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Inafune: "I look around Tokyo Games Show, and everyone’s making awful games"

Gomu Gomu

Member
Yup, he's at it again.

The full sad quote from NYTimes' article. Titled: Japanese Playing a New Video Game: Catch-Up
“I look around Tokyo Games Show, and everyone’s making awful games; Japan is at least five years behind,” said Keiji Inafune, 45, head of global research and development at Capcom and one of Japan’s most prominent game designers.

“Capcom is barely keeping up,” he said in an interview at the show, which ended Sunday. “I want to study how Westerners live, and make games that appeal to them.”

Man. So sad.

In other news Dead Rising apparently is tailored specifically to the West. what??
The company has had more success with its 2006 horror action game Dead Rising, which it tailored specifically to the West. Set in a zombie-infested mall in small-town America, the game gives players more freedom to improvise. Everything in the mall is at the players’ disposal. They can whack zombies with salmon, run them over with shopping carts, even pour cooking oil on the floor to make zombies slip.
 

Cheech

Member
Final Fantasy 13 pretty much proves what he said to the letter. It doesn't sound like the new crop is much better.
 
The only people who know who this guy is are the people who like the games coming out of TGS/Japan. I don't understand what he hopes to accomplish by this?
 
Keep telling yourself that, Inafune. I know how badly you want to save it. Never give up your dream of making it big in the west with great games like DmC.
 

Takao

Banned
Fuck off Inafune. Until you guys are making Megaman Legends 3, you won't do any better. Especially with this western slant. If we wanted western games, we would buy western developed game series.
 

tokkun

Member
MikeE21286 said:
The only people who know who this guy is are the people who like the games coming out of TGS/Japan. I don't understand what he hopes to accomplish by this?

Readers of the New York Times...?
 

Zen

Banned
This self depreciating, at some point, is just plain unhealthy. It's great that developers in Japan are acknowledging that they're somewhat, on average, behind the west/europe in term of technology and whatnot, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater in the process of wanting to be 'like everyone else'.
 
I picture it like The Last Samurai - Inafune is the Western obsessed emperor who will realise too late that they should have hung onto their Japanese values.
 

Gribbix

Member
Mikami's comment on working with EA in the same article is kind of interesting:
But the creative director of the game, Shinji Mikami, who was also behind Capcom’s Resident Evil games, cited a culture clash between the Japanese design house and its partners at Electronic Arts.

“Japanese developers tend to work on inspiration, not so much on a set time schedule like the Americans,” Mr. Mikami said in an interview. “So when EA asked about the game month after month, we felt like loan sharks were coming after us.”

But there are no hard feelings, evidently. “We’re grateful to EA for being so understanding,” Mr. Mikami said.
 
I'm going to have to disagree. Both have their pros and cons. It's sad to see him act like everything out of the west is the greatest thing ever.
 
Nintendo has been the major exception, a Japanese game company that has remained dominant. The company, based in Kyoto, reinvented the industry with its Wii home console and wandlike remote, which was introduced in 2006, luring new casual players into the market while setting an industry standard in motion control.

The Wii Sports Resort game was the world’s second-biggest game in 2009, selling 7.57 million copies. Its soon-to-be-released Nintendo 3DS, a portable console with a 3-D display that does not require special glasses, is the industry’s most anticipated hardware release in years.

But because the best-selling games on Nintendo consoles are largely made by Nintendo, the rest of the Japanese game industry has been excluded from that action.

Hiroko Tabuchi has a narrative in mind, and she's not letting the console vs. handheld distinction get in the way.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Gomu Gomu said:
“I want to study how Westerners live, and make games that appeal to them.”

Okay, here's what you do Inafune.

1) Shut the fuck up, so I don't have to see Capcom swirling down the drain because of you.
2) Ask Capcom to get in touch with Cliffy/Epic and see if someone there needs a roommate for 5-10 years.
3) FOREIGN DEVELOPER PROGRAM!
4) Take lots of photos and stay out of the limelight for a few years (Megaman fans may cry)
5) ?????
6) CAPCOM PROFITS! (Or doesn't profit, depending on if they continue to go down this boneheaded "AAA WE MUST SELL MEALIONS IN THE WEST" route)

I'm so tired of Inafune it isn't even funny.
 
MikeE21286 said:
The only people who know who this guy is are the people who like the games coming out of TGS/Japan. I don't understand what he hopes to accomplish by this?
I think he is justifying capcom's new strategy of relying on western developers.
 
~Devil Trigger~ said:
i think he was stuck there so...
53lh8n.png
 
I liked this part of the article:
NY Times said:
The West’s dominance was evident here at the Tokyo Game Show, which has lost much of its global clout in recent years. Despite excitement at the 2010 show over coming titles from Japanese publishers, like Ni no Kuni from Level 5 and The Last Guardian from Sony, Japan’s game developers were mainly wringing their hands.

Nintendo has been the major exception, a Japanese game company that has remained dominant. The company, based in Kyoto, reinvented the industry with its Wii home console and wandlike remote, which was introduced in 2006, luring new casual players into the market while setting an industry standard in motion control.

The Wii Sports Resort game was the world’s second-biggest game in 2009, selling 7.57 million copies. Its soon-to-be-released Nintendo 3DS, a portable console with a 3-D display that does not require special glasses, is the industry’s most anticipated hardware release in years.

But because the best-selling games on Nintendo consoles are largely made by Nintendo, the rest of the Japanese game industry has been excluded from that action.
Nintendo always seems to be the exception in these East vs. West discussions. Yet Japanese 3rd parties keep trying to emulate Western developers and failing, while they might have better luck if they tried to emulate Nintendo.

Edit: Beaten by Father Brain (kinda).
 
Father_Brain said:
Hiroko Tabuchi has a narrative in mind, and she's not letting the console vs. handheld distinction get in the way.
The entire industry has this narrative in its collective head that presses on, ignoring reality.
 
The worst games I saw from TGS were all Crapcom games. What the fuck were they thinking with dmc? I suppose MvC3 looks alright. What a tragic joke Inafune has turned Capcom into. I bet Mikami and Kamiya are laughing their asses off right now at Platinum Games while Capcom shovels out another outsourced piece of shit. Namco at least announced a spiritual sequel to Demon's Souls and brought a new Tekken Tag to the table. Level 5 showed an awesome looking RPG with Studio Ghibli production assistance. Konami's new Castlevania had a very impressive showing as did Sega's Vanquish. Then there was The Last Guardian (AKA the saving grace of HD gaming in Japan :lol). Capcom is the last studio to be pointing fingers at the Japanese gaming industry.
 
cooljeanius said:
I liked this part of the article: Nintendo always seems to be the exception in these East vs. West discussions. Yet Japanese 3rd parties keep trying to emulate Western developers and failing, while they might have better luck if they tried to emulate Nintendo.

Edit: Beaten by Father Brain (kinda).


The problem is, anytime they do try to emulate Nintendo, they just copy the style, and not what actually makes the games worth playing.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I'm so sick of this clown. His company pumps out trash while he bitches about Japanese development. Nintendo's lapping you so fast the planet is going back in time. Even Sega's running laps around your sinking ship, dunce.
 
CaptYamato said:
I'm going to have to disagree. Both have their pros and cons. It's said to see him just act like everything out of the west is the greatest thing ever.
since the beginning of this generation one thing has been proved. Western developers production and technology is light years ahead of their Japanese counterpart.
 
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