Hideo Kojima: "Japan Has Lost" Compared to Western Games

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If you read the latest issue of EGM (and of course you did), you probably saw the juicy Quartermann rumor that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima has been seen meeting with many high profile western FPS developers. Whether those meetings will influence his next game is still impossible to say, but by Kojima's own words, he may well have simply been doing recon on his competition -- competition he thinks has clearly pulled away from their Japanese counterparts.

"If you honestly compare Japanese games with Western ones, Japan has lost," Kojima frankly said during a discussion at the Tokyo Game Show last week (Famitsu, via Kotaku). During the talk, Kojima compared the western games industry to Hollywood -- they bring the world's best creators together and give them huge budgets for their projects. He went on to call the current disparity "dangerous," particularly when it comes to how far western technological development has come over the last few years.

So what does Kojima intend to do about it? Well, whatever it is, it seems we'll have to wait another year to find out, as he also teased his next project may be revealed at TGS 2009. "Until the end of this year, I have my hands full with Metal Gear Online, but at next year's show, I think it's okay that I should be able to announce something."

We know Metal Gear Solid 5 is coming, in one form or another, but could 2009 be the year Kojima finally makes good on his promise to step away from the series and work on something else? We all have some 360 days to ponder this burning question (give or take whenever TGS 09 gets scheduled).
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http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170630

Japan has become stuck in niche titles, like dating sims and job simulators, and when it comes to rehashing games the only series I can think of in the wets that matches them is Madden/EA Sports.
 
I like Japanese games BECAUSE they're niche. They may have 'lost' in the scale of what's the most popular in America or Europe, but why does that even matter?
 
He should prove everyone wrong by releasing a game that's mostly cut scenes with gameplay and story akin to a conspiracy theory propagated by fifteen year olds with overactive imaginations and fans of the progressive rock group "Tool". He should also release this game on the least circulated console to pander to a more elite group of gamers.

Maybe if he did that, Japan would catch up.
 
bhc said:
he Should Prove Everyone Wrong By Releasing A Game That's Mostly Cut Scenes With Gameplay And Story Akin To A Conspiracy Theory Propagated By Fifteen Year Olds With Overactive Imaginations And Fans Of The Progressive Rock Group "tool". He Should Also Release This Game On The Least Circulated Console To Pander To A More Elite Group Of Gamers.

Maybe If He Did That, Japan Would Catch Up.
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Wrong!
 
Hideo Kojima is a poor, mediocre writer and game designer and his opinion is not worth squat.
 
I don't know about all of that. He speaks of big budgets and dev teams like it is a good thing. Look at the most creative, beautiful, and innovative titles out there right now: you will find that they were made by small teams of incredibly talented and dedicated individuals on a shoestring budget oftentimes. The guys at Introversion come to mind, as does the team at Media Molecule.

In an interview with Gamasutra, MM had this to say:

Q: Did you have any reservations as a smaller studio about making the PS3 the platform of choice?

AE: None at all. We like a challenge! I think we?ve had to be careful not to make technical or design decisions that would force us to bite off more than we can chew, content-production wise. We know how much talent and man-power 80+ person teams have, so we?re not even going to try to compete. Rather, we are just using the more unusual aspects of PS3 as a kind of ?focusing? device.

MH: I wasn?t sure that Sony would believe us when we said we could make a next-gen game with a smaller team, but they really got what we wanted to do.

Q: Are there any other indie developers that you admire or model yourself after?

AE: For me, my biggest role model is Scawen Roberts and his crew of 3 on Live For Speed. I?ve never seen such single minded dedication to a product and its community. He just keeps on cranking to make it as good as he can, to great effect ? and with no external funding, large team (it?s just 3 people), or anything else, he competes (and wins) in the car sim market.

MH: Me too, The Live for Speed team are my heroes. I?ve never met anyone with as much integrity as Scawen and Eric [Bailey].

Q: Finally, what games have you been playing lately, and any particular all-time favorites?

AE: I know a lot of people say it but I?m a complete sucker for ICO and to a lesser extent Shadow of the Colossus. I always fall for games that depart from the usual game aesthetics of big guns and fast cars.

MH: I absolutely loved Loco Roco ? that?s the first game I?ve played all the way through for many years!
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You just don't need teams of 200 people to create great games. Some of those huge teams turn out some pretty mediocre stuff (e.g. Assassin's Creed). Even CryTek was able to create an amazing FPS in Far Cry with a tiny dev team.
 
Samon said:
Hideo Kojima is a poor, mediocre writer and game designer and his opinion is not worth squat.
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No, he's one of the best game designers ever. He is however a poor writer, though a lot of that can be chalked up to translation and cultural issues.

He's right about this though. Japan mostly just pumps out rehashes of the same old shit. The anime "art style" is the perfect example. It's all the same, nothing remotely creative about it. An entire culture pumps out a bunch of crap that looks and feels identical.

Of course there are exceptions, and Kojima's games are some of them, but for the most part Japan produces crap.
 
Samon is a talented, extraordinary writer and game designer and his opinion is invaluable.
 
smwScott said:
The anime "art style" is the perfect example. It's all the same, nothing remotely creative about it. An entire culture pumps out a bunch of crap that looks and feels identical.
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3am and I'm laughing my arse off already. Good work.
 
Western art style:

gears_of_war.jpeg


Japanese art style:

shadow_colossus-759239.jpg


Japan is full of such utter shit.
 
I don't find that "Western" as much as I solely find it "Epic".

I think they'd give their guns muscles if they could.
 
How many Japanese games like ICO or MGS you know? Now how many FF clones, JRPGs and kitshy anime crap games they produce?

West game design > Japanese game design
 
Blackthorn said:
I'm disappointed you didn't pick up on the sarcasm.
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It's like 4am now. I turn off all non critical functions so I don't fall asleep.

Polaris said:
How many Japanese games like ICO or MGS you know? Now how many FF clones, JRPGs and kitshy anime crap games they produce?

West game design > Japanese game design
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You must be jesting too. THE WEST DOES THE EXACT SAME BLOODY THING. How many WW2 shooters do we have? Meanwhile all judgements are being based on games ported to English I bet. Many incredibly original games are produced in Japan and don't see the light of day outside Japan. Get a clue kids.
 
Polaris said:
How many Japanese games like ICO or MGS you know? Now how many FF clones, JRPGs and kitshy anime crap games they produce?

West game design > Japanese game design
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How many Doom clones and rehashed sports games do you know?

I consider there to be merits to both sides. In fact, MGS4 is a great example of a blend of both. The more pragmatic Western style of development focused on realistic visuals mixed with the pure creative insanity of Japanese development.

To me, one isn't better than the other. They're far too different to justify such statements. Even though I tend to have a big rubbery one for Kojima, I disagree with him here. And anyone saying Japanese art style is inferior should see my prior example. If they continue to say such things, I'll cockslap them into oblivion.
 
Both screenshots looked shit in your previous example btw.
 
It seems as if all Japanese games all have the look uber spikey hair (DBZ-ish). For the Japanese based companies that use anime in all their games = fail

Western based games can be a little odd at times, but there are other games that are more appealing than Japanese company based video games. (DOA series, Final Fantasy series, Devil May Cry series, etc.) Only a handful a handful are not the typical "anime" look, Mario and some others. I can't comment on MGS series, because I never played it.
 
Bacons said:
It seems as if all Japanese games all have the look uber spikey hair (DBZ-ish). For the Japanese based companies that use anime in all their games = fail
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Oh wow. You have no idea.
 
Kyorisu said:
Oh wow. You have no idea.
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Your point is?

I say the games are awful, most of the characters that are designed looked like transvestite's. What are you trying to prove to me?

I look towards games like Half-Life series, as a true backbone.
 
Bacons said:
Your point is?

I say the games are awful, most of the characters that are designed looked like transvestite's. What are you trying to prove to me?

I look towards games like Half-Life series, as a true backbone.
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Zelda. Mario. Metroid. Without them you wouldn't have an industry.
 
I don't see much that's uniquely Japanese about SotC considering it draws on styles from all over. Had it been made by a European or American dev I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. At the same time I agree with those who've said that you can't definitively state that one artistic tradition is better than another, since the ratio of legendary to pooh stuff in each is so poor.

As for Kojima crying, I suspect he said what he did because he loves the idea of cheesy Hollywood blockbusters in game form, but every time he tries his hand at it himself, the writing comes out like gobbledygook in the Western release. Maybe that's a source of frustration for him. IMO his views can be boiled down to "Japan isn't as good at 'Hollywood' as the West," but I think that misses the point of whether or not Hollywood-style games - that is, games designed with huge budgets, lots of gloss and glitz, for huge returns - should be the highest aspiration of developers anyway.

BTW SotC is a game that doesn't translate well to screenshots. The section that cap was taken from is one of the most breathtaking game sequences I've ever played (only rivalled by all the rest of SotC).
 
How many games this Christmas or year that you have on your list are western and how many Japanese?
How many of your top games are western and how many are jap?
I'm willing to bet most are western.

There is much more diversity in the west then in japan, in art styles, game play as well as genres. The
west produces top games in all genre's, not so much japan, and this is taking in to account the fact that
the western game industry is larger then that of japan.

Japan does come in to it's own when talking about low budget titles as they have many weird games,
train, cooking, elevator, kiting simulators or whatever. But most of the are comparable in quality to
western flash games, which are as weird and diverse.

And Japan is indeed dominated by the anime style, while the west really doesn't have any dominant style,
cartoons are a very good example of that but the same go's for games.




And kojima is completely right, he isn't the only one talking that way, in a similar article
in Edge not so long ago another jap complained the west does indeed do much more to
bring people together and exchange ideas.

Also just for shits and giggles how many of you, who "do not care" for big budgets have
big budgets titles as their most wanted this year? Because I'm seeing a lot of L4D, fable2,
FC2, F3, GTA4, Deadspace, all big budget titles.
 
Is L4D "big budget"? It certainly doesn't have a huge dedicated team of hundreds like Kojima was talking about.
 
It's a triple title isn't it?
Also where did he say hundreds?

edit: French Ninja you have stood in my way for the last time, mark my words.
 
While you do have a point, you're also making a subtle appeal to the masses in that you're assuming that games which appear on most people's Xmas lists are games that will turn out to be gaming classics. In many people's favourites lists that I've seen on here, the proportion of flops to big name titles has been pretty high - stuff like Planescape, Grim Fandango, Ico, etc. Sales may be the most important measure of success to many people, but they are only one measure of success.
Gray Fox said:
Also just for shits and giggles how many of you, who "do not care" for big budgets have big budgets titles as their most wanted this year? Because I'm seeing a lot of L4D, fable2, FC2, F3, GTA4, Deadspace, all big budget titles.
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Personally speaking, the only one of those that I'm setting aside money for is GTA4 since I find that I always get tons of hours out of GTA games.
 
Laivasse said:
Personally speaking, the only one of those that I'm setting aside money for is GTA4 since I find that I always get tons of hours out of GTA games.
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Not even fable 2, it's one of the most original and refreshing titles to come out in years you sick ****, I'm reporting you for that.

Also cut your hair.
Also the appeal to masses was because a lot of people here were disagreeing with hideo as far as I see, which struck me as ironic considering the general taste.
Eejit said:
Small team. Pre-existing engine. Limited number of voice actors.

Doesn't sound much above average cost wise to me.
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Yeah well it is.
 
Gray Fox said:
Not even fable 2, it's one of the most original and refreshing titles to come out in years you sick ****, I'm reporting you for that.

Also cut your hair.
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Loffle. I'm interested but far from sold on Fable 2 yet; waiting for a few months' worth of critical reception, as well as its release on a platform that I actually own.

As for L4D: Marketing budget's pretty big by Valve standards, whether or not that bumps it to the level of a blockbuster title I wouldn't care to say.
 
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