his trying to justify all their low sells by generalizing japan's games, look a
Street fighter 4, MGS4, Valkyria chronicle, Bionic commando rearmed, GT5 prologue, and more up coming japan games that are good, is their games (EE ) that are becoming crap, EE is crap right now and have forgotten about all their fans because now they want to appeal the western audience and have not succeeded. Stop generalizing Wada not all japan developers are crap this gen.

Sega, KONAMI, NAMCO, CAPCOM, and others have been a great publishers, so is sony and lets not forget the most successful gaming company in the world, NINTENDO IS FROM JAPAN.

Honestly, ever since I experienced WoW, I can't get into traditional JRPGs like I use to.  I recently picked up a used copy of Blue Dragon and I couldn't get past the second dungeon, I was bored with it. 

But the Japanese have picked up the love of Phastasy Star MMO style play.  Games like PSO and Monster Hunter 2+ seem to have picked up, unfortunately on the hand helds.  I was never a game boy player so playing on a small screen to much to care for games like that.  I guess that is why I have high hopes for White Knights Chronicle multiplayer.  Its better than going back paying for WoW.

So far the west has been making shooter after shooter. Wrpgs have existed for a very long time.

Meanwhile games like Nobi-nobi boy was made by a Japanese company. But to be fair Santa Montica made games like Flower.

I'm sure there's a lot of small Japanese companies that do a lot of unique (and definetly quirky) games. The question should be, are the big fishes willing to adopt and invest in the little fishes? Sony has. I find it really ironic that SE is the one to talk.

Why wouldn't we?  Some people in the movie industry are the best at what they do, artists, producers, and directors etc..  People like Peter Jackson who clearly love what they do and do it well.   I would have no problems whatsoever if the gaming industry recruited some of those people.

ME and FF are different types of RPG's. However Mass Effect IS that good. Possibly the best RPG period. I know I and many others would choose Mass Effect over FF. FF just cannot compete for story at all.

The film industry has one resource the games industry generally lacks, and that's good writers. The games industry has great designers, programmers, there are tonnes of skilled visual artists and access to good actors usually(who often seem like poor actors due to poor writing). But excellent writers are few and far between.

It may simply be that writing for a film is a different skill than writing for a game, due to the writer not having the same control over context etc., but I'm more inclined to believe that games designers more often feel that they are good writers themselves when really they should be hiring proffesionals.

SE is making me cry lately, as are Capcom.

Westerners buy their games because they are better than the tripe we produce over here. Don't change a thing

I can't believe I didn't put writers in my earlier post!  DOH!!!!  I do feel like you hit the nail on the head.  While some games do have a decent story/plot and characters, most still are average at best.  And if having a better plot/story envolves getting better writers from Hollywood or wherever I am all for it.

Call me a sell out.

Exactly how does one update the JRPG format?  It seems to be locked to me in a way to do things: Linear storyline, menus for selecting what to do during combat, and CGI cutscenes.  Oh, maybe you mix it up a bit with real time action, changing how you order and organize your units, and making the game not based on the cliches of an angst ridden teen (or early 20 year old) or one with amnesia.  Hasn't Square Enix done these things recently, even coming out with a 3D space shooter in the last Silpheed game?  And all these people say SE has "lost the touch" and "bring back Final Fanasy!".  The cry for Final Fantasy is a desire to stick to the same old formula actually, as I can see it.  The cries for Vs 13 come from those in the Sony fan camp, because it isn't on the 360.

His is not a voice in the wilderness as it were. This is a real topic of discussion in the Japanese gaming industry. Stale production methodology has lead to an abundance of stale products, and poor sales performance. These are actually fairly valid points to be made, and he isn't the only one making them. A number of people in the industry have raised this same point in the past couple years, as Japan has seen sales of its software wane in comparison to western developers.

Firstly I would say exception do not disprove the rule, and secondly a great many of those exceptions are the result of lobbying from western offices of said companies. Without those officers its highly likely you would not see a new Street Fighter or a new Bionic Commando. On the upside it is a good sign that the Japanese studios are beginning to listen to their foreign staff. Be it a strange way to get novelty. Basically being forced to be novel by having to leave the comfort zone.

To hit some other points yes Japanese developers need to start investing in real writing staffs, or hiring real writers to come in on projects. Further more yes they do need some people with experience in the film industry. Their audience isn't just eight years old anymore, and cliches, bad dialogue, poor plot, and piss poor pacing are just not acceptable. It is a heavy detractor for Japanese games on the whole.

Just good writing alone would open the door for a lot of novelty. After all it is the writing that has lead to the popularity of Mass Effect, Oblivion, Fallout, and even Grand Theft Auto. It seems with good writing you can get off the damn rails and give the players real freedom. Suddenly they can actively be engaged in unraveling the game worlds. How many of us have replayed games to make different choices just to see the outcomes.

I often laugh when a Japanese gamer complains about the violence in Western games, because I also know there is a strong undercurrent of morality based decision making. Sure I can blow away a thousand enemies in Mass Effect with my assault rifle, but I also have to reason with this drug addict diplomat accosting me outside of the bar. Say what you will, but I think learning through experience is superior to spoon feeding a linear morality tale.