Land of the Rising Fun

I very patiently waited all week before linking to 1up's multi-part Land of the Rising Fun feature. It details several very good, very Japanese titles they've had the pleasure of playing lately. A lot of them are for the DS (no surprise), with Chulip, Odama, and Contact particularly appealing. From the piece: "I've loved Japanese games ever since Pac-Man rocked my childhood. Unfortunately, as the medium matures, its seems more and more Americans take issue with Japan's willingness to defy logic in the name of entertainment. Are the frequently goofy aesthetics of Japanese games a dangerous creative rut? Maybe not. Goofiness is making a comeback, thanks in no small part to the Nintendo DS, which is reaching new audiences with experiences that emphasize creativity above anything so mundane as mere realism."

Comments

What an original title for Japanese Gaming Topic!

[Nova Express]

I wonder where they possibly could have come up with that idea.

Re:American games are all the same.

[krunk4ever]

Other genres created by non-Japanese that I could think of include:

RTS (WarCraft, C&C) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_strategy#Th e_beginnings:_1983_--_1992
Sim games (like SimCity, SimTower, etc)
FPS (Wolfenstein 3D and Doom) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_shooter

These genres are still great heaps of fun, depending on how the gameplay actually turns out. Recent ones I agree Spore looks amazing. Civilization games are getting better for each release.