Final-Fan said:
Do you mean simply that most of the biggest names in gaming -- Nintendo, Sony, Square-Enix, Capcom, Konami, etc. -- are Japanese themselves? Because I don't think there's much other evidence. We're almost as technophiliac as they are, and video games themselves are very American. |
well, a statement like that is never exactly scientific. i'm kinda saying it based on my experience with my friends. i spend the first half of my life in asia (macau), where video games seems to be a much bigger part of our lives than over here in north america, more so than what i have seen in north america, where i'm spending the second half of my life (well, actually, it's more like 60% by now).
video games just seems like a bigger deal there, since i never get to play any sports for real simply because there's no land. so for recreation, it's basically computer games and video games, and it's pretty much the only thing you talk about other than school work. japan is not quite as bad as macau when it comes to land availability, but i'm sure certain parts of japan would have that problem to some degree. tokyo i imagine so.
i can go on and talk about my observations in college, but really, it's just an overall feeling, and i base my judgement on them.
proportionately speaking, more japanese play video games than americans (from sales figures). another sign that japanese care more about games is that they have at least 2 game tracking agencies, that release their data weekly. here you have NPD, and they charge you a fee for that. what you said about video game companies is another. none of these is exactly strong evidence, but things like these add up, and that's what i mean by "culture-wise", japanese are probably closer to video games than americans.
technology-wise, i think americans are ahead. not necessarily in terms of using gadgets, but in terms of being able to bring technology to the marketplace and using them to create new content.
the Wii is an epidemic.
