Western developers 'superior' to Japanese, claims Platinum G

Cal wrote:I do think thematically as well as in terms of gameplay, Western Developers, led by the likes of Bungie, Epic and Valve, have simply matured the videogames market into a much more 'relevant' entertainment sector for Western audiences - hence the year-on-year growth of our gaming sectors against the relative decline of the once mighty Japanese developers.

Yeah, I agree. I think over the past five years, perhaps even further back than that, western developers have stopped taking cues from their Japanese counterparts and have retuned their games to a more appropriate mentality - attracting more consumers to western games in the process. It's telling that western-centric games are actually one of the fastest-growing areas of the Japanese market currently. It's little wonder eastern developers are so worried.

And yes: Nintendo are untouchable. That's a given.

It's bizarre. I can't think of another developer that's been so successful appealing to both eastern and western gamers - though admittedly its core output in recent years hasn't quite had the impact its titles in this area used to. And perhaps that's partly down to the rise of the western developer. For some, Nintendo's games aren't mature enough any more. Part of it is undoubtedly down to the core gamer demographic changing - those who loved SNES and N64 games back in the day are now looking for something a little different, something which skews a little older, and that's part of why the western industry is thriving at the moment. That said, the increase of development costs is likely to affect the west more than the east in the current climate...it's interesting times for the medium at the moment.

Charles Manson wrote:This is the most pointless thing I've ever read on the forum.

Are you sure?

Hero of Canton wrote:

Cal wrote:I do think thematically as well as in terms of gameplay, Western Developers, led by the likes of Bungie, Epic and Valve, have simply matured the videogames market into a much more 'relevant' entertainment sector for Western audiences - hence the year-on-year growth of our gaming sectors against the relative decline of the once mighty Japanese developers.

Yeah, I agree. I think over the past five years, perhaps even further back than that, western developers have stopped taking cues from their Japanese counterparts and have retuned their games to a more appropriate mentality - attracting more consumers to western games in the process. It's telling that western-centric games are actually one of the fastest-growing areas of the Japanese market currently. It's little wonder eastern developers are so worried.

And yes: Nintendo are untouchable. That's a given.

It's bizarre. I can't think of another developer that's been so successful appealing to both eastern and western gamers - though admittedly its core output in recent years hasn't quite had the impact its titles in this area used to. And perhaps that's partly down to the rise of the western developer. For some, Nintendo's games aren't mature enough any more. Part of it is undoubtedly down to the core gamer demographic changing - those who loved SNES and N64 games back in the day are now looking for something a little different, something which skews a little older, and that's part of why the western industry is thriving at the moment. That said, the increase of development costs is likely to affect the west more than the east in the current climate...it's interesting times for the medium at the moment.

In which sense are you using the word "mature" here?

To me, Western Developers are every bit as good as they ever were - It seems to me that the difference is simply that those games are more accessible to a wider audience now, since so many of developers began shifting their focus primarily onto console development.

Hero of Canton wrote:

Dandy Kong wrote:

Hero of Canton wrote:Japan used to be the dominant force in gaming, now it's the west.

Is that the case, though? I can think of a certain company that 'dominates' the videogame market, both in 'the West' and in Japan, both in terms of hardware and software sales.

And that is not a Western company.

Yeah, Nintendo's a bit of an anomaly, but you could argue that its games are universal and have been for years. They don't produce much that's particularly 'Japanese'.

Hell, even their main mascot is Italian-American!

Harry Bizzle wrote:To be honest I can't understand how the hell games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey get made after FFXII. Sure, they're very refined and blah blah blah, but if I want to play a very good turn based RPG, I've got lots of far better games I can turn to from years ago. Move the strawberry float on and rip off FFXII.

Because some people, such as me, still quite like turn based RPGs? I couldn't be happier that FFXIII is going back to turn based combat, I prefer a more methodical, tactical approuch. Would you argue they shouldn't make any more 2D games since we have 3D now? Of course not.

Mafro wrote:Valve put a lot of "big" Japanese developers to shame.

"I want a more methodical, tactical approach."

*watches numbers increment, does not interact beyond pressing a single button*

Winckle wrote:"I want a more methodical, tactical approach."

*watches numbers increment, does not interact beyond pressing a single button*

i wish you would stop incrementing your post count

Karlprof wrote:

Winckle wrote:"I want a more methodical, tactical approach."

*watches numbers increment, does not interact beyond pressing a single button*

i wish you would stop incrementing your post count

Winckle wrote:

Karlprof wrote:

Winckle wrote:"I want a more methodical, tactical approach."

*watches numbers increment, does not interact beyond pressing a single button*

i wish you would stop incrementing your post count

Extralife wrote:

Harry Bizzle wrote:To be honest I can't understand how the hell games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey get made after FFXII. Sure, they're very refined and blah blah blah, but if I want to play a very good turn based RPG, I've got lots of far better games I can turn to from years ago. Move the **** on and rip off FFXII.

Because some people, such as me, still quite like turn based RPGs? I couldn't be happier that FFXIII is going back to turn based combat, I prefer a more methodical, tactical approuch. Would you argue they shouldn't make any more 2D games since we have 3D now? Of course not.

No, I would not argue such a thing. However, I would argue that they shouldn't create games with a shitty password to remember which level you were on rather than a save system, as it's archaic and a hassle.

Anyone who would argue that FFXII has any less depth or required tactics in comparison to a turn based game must be suffering from a most crippling form of brain fever. One could perhaps even suggest that they would appear to have never even played it.

You can pause the action and think what you would like to do until the cows come home in the exact same manner as in any other FF game, micromanaging to your heart's content. What they took out were the irritating random battles, the silly loading to a different format between exploration/battle and the need to get bored out of your head when on a stupid regular enemy who you would only choose 'attack' against anyway.

I'd definitely say i prefer Western developed games, but to be honest i don't think you can properly compare the two areas. I mean, what is Western? That could be anywhere west of Russia on the traditional global map, really. And that's a lot of space, to compare that with Japan on its own, well there's obviously no competition. Playing a Japanese game, for me, is not always much fun. It seems i only like the ones that are 'westernised' properly.

There are many bad things to say about Japanese games, generally about their design, but it's an incredibly different culture, and i'm sure there are a lot of Japanese gamers who only see the faults in Western developed games.

Plus Japanese games are mainly RPGs, no? Well, in the West i guess the main genre is shooter. There are so many, but not all very good, in either genre. Personally i don't think you can compare.

I realised not so long ago that all of my favourite games last year were made by British studios. GTA4, by Rockstar North, Fable 2, by Lionhead, and BK:N&B by Rare.