Support NeoGAF

[Red Blaster]

That is such bullshit. The fact is Japan used to produce most games, and the Western studios produced mostly crap. The Western studios grew, evolved, became better, while Japan didn't change.

Japan never made games "for the entire world", it was just the rest of the world that wasn't even trying to take its place in that market.

Eventually the market became more interesting to invest in as technology evolved and opened up the doors for increased revenue.

Japan lost its share, and Japan lost its market share because they didn't figure out why they had it to begin with.

This is all pretty much horseshit considering games released 10 years ago like Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate 2 outclass the significantly watered down shit being passed off as as fresh and new by the Western press these days.

 

[Tunin]

Moe == Bald Marines/Heroes/Soldiers/Whatever ([insert coolface here])

The thing is, the japanese society is xenophobic and isolationist, it's in their culture so, do you really expect it not exert some kind of influence over the gaming industry?

Basically their creativity is wasted in Anime/Moe games or copies of the western blockbusters (excluding the consolidated games, I'm talking about the new IPs). Yes, generalizations are bad, I agree, but so far the only japanese game that made a huge impression on me in this gen was Demon's Souls, unfortunately.

 

[Conciliator]

Wow, never thought I'd be on GAF defending Japanese games. I'm a hater, but I think a lot of you guys aren't giving them enough credit. I love the surrealism and the color of Japanese design, and I'm even basically down with their often Byzantine gameplay structures. The only problem I really have is with characters and narrative. One could argue this is not a big deal for video games, but a lot of Japanese developers make it a big deal.

There's a still a lot of good Japanese games though. The Katamari Damacy guy makes use of surrealism that should make any Western dev jealous, and Nippon Ichi use tongue-in-cheek satirical silliness to make the most of anime storytelling. At least one developer, Platinum Games, can do both of these things at their very best.

The big difference is that Western development has become very business-savvy and scientific. It's a bunch of guys asking how they can streamline things, how they can broaden appeal, how they can pinpoint exactly what it is that keeps players coming back and then how to milk that as hard as they can. For better of for worse, Japan is not doing that...they're still just throwing a bunch of artists at a lead designer and seeing what the fuck happens.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Man this article is terrible. Why would you do this Kagarin!? WHY!?

 

[kadotsu]

4 paragraphs on moe 1 on handhelds, it's a chauvinistic US article about Japan alright! See you guys in the next JRPG vs. WRPG thread.

 

[Elios83]

The article is all wrong and completely missing the point with all the xenophobic theories.
Japanese developers giving the middle finger to western gamers?
That's ridicolous and completely false, it's the exact opposite, their mantra for the whole generation has been "we have to please western gamers even if that means we're forced to outsource production or lose our identity" (which is a mistake because western gamers do not want that).
The idea of japanese developers focusing on the japanese market is ridicolous, they have all publicly stated that Japan is not sufficient anymore for them if they want to stay in the business.
Second thing, western gamers still love japanese games, most western gamers also happen to love anime and mangas and all the big japanese games have sold well during this generation (MGS4, FFXIII, GT5, Lost Planet, Resident Evil 5, Tekken, Soul Calibur) but if japanese developers have become unable to develop modern games with acceptable development times, they have been outclassed both technically and creatively by western developers it's just their own fault.
Most of them have acknowledged that atm they're behind and are trying to fix their issues. Of course gamers and markets are not waiting for them and other titles (developed in the west) have become the new hot thing.
If anything I'd say that western titles deserve to be more successful in Japan.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Let japan to be stubborn and refuse to change, that seems to be the only thing they're good at.

Pretty much. Japan's importance in the gaming industry isn't nowhere near where it was last gen. Let market forces dictate where the cards fall.

 

[Warm Machine]

True, I mean, just look at Nintendo. Its games sell like shit in the west.

Nintendo games don't really have an art style specific to a geographic location. The most anime series they have is Fire Emblem and they kept that hidden away for a long time.

 

[bathala]

10 yrs from now

Little boy: Dad what's a Konami?
Dad: son, its an ancient species thought to have walk with unicorns and moes

adapt or be extinct

 

[Ether_Snake]

Is the output of western studios really better than it was? Aren't just PC developers now making games for consoles?

You spend X amount of money on a product because you think it can bring Z amount in profit. Since Western companies saw more potential in the market's growth than Japan did, it invested increasingly large amounts of money in the development of video games, making more profit, taking bigger shares of the market.

Simple economics. The Western companies had more foresight, they managed to see the potential growth and act accordingly, while Japan did not.

This is all pretty much horseshit considering games released 10 years ago like Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate 2 outclass the significantly watered down shit being passed off as as fresh and new by the Western press these days.

Old man yelling at cloud.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Is the output of western studios really better than it was? Aren't just PC developers now making games for consoles?

Look at the output of say Sony's first party titles developed in the west compared to the first party titles made in the east.

 

[EternalGamer]

I can't remember where I read the article, but I remember a Western journalist that asks Squaresoft whether they were interested in making more mature stories for adult gamers and the lead at Square literally told him that wasn't their target audience and that Final Fantasy is and always will be for 13-18 year old boys.

That pretty much matches up with this article. And I think that is the biggest problem. It isn't the aesthetic, it is the fact that their game's structures, narratively and mechanically, are for kids.

Which really sucks because aesthetically, I think Japan still has some of the best audio and visual designers in the industry.

 

[Gaspode_T]

Actually a pretty accurate article in terms of "game taste" but it glosses over the fact that Japan is 5 to 10 (or even 15) years behind the West in technical development practices, and shows no real signs of trying to catch up.

My personal opinion has always been that the end of this (10 to 20 years from now) will be kind of like movies or anime are today, Japan movies and Japan anime exist but it doesn't mean it's totally mainstream in the US, they might be popular here and there but they are overshadowed by the main Western industries. On the other hand, I think Western games will eventually become so realistic and earth shatteringly good that they become more popular in Japan. This is just my prediction, take it or leave it

 

[WrenchNinja]

I don't get the complaints about Japanese gaming becoming more handheld based. Are people so allergic to the notion of playing something on a smaller screen?

And using the "you can't get 'epic' games on a handheld!" excuse is tame and ignorant.

Why is it so hard to understand that some people want to play on a big screen and not a tiny one? Or have to deal with single stick controls or whatever other problem that people have with handheld games.

 

[erpg]

Yeah, I mean the most successful developers today (Infinity Ward, Bethesda, BioWare, Epic, DICE, Blizzard, Valve, etc) are pretty much the same developers who were successful in the 90's and very early 2000's on PC.

Barring developers like Naughty Dog, this has pretty much been what the West has experienced post-2005. The clouds parted and PC gaming shone upon the console world.

But then, the PC Gaming Developpers told the PC Gaming Race that they should love and worship the Console, for from now on, the great creations were theirs. And thus, Lucifer rebelled and that's where we are now.

 

[.JayZii]

As far as I can tell, Japan is doing the same thing in both the games industry and anime industry: appealing to the dependable, ever-shrinking niche audiences rather than expanding and creating more widely appealing products.

Meanwhile, the self proclaimed western "otaku" develop their own insular sub-culture which is repellent to would-be fans of Japanese entertainment because they do not want to be associated with the western anime fandom brigade.

Those two factors working in tandem make it difficult for Japanese culture or media to get traction in the western mainstream market.

 

[Hours Left]

Half the games you listed like MOTHER FUCKING Suikoden didn't sell that well in Japan and not so great here, they went away because they are in it to make money.

At it's peak, Suikoden was selling over 400,000 in Japan, with three titles over 300,000. It's not a blockbuster series, but it's not super niche either.

 

[x3r0123]

I do enjoy the odd Persona games, stuff from Nintendo, and some of Capcom's offerings.

But, seriously?
Konami? What the fuck happened?! SotN, MGS, RR, SC, AC, MOTHERFUCKING SUIKODEN?! When was the last time they released anything relevant? MGS:R hasn't seen the light of day, and their next releases are HD remixes...what the hell is the team doing?!
Sega? Sonic is DEAD! Altered Beast? Dead! Shenmue? Dead! Valkyrie Chronicles should be successful, but it's likely gonna die. Is there ANYTHING coming out from them that's worth the watch?
SE has had some successes recently, but a lot of those successes were from Western developers. All their Japanese stuff has been shit. I'm sorry, but FUCK DQMMORPG.
Level 5? WKC was shit! Ni no Kuni...will it ever even been released outside Japan?

Now you compare them vs
Bethesda - Skyrim/FO
Ubisoft - AC
Naughty Dog - Uncharted
Santa Monica Studios - GoW
Activision - CoD
Runic - Torchlight 2
Blizzard - EVERYTHING
EA - Tons of stuff!
TONS upon TONS of indie studios!

It's clear that this generation of developers was heavily influenced and fell in love with games made by the big Japanese studios, but the Japanese games industry is simply stagnant.

not sure if serious.jpg

 

[watership]

gog.com. Yeah, I think the west has been making good games for a loooong time. This is ignoring the fallacy that the west use to produce 'mostly crap' when referring to consoles.

I think there is a good arguement to say that the true cream of the crop for most games used to come out of Japan. However this decade, this hasn't been the case at all. Japan still has the wacky, crazy games, but Western development has move forward while Japan went in circles.

 

[Beth Cyra]

At it's peak, Suikoden was selling over 400,000 in Japan. It's not a blockbuster series, but it's not super niche either.

At it's peak which it hasn't been for a long time now.

Look at Tactics, look at the DS game or even SV, none of these did any were near these numbers.

Take into account they don't have that team any more, half the people who bitch it's gone would bitch if it got put on a handheld and how much money they would have to sink into building a ground up game for 360/PS3 and it's very easy to see why they haven't done it.

 

[Nirolak]

Barring developers like Naughty Dog, this has pretty much been what the West has experienced post-2005. The clouds parted and PC gaming shone upon the console world.

But then, the PC Gaming Developpers told the PC Gaming Race that they should love and worship the Console, for from now on, the great creations were theirs. And thus, Lucifer rebelled and that's where we are now.

And it's notably that Naughty Dog was making really successful games like Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter before this generation.

It's just that they were one of the only Western developers who found great success on consoles at the time.

 

[Shurs]

most western gamers also happen to love anime and mangas

Really?

 

[Lucentto]

I'm curious. What is actually wrong with certain games not being mainstream or AAA? It always seems like to me that niche games are talked down upon.

 

[kokujin]

Now would be the perfect time for Sega to return.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

We all love technically impressive games, but look at all the Western devs that have died this generation. Fighting to stay relevant from a tech perspective is near suicide unless you manage to get a hit. Just a few days ago an article was released mentioning that Max Payne 3 would need to sell 4 million copies just to break even. There are developers in Japan happy about selling 100-200k copies. Japanese devs have managed to find real success on HD consoles (mainly the PS3) without killing themselves in the process. They're also able to do it with disc based games while you see many Western developers moving to downloadable titles because it's so hard to gain any attention for a disc based product unless you're working on some well known series.

Japanese developers get a lot of shit this gen, but if you look at the rate of studio closures it makes you wonder if they actually have the healthier business model.

I am not say anything is wrong with that , I do believe that you can make a good game without having AAA gfx budget .
That why i always say Gust was smart ,it better to make a game that sell100k to a niche set of people that AAA game then getting shut down a few months later .
Still the lack of Japanese game this gen is because of handhelds and lack of knowledge consoles.
There also management problems but that on both sides .

Also not matter what japan put out there not going to get the COD base it like some people who i know only used to buy a system for GT.

 

[SLEEPS7ALK3R]

Well, no shit, most American gamers pointed and laughed at MGS4's online attempts in the face of the Gears, and the Halo's and COD's, and that was a high profile game specifically tweaked to suit the American playstyle. So don't be appalled if you find out now that the Japanese gaming scene is giving the finger to the west.

 

[EternalGamer]

I found the Final Fantasy Article. Here it is.

A quote:

I guess my question is, if much of Kitase's audience are older now, why do his games still so often feature young protagonists, setting out on life, trying to find their identity and place within the world?"

The translator nods, almost masking his confusion. I continue: "Doesn't he have anything to say to older players? In adulthood, the JRPG's lessons can seem a little trite and simplistic. Life rarely follow that trajectory in reality. Things don't get fixed so easily. Doesn't he want his to reflect more mature themes and perspectives, to express a new story, to, um, explore new territory?"

Kitase takes a deep, thoughtful breath. There's a long pause followed by a short burst of Japanese. The translator leans toward me. "He says his games aren't really for people in their thirties. The JRPG is intended for younger players because the journey of the character leaving the village to conquer the world resonates with them. He's happy to continue serving this audience."

We leave the conference room, a single file of middle-aged men, consumers turned creators and commentators. We pass the map in the hallway, where it hangs expansive and impressive. No-one looks up.

 

[Ether_Snake]

As far as I can tell, Japan is doing the same thing in both the games industry and anime industry: appealing to the dependable, ever-shrinking niche audiences rather than expanding and creating more widely appealing products.

Meanwhile, the self proclaimed western "otaku" develop their own insular sub-culture which is repellent to would-be fans of Japanese entertainment because they do not want to be associated with the western anime fandom brigade.

Those two factors working in tandem make it difficult for Japanese culture or media to get traction in the western mainstream market.

This is true too, and it applies to Japanese culture as a whole. It has taken bits of Western culture and created its own niche culture. Look at Western Europe and the US, Australia, Canada, etc. They have a natural fit. It's logical that Japanese video games, like music and movies, wouldn't be quite as popular in the West than back in the 80s and 90s.

It's actually very similar to the cartoons of the 80s and 90s. Japan was making most of them. When I was a kid, almost ALL cartoons on TV were made in Japan. Even the stuff published and created by French companies (like the Mysterious Cities of Gold, Ulysses 31, etc.) was actually produced by Japanese studios. Over time the market became more interesting and more and more content was created by the Western companies instead.

 

[tim.mbp]

I just wish they'd make more 999 and Umineko and less 'My Sister Can't Possibly Be This Cute'.

Japan games can be distinctly Japanese without being fricking creepy.

I loved 999, but I can see where some people might be turned off by some design choices.

 

[TheChaos]

Man, I sure hope the 3DS/Vita takes off over here as that's where most of the good Japanese games are heading. If not, it's gonna be like the PSP right now where a bunch of amazing games go un-localized.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

this entire article is fucking garbage.

they're right, it's not that japan's games have changed, that's the root of the problem. they haven't changed and the west continues to evolve and get better and better. at this point, we are so much better, the japanese game industry has no one to blame but themselves.

so let japan to be stubborn and refuse to change, that seems to be the only thing they're good at. and i am especially proud of the fact that western countries refuse to accept this fucking 'moe' or lolishit. call it whatever you want, but it is borderline pedophilia in disguise.

Um...how? It isn't like Western developers are so willing to change either or are full of innovation. I will admit though, Western developers have been MUCH more proficient with development during this generation.

 

[blizzardjesus]

I like alot of japanese media and games.(I generally prefer it) I have to agree with a great deal of this. Moe has been damaging not just games but also anime. It has been moving from amazing storytelling/unique designs to same-y pointless fluff.

I miss old Japan and want it to come back.

 

[Pirabear]

Can the people complaining about moe please give examples of series that were "ruined" due to moe-ification? Almost every Japanese game I can think of with a token moe character are generally otaku centric franchises to begin with (Disgaea, Ar Tonelico, Tales, etc).

 

[Finaika]

I loved 999, but I can see where some people might be turned off by some design choices.

Those are some epic boobs.

 

[qq more]

most western gamers also happen to love anime and mangas

Uhhh... no they don't

 

[Hours Left]

At it's peak which it hasn't been for a long time now.

Look at Tactics, look at the DS game or even SV, none of these did any were near these numbers.

Take into account they don't have that team any more, half the people who bitch it's gone would bitch if it got put on a handheld and how much money they would have to sink into building a ground up game for 360/PS3 and it's very easy to see why they haven't done it.

V sold close to 200,000, which isn't awful and Tactics was just a side game.

The DS game is a totally different story. If it was a true canon Suikoden game, it would have been received much better. The fact that it was on the DS was not the main issue.

Now I'm not saying that Suikoden is a giant waiting to be reawaken, but it definitely still has potential. RPGs with heavy story focus can do very well in Japan, just look at the Kiseki series, and I don't think fans would be complaining if it was a 3DS/Vita game if was actually a return to the series' canon world. (And the majority of the team still works at Konami, they are just doing different stuff.)

It can still be a viable part of Konami's portfolio, but right now all they care about is Metal Gear.

I loved 999, but I can see where some people might be turned off by some design choices.

You can say that about any style of game though.

 

[Margalis]

Non-developers should not talk about why games from X region are better than games from Y region because quite frankly they just don't know what the're talking about.

Real talk!

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

That's kind of a relative standard to other Western console games. RDR is at 114,671 on PS3 and L.A. Noire is at 63,231 on PS3. GTA IV did make this chart however.

[/IMG]

This list isn't really fair though, call of duty budget priced versions are counted separately, and you also have 360/ps2. If you combine the 360/ ps3 and budget price versions together CODBO and CODMW2 are both in the top 20 best selling hd games this generation in japan.

 

[Beth Cyra]

V sold close to 200,000, which isn't awful and Tactics was just a side game.

The DS game is a totally different story. If it was a true canon Suikoden game, it would have been received much better. The fact that it was on the DS was not the main issue.

Now I'm not saying that Suikoden is a giant waiting to be reawaken, but it definitely still has potential. RPGs with heavy story focus can do very well in Japan, just look at the Kiseki series, and I don't think fans would be complaining if it was a 3DS/Vita game if was actually a return to the series' canon world. (And the majority of the team still works at Konami, they are just doing different stuff.)

It can still be a viable part of Konami's portfolio, but right now all they care about is Metal Gear.

I don't agree it couldn't be viable.

However that would take Konami accepting and building with in the idea that it would sell 200K, maybe more or less and be happy with that.

They don't seem to want to do this and have been pushing for games that generate more sales, which is why it shouldn't be surprising that Sui went away.

And regardless even as side games Tactics and DS did really badly so I can understand them being gun shy.

 

[kokujin]

Can the people complaining about moe please give examples of series that were "ruined" due to moe-ification? Almost every Japanese game I can think of with a token moe character are generally otaku centric franchises to begin with (Disgaea, Ar Tonelico, Tales, etc).

I don't think it ruined anything, but it has become the focus.The problem is that form has taken precedent over function.While this is true for the modern games industry, it is far more prevalent in the west.

 

[James-Ape]

One designer at a high-profile JRPG maker told us of the time he brought Bioshock into the office. While the younger members of the company were impressed, a high-ranking and well known producer played the game for thirty seconds, declared, "This game feels cheap," dropped the controller on the desk and walk away without another word.

well, at least he gave it a fair chance.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I am not say anything is wrong with that , I do believe that you can make a good game without having AAA gfx budget .
That why i always say Gust was smart ,it better to make a game that sell100k to a niche set of people that AAA game then getting shut down a few months later .
Still the lack of Japanese game this gen is because of handhelds and lack of knowledge consoles.

I think that we've started to see a lot more Japanese games on consoles recently. NAMCO has especially upped their output on the PS3. It's just a shame that it took so long for the output to really pick up. I think that the initial slow startup was due to the PS3's high price and the perception that you were going to need to spent a lot of money to stand a chance on the system. The price is down and companies like Gust and Nippon Ichi have shown that you can be successful without a mega budget.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Pretty good article. It's well written and makes some good points.

this entire article is fucking garbage.

they're right, it's not that japan's games have changed, that's the root of the problem. they haven't changed and the west continues to evolve and get better and better. at this point, we are so much better, the japanese game industry has no one to blame but themselves.

This is pretty much true, and the article said it as well. Japan has failed to pay attention to Western games, or the innovations Western games have made, and Japanese gamers usually don't play Wetern games, so they keep falling farther and farther behind without even realizing it...

so let japan to be stubborn and refuse to change, that seems to be the only thing they're good at. and i am especially proud of the fact that western countries refuse to accept this fucking 'moe' or lolishit. call it whatever you want, but it is borderline pedophilia in disguise.

This is certainly not true though. Sure, there are some bad aspects to otaku culture, but you go way too far there... and as the article says, moe ald loli are not the same.

:/

When the JRPG fan's defense against games that actually try something different often is something like "I don't like change, keep it the same", I think that on the former point he's right...

It's more like PC devs brought to consoles the things they had been doing for years and a lot of people think that's new because they ignored PC gaming.

This is absolutely true. As a '90s PC gaming fan I think that the Western shift to consoles has brought as much bad as it has good -- I too mourn the loss of genres like flight and space combat sims, approachable general-market wargames, turn-based 4X strategy games that aren't Civilization, and more -- but at least it's improved the quality of Western console games a good bit, thanks to all of those great developers (and the best Western developers mostly used to be PC developers) moving over to consoles. That is the reason why Western console games are so much better now than they used to be, and it's an important one... while Japanese games go off in a completely different direction, failing to incorporate many of the improvements Western games have made. And when Japanese games are mostly for handhelds while Western games are for consoles, that makes the differences even bigger, and the gap between them even harder to bridge. Budgets, team sizes, design elements like control schemes, use of middleware, art styles, etc, there's a big gap now. So, many Japanese studios now don't even try to bridge it, and just make handheld games. That's a fine decision for games designed only for the Japanese market, but with how Japanese games used to be popular worldwide, just giving up on all of that because of market changes does seem to be a downgrade. As for Western developers, the worldwide marketplace is much bigger than the Japanese one, so while being unsuccessful there might be annoying, it's not as big of a deal as it is for Japanese publishers.

Overall I like both Japanese and Western games a lot, though, so it is too bad that Japanese games falling farther and farther behind over the course of the last generation.

Wow, there really is almost zero western games on that best seller list. The US list is probably mostly US devs, but I'm sure RE, MGS, DMC games are sprinkled about.

Yup, quite true.

 

[Finaika]

Can the people complaining about moe please give examples of series that were "ruined" due to moe-ification? Almost every Japanese game I can think of with a token moe character are generally otaku centric franchises to begin with (Disgaea, Ar Tonelico, Tales, etc).

Shmups.

I miss my spaceship shooters

 

[EternalGamer]

Um...how? It isn't like Western developers are so willing to change either or are full of innovation. I will admit though, Western developers have been MUCH more proficient with development during this generation.

Have you been paying attention to how something as simple as dialogue has innovated by Western Developers this generation? Take a game like Mass Effect or LA Noire or even the recent Deus Ex. They are doing amazing stuff with camera angles, interactive dialog choices, etc. Japanese games have none of that stuff. We are lucky if they have someone that doesn't sound like they are reading straight from a page.

Or take the evolution of open world games from something like GTA to the sophisticated dynamic roadside quests of Red Dead Redemption, the random theft chases in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, the new dynamic quest structure of Skyrim or even examples like instancing in WoW. There have been a lot of innovation in the open world space.

Or let's take multiplayer gaming. Western developers have advanced matchmaking techniques. They started including level up perk like systems, community replays etc. We are lucky of Japanese games let us fucking voice chat.

It is pretty much literally true that Japanese developers have not advanced mechanics at all this generation. They are making last gen games from everything to basic mechanics to online feature and just putting high res graphics on them.

 

[NotebookJ2]

I found the Final Fantasy Article. Here it is.

A quote:

I have to wonder, is it really so bad to cater to an younger audience? I mean, yeah, it's all great to reach to other audiences and all if you're confident about it but there's nothing really bad to sticking to what you know either.

I mean, I get the need for games for "older audiences," but... eh. I dunno what I'm trying to say here.

 

[VALIS]

Moe == Bald Marines/Heroes/Soldiers/Whatever ([insert coolface here])

Nah. While bald space marines/etc. are generic and forgettable, lolis are aggressively awful, like what Rob Liefield is to comic books. That hideous style has ruined a lot of japanese gaming for me (RPGs especially). Same with anime by and large. Man, I miss the sci-fi, horror and cyberpunk styled 80s and early 90s before that obnoxiously fluffy shit seemed to take over everything.

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

Also this talk of Konami dying off brings up another huge point: SNS's are even more profitable in Japan then they are anywhere else in the rest of the world.

Konami had the widest profit margin out of any gaming company last quarter do their sns games(More of their profits came from sns games then consumer games). Out of every single major stock in the exchange Konami is 2nd place in terms of gains in percentage(right behind Gree).

Konami sure isn't dying, they are just doing the old Galapagos evolving

 

[Nirolak]

This list isn't really fair though, call of duty budget priced versions are counted separately, and you also have 360/ps2. If you combine the 360/ ps3 and budget price versions together CODBO and CODMW2 are both in the top 20 best selling hd games this generation in japan.

Right, CoD is a good example of a Western game really breaking through, but I just meant to give that list as more of a snapshot of which games and series are dominating the HD console market there in general.

 

[Riposte]

Yes, Japan is dying because they are not making a sequel to "MY FAVORITE JRPG/PLATFORMER/ETC".