Akira Yamaoka: "Japan is in trouble."

[_leech_]

Interesting snippet from an interview with Akira Yamaoka (the music guru from the Silent Hill series), from the December 2007 issue of Game Developer magazine:

Brandon Sheffield: What is it like working with an American team for Silent Hill 5? Is it different from having a team in-house with you? Akira Yamaoka: It's completely different working with an American team. There are of course advantages and disadvantages, but overall, i'm really impressed with the American staff and their technology. Their graphical and technical ability is amazing. There's a huge leap, actually. They're very advanced. I'm Japanese, and I think this is not just with Silent Hill but with the whole of the industry - I look at what American developers are doing and I think wow... Japan is in trouble.

He goes on to mention that Japanese publishers only want to make something fast and as cheap as possible, and Japanese developers are getting pressured to "perform like they did when they were 20." That part of the interview is a bit on the long side, but i'll type it out later if there's enough interest.

[Amir0x]

dang what happened to Silent Hill 5 then!

[Deku]

Well it is in trouble for people whose games don't sell and sadly there are far too many who are still doing things like it was still 1995.

[Dechaios]

Pretty interesting stuff. I wonder if a lot of Japanese people who work on developing games feel that way.

[TheJollyCorner]

now in the forest talking insects and birds!

[Kittonwy]

Well it is in trouble for people whose games don't sell and sadly there are far too many who are still doing things like it was still 1995.

So many of them are still stuck making SLGs that they don't even know what a shader is.

[Mrbob]

Well it is in trouble for people whose games don't sell and sadly there are far too many who are still doing things like it was still 1995.

I believe he is referring to the tech curve.

Which has been discussed at length. Japenese developers don't share tech advances and are falling behind overall.

[ethelred]

He goes on to mention that Japanese publishers only want to make something fast and as cheap as possible

I'd love to hear how this contrasts with EA, Ubisoft, and Activision.

[jsrv]

Didn't Hideo Kojima and one of the Clover Studio developer express the same thing about Japanese developers (MGS4 interview and Ookami interview)?

[Hcoregamer00]

Well it is in trouble for people whose games don't sell and sadly there are far too many who are still doing things like it was still 1995.

Quoted for truth, it isn't the Japanese teams themselves that are behind the times.

It is the organization, the lack of acceptance for innovation, and the lack of flexibility that is holding them back. RPG's have gone through so much damn evolution even with games like Chrono Cross, Grandia, Grandia 2, Final Fantasy X, Valkyrie Profile, and many more but they never take the improvements and build upon them for fear of "stealing" ideas.

[Lakitu]

Capcom have been by far the best this generation, Sega a distant second. (This is all bar Nintendo of course)

[pswii60]

Capcom they say no.

[solid2snake]

Shenmue III by Sonic Team USA?

[ToxicAdam]

The future is SE Asia and Eastern Europe .. they are hungrier (metaphorically speaking).

[duckroll]

I think Yamaoka's response was mistranslated. Here's what he really meant to say: "I sure don't want to be Kojima-san at the moment!" :)

[Kuroyume]

I'd love to hear how this contrasts with EA, Ubisoft, and Activision.

There aren't that many (if any in certain cases) Japanese games out there that look good as Crysis, Assassin's Creed/Far Cry 2, or COD4.

[teepo]

I'd love to hear how this contrasts with EA, Ubisoft, and Activision.

call of duty, burnout and assassins creeds weren't made overnight and infact, all three are better then probably your whole collection.

[Edag Plata]

He goes on to mention that Japanese publishers only want to make something fast and as cheap as possible, and Japanese developers are getting pressured to "perform like they did when they were 20." That part of the interview is a bit on the long side, but i'll type it out later if there's enough interest.

Uhhh...isn't that what most American developers are known for? Licensed games, movie games, Wii games (tee hee, not in all cases, I'm just playing).

I always saw Japanese games as more talented and more interested in making them memorable works of art than most American games.

[Grecco]

Tech wise, id put stuff from Capcom, or Kojima productions against anything from a US developer. They aint in trouble.

[RumFore]

Problem is too many put stock in PS3 being the beginning and the end.

[Doc Evils]

I believe he is referring to the tech curve. Which has been discussed at length. Japanese developers don't share tech advances and are falling behind overall.

GT5 looks terrible, amrite?

[Amir0x]

Uhhh...isn't that what most American developers are known for? Licensed games, movie games, Wii games (tee hee, not in all cases, I'm just playing).

what like the endless stream of horrific anime games weren't more than enough to counteract this!

I always saw Japanese games as more talented and more interested in making them memorable works of art than most American games.

sheesh this will end up in a list wars but you're wrong. FACT.

[Agent Ironside]

I'd love to hear how this contrasts with EA, Ubisoft, and Activision.

LOL! k. Ubi puts out AAA titles every year, not to mention COD 4 and the like. Your post = joke

[ethelred]

There aren't that many (if any in certain cases) Japanese games out there that look good as Crysis, Assassin's Creed/Far Cry 2, or COD4.

Setting aside that two of those games are from a German (not American) team that's clearly enormously talented... so what? That doesn't have anything to do with what I said. Do Japanese publishers want to make things fast and cheap? Sure, but so do most western publishers. It's the way the business works. Why do you think use of middleware engines has become so commonplace? Why do you think there are so many polishing issues and bugs in many of the games being released?

call of duty, burnout and assassins creeds weren't made overnight and infact, all three are better then probably your whole collection.

Whatever you say.

[Hcoregamer00]

Goddamn, I already see an east vs. west shit coming up.

Please don't degenerate into that kind of thread.

call of duty, burnout and assassins creeds weren't made overnight and infact, all three are better then probably your whole collection.

I always saw Japanese games as more talented and more interested in making them memorable works of art than most American games.

Never mind, it is already starting.

[SolidSnakex]

Ubi puts out AAA titles every year

Come on now.

[Grecco]

LOL! k. Ubi puts out AAA titles every year, not to mention COD 4 and the like. Your post = joke

Beowulf =AAA confirmed!

[chase]

Booooooooooooooooorn in the USA! Git them Russkies!

[radioheadrule83]

If they were making FPS games with military soldiers / space marines in them, maybe we'd notice the technical gulf he's on about. But they're typically not.

Given the amazing games Capcom have produced, the recent 2d beauties from Atlus, MGS4, FFXIII and the fact that SMG came out of Japan this year -- I don't particularly feel like mourning Japan's supposed technical inferiority.

[Xater]

Non games FTW! Amirite?

[Red Blaster]

LOL! k. Ubi puts out AAA titles every year, not to mention COD 4 and the like. Your post = joke

UbiSoft hasn't made an AAA game in years. They specialize in mediocre games with fancy graphics.

[Stop It]

call of duty, burnout and assassins creeds weren't made overnight and infact, all three are better then probably your whole collection.

Say what? On both sides of the Pacific there are publishers that want big returns for little effort, the difference appears to be, that at the moment at least, western devs have been more successful in recent years.

To say that Japan is in trouble right now is to take far too much of a simplistic view of things, the big few devs in Japan are doing fine, it's just the smaller fish that can't afford to fail having issues, just like in the US, I would equate SE, Capcom Sega etc to EA, Actiblizzard and THQ, all have made great games, but also are in the market for shovelware, they are more alike than some people would like to think.

[PolyGone]

a lack of normal mapping = trouble for the entire Japanese industry?

try telling that to NEW Super Mario Bros.

[Mamesj]

awesome. east vs. west go.

[beelzebozo]

"imagine current trends in japanese game design as some kind of giant lizard monster. now, at the moment that giant lizard monster is standing in the harbor, but it sees buildings, and it senses they have not been designed with anti-lizard technology"

[loosus]

Outside Nintendo, Japan is almost universally shat now. They're too concerned with making one of few things: 1.) something that's way too post-modern for anyone sober to understand, 2.) anything, even golf, with animu rape porn awesome to the max, 3.) some kinda RPG with retarded storyline where the opponent in the end ends up being the good guy's bastard father.

And really, Japan's idea of animation looks exactly the same no matter what game you pick up. They're not even trying to do anything different.

[Hcoregamer00]

awesome. east vs. west go.

This thread is degenerating as such because people don't take the damn time to do read the article in the context of how it was meant.

It wasn't meant as to say one is superior over other, it was meant as a way to compliment what Kojima said in how developers in Japan are reluctant to share technology with each other and to take innovations and improve upon them.

And really, Japan's idea of animation looks exactly the same no matter what game you pick up. They're not even trying to do anything different.

And shit like this couldn't be any more wrong. Pick up a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly anthology and tell me that ever single series in there has the same artstyle. After all, stuff like gantz, jojo's bizarre adventure, one piece, naruto, full moon, anne freaks, and shugo chara all look alike (and this is only 0.000000001% of what is actually out there).

[Lostconfused]

"imagine current trends in japanese game design as some kind of giant lizard monster. now, at the moment that giant lizard monster is standing in the harbor, but it sees buildings, and it senses they have not been designed with anti-lizard technology"

Is this supposed to be a Godzilla joke or something about earthquakes?

[Kittonwy]

I think Yamaoka's response was mistranslated. Here's what he really meant to say: "I sure don't want to be Kojima-san at the moment!" :)

Yamaoka sure as hell doesn't want to be Yamaoka right now, they can't keep making big budget Silent Hill titles given its lack of popularity.

[PolyGone]

And really, Japan's idea of animation looks exactly the same no matter what game you pick up. They're not even trying to do anything different.

Okami says hi

[teepo]

Say what? On both sides of the Pacific there are publishers that want big returns for little effort, the difference appears to be, that at the moment at least, western devs have been more successful in recent years. To say that Japan is in trouble right now is to take far too much of a simplistic view of things, the big few devs in Japan are doing fine, it's just the smaller fish that can't afford to fail having issues, just like in the US, I would equate SE, Capcom Sega etc to EA, Actiblizzard and THQ, all have made great games, but also are in the market for shovelware, they are more alike than some people would like to think.

all i have to do is quote the last six months of media creates numbers to prove you wrong. the level of quality products coming out from japan is as rare as a quality game coming out for the n64 during its run. don't waste your words.

Okami says hi

try to name 5 more games without trying.

[radioheadrule83]

Say what? On both sides of the Pacific there are publishers that want big returns for little effort, the difference appears to be, that at the moment at least, western devs have been more successful in recent years. To say that Japan is in trouble right now is to take far too much of a simplistic view of things, the big few devs in Japan are doing fine, it's just the smaller fish that can't afford to fail having issues, just like in the US, I would equate SE, Capcom Sega etc to EA, Actiblizzard and THQ, all have made great games, but also are in the market for shovelware, they are more alike than some people would like to think.

True. Every region seems to have a few devs and publishers who are earning a great reputation these days... and equally so, shocking / shit games are made all over the world too.

[Mamesj]

Outside Nintendo, Japan is almost universally shat now. They're too concerned with making one of few things: 1.) something that's way too post-modern for anyone sober to understand, 2.) anything, even golf, with animu rape porn awesome to the max, 3.) some kinda RPG with retarded storyline where the opponent in the end ends up being the good guy's bastard father. And really, Japan's idea of animation looks exactly the same no matter what game you pick up. They're not even trying to do anything different.

congrats on being the stereotypical "all japanese games suck because it's about rape and rpgs" guy

[speedpop]

And Akira Yamaoka has much say in the design of game development in Japan.. because...?

The dude is a music composer first and foremost - nothing less. It'd be like Joe Hisaishi complaining about the shit Miyazaki shat out via Studio Ghilbi compared to Disney (*cough* Pixar).

[FieryBalrog]

I always saw Japanese games as more talented and more interested in making them memorable works of art than most American games.

[Aeris130]

With the PS360-combo being the dominant hardware and software seller in Japan, developers have to step up.

[PolyGone]

this box art isn't really helping your cause

[Mamesj]

This thread is degenerating as such because people don't take the damn time to do read the article in the context of how it was meant. It wasn't meant as to say one is superior over other, it was meant as a way to compliment what Kojima said in how developers in Japan are reluctant to share technology with each other and to take innovations and improve upon them.

Yep, nobody RTFA anymore.

With the Windows PC-360-combo being the dominant hardware in Japan, developers have to step up.

Fixed. Japan is in trouble. They're starting to drive Fords too.

[Stop It]

This thread is degenerating as such because people don't take the damn time to do read the article in the context of how it was meant. It wasn't meant as to say one is superior over other, it was meant as a way to compliment what Kojima said in how developers in Japan are reluctant to share technology with each other and to take innovations and improve upon them.

Indeed, there are far too many closet racists here who love to derail threads like these with their agendas, bastards, the lot of them.

Anyway, the whole tech sharing thing is weird, I've always seen Japan as being very open when it comes to hardware tech, examples include Cell, I mean Toshiba and Sony want to kill each other when it comes to Blu Ray Vs HD-DVD, yet were willing to share a massive project like CELL (With IBM, natch), but when it comes to software they appear to be very secretive, I don't quite understand why :(

[krypt0nian]

And Akira Yamaoka has much say in the design of game development in Japan.. because...? The dude is a music composer first and foremost - nothing less. It'd be like Joe Hisaishi complaining about the shit Miyazaki shat out via Studio Ghilbi compared to Disney (*cough* Pixar).

This is where we take the argument apart by saying he knows nothing.