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."
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.
not because it's unpopular, but because no one can get the zoning permits!
Wow, that guy must have done a LOT of acid.
Cheers,
IT
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
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?
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?
I love your work, Samir - keep up the excellent job you're doing informing Slashdot readers of your work at Nintendo.
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.
--
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.
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
they also eat strange food and they've got a different word for everything. It's weird.
Now wash your hands.
And on breast bounce.
Opinions stated are mine and do not reflect those of the Illuminati
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...
Remind me to stand in the opposite direction of Japan, since you appear to be jizzing all over it.
I prefer Vice City over GTA3 if only for the 80's soundtrack and the SWEET Mullets. 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.
GIR: I'm going to sing the Doom song now. Doom doom doom doom doom doom de-doom doom doom doom doom doom doom...
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.
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.
Personally, I prefer Microsoft Quiznos Simulator... toasted does taste better.
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
They could do everything they wanted, but they'd probably just fuck schoolgirls with tentacles.
The safest way to approach lava is to have another person with you and he goes first.
. . .on par with cheap food and inebriated idiocy.
And lord knows you won't find any of that in Japan.
KFG
What, with all those bright neon signs? Never!
I watched too much Japanese porn and now I have a censorship video blur fetish.
my gf (yup she's thai, in case you're wondering)
We weren't wondering.
Just in case you were wondering.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
You had to put the five year limit in to rule out custer's revenge, yeah?
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.
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.
If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will.
...
nfs
...
Calling NFS a game is a bit of a stretch. You are in a maze of directories, all alike...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Wow. Have there always been more than six posts per article?
>
> And on breast bounce.
Yeah. Tomb Raider would never take off in the West.