Inafune: Japanese games dev “5 years behind,” Capcom “barely keeping up”

@ 50 The only guy who says JPN is doing bad is this guy Capcom bascially and they are in trouble thats for sure. You only have to look at the millions in software JPN shifts to look that its overexagerrated that its in decline.

Both the west and east share the same problems id say, the East rely on emo JRPGS as thats what sells over there and we rely on military fps hell even WRPGS are bascially space marine shooters.

@49 Troll harder.

“Its sad because in real life (you know the life that really counts) you are a sad fuck that no one probably wants to be around. You live on the fucking net and I pity you and your pathetic life.”

That really awesome Halo Reach launch party in Dublin last Tuesday says hi!

Aren’t Japanese sales very much down in the last few years, though?

I don’t think Japan is dying, it just seems to be fragmented. From what I can tell it does things for its own market rather well, it’s only when it tries to export those titles that things go awry. The larger companies say they’re designing games to appeal to a Western market but are then missing many of the basic fundamentals of what makes a title appealing to that market.

Games like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear aren’t good indicators of the region’s success because they would sell regardless based purely on the series’ reputation. That’s not to say that they’re bad games, but like I said before – it’s the little things that they seem to be getting so wrong for me, that final level of polish and accessibility – Resi’s control scheme, Metal Gear’s cut-scenes, etc. etc. All ‘as they were’ back in the PS2 glory days, but failing to notice that Western tastes are (on the whole) somewhat changed since then.

I seem to recall one of the developers (someone from Squenix?) blaming a lot of this on the lack of communication and cooperation between Japanese developers compared to their Western equivalents. That sort of rings true for me – it often feels like Japanese games have spent so long reinventing the wheel that they’ve failed to notice that everyone’s really happy with the off-the-shelf wheel that pretty much every Western developer is using.

@53 “..From what I can tell it does things for its own market rather well, it’s only when it tries to export those titles that things go awry..”

That statement applies just as well from Western product going to the East as it does for Eastern product going to the West. (I can think of a very succesful western product that hasn’t made the impact many believe it should in the east).

I think this discussion is focusing on flaws of Japanese output whilst overlooking the flaws of western output.

@54

I think that increasingly more and more the western and eastern markets are becoming uncompatible. I also don’t think there is a blame in the scenario. I think it just boils down to culture differences.

And if this same subject is talked about in a JP forum, I think it gets played out differently.

Perspective, often times, is everything.

@53
True Blerk…but that’s because the West joined the console gaming industry.Before Japan kind of “monopolized” the industry.Now the consumer has more choices and with the economy being as it is at this point the consumer really thinks about his purchases since he has much more choices than before.

Japan may be fragmented which does things to appeal to their market but doesn’t the West do the same thing as well?
I believe that all this appealing to the West market is nonsense.There isn’t a particular formula for that.Neither the JP or Western industry can appeal to everyone or even the majority of gamers.Everything comes down to taste.To each with his own…

People liked the extended long cutscenes of MGS4 others didn’t.It could be the other way around but still they would be divided like this.You can’t please everyone…

@54 Exactly…talking about flaws of the Western market look there’s another military FPS in the works from BioWare this time.Is this how the Western market evolves and innovates?

@54, God, yes – the Western market has plenty of flaws of its own, I’m not suggesting for a second that it’s a shining pinnacle of gaming excellence on every level.

And you could well be right that Japanese consumers might have similar gripes about Western releases over there. It’d be interesting (and probably practically impossible) to see it from the other side of the fence.

Perhaps the difference is all in the way these things are promoted now? In the past we rarely got Western releases of many Japanese games, so the ones we did get we cherished and put up with the quirks because we were lucky to have them at all. Now they’re saying “this is for a world market, we made this game to appeal to Westerners” and because of that we’re expecting it to ‘feel’ more like the types of games we’re used to?

@52….GOD you are pathetic. Theres no amount of money in the world I would take to be you for 1 min. A Halo reach party? Are you fucking serious? Not only that you seem to be under the delusion that it was an event solely for you or you stood out more amongst the rest of the nerds there.

You prove my point by every post you submit. (He said a Halo Reach party )

Its still sad to see most people even commenting on this article though. If I may recall last month there was a big out cry to have me banned on a similar article that was focused on another game developer.

So….

1. Why is this HOT!?
2. You’re beating a dead horse with a stick.
3. Whats next? A Kojima flavored article on the same topic.
4. Next month there will be another similar article I bet.
5. Same losers (O’Connor) will post same shit to seem cool.

Hey guys can someone post a which console controller is better article. We haven’t had one of those themed articles for about 2 months now

BOTTOM LINE: So what if the Japanese game market is 5 years behind. That doesn’t mean we’re all doomed. Just buy western style games. Who gives a fuck really you can’t do shit about it but not buy their games. Stop all the damn crying and trying to look cool about voicing you opinion you have no control over.

@55,57 Yes, I’m sure that this argument is reflected on Japanese videogame forums too.

I also particularly agree with the appreciation of Japanese games now that they are more widely released rather than the tiny pick-of-the-crop range gamers had access to 10 or more years ago and were seen as special cases.

(That’s one of the reasons why an XBLA releease of Radiant Silvergun will be my first chance to play this acclaimed Treasure shooter)

I happen to feel that there’s not as much a disparity between regions as the original comment suggests.

The thing is: where has Inafune worked on outside of Capcom in the last 3-4 years? Exactly. He might berate his own studio as being “dead”, because hey, they fired EVERYONE that was a capable and unique voice, like the entire Clover Studio staff of such legendary game creators like Hideki Kamiya, Atsushi Inaba and Shinji Mikami and God knows who else. Isn’t that why Capcom has no real creative voice in charge and why they constantly have to look at foreign studios for help, to lessen costs? He’s not ready to pay Japanese developers what they want, as he thinks he’ll be paying the same wages they used to get 10 years ago, so that’s why he goes to foreign cheap studios for help. Really, so what position is he to comment on it, when he himself is working for a company that self-destructed?

No other company has fired their own staff in this manner in Japan, and actually the entire world, apart from maybe Activision with the Infinity Ward debacle.

When you look at the guys from Nintendo, Sony Japan, SEGA, Konami and even studios like Atlas, IREM, when you look at THE LAST GUARDIAN, you think gaming is alive and well in Japan, just not the inane, boring beat-em-ups Inafune thinks makes up the entire industry. He is a joke and a “suit bigwig”, nothing more.

@58 No, it simply points out the stupidity of your claim of me having no life outside of the computer. The four journalist who joined me would also like to say hi. =P

Simpleton.

The simple fact that you’re flying off on a tirade about me only helps prove my point of how discussion is far better on here when you’re not around to piss on a subject with your own brand of ignorance.

Are you serious? Hello good people of VG247 did I or did O’Connor start some BS by making unnecessary comments about a couple of VG posters when he was enjoying his flawless debate with a few other people.

Why would he do that? If everything is going well without the so called trouble makers why mention them in the first place asshole. I used you as in example in the forum when Soong made me out to be a racist. You asked me to not bring you up in a conversation like that because to you it seem I was trying to justify me being right about that thread.

Well sir practice what you preach please. Don’t bring my name up if I haven’t even commented in that article’s comments please. I will do the same for you. It only starts shit because I be damned if you’re gonna call me out and get away with it (you lucky you live where you live cause I’m tired of all your BS talk to be frank).

You want to be an ass hole and recycle the same shit about the same topics month in and month out go ahead, but don’t try to be the star of the thread or site mentioning my name like a tough guy. We all have already talked this topic to death a million times but its just plain fucking sad you have to be the teacher’s pet doucebag kid raising your hand spilling you guts as to why you think this is that and why your opinion matters over most. STFU please stop trying to act like you know everything more about gaming and its politics than others.

TO SUM UP THAT ENTIRE WALL OF TEXT O’CONNOR IN 1 SENTENCE:

Go get laid you desperate for attention retard.

@62 It was a passing comment… one I’m sure many will agree with, mind you. You’re the one writing six paragraphs in response dear child, not me.

What’s wrong TEA? Run out of stuff to bitch about regarding my non-existent Sony bias, did you?

“Go get laid you desperate for attention retard.”

Not a problem, I can assure you.

This thread was doing just fine until you cropped up. =)

Would have never cropped up if you didn’t plant the seed jackass. We all know you’re a XBOT O’Connor (no matter how much you run around with that MOVE controller lodged in your ass)

Still doesn’t give you the right to talk shit. Passing comment my ass. You knew exactly what you were doing.

@64 And my love for LittleBigPlanet. And Demon’s Souls. And Uncharted. And Motorstorm. And ModNation Racers. And the fact that I play my PSP more than any other format. And my 300+ collection of PS2 games. And the fact that I’m on Ad-Hoc Party *right* now playing a PSP game with someone instead of playing Halo Reach with local friends.

So yeah, you’re talking shit. As usual.

We need to get you two into a game of Reach. See if we can settle some of this angst!

And I have dibs on selling tickets.

Not for nothing Tea, but your the one that came into the thread guns blazing. Jus’ sa’in.

Whatever O’Connor I don’t care I know your true nature and people like you. You want to be in the spot light and you love attention and trolling is the best way to go about it in your book.

Just keep my name out of your keyboard while on your rise to be the Internets next top wanna be superstar ass clown.

I wonder why nobody has mentioned “Lost Planet”. It looked like an intriguing game with Mechs and stuff but it became the lost Story with a lost controlscheme to me. On every damn explosion it took several seconds to get back to running’n'gunning. It looked like this gen, but played like last imo.

“I know your true nature and people like you.”

No, trust me, you really don’t have a damn clue, and that’s the most entertaining part of all this.

@ O.G. I doubt he’d even want to touch it. =P

whoa, wtf is going on here?
wow.

@68
Yep, LP2 really is a perfect example of just how much most Japanese game devs dont understand gameplay anymore. Atleast the game was fully coop though, thats pretty rare for a Japanese game. Shame if suffered from a dodgy engine, MT Framework can really look nice but it seems to need alot of loading, a coop game with so much loading between areas loses its point imo.

O.G. he called me out mentioning my name WTH? he didn’t have to say that. He knew it would ignite something. You guys around here give that troll to much attention and credit and I can’t understand for what.

This is a guy who repeatedly tries to get me banned by spamming the shit out of Garratts mail box and giving members of this site links to a function to block my comments yet he is given the green light for trolling and mentioning me after stating he wants to block me asap when Garratt gets the update to the site. Why do you guys even bother with O’Connor and for that matter why don’t you support his shit site then….oh cause its shit thats why.

He puts me in the same bunch as BDH and itsucks who are exclusive to one platform period. And I’m suppose to sit here and let him stomp me in the nuts!? Are you kidding!? O’Connor is like cancer. No matter how much you treat (put him in his place) the disease it keeps coming and growing back every time.

Tea dude dont let him get to you everyone on this site has seen who started this arguement my friend and its not you. Just ignore it.

I sent Pat *one* email over a year and a half ago saying I thought you should be banned. He said no, and I said okay. So I have no idea *what* the fuck you’re talking about.

Talk about making mountains out of molehills.

They give me credit and attention because, unlike you, I can actually hold a polite and intelligent discussion that is generally well informed. O.G. being a perfect example of this.

And your entrance into this thread just proved the very point I made, that it’s amazing the kind of great, mature debates we can have when you’re not around.

@66
It cant be just Halo Reach though. We need to make it fair. 1 match of Halo Reach, 1 Match of Killzone 2, and two matches (1 on PS3, other on 360) of a multiplat (COD4 maybe). I would love to see this go down.

*looks at topic after a few hours*

WTF did i miss here? O_o

@75 Don’t own Killzone 2 (not a huge first person shooter fan, though I can appreciate how good a game it is) or MW2 / CoD4 (matter of principle).

I’ll gladly whip his butt in ModNation Racers though.

@76 TEA entered the thread.

@AHA – I would say World War 3, but civil war seems apt.

No need to carry this out here O’Connor head over to the forum. I will dispose of you properly over there. MOD Nation Racers?…..don’t make me laugh kid. You could never best me at any PlayStation game EVER created! The dualshock is a damn near an additional limb of my body.

The day you beat me is the day I never post here again…so tell me O’Connor how much of a hero do you want to be for your precious XBOTS.

@79 Are you taking the piss?

Seriously?

The only reason I even commented was because of your reply earlier. If you think I’m going to humour some retarded troll post on the forums, you’ve got another thing coming.

@77 I got you!
okay…this is just for fun….we are adults….but i like seeing gamer competitions.
so then here is what the games should be then.

1 Round of Halo Reach 1 on 1
1 Round of Mod Nation Racers 1 on 1
2 Rounds of Tekken 5/6 (1 on PS3, 1 on 360)

@81 Tekken 6 would have to be on the 360. I have the “inferior” version. Right TEA? *wink*

@82 You absolutely do! No joke.

j/k lol

I give up, can’t win. You both have points. Don’t make me go all Granddad on your asses lol. To be honest, I think your both having a bit of fun going at it, so by all means

@84 Honestly, I just find it irritating.

And dude, you’re not even old enough to be my father, so don’t give me that granddad crap! =P

*sigh* even with it ignored that retard child tea still ruins beyond repair any thread he posts in, and the moderators continue thier ageless slumber…

Here is what Japan needs to do to get my attention again (this mostly applies to their RPGs):
1. Get rid of the bad voice acting.
2. Get rid of the stupid ditzy characters.
3. Stop rehashing all the formulaic and cliche stories.
4. Realize that swords are no match for guns.
5. Stop trying to make all of your characters “badass”, like rolling out of a helicopter 80 feet in the air and landing on one knee, then rising slowly. Or walking slowly towards a groupd of 50 armed guards and single handedly wiping them all out like the cliche that they are.
6. Stop using slow motion action sequences, those were so 1999.
7. Don’t put a cheesy, lame female singer singing a crappy slow song in Japanese in your game.
8. Stop being so xenophobic and afraid of outside ideas and cultures.

Western games have their own lame cliches too, like the roided marine with a physically impossible body *cough* Gears of War *cough*. Sometimes I think Nintendo and Team Ico are the only ones even trying anymore in Japan. Square Enix found success in FF 7 and since then most of their games have been trying to copy that formula. Team Ninja destroyed Samus, and of course Capcom had to water down Resident Evil with their “corporate conspiracy” plot that dragged the series into monotony.