Japanese Game Shipments Decline

[Oddmaker]

Get the Full Story Here (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/619/619274p1.html).

While software sales are up, total shipments by the Japanese video game industry fell significantly in 2004, due largely to hardware price cuts and sharp competition from U.S. competitors.
It shouldn't affect anything, hopefully.

[Heretic Machine]

Good. I don't want to sound like a nationalist or anything, but Western games > Japanese games. I'm sick of playing games that want to be anime.

[Hieremias]

I second that. It's the biggest reason why I'm oggling the Xbox 360 over the PS3; I don't want to be faced with a library of 10,000,000 games but only 4 not made in Japan.

[KarmaGhost]

competition = good for consumers

[KDups]

I don't want to be faced with a library of 10,000,000 games but only 4 not made in Japan.

What the...where are all these ridiculous comments coming from? Did I miss something? Is it 1984 again?

[KamaItachi]

I surprised myself this year as most of the games I've really enjoyed bar maybe 2 (Phantom Dust and RE4) have been Western games. I'd really like to see this trend continue and have some really good and interesting games coming out of America and Europe. I think the strong support for the Xbox on the home field has really helped.

[mister_slim]

Good, no more Jade Empire, Sudeki, Ratchet, Jak...

[Kelegacy]

Good. I don't want to sound like a nationalist or anything, but Western games > Japanese games. I'm sick of playing games that want to be anime.

This just in: You are an idiot.

[Kelegacy]

I second that. It's the biggest reason why I'm oggling the Xbox 360 over the PS3; I don't want to be faced with a library of 10,000,000 games but only 4 not made in Japan.

Same goes for you.

[Heretic Machine]

Oooooh, I pissed off the Japan-fans. Oh noooo! Next thing you know, they're going to tell me that the Japanese are completly non-violent, unlike us savage Americans. The Japanese don't like gratuitous violence, they like sick scenes of gore, and occassionially watching a twelve year old get raped by an alien with phallic shaped tentacles!

[Liquidize105]

Oooooh, I pissed off the Japan-fans. Oh noooo! Next thing you know, they're going to tell me that the Japanese are completly non-violent, unlike us savage Americans. The Japanese don't like gratuitous violence, they like sick scenes of gore, and occassionially watching a twelve year old get raped by an alien with phallic shaped tentacles!
That's not mainstream you fool!

I'd say west is catching up pretty fast.

[KDups]

I'd really like to see this trend continue and have some really good and interesting games coming out of America and Europe

...

Good, no more Jade Empire, Sudeki, Ratchet, Jak...

...

The Japanese don't like gratuitous violence, they like sick scenes of gore, and occassionially watching a twelve year old get raped by an alien with phallic shaped tentacles!

:eek:

You guys can't be this stupid...

[iamkevin]

Good, no more Jade Empire, Sudeki, Ratchet, Jak...

jade empire was made in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by Bioware.
Sudeki was made in England by Climax Studios.
Ratchet and Clank was made in Los Angeles, CA by Insomniac Games.
Jak & Daxter was made in Santa Monica, CA by Naughty Dog.

Now I ask: what the hell are you talking about?


Oooooh, I pissed off the Japan-fans. Oh noooo!

Paragon, i'm not a "Japan fan," I'm just not an "ass."
I was going to say racist, but that's a little harsh. You're almost there though, try a little harder next time. Maybe you can just say "Jap" instead of the whole name, that ought to help.

And who said Japanese were non-violent? They make some good games, that's all.

Most of the people who have replied sound like people back home in Detroit in the 80's when everyone was against Japanese cars and if you owned one you were a failure to our country.

But I guess you're right, I mean only western games have the high quality of Daikatana and Fight Club. I hate all those crappy Japanese games like Ninja Gaiden or the Zelda series, or Resident Evil 4.

Seriously, who cares where the game comes from? If it's good, play it. If it's not, don't.

But God bless America!

[bobbler]

Some of you really don't deserve to have the ability to express your opinions.

Not because I don't agree with them, but because they are just outright stupid and absurd.

[TRiLoGY]

Seriously, who cares where the game comes from? If it's good, play it. If it's not, don't.

I agree :)

[Heretic Machine]

Hey, I'm not anti-Japanese. I just hate how everyone is so friggin Japan-crazy these days. Just because anime went mainstream, everything now has to be fucking Japanese. Games, movies, comic books, it's all going to shit because everyone wants in on the anime craze. I mean, I used to like anime, and to some extent I still do, but I'm getting a serious friggin overdose of Japanese culture.

As for being a racist.... w00t w00t... I'm minoring in Japanese Studies.

Besides, Superman says you can slap a Jap: Superdickery.com (http://www.superdickery.com/dick/20.html)

[Hieremias]

Most of the people who have replied sound like people back home in Detroit in the 80's when everyone was against Japanese cars and if you owned one you were a failure to our country.

But I guess you're right, I mean only western games have the high quality of Daikatana and Fight Club. I hate all those crappy Japanese games like Ninja Gaiden or the Zelda series, or Resident Evil 4.

Seriously, who cares where the game comes from? If it's good, play it. If it's not, don't.

But God bless America!

I own a 2004 Toyota Corolla, and love it. I will tell anyone who'll listen that the Japanese cars beat the American ones in any category.

But this does not translate to videogames. I do not like Japanese style videogames, and why should I? This is not some act of patriotism (I'm not even American), they simply never have interesting stories or intelligent strategy. They're based on twitch gameplay, nothing more. Point out to me a good, deep strategy game that has come out of Japan. Or point out to me a decent Japanese RPG that isn't anime and doesn't have some juvenile love triangle subplot.

Western games are definitely more preferable to me, both in gameplay depth and artistic style. Other people can buy and enjoy Japanese games, I don't care, but when choosing a console I will definitely be considering the size of the library of *western* games. Having 10,000 anime RPGs and Mario clones is not my idea of a good library to choose from.

[TRiLoGY]

Or point out to me a decent Japanese RPG that isn't anime and doesn't have some juvenile love triangle subplot.

what about Final Fan... Err no wait.. Doh :rolleyes:

[Hieremias]

what about Final Fan... Err no wait.. Doh :rolleyes:
LOL My point exactly. :)

[KamaItachi]

I Point out to me a good, deep strategy game that has come out of Japan.

They do exist, but you don't really get them outside of Japan so I guess it's pretty academic anyway. For all those number crunching and micro-management fans out there, you can't go far off some of the games they have here. You can buy huge telephone book sized guide books to some of the turn based historical battle games you can get.

I may be on a Western Game bender but know its silly to dismiss all Japanese games out of hand, but once you've trawled through a store choc-full of Gundam series x robot battle action games, tactical games, ropleplay games and wannabe Squaresoft RPG Q, P and F you do find yourself looking for something different.

Maybe nothing ever changed about Western games since I was last back home for any length of time, but now I find they offer me something that I've been missing here.

[netcraazzy]

For all the flaming you guys are doing you should really RTFA. That little news blurb is honestly pretty stupid. It basically says that hardware sales are down but japanease game shipments were UP 9%. They somehow attribute the lower hardware sales to price cuts which has me a little confused since I can't see how something being cheaper can be attributed to less people buying it. Then they say some crap about overseas conpetition by EA and such but the point is that sales are still UP for the year on software, which makes me wonder why they titled the article Japanese GAME Shipments Slump.

[zyzyx]

I guess it was inevitable really and I have to say, in a way I'm glad. Nintendo have been largely squeezed out of the US home console market and they continue to ignore Europe. The best selling series in Japan (Dragon Quest) has never even had a fucking western release, of the two most critically acclaimed of the last 12 months (RE4, Katamari) one was nigh on impossible to find for 2 months after release and the other was never even released in the first place. I want them to fail, it's only through that that the industry really learns.

[Heretic Machine]

I may be on a Western Game bender but know its silly to dismiss all Japanese games out of hand

Never said I didn't like ALL Japanese games. I marathoned some Smash Brothers goodness this morning. I'll even pick up a J-RPG every now and then. But it seems like certin consoles have very little to offer in the way of Western gaming, and others treat the Western markets as inferrior to the Japanese market. Well that's all fine and good, but don't be surprised when I'm picking up a copy of TES: Oblivion instead of FFXII.

[KamaItachi]

Actually I was replying to Hieremias.

But I agree with you that there is to an extent a certain viewpoint that Japanese games>Western games. When it comes to games Japan is incredible insular. You're very unlikely to see much in the way of adverts or real solid promotion for many western games. GTA got a bit of a poster campaign but the big RPGs here will cause a saturation of any and all media you care to suggest.

I end up importing a lot of games here and so far I've been extremely happy with a lot of the games I've got. It's not like I really have any preference for a particular country's games, but at the moment aside from a few titles from Japan, the most fun I've been getting of late has been from western developers.

Think of it as the opposite of guys who import obscure Japanese games in the U.S. or U.K.

[Mrbunchypants]

NNOOOOOOOoooooooo. This means EA is winning. :(

Truth is that lots of games have comeout that are really good.
Seems like the companys are final looking at what makes a good game and it's paying off. :D

[mulligan]

I second Kelegacy... these people are morons

[KDups]

I want them to fail, it's only through that that the industry really learns.

Who do you want to fail? Nintendo, Sony, Namco, Square-Enix, who? Your post pretty much covers all those companies. If you want all them to fail, there won't really be much of an industry to pay attention to you.

[Kelegacy]

Point out to me a good, deep strategy game that has come out of Japan. Or point out to me a decent Japanese RPG that isn't anime and doesn't have some juvenile love triangle subplot.


Depends on what you mean by strategy. Pick up Disgaea, Phantom Brave, or countless other Nippon Ichi games for PS2. Alot like Final Fantasy tactics or Vandal Hearts, but infinitely deeper.

Of course, if you mean RTS, then no, i cant think of any. That's why I like games from all regions. Without Japan I wouldnt have Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Zelda, ICO, Mario, and just about every other huge videogame classic series EVER. Some of you people need to pull your heads out of your asses. Hentai may be disgusting and Perigon might fear it enough to relate it to videogaming (which is incorrect), but the truth is some of the best videogaming in the history of the artform has come from Japan. America is tiny compared to the rest of the world's videogame makers. I enjoy America for the FPS's we seem to love to make, Canada for Bioware, Europe for indie developers of RPG's and all other genres, and Japan for innovative and creative gameplay experiences of ALL genres, and most importantly : RPG's. Sure, console RPG's havent evolved for years, (with the upcoming exception of FF12) but if American/English developers started creating[console] RPG's WORTH playing then maybe I'd change my mind a bit. There are always a few exceptions to the rule, but stuff like Jade Empire, Fable, Sudeki--that shit has gotta GO. Good attempts, so-so games, but ultimately unrewarding.

Bethesda, Bioware, are 2 developers that are non-japanese that still create great RPG's, but these companies might release 1 game every 3-4 years at most...Japan has alot of devs that spit them out every month, and alot of the games are great. But mostly North America loves its FPSs, sports games, and anything to do with cars or guns. That isnt to say that the Japanese dont release gory or violent games--they do; but they dont seem to make games gory or violent for the hell of it. It usually is an integral part of the story or experience, not just some gimmick to get kids to buy the games. True innovation, most times, seems to come from Japan. We Americans are great at making our games look pretty though.

I love games from every country and every genre, but to say something as unintelligent as what has been said by Perigon and Hieremias and some others...that just defies gamer logic. You should know better.

[mister_slim]

You guys can't be this stupid...
I know I was being sarcastic. But I was stupid to think people understand subtlety.
jade empire was made in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by Bioware.
Sudeki was made in England by Climax Studios.
Ratchet and Clank was made in Los Angeles, CA by Insomniac Games.
Jak & Daxter was made in Santa Monica, CA by Naughty Dog.
So, you know who made all those games and where they came from, and that they are all western, but you didn't notice that all of them are influenced by eastern games and culture? The games and cultures that are dismissed directly above my posts? Perhaps I was being facetious?

[Kelegacy]

I know I was being sarcastic. But I was stupid to think people understand subtlety.

So, you know who made all those games and where they came from, and that they are all western, but you didn't notice that all of them are influenced by eastern games and culture? The games and cultures that are dismissed directly above my posts? Perhaps I was being facetious?

Great point. Hell, to dismiss Japenese gaming would be a videogaming fallacy. We have all sucked at the teat of Japan for years...with the advent of the Xbox some of you have been weaned, but you will never be free of Japan's influence. Scoff at them as much as you like, but nearly every platformer, RPG, horror, etc you ever play will have been influenced by Japanese gaming. Plus, to be a real contender in the gaming industry, a console creator must get Japan by it's side. Even MS knows this, which is why they have catered to them much more than last round.

You cant escape Japan (nor would you want to). So, embrace it.