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A Salute to Japanese Game Designers

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-/salute dept.

thegamebiz writes "Amped IGO has a great tribute to Japanese game designers. From the article: 'In an industry where so much is owed to our friends across the Pacific it seems almost blasphemous to forget about the contributions of those that inhabit the Land of the Rising Sun. If it weren't for them, not only would we not have a lot of the franchises we love, but the industry as a whole would certainly not be as lively as it is today.'"

9 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Im not so sure... by kyle+(in+stereo) · · Score: 2, Insightful

    but the industry as a whole would certainly not be as lively as it is today. Other than the NES bringing the industry back from the brink, what do we owe Japanese developers? Personally I owe them a good bit. Most of my favorite games are from Japanese studios, but there are nearly an equal amount of western developed games that Ive enjoyed as well. Maybe even more. Salute to them for doing a good job, sure, but dont give them most of the credit.

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    1. Re:Im not so sure... by damsa · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't think Western designers would've ever made DOA: Volleyball. That's what makes Japanese designers so great, the attention to detail. .....Or maybe not.

    2. Re:Im not so sure... by badasscat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Salute to them for doing a good job, sure, but dont give them most of the credit.

      Well, it depends on what you're giving them most of the credit for.

      Arcade games were invented by Americans. Most people also say home consoles were as well, although they developed basically independently in Japan at around the same time (maybe slightly later). For the first decade or so of the console industry, Americans and Japanese gamers played their own systems basically unaware of what was going on on the other side of the Pacific. They had never heard of the Coleco Vision and we had never heard of the Sega Mark 1 or Famicom.

      After the crash of 1983/1984 in the US, though, the Japanese completely took over. They resuscitated the industry in America pretty much singlehandedly. It wasn't European or American manufacturers and developers; it was the Japanese. We would not have a game industry these days without Nintendo, Sega and yes, Sony, along with the developers that went along with them (and they were mainly Japanese as well). It was the success of these companies that brought Microsoft back into the mix, and enticed American and European publishers as well. But it's important to remember that in 1985, third-party American and European console publishers basically did not exist. Activision managed to survive the crash but were a shell of their former selves and were focusing on the PC market. Most of the European developers we know now also either just weren't around at the time or were known as PC developers. It was the NES and later Japanese systems that rejuvinated the western industry.

      Even today, Japan controls more than 50% of the worldwide video game market. That includes games and systems created in Japan and sold both domestically and abroad. It's not just about famous creators like Shigeru Miyamoto; Japan churns out thousands of games per year and without its contributions, there literally wouldn't be an industry at this point. (You can debate whether or not MS would have ever released the Xbox, but it's well-documented that they did so in response to the threat from Sony.)

      So, don't necessarily give them credit for creating the industry in the first place... but do give them most of the credit for keeping it alive and making it thrive again.

    3. Re:Im not so sure... by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2

      Ok, I agree with much of your post, but...

      We would not have a game industry these days without Nintendo, Sega and yes, Sony, along with the developers that went along with them (and they were mainly Japanese as well).

      Whaaaaa? You honestly think that if Nintendo/Sega hadn't existed, NO OTHER COMPANY in America would have produced a video game console between 1984 and 2006? Seriously?

      Frankly, I prefer American games and American consoles.

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  2. they've done a lot by joe+155 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The japaneese have done a lot with inovation in games, they also make interesting game which challenge you in different ways, and sometimes they just push the envolope in weird.

    Electroplankton for the DS seems really inovative and i'm looking forward to being able to buy it, its nice to see an inovative take on something like that, using the microphone and it being a game where you don't have to go through levels, its more just for fun, no begining, no end, just fun.

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  3. Re:It's rigged by GrumblyStuff · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Probably because he's pissed that Namco was going to pump out a sequel with or without his help/approval.

  4. Itagaki by Jongpil+Yun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can kiss my ass. The man is immature and a loudmouth. DOA is the worst fighter out there, and he has the gall to say the things he's said about the Namco fighters? How he can make a game that sucks as much as DOA:Ultimate and then make something like Ninja Gaiden is beyond me. It seems to me that he needs to stop dissing other designers in his press releases and spend more time working on Ninja Gaiden 2.

  5. not a mainstream game... by Cryptnotic · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That link is to a "doujin soft", an amateur-produced game. Similar to doujinshi (fan comics), doujin soft are games made which either feature original characters or characters "borrowed" from mainstream game/anime/manga culture. Sometimes these doujin soft can be very good, for example, the Melty Blood doujin soft games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melty_Blood) are almost modern professional quality fighting games involving the characters from TYPE-MOON's Tsukihime visual novel game (which later became an anime and a manga).

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  6. Re:All your base are belong to us! by pilkul · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Actually, at the moment Dance Dance Revolution is a much bigger phenomenon in America than Japan. It's pretty much died down over there.

    A better example is Dragon Quest; wildly popular there but doesn't sell much here. DQ is to America what Halo is to Japan.