Anime isn't wildly popular there. That's a myth. Anime is also for children in Japan, just as it is in the US.
Also, much of Hollywood is hugely successful in Japan. It is the gaming industry which has trouble, not the Movie industry, the Music industry, or the TV industry.
Maybe Japanese people are less obsessed with blowing things up pointlessly
So, let me get this straight. The random destruction of RPGs is not pointless, where you commonly have 'random encounters' which have no value whatsoever, but an FPS with every target you fight is carefully placed to add to the challenge is pointless? Perhaps you meant that Japanese people are averse to realistic violence?
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.
It's really true. I can't remember the last time I watched an American porno with a plot to it, but Japanese porno is actually very good. If you doubt me, rent Kite. If you get the wrong one, it might not be a porno and you might think it's just a decent movie.
Bullshit filter? What are you talking about. Japanese games are every bit as much bullshit as American games. You're telling me Tekken isn't bullshit? And that it focuses on the "art of fighting"? Say what? Japanese fighting games are completely unrealistic, with no relationship to the "art of fighting" whatsoever (sole exception being Bushido Blade).
If you want to focus on the differences in cultures, the article pointed out the much more major one: Americans like to have no boundaries and Japanese like to have clear direction. Japanese players get confused with a lack of defined goals.
As for another one of note, Japanese gamers tend to prefer a sense of community, while Americans tend to prefer a sense of personal success. That only really shows up much in MMORPGs, at least as far as I've seen. Look at Legacy of Blood: it is doing very well in Asian areas (particularly Korea, I think) but has done jack squat in the US. This is most likely because the play requires that you interoperate with other players on a massive scale. You need to have some sort of community. For similar reasons, Japanese MMORPG players are more likely to use something because it looks cool, while American players are more likely to use something because it is useful.
Furthermore, am I the only one who notices the gulf getting wider? I mean, modern western games just appeal to me significantly more than the overly-anime inspired games from Japan. I haven't enjoyed a FF since the SNES, I don't like Resident Evil or the Onimusha series, and I think Nintendo games just aren't appealing anymore. Instead, games like GTA3, Halo, and Madden are the bread and butter of most college-aged males video game experiences here in the west. I think it's an important distinction to make.
Your tastes may have changed, but the styles have not. The most recent final fantasy games are much less anime-styled than the older ones, and they still have much the same feel of the older ones.
Also, that GTA3, Halo, and Madden are the bread and butter of most college-aged males doesn't matter for shit. As far as I've seen while at college, beer and pizza are also the bread and water of most college-aged males. So, GTA3, Halo, and Madden are on par with cheap food and inebriated idiocy.
For examples of things that failed in Japan, they mentioned things like Mortal Kombat and the X-Box. However, they started out the article with mentions of The Lord of the Rings, Enter the Matrix, and the 3DO.
Why start an article with all of the crappy examples? Does the author want to convince people he is full of crap? I almost wrote the whole article off after that first paragraph.
Who writes this stuff? Ah. Steven Kent writes this stuff. Steven Kent, if you ever read this, that was some real bad placement of examples. However, the rest of the article was pretty good.
Actually, I don't watch television. However, I still watch commercials. I occasionally dig around online and download the latest commercials. The fact is, I often do want to know about products, and those commercials are some of the best programming around. Humorous ads are much funnier than sitcoms, although they are only on par with stand-up.
They spend tens of thousands of dollars on thirty-seconds of filming. If you rate it second-for-second, those ads are more expensive than any movies or television shows. And many of them are very good.
On the other hand, internet ads have no value. I have never seen an advertisement for something I wanted, and I have never seen an ad I was glad I had watched. TV commercials are sometimes good enough for discussion with friends. Internet ads are pure crap.
I'd just like to announce that, for anyone who was wondering. Of course, no one knows what I am talking about, but that's due to their lack of knowledge.
"I feel your pain. I love Gnome, but I can't help but think that the head developers are a little lost at times. There really isn't a very good sense of group direction and planning... At least compared to KDE, in my opinion."
What's really amazing is that KDE is the one with nothing even resembling central leadership, and GNOME is the one which is generally run by a group of core developers and decision makers. How did that happen?
"That God exists isn't a fact to anyone - not even Christians. It is a belief to them."
Not at all. It is a fact that God exists, it is merely one that cannot be proven. A fact does not only become a fact when it is proven. A fact has always been a fact, no matter who doesn't know it.
I think this is occuring because geeks are the ones who actually understand technology. As such, they feel that they are the only ones who see the danger.
To the masses, technology is divine. They don't realize that technology as often demonic as it is angelic.
Of course, this particular technology isn't very demonic and people are just having fits for fun these days, but the general shift towards conscientious geeks is a good and proper thing which often functions for the benefit of all.
Why do people always call out, "Just don't use it!" If the minority who saw the truth just ignored the majority product throughout history, we'd be fucked. The minority fighting for change has vastly improved the world on a regular basis.
Also, Google isn't the government. Read what you are replying to.
"Of course there is malware for Windows and Linux because both are written in unsafe languages which..."
Are you stupid? Malware is about programs which are legitimately installed but do things the user didn't know they would do or want them to do. Malware works fine in Java or C# or Python of D or Eiffel or Pascal or BASIC or C or C++ or Objective-C or Assembler or K or PERL or anything.
You're thinking of viruses, worms, and security holes, which are another issue.
Ummm...The US is not a company, and I am not a company drone. If the US bankrupts, it keeps all of its territory and all of its people and all of its military. And, if another country tries to take that stuff away, that largest-military-in-the-world-by-a-longshot-to-the -point-of-excessiveness thing will come into play, and whoever tried to take that stuff may end up regretting it.
And the US is addicted to coffee and sugar and ritalin and prozac, and tends to import more drugs than it knows what to do with. With most of the entertainment industry coked out its mind, we seem to be paralleling Rome quite well.
I think we'll start to see some countries start to use prison labor to compete.
China already does. It's a serious issue, and part of the reason that many people want the US to impose trade restrictions on nations which do not implement similar labor standards to the US. If companies were required to offer health-plans in foreign countries, the difference in costs wouldn't be so drastic.
One big difference which will be important when that collapse does happen is that the US is capable of being self-sustaining.
The midwest still produces, even with how unpopular farming is these days, enough food for all of the US. The US exports a lot of food. For many types of food, it is the largest exported in the world.
Also, the US has been, for a while, importing raw materials it could get at home. If the need arises, the US can plunder many reserved areas for resources. The US has an enormous amount of national parks which likely have useful minerals in them, but the US government prevents them from being accessed. In a case of necessity, we could rape our own country instead of the rest of the world.
I've always thought the US/Rome comparison very apt, although I never knew enough about Rome to explain it well. However, I suspect that the heart of Rome was not quite a resource rich as the US, which happens to be one of the more resource rich countries in the world (no, seriously, the land in the US is just great). An example of a country which really couldn't survive that is Japan, so it always needs to be much more careful. Japan has virtually no natural resources and relies entirely on staying ahead technologically. Although I haven't looked into it much, I suspect the same is true of mant European countries, as they are very densely populated.
Also, in regards to Iraq, that is perhaps not the best example of the US army at work. Iraq is not a war, Iraq is an occupation, which is significantly different. The 'war' in Iraq was trivial, and that is what the US is good at. Most other countries still realize that, if a full-blown war arises, the US army is a very scary thing to mess with.
I was speaking more of the advanced, rules-based logic used in logical argumentation and in forming proofs than just the generic form of logic.
Chess and games are great up to sixth grade. I think that a decent amount of time in seventh or eight grade needs to be spent on the rules of logic. They are good to know.
Language is learned through repetition and examples as well. It just happens that we run into language constantly and from a younger age.
Mathematics is hard to integrate into every-single-thing you do, so an altered method may be needed. However, this does not mean our brains are not fully capable of learning math instinctively.
I thought the question was more in regards to training young children, in which case the issue is very different. There is some indoctrination needed for people to learn to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division well.
Beyond that, I think you are mostly right.
In general, I think the matter would be aided by a little more focus on raw logic at some level. It's hard to teach, but learning a little raw logic allows you to understand the majority of math with ease, and is essential to most all science.
The problem is that all people learn differently. I suck at learning from books and am fairly smart. A mixed approach is needed to catch all the students.
Ideally, the approach would be molded to each person, but we don't have enough teachers for that and too many parents are too dumb to teach their own children properly.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe you'd be right, but GTA3 was nothing like GTA or GTA2. Hence, you're wrong.
Also, Final Fantasy *XI* anyone?
Anime isn't wildly popular there. That's a myth. Anime is also for children in Japan, just as it is in the US.
Also, much of Hollywood is hugely successful in Japan. It is the gaming industry which has trouble, not the Movie industry, the Music industry, or the TV industry.
Maybe Japanese people are less obsessed with blowing things up pointlessly
So, let me get this straight. The random destruction of RPGs is not pointless, where you commonly have 'random encounters' which have no value whatsoever, but an FPS with every target you fight is carefully placed to add to the challenge is pointless? Perhaps you meant that Japanese people are averse to realistic violence?
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.
It's really true. I can't remember the last time I watched an American porno with a plot to it, but Japanese porno is actually very good. If you doubt me, rent Kite. If you get the wrong one, it might not be a porno and you might think it's just a decent movie.
Bullshit filter? What are you talking about. Japanese games are every bit as much bullshit as American games. You're telling me Tekken isn't bullshit? And that it focuses on the "art of fighting"? Say what? Japanese fighting games are completely unrealistic, with no relationship to the "art of fighting" whatsoever (sole exception being Bushido Blade).
If you want to focus on the differences in cultures, the article pointed out the much more major one: Americans like to have no boundaries and Japanese like to have clear direction. Japanese players get confused with a lack of defined goals.
As for another one of note, Japanese gamers tend to prefer a sense of community, while Americans tend to prefer a sense of personal success. That only really shows up much in MMORPGs, at least as far as I've seen. Look at Legacy of Blood: it is doing very well in Asian areas (particularly Korea, I think) but has done jack squat in the US. This is most likely because the play requires that you interoperate with other players on a massive scale. You need to have some sort of community. For similar reasons, Japanese MMORPG players are more likely to use something because it looks cool, while American players are more likely to use something because it is useful.
Also, that GTA3, Halo, and Madden are the bread and butter of most college-aged males doesn't matter for shit. As far as I've seen while at college, beer and pizza are also the bread and water of most college-aged males. So, GTA3, Halo, and Madden are on par with cheap food and inebriated idiocy.
For examples of things that failed in Japan, they mentioned things like Mortal Kombat and the X-Box. However, they started out the article with mentions of The Lord of the Rings, Enter the Matrix, and the 3DO.
Why start an article with all of the crappy examples? Does the author want to convince people he is full of crap? I almost wrote the whole article off after that first paragraph.
Who writes this stuff? Ah. Steven Kent writes this stuff. Steven Kent, if you ever read this, that was some real bad placement of examples. However, the rest of the article was pretty good.
Actually, I don't watch television. However, I still watch commercials. I occasionally dig around online and download the latest commercials. The fact is, I often do want to know about products, and those commercials are some of the best programming around. Humorous ads are much funnier than sitcoms, although they are only on par with stand-up.
They spend tens of thousands of dollars on thirty-seconds of filming. If you rate it second-for-second, those ads are more expensive than any movies or television shows. And many of them are very good.
On the other hand, internet ads have no value. I have never seen an advertisement for something I wanted, and I have never seen an ad I was glad I had watched. TV commercials are sometimes good enough for discussion with friends. Internet ads are pure crap.
I'd just like to announce that, for anyone who was wondering. Of course, no one knows what I am talking about, but that's due to their lack of knowledge.
"I feel your pain. I love Gnome, but I can't help but think that the head developers are a little lost at times. There really isn't a very good sense of group direction and planning... At least compared to KDE, in my opinion."
What's really amazing is that KDE is the one with nothing even resembling central leadership, and GNOME is the one which is generally run by a group of core developers and decision makers. How did that happen?
By the way, you're completely right.
"That God exists isn't a fact to anyone - not even Christians. It is a belief to them."
Not at all. It is a fact that God exists, it is merely one that cannot be proven. A fact does not only become a fact when it is proven. A fact has always been a fact, no matter who doesn't know it.
I think this is occuring because geeks are the ones who actually understand technology. As such, they feel that they are the only ones who see the danger.
To the masses, technology is divine. They don't realize that technology as often demonic as it is angelic.
Of course, this particular technology isn't very demonic and people are just having fits for fun these days, but the general shift towards conscientious geeks is a good and proper thing which often functions for the benefit of all.
Why do people always call out, "Just don't use it!" If the minority who saw the truth just ignored the majority product throughout history, we'd be fucked. The minority fighting for change has vastly improved the world on a regular basis.
Also, Google isn't the government. Read what you are replying to.
"Of course there is malware for Windows and Linux because both are written in unsafe languages which..."
Are you stupid? Malware is about programs which are legitimately installed but do things the user didn't know they would do or want them to do. Malware works fine in Java or C# or Python of D or Eiffel or Pascal or BASIC or C or C++ or Objective-C or Assembler or K or PERL or anything.
You're thinking of viruses, worms, and security holes, which are another issue.
Ummm...The US is not a company, and I am not a company drone. If the US bankrupts, it keeps all of its territory and all of its people and all of its military. And, if another country tries to take that stuff away, that largest-military-in-the-world-by-a-longshot-to-the -point-of-excessiveness thing will come into play, and whoever tried to take that stuff may end up regretting it.
And the US is addicted to coffee and sugar and ritalin and prozac, and tends to import more drugs than it knows what to do with. With most of the entertainment industry coked out its mind, we seem to be paralleling Rome quite well.
China already does. It's a serious issue, and part of the reason that many people want the US to impose trade restrictions on nations which do not implement similar labor standards to the US. If companies were required to offer health-plans in foreign countries, the difference in costs wouldn't be so drastic.
One big difference which will be important when that collapse does happen is that the US is capable of being self-sustaining.
The midwest still produces, even with how unpopular farming is these days, enough food for all of the US. The US exports a lot of food. For many types of food, it is the largest exported in the world.
Also, the US has been, for a while, importing raw materials it could get at home. If the need arises, the US can plunder many reserved areas for resources. The US has an enormous amount of national parks which likely have useful minerals in them, but the US government prevents them from being accessed. In a case of necessity, we could rape our own country instead of the rest of the world.
I've always thought the US/Rome comparison very apt, although I never knew enough about Rome to explain it well. However, I suspect that the heart of Rome was not quite a resource rich as the US, which happens to be one of the more resource rich countries in the world (no, seriously, the land in the US is just great). An example of a country which really couldn't survive that is Japan, so it always needs to be much more careful. Japan has virtually no natural resources and relies entirely on staying ahead technologically. Although I haven't looked into it much, I suspect the same is true of mant European countries, as they are very densely populated.
Also, in regards to Iraq, that is perhaps not the best example of the US army at work. Iraq is not a war, Iraq is an occupation, which is significantly different. The 'war' in Iraq was trivial, and that is what the US is good at. Most other countries still realize that, if a full-blown war arises, the US army is a very scary thing to mess with.
Actually, America owes the world only about 3 trillion. The majority of the debt is internal.
That the United States is in debt is true, but your insults are idiocy.
Also, bankruptcy is different for a country than for a company. No matter what happens to that debt, the US doesn't get bought up or sold off.
I bet you don't like PERL either.
I was speaking more of the advanced, rules-based logic used in logical argumentation and in forming proofs than just the generic form of logic.
Chess and games are great up to sixth grade. I think that a decent amount of time in seventh or eight grade needs to be spent on the rules of logic. They are good to know.
And varied teaching methods would hit the largest portion of the populace. Are you dumb, that you do not understand this?
I think that's misleading.
Language is learned through repetition and examples as well. It just happens that we run into language constantly and from a younger age.
Mathematics is hard to integrate into every-single-thing you do, so an altered method may be needed. However, this does not mean our brains are not fully capable of learning math instinctively.
I thought the question was more in regards to training young children, in which case the issue is very different. There is some indoctrination needed for people to learn to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division well.
Beyond that, I think you are mostly right.
In general, I think the matter would be aided by a little more focus on raw logic at some level. It's hard to teach, but learning a little raw logic allows you to understand the majority of math with ease, and is essential to most all science.
You're so wrong.
The problem is that all people learn differently. I suck at learning from books and am fairly smart. A mixed approach is needed to catch all the students.
Ideally, the approach would be molded to each person, but we don't have enough teachers for that and too many parents are too dumb to teach their own children properly.