Hideo kojima about japan gaming

[JohnKasarinlan]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/353056/kojima-japans-curse-is-its-focus-on-japan/

What are your thoughts on this one guys?
Because i have to admit that western games are far more better than japanese games these days unlike the old days where western games are hardly known(Correct me if i'm wrong)

Same thing with anime and manga.There are so many anime and manga that would probably sell a million in the west but the problem is japan don't try to market manga on the west.They only trying sell it on their country that is why we manga fans and anime fans stick with the internet and scanlations.
Take hellsing for example.I really think that if they have shown the OVA in toonami or market the manga in the west it would sell well.Most people in the west only watches the genre shonen(for boys)rather than seinen genre(Targeted for 18-30)

Edit: Oh and could somebody change the title into "Hideo kojima on "japanese" gaming"?

 

[V]

And as the first commenter there eloquently put:

"And the West's curse is it focuses too much on shooters and games for the West."

The majority of games that I've been looking forward to these last couple of years have been Japanese franchises like Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Dead Rising, Final Fantasy - are ones that in the recent past have been in neither camp, or both - neither 'too Japanese' nor 'too Western'. And I find myself disliking the way Final Fantasy is going, the way RE and DmC are going, the way MGS4 and Revengeance sold out from its roots... for the precise reason that they are now being tailor-made to attract Westerners. Many Western games and their characters feel painfully generic to me. So no, I can't agree that Japan should start pandering to the West instead of to itself, because I'm sick of the likes of FPS and every hero looking like a cookie-cut "space marine", or something that Westerners wouldn't say looks "gay", etc.

The fact Ninja Theory said they were going to make Dante "cool" again with their reinvention means that he's going to be reimagined by Westerners for Westerners, and by that they apparently mean what's current fashion and current 'attitude' and stuff the thing with current issues and 'edgy' dialogue, and the end result - the end 'flavour' of the experience - probably being something very different from what it once was - from what got me into it in the first place.

I am all for diversity (as I said I like those games that are half-breeds of both camps) but that does not mean just making stuff that most Western gamers are happy to buy. That is not diversity, or artistic expression - that's just capitalism. And if you look at the way almost every company out there thinks it needs to compete with Activision and would rather reinvent old IP to suit current tastes than take risks on new IP, what you are seeing is a reduction in diversity and creativity, not an expansion.

Hideo may be right for the Japanese games industry as a whole, but the Japanese know what they like and if that's what they like and there is a market for it, that is what will be made and sold, just like over here. "He likes every game that is being made in the West?" I sure don't. Some of them are flat-out boring and customary, no matter how good the graphics. At least they have many small and specialist niches instead of a small number of big ones here. Perhaps the problem isn't necessarily in game developers' trepidation, but in the audience's unwillingness to try new things. That certainly goes for gamers over here too.

 

[JohnKasarinlan]

There are japanese games that is trying to be a western is said to be a failure.So yes,the argument "just do what you do"
is still good.Kojima's company is an multi-cultural company that successfully mixed japanese and western elements,that is why the MGS series is very popular and successful.

I'm not saying that japanese should be western.I'm saying that they should make games that is not only japanese audience will enjoy but also the majority of westerners to enjoy.

 

[V]

That's what he has been doing since the start of the MGS series, and granted, that has accounted for its general popularity because I think it was more popular here than there (Snake is, after all a typical American 'special forces' soldier character on the outside - they made him have Japanese ancestry to make him appeal to the Japanese more, lulz); but what he is doing now is to move so far in the Western direction he's actually losing quality and the uniqueness of MGS, IMO.

MGS4 is a prime example of it, if you can recognize the differences between that game and the ones before. Revengeance also. MGS4 is an inferior play experience to the others IMO, and I suspect Revengeance will be. The only people around me who have claimed MGS4 to be superior are ones who have a) not played the others and b) became a fan after playing that game first. Those who are long-time fans (and I have been a member of three longtime MGS sites to confirm this) have a general sentiment that Hideo is losing quality since 3, the more so he tries to make his games appeal specifically here/corner the portable market.

 

[JohnKasarinlan]

I really need to buy the MGS HD collection.I'm hearing the franchise from my friends,the internet,everywhere.

 

[V]

I recommend it. It's actually had proper HD conversion treatment on gameplay and cutscenes rather than some bits just being upscaled and others left out like the DMC HD collection.

 

[JohnKasarinlan]

Gotta have a run for the nearest gaming shop or gamestop here at my place then.

 

[ROCKMAN X]

I recommend it. It's actually had proper HD conversion treatment on gameplay and cutscenes rather than some bits just being upscaled and others left out like the DMC HD collection.

I was wondering if Shadow of the colossus and IcoHD is worth getting

 

[V]

I was wondering if Shadow of the colossus and IcoHD is worth getting

I'm considering getting them both - I wanted to play Ico but the price of the normal game around online has become ridiculous. Shadow of the Colossus I thought was actually nice-looking in a kinda minimalist way, so I assume HD will only make it prettier. Good game to play every once in a while (once you forget your strategies)

 

[ROCKMAN X]

I'm considering getting them both - I wanted to play Ico but the price of the normal game around online has become ridiculous. Shadow of the Colossus I thought was actually nice-looking in a kinda minimalist way, so I assume HD will only make it prettier. Good game to play every once in a while (once you forget your strategies)

Its been a long time since i played that on my ps2 so it would be nice to refresh my memories