Japan, "Your Games Just Suck"

[Golgo]

FishTweet: "I just won the grand prize at IGF tonight. Suck my dick. Choke on it."

[Shozuki]

I don't really have much to add on the subject, but I want to agree those statements are outrageous!

On a side note I do want to say I think Japanese developed games have been among my favourite games of this generation. Likes of Street Fighter IV, Mario Galaxy, Vanquish, Dark Souls etc. I still honestly think they are better at gameplay then games made in the west. It's just the west are better at the current trend of shooters and better at the story aspect of games. For example Skyrim is one of the worst games ever made from a gameplay standpoint and stands out even more when you compare it to the likes of Dark Souls. When people get bored of the current brand of generic shooters I think the Japanese industry will flourish again.

[Brad]

Lol. Dude sounds like an arsehole. Impossible to tell until you've met him though. He's not the only industry figure to call out Japanese game development though. Seems like the game is something special though.

[Family Fry]

Funny how most Japanese developers said Skyrim was their top title of 2011 (some did put Dark Souls in there too)

http://andriasang.com/comzk3/4gamer_megafeature/

"Like Heavy Rain last year, Skyrim was the most frequently mentioned title in the top game category this year"

[crocky-chocky]

I was on the fence about buying Fez after Fish's comments, then the mans twitter account sealed the deal....

No Sale!

I've never understood the modern Japanese games 'suck' theory anyway, maybe there was a lull a few years back, but these days a vast majority of the games I latch on to and enjoy are Japanese.

[Family Fry]

I won't take a moral high ground when it comes to an individual vs product, honestly couldn't give a toss about his comments and will buy the game. It's not just PHIL FISH presents, talented people have been working alongside him on this game over 5 years and I'm not gonna let comments ruin my enjoyment of what looks like a solid game.

[Brad]

Have they? Why did his tweet say I won such and such award then and not we won? I assumed he was a one-man-band? If not then he is truly arrogant.

[crocky-chocky]

I won't take a moral high ground when it comes to an individual vs product, honestly couldn't give a toss about his comments and will buy the game. It's not just PHIL FISH presents, talented people have been working alongside him on this game over 5 years and I'm not gonna let comments ruin my enjoyment of what looks like a solid game.

I'm not taking a moral high ground either. I would just find it hard to enjoy a game knowing it's designed by a pretentious, childish, hipster doofus.

[Family Fry]

Have they? Why did his tweet say I won such and such award then and not we won? I assumed he was a one-man-band? If not then he is truly arrogant.

You got the tweet on you? I expect it was in direct reply to a question or insult about him on twitter no doubt? Gives a sec...

Ok here it is.

Fish-There's a 35 page thread about me on neogaf.
Agent M$T- Oh. It's just about some arrogant schmuck indie dev talking smack yet has zero released games. Gr8 read tho!
Fish- I just won the grand prize at IGF tonight. suck my dick. choke on it.

Very nice indeed...
He should just do a Jaffe and retire from Twitter.

[importaku]

Never even heard of Fez, had to google it to see what the fuss was about, hmm a fake retro pixel style game because thats new & never been done before The guys arrogance makes him sound a complete tool.

The fact is Japanese games haven't got crapper it's just western games have gotten better, the gap is closing between east & west. Stuff like Skyrim have shown recently that the west can make RPG's just as well as Japan can, they are just in a totally different style but are just as amazing.

Theres genuine **** games in all regions theres also great ones too. It's always been like this, theres no "golden age" theres always been absolute wank released every year right back to the 80's

[averybluemonkey]

From the Fez thread;


Doesn't seem that patronising, insulting, or moronic a question to me.

"The Japanese developer praised the movie and said he was pleased to see how many independent developers had been inspired by games such as Super Mario Bros and Zelda since their childhood."

First of all this statement has been spun by the reporter by putting the word "pleased" before an insult. Either that or the guy was being a real sarcky so and so.

The fact is that it's greatly insulting to someone in a Q & A to imply they borrowed their game ideas from somewhere else and this is a massively passive agressive statement. There's a time for constructive analysis and criticism of someone's product and calling them out in front of a bunch of people at their own Q & A is not the place for it. The organisers should have shut him down and refused to let the question be asked.

[averybluemonkey]

The fact is Japanese games haven't got crapper it's just western games have gotten better, the gap is closing between east & west. Stuff like Skyrim have shown recently that the west can make RPG's just as well as Japan can, they are just in a totally different style but are just as amazing.

What absolute rubbish, Western developers have been making cranking games since the 80s. I'm guessing you've never played much besides console games?

[averybluemonkey]

Personally I think the Japanese industry has been on the decline for years and I think it's almost entirely down to their isolationist culture. My childhood was dominated by PC gaming, I didn't even own a Japanese game until I was 11 and got my first console. Western developers focused on the PC, Amiga and other computer style platforms with barely a worthwhile Japanese release of any note appearing on IBM boxes for most of those early decades. Since the 32bit era I think we've been seeing an increasing move of Western developers from the PCs to the consoles and many of the Japanese players haven't taken note of what these guys have been doing. They've stuck to doing their own thing in their own insulationist manner and not adapted as console gamers have caught up to the kinds of experiences PCs have traditionally offered. And their genres have stagnated as a result, how many Japanese developers do you see cranking out the same style experience over and over again. Don't get me wrong I love schmups and 2D fighters and JRPGs but fundamentally they're still the same things I was playing over ten years ago. They've stuck to what sells in Japan at the expense of evolving tastes in the rest of the world and are now playing catchup in my opinion.

[importaku]

I have no idea of modern pc gaming if thats what your getting at as i left that when point & click adventures stopped been made & all i could see where hundreds of dull strategy & war games. Yes there may have been some good games but their was an awful lot of ****e too, the idea that the "golden age" was only back in the 80's / 90's is laughable. Crap games are not a new thing.

Console gaming on the other hand im sorry but Japan always had better stuff than the west, sure you would get the odd western developed game that was awesome but they were always playing catchup to japan. The modern generation the gap is not that much anymore, no longer is everything from japan unmatchable by western developers theres plenty of western games to give them a run for their money.

[Golgo]

"The Japanese developer praised the movie and said he was pleased to see how many independent developers had been inspired by games such as Super Mario Bros and Zelda since their childhood."

First of all this statement has been spun by the reporter by putting the word "pleased" before an insult. Either that or the guy was being a real sarcky so and so.

The fact is that it's greatly insulting to someone in a Q & A to imply they borrowed their game ideas from somewhere else and this is a massively passive agressive statement. There's a time for constructive analysis and criticism of someone's product and calling them out in front of a bunch of people at their own Q & A is not the place for it. The organisers should have shut him down and refused to let the question be asked.

'Greatly insulting'? This is balls. Without the 'pleased' the sentence wouldn't make sense and the question couldn't be asked. Doubt it's a reporter invention. As for 'implying' about borrowed game ideas: the Q&A involved Jonathan Blow, ffs, who directly and happily quoted Mario throughout Braid. Wasn't Team Meat on stage as well? Which would explain the relevance of the Zelda influence (again, TM are perfectly open in acknowledging the debt Isaac owes to Zelda). It was a perfectly valid and interesting question: you've been inspired by Japan in the past, so what do you think of Japan now?