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."

Comments

Re:Man western-eastern culture

[updog]

people should realise, that if somethings are not liked somewhere, then maybe theres a good reason for it...

Yes, kinda like the Iraq invasion...

Re:always with the tentacles

[Anonymous Coward]

"sex with existing animals has been targeted as something to persecute"

It really is simple if you have a summary, animation of:

sex with animals: bad.
sex with young children: good.
aliens with real penises: bad.
being raped by tentacles: good.
pubic hair: bad.

Re:On Xbox's lack of success in Japan

[Amata]

Nice concept. I agree that the Gamecube is a decent console

Now if only you could tell that to some game developers, so that they would actually start making some decent (ie not geared for 10 year olds) games for it. If there were more than 2 games I liked on it, I might consider purchasing one.

Re:I used to LOVE to play

[DNS-and-BIND]

I understand, man...I used to get angry when they wouldn't let me play Madden with them, too.

Don't worry, after you get out of college, you'll never see those people again. You can sit in your efficiency apartment and watch all the cartoons you want, and nobody will bother you. Actually, nobody will talk to you, ever. Should be heaven.

Re:XBox not selling in Japan

[Sj0]

You know, I'm starting to get the slightest bit annoyed at the "oh yeah, THAT'S original" trolls.

I'm sorry, did the x-box shrink at some point? Did it stop having a library that consists of a handfull of original games and a bunch of year-old leftovers from the PS2? NO?

Then stop bitching when we make fun of it. Face facts, MS or not, the X-Box just isn't all it's hardware says it should be. Well, perhaps it's more PHYSICALLY than it should be, but... :P

Re:I used to LOVE to play

[identity0]

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

Yo, that's just wack, man. I don't know what MC say that, but haven't we lost 'nuff brothers to this eastside / westside shiznit? Us hip-hoppers gotta band together and have peace, man, or more brothers gonna die like Tupac, yo. And how we supposed to exploit, erm, celebrate da 'hood if we keep on fightin'?

My man KFG(Killa Fuckin' Gangasta?), we gotta get together sometime, settle differences 'tween our people, y'dig?

Love, P. Diddlysquat