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Mega Man Designer Explains Japan's Waning Video Game Influence
eldavojohn writes "As one of the creators of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune remembers the days when Japan redefined video games. He believes those days are long gone as he reveals much in his criticisms of Japan's ailing game economy. Inafune says Japan is five years behind — still making games for older consoles with 'no diversity, no originality.' When asked why, he responds, 'A lot of designers, if they find a genre that works for them, they stick with it. A lot of designers just stick to a set formula. That doesn't work any more. You can't just tweak the graphics, work just on image quality. You can't compete on that. The business side is not keeping up with investment. You need to be prepared to invest 4 billion yen or more on a game, and then spend 2 billion yen more to promote it. But Japanese companies can't do that. So we're losing out to the West in terms of investment in games. It's a vicious cycle, a deflationary spiral. Because you don't invest, you can't sell games, and because you don't sell games, you can't invest.' He compares making games for Japan and the US to Sushi and basketball — two popular things but each done in distinctly different ways by the two nations."
no diversity, no originality
sounds like every other copypasta shooter, sports game, racing game we have from the mainstream devs/publishers here in the states. If you ask me, Japanese games have some of the most diversity and originality. America's latest Shoot 'em Up? They aren't that unique. Call of Duty maps being released as free downloads for PC, then being re-released as 'map packs' for money a couples years later. Mainstream here is mostly movie spin-offs, sequels, prequels, and rehashes. And Madden 19xx-20xx, but nothing new under the sun there either. Sims games? NCAA games? Comic-book games made after movies? Games made after movies made about games? Intellectual property my ass. More like unoriginal crap-ware extortion.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
I really hope this doesn't end up with a lot more Japan-exclusive games while the west gets crap games like what happened in the 16-bit era. I don't -want- more "westernized" games. I -like- games that are different such as Katamari. I can appreciate multiple cultures, I don't -want- games dealing with "western" themes as opposed to Japanese themes. I want good, solid games. I don't want localization, I want translation, yes, but subtitles are fine. I'd rather have the Japanese voice actors and subtitles than crappy US voice actors.
There have been some brilliant games either not brought to the west or brought to the west later that would have been excellent back "in the day". For example, a lot of the Final Fantasy games were not released for the NES/SNES in the US and the entire Fire Emblem series was neglected until fairly recently.
I don't want westernized games.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Five years behind what? The US? What have we produced that has been original lately? Another Madden NFL game? What American game has been as original as something like Katamari Damacy lately? (Granted that is 5 years old or more now). Seriously though, I would like to know, because video games are a bit boring lately. (I suppose Portal might count).
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10... pretty fuckin' badass videogames. Implemented in 2009-10 using 1986-8 technology.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
We Americans really excel at engineering ways to screw off no matter the cost. See lawn darts for an example.
"You can't just tweak the graphics, work just on image quality."
In general, that is what has been plaguing the entire gaming industry since the late 90s: graphics over gameplay. That being said, the rise of casual games these past few years has been a welcome change over shiny 3D graphics with dull repetitive gameplay formulae.
http://twitter.com/object404
It's made by one person, but it's the most commonly owned new game in my circle of friends.
Granted it only rakes in 10 bucks per person, but I imagine he has no shortness of cash.
I don't blame them for not branching out into other as it seems as though the audience doesn't care too much about anything new and wants more of the same. That might not be healthy for the industry, but why should a company invest massive amounts in flashy graphics, new tech, and marketing for something that's probably going to flop when they can just push out something using the same engine as their last game, reuse some of the art assets, and have an install base that will probably pick it up without a huge marketing push? If there's money to be made in something new, someone will make it, even if it's not the established players.
I dunno, the indie game scene seems to have at least some interesting stuff floating around these past few years, like World of Goo, And Yet It Moves, and Fluidity. (The latter two are European, not USian, but hey.)
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
read this one:
"I want to find ideas that are global."
I've been saying this for a while now. Videogame culture is not defined by national boundaries. I have more in common with a Japanese gamer than I do with the sport-freak American down the street. Videogame culture is about 40% American/Other Western Countries, 40% Japanese/Other Asian Countries, and about 20% original.
Yes, Japanese developers are very behind in game design. You look at, say FFXIII. Big-name game, big-name people. They're about par with America in terms of art, music, maybe a bit behind in programming because they don't pay as well. But their game designers are probably ten years behind. Go to an American game-design site like Gamasutra. They'll talk about interaction looks, gameplay design AS the story. Then go to Japan, where most of their game design is "like this game, but with different numbers and colors." They just do not get game design as a science.
In interests of fairness, however, there is a lot American developers could learn from Japan. First, story. Japanese writers are good at making unique characters. Compare (to use well-known examples) Cloud Strife to Master Chief. Both have unique art designs, but look at the characters. One is an ex-elite soldier recovering from torture/experiment-induced amnesia and a feeling of duty to a dead comrade. The other is a supersoldier who is REALLY good at killing things, and is the last survivor of a battle that, until last week, was never really shown. Now, which sounds like a more interesting story?
Inafune-san, on the extremely slim chance that you read this, I understand what you're saying, and I'm glad that you're coming to us to learn. However, don't give up entirely on Japanese developers. They have much to teach us as well.
The company that had so little faith in their mind numbingly mediocre Halo games to get decent reviews they sent out 900 dollar 'gift packages' to reviewers...
Microsoft: Bribing Halo 3 Reviewers
http://www.gamegrep.com/other/5422-microsoft_bribing_halo_3_reviewers/
Dean Takahashi: Halo 3 press kit "nothing less than a bribe"
http://www.qj.net/qjnet/xbox-360/dean-takahashi-halo-3-press-kit-nothing-less-than-a-bribe.html
Way to go Bungie! No wonder their bunny hopping shiny green Power Ranger games are the laughingstock of the FPS world...
Why even try when you have Microsoft's billions to throw at the gaming press?
It isn't about getting ready of the whacky.. It's about getting rid of the stale. Japanese themes don't worry us at all. That's all superficial and as he said the superficial changes (blue eyed, blonde haired characters, Western themes) did bugger all. When it comes to RPGs (as an example genre), Western gamers lap up the open world games such as Morrowind and Oblivion. The Japanese probably love these games as well, but the developers are stuck in the rut of crafting Street Fighter, Tekken and DOA games with the same formula over and over again. Final Fantasy is still basically the same formula as well, with a bit of experimentation to do with class changing now and then. I'm not saying that there aren't plenty of Western developers aren't stuck in the same rut and there are certainly fun, novel games that come out of Japan (like Katamari). Just my $0.05
How many PS3 Anime style RPG/action games does japan crank out a year? The gameplay is exactly the same in every one. You have a party of 3 characters (most are of the 'cutesy' type) run around a map, collect roots/sticks/bugs/trinkets randomly encounter some cuddly monster, have a live action battle with it and the 3 characters in your party. Then resume running around.
I swear in one of these games, you were attacking these... these CHICKENS. Sure they were bigger than you, but to me this type of game summarizes the classic Japanese adventure game. My friend has probably played about 20 of these and every one looks exactly the same except the monsters are slightly different, the currency has a different name and your main character is a blonde haired dude instead of a blue haired dude.
In one of the games it simulated a MMORPG as you had to check an ingame email account and an in game message board to get tips and new adventures. But other than that, back to the grind, running around getting beetle wings and bat toes....
Red silver blue etc etc.
My boy cant get enough of these things and was watching the news as the latest release was let out in Japan last week. He can not wait for the English version to appear.
Pokemon to me is exactly what is being spoken about here. Nothing much new, same game for years, but so far as my one is concerned, that does not matter.
(probably because he is young and impressionable and still lured by brands rather than product, features and quality. One day he will be an old cynic like his dad)
. .
Designer of the Megaman series complaining about games sticking to formula.
My strategy was to bring robots into the game
Maybe he doesn't realize that the rest of the wold perceives that as the most japanese of strategies?
I get tired of the "Get off my lawn, the past was so much better." No, not the case actually. Games are great these days. You can have graphics AND gameplay and indeed there are games that do. Name the kind of game you like, I can give you a few examples of ones that do it really well. There's more crap out there too, of course, as you get a bigger market you get more of everything. However if you don't think there are any good new games it is only because you are walking around with your hands over your eyes.
In reality, there are a few things at play:
1) We remember the past through rose coloured glasses. This is just a human condition. You remember the good and forget the bad. Psychologists think it is part of our coping mechanism. So you remember some of those games as being a hell of a lot better than they were. Go back and play them some time. Whip out an emulator and try them out. You'll discover many were not nearly as good as you think. Like Final Fantasy 2 (in the US, FF4 in reality). Loved that game as a kid, and it was hard. My friends and I would sit around and play it together to figure things out. Story was really good too... Well, not so much. I've played it now as an adult. The story is pretty cheesy when you get down to it and difficult? Shit I can knock it out no problem. The enemies are so simplistic, easy for me to figure out. I can practically play it with the turbo speed button in the emulator held down all the time. It can't hold a candle story or gameplay wise to the new RPGs.
2) You remember the good games better because you spent more time on them. You probably bought mostly games you liked, and if you got one you didn't, you didn't play it much. As such you don't remember all the pure shit out there. Consider that there were almost 900 NES games released in the US. You really think they were all good? Did you ever play the Barbie Sports game? How about Bible Games (a religious 3-pack game)? There are bunches of crap games out there, you just didn't play them much if at all so they didn't leave an impression. The good ones you played a lot.
3) General curmudgeon/hardass syndrome. For some reason, people get all tough guy about the past. "Oh games back then had shit graphics but they were REAL GAMES. We didn't NEED graphics, they were so good!" It is silly, so don't do it.
4) When videogames were brand new, it was easier to be "innovative" because nothing had been done. In reality most weren't, they were just doing things in games that had been done in other mediums, but it was still a "game first." Well when something matures, it is harder to do something truly unique that has never been done at all before.
So seriously, don't be a stick in the mud, open your eyes, and discover that there are many, many good games being made these days.
Now if you'll excuse me, I want to go play Dragon Age, which is a really good game.
I think I've seen a lot more interesting games from the indie scene these days compared to some of the crap being released from large companies like EA. Some games from large companies are still good like Starcraft II for instance but, these days release cycles like that are long and few. Also, a great deal of the good old franchises have been either killed or like Capcom does with this franchises milk it to death and then milk it some more.
Probably one of the best things that has been done for the gaming community was when Microsoft released XNA allowing any john or jane doe to release their own game with a unique game lay experience for both PC and the XBox 360. If anything Sony and Nintendo should be following suit maybe then I'll consider buying a PS3 and hooking up my Wii again.
A dating sim set during the landing at Omaha?
Call of Super Awkward Duty Fight 3: Gun Date
FTA:
How come that's what 90% of the market is? Tweaked graphics on the same games from 1997
*DrugCheese rants*
You forgot child pornography. "Wait, is that a picture of a school girl being raped by a monster made of tentacles?" "Yeah, it's a new Japanese game." "Oh, that explains it."
Not to mention having panty-shots of just about anything that's conceptually female. Is there a way to exclude Japan from Google image searches? It'd be useful.
... is because the amount of work and talent to create a modern game is huge, much more then it was in the 80's and early 90's, to build a game you need a LOT of talented people the problem is that it's extremely hard to get consistency and cohesion of art assets and gameplay vision because of team sizes.
Few games get it right, but games like God of war for example or soul calibur 2 are excellent examples of when a project comes together well.
The big innovation in gaming is figuring out new ways to extract money from players. The concept that you can buy your way up in a game has become mainstream. Too mainstream; YoVille brownies in 7-11.
This idea originated in Japan, where you've been able to buy stuff for your virtual girlfriend with your mobile phone for years. But that was a niche product. Farmville peaked at 82 million users.
I've been living in Japan for almost five years now and I can say that this same situation applies to a great number of companies and organizations here. Here city office are still almost completely paper based, employees are expected to work longer hours instead of working more productively, there are only a handful of computer in the teaching lounges of high schools, organizations will hire half a dozen people for what can be done with a single computer and some custom build software, workers are frowned upon if they try to innovate or rock the boat in any way, and stubbornness and diligence are two of the most important traits workers can have. Japan is one of the most xenophobic countries in the world ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_issues_in_Japan#Comment_by_U.N._special_rapporteur_on_racism_and_xenophobia ), and this doesn't just apply to their attitudes towards foreign people, it applies to business practices too. Japan isn't going to fall behind the rest of the world in technology, they already have. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20100430d1.html There is a famous ancient proverb here that couldn't be more true in Japanese society today: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" And get hammered down it does.
What should it be known for, exactly?
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Ugh, too often I see this statement. If everyone followed this advice, *nothing* would ever be improved simply because it isn't completely broke. Don't bother with that new groundbreaking invention that you just thought up, what we have now isn't broke, so don't bother! Sorry, not too much to do with your comment, but I just don't like that sentence.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
When the Japanese say they are behind the west, they mean the profits made in the west. They just want to make big bucks and will ruin the Japanese-ness of their games to chase that money.
I think the real problem is when you want to take an older game and update it but not alienate the fanbase, I think that's where the sentiment comes from because a lot of "innovative games" are absolute garbage because the designers were clueless.
Mainstream gamers shy away from complex combat flight simulators but the DCS series by Eagle Dynamics is really coming along.
Check out these youtube clips of the high-fidelity modeling of the Ka-50 BlackShark and the imminent A-10C. Plus the medium-fidelity (easier to play) LockOn. Some of the newer aspects of these games were simply not possible with computers five years ago. The state of the art in flight simulators is moving forward at a rapid pace:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUu4SV3GjVw&feature=rec-LGOUT-real_rev-rn-1r-12-HM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXx_oDKCICg&feature=rec-LGOUT-real_rev-rn-1r-9-HM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm8NIBjTDvs&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV35B-vfT4U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/user/wagmatt#p/a/u/1/_MDnglKtcSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK3TDx-QQpY
There there is 1C's successor to IL-2 Sturmovik called Storm of War: Battle of Britain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmlk99ENutw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMFFQGryWhk
Enjoy the (free) videos. Combat flight simming is fun!
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Eagle Dynamics or 1C (both based in Russia!), but do enjoy their simulators.
... some video game stores have a whole floor selling locally produced amateur video games. I haven't seen it anywhere else yet.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
So the data update to change a few dozen names justifies a whole new game purchase?
Originality is good and everything, but there's still quite a bit of room to improve the good old 2D SHMUP imo. A freeware game I downloaded just 2 days ago has a bit of UN Squadron, or R-type about it, but still feels fresh, and gets a lot of things right:
http://www.locomalito.com/juegos_hydorah.php
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
How many PC military style FPS games does America crank out a year? The gameplay is exactly the same in every one. You have a walking camera with an arm (you may or may not have feet) run around a map, shoot pistols/rifles/sniper rifles/rockets randomly at various opponents, shoot them until you eventually get killed and respawn. Then resume running around.
I swear in one of these games, you were attacking these... these 12 YEAR OLDS. Sure they were better than you, but to me this type of game summarizes the classic American PC game. My friend has probably played about 20 of these and every one looks exactly the same except the soldiers are slightly different, the guns have a different names and your main character is a bald unshaven dude instead of a cropped unshaven dude.
In one of the games it simulated a MMO Fight as you had to check an ingame orders list and an in game command structure to get tips and new orders. But other than that, back to the grind, running around getting frags and XP....
May the Maths Be with you!
From TFS: "He compares making games for Japan and the US to Sushi and basketball"
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
The formula seems to Work for Halo.
Americans love FPS... especially on their consoles.
And that's what they get... the same regurgitated crap over and over...
Its working and has been working here for over 10 years.
How many FPS's has Japan created in the last 10 years?
How many of those have been mega hits in the US?
I hate when "experts" say crap like this.
"When asked why, he responds, 'A lot of designers, if they find a genre that works for them, they stick with it. A lot of designers just stick to a set formula. That doesn't work any more. You can't just tweak the graphics, work just on image quality. You can't compete on that."
To add to that, it's not like Japan doesn't have its own indie culture. My knowledge of the country is limited, but I can at least say off the top of my head that we've seen Cave Story and the Touhou Project series there, and I just followed a friend's suggestion to get a copy of Recettear off of Steam, a small Japanese RPG that was recently ported over. But of course, being smaller companies, we probably don't hear about every small title that gets released in another country.
Libertarians somehow believe that private businesses should be stronger than governments but weaker than individuals.
Thanks for taking the time to illuminate us.
Tells me all you do is whine, not look. Let's go have a look see at the most recently released titles, and what they are. We'll stick with the PC, since that's what I use:
Civilization 5, Sep 21, 2010: Turn based strategy
Patrician IV, Sep 17, 2010: Real time strategy
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Sep 8, 2010: Horror
Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker, Sep 7, 2010: RPG (expansion)
Aion: Assault on Balaurea, Sep 7, 2010: MMORPG
R.U.S.E., Sep 7, 2010: Real time strategy
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse Episode 5: The City That Dares Not Sleep, Aug 30, 2010: Adventure
Black Mirror II, Aug 30, 2010: Adventure
Ship Simulator Extremes, Aug 27, 2010: Simulation
Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms, Aug 27, 2010: Turn based strategy
Worms Reloaded, Aug 26, 2010: Strategy
Elemental: War of Magic, Aug 24, 2010: Turn based strategy
Mafia II, Aug 24, 2010: Action/Adventure
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Aug 17, 2010: Third person shooter
This is just some of the larger releases in the last couple months (a lot of games come out around this time of year). There are more minor/indy releases. Notice something about that list?
I'm not saying there are plenty of FPS games because guess what? FPSes are fun. Bad Company 2 is one I like myself, as well as Team Fortress 2. However if you think that's all there is the only thing that says is you walk around ignorant of the gaming world. There are TONS of games of every kind out there, many of them quite good. Just open your eyes and look.
why not- SMG 2 was even greater! wonderful and clever game. They even have some new ideas in there that are used in a few places. Its like they have more ideas than they need most games have a couple ideas used with increasing difficulty and that is it-- not so with this one.
If you are lazy because you are old and used to the old ways ... and don't want to relearn new control schemes that take a little muscle then you should stick with the old stuff and yell out the window to the kids: "keep off my lawn!"
I enjoyed those years of building up my thumb skills and mouse skills - I can't get that back without erasing my memory but I can try something new. Xbox seems to largely have rehashes of the same stuff I've seen plenty of and I have enough good memories of those games that I do not need to consume them to reminiscence over the past -- which is not the same as living it... So, try to create new experiences so when you are too old to do anything you have even more to remember back to.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I don't think there's an earthshattering reason to upgrade from XP
New applications tend to do more than old applications. For example, Firefox 3.6 supports a much richer HTML DOM than, say, Netscape 4. In order to do more, these applications need a more powerful CPU, a more powerful GPU, more RAM, etc. To get these, you have to buy a new PC, which will come with a new copy of Windows. True, there isn't much of a reason to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 on the same PC, but there is a reason to upgrade from a PC that came with Windows XP to a PC that comes with Windows 7.
The primary issue is the size of the game, which wouldn't have fit on a classic cartridge
With bankswitching, NES cartridge size is unlimited. I own a 2 GB NES cartridge that loads from a 2 GB CF card into 1 MB of RAM.
Segments of the music are also technically impossible on an NES
In theory, near-CD-quality music is possible on a Famicom: just put an MP3 decoder chip on the cartridge board. The front-loading version of the NES needs a jumper pack inserted into the bottom expansion port to enable this feature, but it's still there. Nintendo never sold this, but on nesdev.com/bbs they're discussing manufacturing it for use with modern-era NES games.
Amazingly cool RPG out of Japan, with the classic 8-bit stylings (in both graphics and music) of Legend of Zelda. Ok, so its not "original" in a sense, but its no more of a throwback than Mega Man 9 or 10. I knew I would enjoy it when I picked it up, but I never knew how MUCH I would enjoy it. I felt like I was back in the mid-80s, and enjoying every minute of it. I would love it if retro-styled gaming such as these two titles caught on, I would dive right in.
what kid didn't love throwing vegtables at the "nightmare" monster Wart?
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
I think you're getting the geeks mixed up with the nerds.
But hey, what do I know - I'm just a dweeb.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."