What is this nonsense I'm hearing? Western games don't have good stories? They aren't memorable? You realize of course that the amazing jrpgs you people keep going on about are direct descendants of Ultima right? You're going to tell me Half-life, Baldurs gate, and fallout don't have good stories? That the western world didn't create pretty much every video game genre? You gonna look me in the eye and tell me Mortal Kombat can't stand with street fighter? Unbelievable.

And lets not get into modern games, where, aside from a few gems, the only good games the Japanese make anymore are MGS and fighting games.

Just because a game is considered a "classic" doesn't mean its better. These games are considered classics because gaming was in its infancy and they began the phenomena we consider gaming. Video games are now the biggest entertainment business in the world and games have evolved by a huge margin. Games are much better now than what they used to be and I dare you to go back and play these old games and tell me they have better stories, better variety, better gameplay than the best games of today. They don't and you are living on nostalgia. The best games made today come from the west. Western games>>>Japanese Games now.  20 years ago Japanese games>>>Western games

Rape Lay has an honourable reason? Resident evil has an honourable reason?

OK so there may be some inherent cultural prejudice in play in the mindset of many Japanese gamers. But this is primarily coming from a commercial point of view. Western made games don't generally need a Japanese release for the games to be profitable for the original developer and publisher. So who really cares if MW2 does well or bombs in Japan? I don't care and neither does IW or Activision. If Japanese gamers are so blined by their own prejudice that they miss out on quality games merely because they are western games then its their loss. Western developers shouldn't feel like they need to make games with the Japanese market in mind, because they might end up putting off their main demographic, which is the western audience. Other than the handheld market perhaps, the Japanese market isn't big enough, even in absolute terms, for non-japanese developers to specifically target development.

Conversely Japanese developers will often need western audiences to make big budget games profitable, so they need to appeal to both Japanese and Western audiences, a much tougher ask. Japanese developers do it very well too, primarily by making games where the main playable characters have non-Asian features. Would Final Fantasy be what it is in the west if all the main characters had been Japanese? They recognise an inherent prejudice on the part of Western gamers and factor that in to their development. To the extent that a lot of people who are more casual about their involvement in gaming (not to say they are casual gamers, but rather they have little interest in the gaming industry) probably think that the likes of Capcom are Western developers because games like Resident Evil have the look of a Western game. If Western developers were desperate for Japanese sales for profitability they would do the same in reverse. They are not desperate for Japanese sales success so they don't need to specifically cater to that audience. No big deal.

Damn I love Mortal Kombat. So much faster paced and split second thinking to be good at the game. Unlike Street Fighter and the spamming of projectiles.

jeez how did this become a raging Western vs Eastern games debate?

Well as UK is the mighty empire and at the centre of the world, I conclude our games are the best. we have GTA & sackboy!

/thread

its a dare? , no im not living in a nostalgia, its just timeless classics can be played over and over without them getting outdated.

while lets say.. Call of Duty. you play that game once and then you wait for the sequel because its not timeless, games mainly based on graphics are like sand, they just fly away with time.

classics are stones. they stay in place.

Do you consider Doom to be a classic?

The Japanese do need to expand their horizons when it comes to gaming. The west has accepted plenty of Japanese games with open arms. In Japan? Very few western games do well there. The Xbox 360 has a hardcore following in Japan (360 has the lowest install base but the highest tie ratio. Meaning Japanese Xbox 360 owners are buying lots of games for their Xbox 360) and these gamers are open-minded but they are vastly outnumbered by the gamers who don't want to give western games a shot.

I enjoy both western and Japanese gaming software (though this generation I find that on home consoles my tastes slant more to the western games. Portables is another story). I think it's unfortunate that many western gamers have his idea that Japanese games suck without giving them a proper chance and I think it's unfortunate that western otakus have this idea that western games suck without giving them a proper chance. I used to be in the "lulz, shooters suxorz" crowd. But fast forward to the present and Crackdown (a third-person shooter/vertical sandbox game) is the most fun I've had from a game thus far this gen. And Mass Effect, a western rpg with a third-person shooter combat system, I'd say it measures up quite well with jrpgs. I'd say my top 4 favorite games this gen (not including portables) from my collection are western games (Crackdown, UFC 2009 Undisputed (Yuke's the dev is Japanese but who would consider this to be a "Japanese" game? When you think UFC, you think drunken meatheads in a Tapout or Affliction shirt looking for a fight) , Fable II, Mass Effect.. though I haven't played enough ME to properly judge it).

Well seeing as people play games more than they used to then yes the sequel is important now. Now do I care if I'm playing MegaMan 9 or Megaman 2? No I don't cause they are the same damn game with enemies that look different. The standard of gaming has gone up and so has the expectations of the gamer. I do enjoy those classic games you speak of but I know they really don't hold a candle to the games of today. Thats why they are considered Xbox Live Arcade games, because thats what they are. Fun arcade games with nowhere near the detail and level of gameplay of what we have today. Both Japanese and Western have their great games but in my opinion and the opnion of many other there are more great Western games that are being made today.

There is both good and bad Western and Japanese made games.