a potential modern-day crash. Why WOULDN'T they try their hand at games?
The same corporate foolishness that led to the crash didn't happen in Japan, where conservative progress led to continued success, and companies weren't trying to leapfrog each other so much as gain and maintain a share in the market, which obviously belonged pretty much to Nintendo from the very start of the Famicom. Sure, Japan had their fair share of failures, but the industry there didn't have the equivalent of Hollywood scrutinizing their business from afar, trying to find a profitable angle or potential partnership. The Japanese games industry was left mostly to game companies (with backing from computer and electronics companies, to be sure), and games were allowed to create their own market, as opposed to feeding on (and being fed upon by) trends in other forms of media, like movies.
So, while this guy goes traipsing around Japan in search of pro-American soundbites from Microsoft reps like Mike Fischer about what Japan needs (when the only real problem right now is a temporary lack of buying power), or crazy Kojima (who is really just a B-film director at heart but doesn't seem aware of the fact), it doesn't change the fact that Japan has never, and does not now, suffer from the same negative influences that have traditionally affected the American games market. The guy brings up only two potential factors, along with one red herring (cellphone games, which he himself mentions the game companies aren't worried about): the used games market, and lack of innovation. Perhaps what he claims about innovation not driving sales is currently true in Japan. But nebulous ideas like "GTA is violent, while Japanese games aren't, so American games are better" (to paraphrase crazy Kojima) are simpy not credible, not when thinking globally. GTA3 isn't even a million seller in Japan, and such stupid, popular statements are supposed to mean something about Japan collapsing under the quality of the Western game industry? I'll believe it when Xbox, the American console, breaks out of fourth place worldwide OR in Japan, from behind Nintendo's and Sony's platforms.
Re:Loon (Score:1, Flamebait)
Now if only we could get a japanese reporter to go around the US finding out why the sales of hentai rape games arent selling and concluding that 'US games dont have enough school girls so are crap' the balance will be restored.
Re:Loon (Score:4, Interesting)
Until about 5 years ago I had never heard of this. I am British and here in England the 80's were some of the best times for games. I got a C64 about 1984 and the games were good (and plentiful) and got better and better. Before that they weren't as good, but that was because the hardware wasn't up to the task (Vic 20's and Atari 2600's couldn't do as much as C64's and Spectrums).
The way I remember it, games started to become really popular after Elite and Manic Miner came out (they were even on the news, which was very unusual at the time). I don't remember a time when the games "almost ceased to exist" because before about 1983/4 there were only a few computers about (like ZX81's, 2600's, Vic-20's and BBC's) so there wasn't much there at that time anyway.
This is my English viewpoint. Maybe other people remember it differently. Probably in other countries it was different as in the 80's the U.K. dominated the games market.
Re:Loon (Score:3, Interesting)
PC gaming wasn't really affected by it, but it barely existed at the time outside of small hobbyist circles.
These failures shaped NOAs strategy(once Nintendo decided it might be worth it[Atari ALMOST was the company that distributed the NES stateside]) which caused the industry to grow again.
So,
Re:Loon (Score:2)
Nintendo was in talks with a lot of distributors in the early 80s. This is the first I'd heard of Atari's involvement, but I'd previously known they were considered by WoW/Alchemy II (makers of the ill-fated Teddy Ruxpin dolls). It's not unreasonable to believe that Nintendo pitched to anybody and everybody who would lis
Re:Loon (Score:5, Interesting)
The Japanese game industry is big enough to sustain both Nintendo (with a console and handheld) and Sony (even in the states, I have a Gameboy SP, PS2, and Gamecube) and is wide enough *not* to come crashing down if one machine fails in the marketplace or a few games suck. Even if most games are crap there are enough consumers and enough good developers to sustain the industry - completely unlike the American crash in the 80s.
Kojima is nuts; he and the Resident Evil director, who's name I forget, are certainly young turks who shoot their mouths off. If I'm not entirely mistaken both have mde comments saying that they were better than Yuji Naka and/or Shigeru Miyamoto.
The fact is the Japanese don't like American games. Even the South Koreans, who eat, sleep, and breath StarCraft are different (I suspect that, outside a few MMO games, it's because of their lack of an game development industry). The Japanese like Japanese games (as I've mentioned elsewhere on Slashdot, it's a sentiment I share) and as long as Japanese developers keep making those games, Japanese consumers will buy them.
"Quality American games" is rather ridiculious. I'm not Joe American Sixpack, but out of all the games I'm playing right now, I only have 4 Western developed games; Metroid Prime, and the X-Wing/TIE Fighter/Alliance series for the PC. Add to that Total War: Shogun and that rounds out my Western game experience. Instead, I bought Disgea last year, and am planning on buying Nippon Ichi's very Japanese La Pucelle and Phantom Brave titles this summer. I don't like American games for the most part, nor do most Japanese. I remember a Famitsu (the Japanese gaming bible) interview with some Japanese teenage guys when Metal Gear 2 was coming out - their quote was that it looked "American" and they'd probably eat it up stateside.
Finally, gaming is ingrained in Japanese culture. Even my gf, who doesn't like gaming owned machines up to the Nintendo 65 and still plays Gameboy Advance regularly. The American gaming industry has a far better chance of collapsing in on itself (especially if the Xbox becomes the defacto gaming standard here - what's with you
Re:Loon (Score:1, Funny)
It's because we can put Linux on the Xbox.
Re:Loon (Score:2, Insightful)
Hmmm, sounds familiar....