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Xen on 11 June 2011
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Scoobes said:
Xen said:
Scoobes said:
Xen said:
kowenicki said:
Remove nintendo and what has Japan given interesting or innovative? Not much.

Remove Bioware, Blizzard, Valve, and some Sony first party studios and what the west has to offer thats interesting or innovative? Not much if you bar the indie developers on the PC...

Errr... you had to mention 4 companies, Kowenicki mentioned one. You could arguably add Rockstar (or rather the dev that did LA Noire) and DICE/EA (For Mirror's Edge). Not to mention companies like Epic and Crytek that have made huge advances in graphics tech this gen that many Eastern companies have been unable to match.

He mentioned a company that ALONE develops more games than those four combined.

I would mention DICE, but as far as anything interesting goes, Mirror's Edge is their only game IMO. Don't ask me to voice my thoughts on Rockstar, please :P :P :P

As for Epic and Crytek... we play games, not graphics... and neither company is in any way close to a genuine legend like Blizzard... plus... you have to remember that Japan's focus is NOT with graphics most of the time. The west's is. Japan creates fantastic artstyles, the west covers its boring ones with graphics.

Do they really? Sony's Western titles probably come pretty close plus Valve and Bioware have been more active this gen. The fact still stands that they're only one company. It's not going to do the Eastern games industry any good if only one company is left thriving whilst the rest crumbles around them.

I also think that you underestimate the effect of graphics tech on games. Yes, Japanese games have great artwork, but the tech effects more than just the look of a game. Factors such as physics, view distances, streaming, animations, frequency of loading, number of movable objects in a given area and level size all contribute to the game design. The tech isn't just a tool for making things look nice but is also an aid for the game designer. Furthermore, the Eastern devs are also trying to compete in Western markets, so they need to balance their intriguing cultural artstyle with the technology that's now available to them.

Yep. And yeah, it is one company, but one that alone matches the capacity of the four I mentioned... plus, it's not like stuff is crumbling - see Konami, Capcom, Namdai, Atlus and such - they are doing well.

I can agree with you on the tech part, however.