Also my point is about Japan not being a big player in this generation for gaming or at least it will trail behind usa and europe for lifetime consoles sales.

@elino

Japan is just an island just slightly bigger than florida...Ofcourse sales will trail behind.

Words Of Wisdom said: elnino334 said: My real question is will Japan matter for gaming based on some of the trends such as more realistic or mature games on the 360 and PS3. Could that be one of the main reasons companies are moving their games to the Wii or even the DS since they can keep them from being too real? Will the Wii just crush the 360 and PS3 over time similar to the DS and PSP? Another reason I bring this up is because people are expecting big sales from Japan this generation when maybe that may not be the case. Once upon a time, Japan did indeed set the trends for the gaming world and even today it still does. However as Microsoft continues to cater to a mostly American audience and provide western entertainment which appeals Americans versus Japanese, their may be a bit of a divergence coming.

 

That is what I mean by the games that I currently own vs years past.  I used to love the konami, capcom, squaresoft among others releases but they have now slowed down somewhat.  Guess you can blame it on the development cost as Western developers have adapted alot faster and have just been releasing more games at least here in the states and in europe.  You got some big companies now like EA, Activision, Ubisoft and many more leading the way this generation.  The highest reviewed games this generation are western centric like oblivion, gears, bioshock, rainbow six, resistance fall of man, motorstorm among many more with alot more coming.  If games like those keep coming out then Japan I believe will lag behind. with the Wii being the biggest player there.

Japan and the US have evolved into completely different markets. You can see it in sales. Japanese consumers are eating up handhelds like hotcakes, as a majority of their software sales are for the DS and PSP these days, while they seem to be latching on to the PS2 as their home console. Their taste in video games also leans more towards RPG or anime-syled games. The "next-gen" is hardly a factor at all over there. They can't even sell PS3s for chrissake.

The American market is just eating up violent video games like Halo. And when you can move over 2 million units in America on the first day, who cares about Japan at that point? It's a much smaller country with a smaller population, it's not even worth attempting unless you have a title with guaranteed mass appeal. America tried reaching out to Japan with games like Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata, which they flatly rejected. Let them be, at this point. They can play Nintendogs and FF7 spinoffs till they're blue in the face.

leo-j said: @elino Japan is just an island just slightly bigger than florida...Ofcourse sales will trail behind.

 

That may be the case but why has the DS sold more in Japan then USA and Others according to this site? I mean if size was a reason then though is fairly popular in Japan it should still lag behind due to the size difference you mention.

One thing about RPG's is that they take a long time to develop which is even longer this generation since even regular games take between 1 or 2 years to develop. Of course you can cut down the time by making it for the Wii, DS or even the PSP. I mean the only turn based RPG in Japan out for the next gen system is Blue dragon, folklore, enchanted arms and Eternal Sonata with Lost odessey coming shortly. That is basically it for this current generation so far. That may be another reason why the sales have also slack.

elnino334 said: One thing about RPG's is that they take a long time to develop which is even longer this generation since even regular games take between 1 or 2 years to develop. Of course you can cut down the time by making it for the Wii, DS or even the PSP. I mean the only turn based RPG in Japan out for the next gen system is Blue dragon, folklore, enchanted arms and Eternal Sonata with Lost odessey coming shortly. That is basically it for this current generation so far. That may be another reason why the sales have also slack.

 Why is the next gen system in the current generation?

fkusumot said: elnino334 said: One thing about RPG's is that they take a long time to develop which is even longer this generation since even regular games take between 1 or 2 years to develop. Of course you can cut down the time by making it for the Wii, DS or even the PSP. I mean the only turn based RPG in Japan out for the next gen system is Blue dragon, folklore, enchanted arms and Eternal Sonata with Lost odessey coming shortly. That is basically it for this current generation so far. That may be another reason why the sales have also slack.  Why is the next gen system in the current generation?

 

I made a mistake it is the current generation.

elnino334 said: fkusumot said: elnino334 said: One thing about RPG's is that they take a long time to develop which is even longer this generation since even regular games take between 1 or 2 years to develop. Of course you can cut down the time by making it for the Wii, DS or even the PSP. I mean the only turn based RPG in Japan out for the next gen system is Blue dragon, folklore, enchanted arms and Eternal Sonata with Lost odessey coming shortly. That is basically it for this current generation so far. That may be another reason why the sales have also slack. Why is the next gen system in the current generation? I made a mistake it is the current generation.

 Okay. Well now that I'm not wondering about that anymore. So far Fire Emblem and Paper Mario are out and Shiren is coming soon (next few months?). Personally I think the era of the cinematic RPG ala the FMV stuffed Final Fantasy type games is coming to a close. Not to say they are done with or are going to disappear, just that the genre has seen its heights. RPG's also seem to have found a very lively niche on the handhelds. Good story based RPG games to me seem ideal for handhelds, i.e., costs are cut considerably and for now they have a much larger user base. 

  So as long as the Japanese developers can do well on the handhelds (and they are) they'll be able to stay in the game long enough to figure out how to adapt to the new dynamics. 

elnino334 said: My point is will Japanese gamers dump the 360 and PS3 for basically just cusual gaming then Japan will lag in terms of gaming behind the USA and Europe. It won't be this huge market that people keep saying it is of course unless your Nintendo.

 Woah...  WHAT?  You realize that your so called Hardcore is now a  niche part of the market right? Even your so called Hardcore games have become softcore.  I fail to see your point in this.  The true hardcore games came out a long time ago.  They required skill and lot's of practice.  Today's games come with silly in game hand holding.  The true Hardcore market died out a long time ago.  EVERYWHERE....