Do you favour games from Japanese developers?

[marcus]

This has popped up recently in our Halo 2 feedback thread. Initially, I thought the idea of people liking Halo 2 more had it of been made by a Japanese developer to be an amusing one and dismissed it as such. However, a few more people echoed that and caused me to think about it a little deeper, does it really matter to you if a game is produced by a Eastern or Western developer? I know we all have our tastes and preferences, but its never occurred to me before that this may stretch to the extent of dismissing games because of their origin, and to me its the ultimate in eliticism as a games a game no matter where its developed. What are your thoughts on this, does it really matter?

[DjSatansfury]

I like a game if its good, nothing more.

[MikeRox]

tbh I don't give a damn where the game comes from, lookin at my fave games of all time theres a good mix of western and eastern titles

I'd like Halo 2 more if it was a better game tbh m8.

[Mad Gear]

If you dismiss a good game purely due to it being developed outside of Japan then your'e a narrow minded idiot.

[Crispin]

Gosh no. That whole chain of thinking "the Japanese make the best games" just smacks of depressing "otaku"-ness. I think Terry Pratchett sums up the idea best:

"Wisdom always seems to come from a long way away".
Which is why tibetan-like Monks go to study "The Way Of Mrs Cosmopolite".

After all, we all have favourite publishers*, yet the game might have been developed on a different continent. Developers have moved wholesale from one country to another (Factor 5). Some countries might be more conducive to development, and I take great pride in the fact that Britain has some of the finest codeshops in the world, but one look at Kuju shows we also have some of the worst.

*Don't argue. You're presented with two new game headlines. One is being published by Acclaim, the other is being published by SCEI, which do you read first?

[MikeRox]

SCEI, simply because you know if it's Acclaim it's gonna be an april fools

[HaHaUK]

doesnt matter who made the game, as long as its good.

[Kevvy Metal]

I have also considered this and it also includes many Jap films and manga, take two popular Japanese animated films like Akira and Spirited Away, both have slightly confusing stories on initial viewing but become clearer with repeated viewing, I think that the fact they are made by people of a very different culture to the one I am used to, gives them an air of mysticism that is very appealing, things that are often very different are attractive to most people.

I ponder this once while watching the two Matrix sequels, both i found disapointing, but maybe the general public would have treated them differently if they happen to be animated films from japan. The third film does have big Mechs in it after all.

or something like that.

I know what i mean, just don't know how to express it properly.

[Ravon]

For me only a handful of devco's make good games outside of japan, i just enjoy there games and films more i guess. I seem to find a lot of western games are very sloppy and not to my taste, where even moving slightly east of england to say sweden where ther's a load of demo coders like starbreeze are now doing games where you can really see them pushing the envolope.

[marcus]

Forgetting for a moment the consideration that maybe one region is more talented than another ot not, was Halo 2 to of been the product of a Japanese devco and of been identical the the Halo 2 we are playing now would anyone feel differently about it? This is what Im getting at, more than which of the two is better for whatever reason.

[bowser123]

Put it this way, if Halo 2 was made by Nintendo or Sega there's a high chance I would have played it by now. However, it's not, and as I have zero interest in the genre or game I quite probably never will play it.
Had more than enough after a few levels of the original Halo TBH.

So not biased to the origin of a game but certainly to it's devs.

[Kubrick]

No. Halo2 would still suck because of the type of game it is.

I don't care for that type of game, War sims, GTA clones etc, and Japan still makes the games I do like, so Yes, I prefer JP developers.

[Ravon]

It wouldnt matter to me who made it, Halo 2 is average at best..

[Shibusawa jr.]

To answer your q. : no, still would have waited for it to reach a better price or when I actually have the time to play the bugger.

I don't buy based on who developed it (well maybe Cave ) but I generally prefer Japanese design.

[FreQstyle]

That whole chain of thinking "the Japanese make the best games" just smacks of depressing "otaku"-ness. I think Terry Pratchett sums up the idea best

For some reason, backing up your 'depressing "otaku"-ness' line with a Terry Pratchett quote strikes me as quite amusing. Or possibly ironic. Or something.... can't quite put my finger on it at the moment, but it's funny whatever it is.


Anyway - I think the idea of anyone dismissing a particular game purely because of where it came from is pretty ludicrous (language-barrier decisions excepted) and I'd find it hard to imagine anyone who cared about games at all could really bring themselves to do that.

However - generally prefering games from one region seems fine to me, and I will happily shout that I personally think... that the Japanese make the best games! - for my tastes at least.

Unfortunately I also have to admit that this might just smack of depressing "otaku"-ness. I'd love to think that every game the Japs knock out is a crazy, whirlwind ride of slightly surreal gaming-goodness, but I suspect in reality they also churn out as many pap titles as the west does. We just don't get to hear about 'em, making our nipponish chums' ****e-to-shiznit game ratio look a lot better than ours. And thus creating depressing, otaku-ness fueled Pop'n Music fanboys like meself.


Yatta!