Video Games - Lost in Translation?

MikeDawg writes "No, it's not a case of 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us'. MSNBC is running an article about the relative popularity of some game hardware and software in the West vs. the East. This article covers the phenomenon of games vs. culture and why video games that do well in the U.S. generally don't do well in Japan, and vice-versa." The piece notes of the Japanese market: "American-made consoles such as 3DO (released in Japan in 1994) and most recently the Microsoft Xbox (released in two years ago) never seem to attract consumers in large numbers. Games such as 'Enter the Matrix' from Atari, and 'The Lord of the Rings' by Electronic Arts, both released [in Japan] last year, often vanish... without leaving a trace."

I agree

[tgv]

Lost in Translation would be an excellent title for a new video game. You can only win if you don't get the girl at the end.

You are in a maze of straight streets with bright neon signs, all alike.
> north
You are in a maze of straight streets with bright neon signs, all alike.
> north
You are in a maze of straight streets with bright neon signs, all alike.
> north
You are lost in translation.

XBox not selling in Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

not because it's unpopular, but because no one can get the zoning permits!

Re:I used to LOVE to play

[IntelliTubbie]

... The Legend of Zelda. As I recall, that game was made in Japan, by a Japanese developer, even based on many elements from his real life.

Wow, that guy must have done a LOT of acid.

Cheers,
IT

Different markets, thats why

[Zarxrax]

Americans want gritty, realistic stuff. Japanese want weird stuff, cute stuff, and 8-year-old girls getting raped by tentacles. I mean hell... would YOU want something like Enter the Matrix when you could be watching a little girl have simulated sex?

Re:I agree

[xe1fer]

You were eaten by a grue.

United States of Japan

[djcreamy]

Maybe we in the United States are a bunch of closet serial-killers due to the violent, malicious video games we so actively enjoy....

...but look at their hentai. Have you ever seen bodily fluids used (and reused) that way? Do all girls wear those uniforms? Should cartoon figures really do *that*???

I'm torn between rejecting the Japanese altogether or forming the United States of Japan where the best of both worlds collide in an all-out FPS blood sport of bukkake and tentacle rape. Who's with me?

Re:On Xbox's lack of success in Japan

[simoniker]

I love your work, Samir - keep up the excellent job you're doing informing Slashdot readers of your work at Nintendo.

Hell, no! and the US senate agrees...

[CaptainCheese]

and that's why the "Tentacles in the Classroom 2004" bill was passed yesterday, revoking all previous kiddy-porn and bestiality laws on a federal level.

Re:Just maybe..

[Babbster]

Maybe Japanese people are less obsessed with blowing things up pointlessly and hence prefer better quality entertainment with a solid story and more things to do.

I hear ya. I just can't get into US demon-screwing cartoons. They just don't have the same depth as the ones made in Japan.

Re:I agree

[mattjb0010]

You can only win if you don't get the girl at the end.

Nice to see someone targeting a game at /. readers!

Re:I used to LOVE to play

[Anonymous Coward]

some top selling games for 2003:
madden
gta
nfs
tony hawk
enter the matrix
medal of honor

all written by japanese people like JOHNoshi SMITHitaki, BOBomo WILSONimoto

It's not just games....

[trouser]

they also eat strange food and they've got a different word for everything. It's weird.

Re:Also breasts

[CyberDruid]

Violent games ARE popular in Japan, but mostly the violent games doesn't focus only on blood and spilled guts. They want focus on the art of fighting.

And on breast bounce.

Re:Regimented psyches

[alphaseven]

I guess that in Japan, society is a lot more regimented and order-driven than in the west, and so they'll seek games that are similar.....

Grand Theft Auto sold surprisingly well in Japan, but I sort of wonder what they're doing in it. Maybe they're just driving around, obeying traffic signals, listening to the radio, watching the sunset...

Re:I agree

[Anonymous Coward]

You are in a narrow street of cobblestone
'neath the halo of a street lamp
>w
Your eyes are stabbed by the flash of a neon light that split the night and touched the sound of silence.
>look
In the naked light you see ten thousand people, maybe more. People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening.

Re:Think about it

[davew2040]

Remind me to stand in the opposite direction of Japan, since you appear to be jizzing all over it.

Re:XBox not selling in Japan

[Powercntrl]

Penny Arcade called, they want their joke back.

Re:GTA3 *can* be played as a linear game.

[rlangis]

I prefer Vice City over GTA3 if only for the 80's soundtrack and the SWEET Mullets. [mulletsgalore.com] Okay, maybe not the Mullets.

But jacking a car and cruising around Vice City jamming to my favorite 80's hits? I could do that all day long, my friend.

Re:mod parent up

[Anonymous Coward]

on april 29th, 2004, the parent of this post was modded up for calling for a moderation on a post informing the audience of the *existence* of shigeru miyamoto. if this doesn't signify that a new breed of losers has taken over this place, nothing else will.

Prediction for Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft, unable to obtain a grapplehold of the Japanese gaming market, will retaliate against Japan using their army of black helicopters and their nuclear arsenal probably around 2009.

What will the Supreme Court do, you say? Probably just some lame multi-million dollar fine.

Re:Regimented psyches

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally, I prefer Microsoft Quiznos Simulator... toasted does taste better.

Re:I used to LOVE to play

[kfg]

It's an interesting observation. Perhaps it can best be summed up with the phrase:

"East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet."

The phenomenon is so glaring it's a wonder that nobody has noticed it before.

KFG

Re:Regimented psyches

[BizidyDizidy]

They could do everything they wanted, but they'd probably just fuck schoolgirls with tentacles.

Re:I used to LOVE to play

[kfg]

. . .on par with cheap food and inebriated idiocy.

And lord knows you won't find any of that in Japan.

KFG

Re: Eaten by a grue

[Anonymous Coward]

What, with all those bright neon signs? Never!

Re:Just maybe..

[Anonymous Coward]

I watched too much Japanese porn and now I have a censorship video blur fetish.

Re:Travellers blog,

[zero_offset]

my gf (yup she's thai, in case you're wondering)

We weren't wondering.
Just in case you were wondering.

Re:reverse is also true...

[pommiekiwifruit]

You had to put the five year limit in to rule out custer's revenge, yeah?

Re:I agree

[Luigi30]

You can't be eaten by a grue if there's neon around.

You see a staircase down saying 'Escape'.
> down
It is dark.
> look
It is dark.
You were eaten by a grue.

Re:I agree

[Marsell]

You were eaten by a kogal... >.>

The winner is....

[adamofgreyskull]

The one who collects the biggest paycheck.

You are surprised by Japanese culture.
>Make fun of Japanese culture.
A Japanese man talks to you.
>Make fun of language
The Japanese man looks confused
>Make fun of Japanese man in english
The Japanese man doesn't understand you
>east
You are in Scarlett Johanssens hotel room
>look
Scarlett Johanssen is inexplicably in her underwear
>look at Scarlett Johanssen's arse
Nice.
>look at Scarlett Johanssen's arse
Nice.
>look at Scarlett Johanssen's arse
Nice.
>look at Scarlett Johanssen's arse
Nice.
...

Re:Regimented psyches

[RESPAWN]

Maybe they're just driving around, obeying traffic signals, listening to the radio, watching the sunset...

One of my friends had a PS2 waaay before I did. When we finally got her to buy GTA3 she was doing exactly that in the game. Stopping at stop lights, changing radio stations, etc. The rest of us finally had to yell at her "What are you doing!? You just stole this car, so why aren't you driving it like you did?"

Hell, she was paying more attention to traffic laws in the game than she does in real life.

Re:I used to LOVE to play

[TheRaven64]

some top selling games for 2003:
...
nfs
...

Calling NFS a game is a bit of a stretch. You are in a maze of directories, all alike...

Re:Their brain has a bullshit filter

[be951]

<bullshit filter off>Wow. Have there always been more than six posts per article?

Re:United States of Japan

[uss_eldridge]

I for one welcome our new octopus overlords...

Re:Also breasts

[Tackhead]

> > Violent games ARE popular in Japan, but mostly the violent games doesn't focus only on blood and spilled guts. They want focus on the art of fighting.
>
> And on breast bounce.

Yeah. Tomb Raider would never take off in the West.

John Madden is an athlete?

[Anonymous Coward]

In the West, consumers look for games with ties to blockbuster movies such as Harry Potter or professional athletes such as John Madden.

What? John Madden is a professional athlete? New for Gamecube, "Professional Hot Dog Eater 2004."