"Japan is in trouble", says Silent Hill 5 producer
- Posted December 17th, 2007 at 05:56 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 5,104 views
- 30 Comments
Akira Yamaoka, the Producer and composer of Konami’s forthcoming Silent Hill 5 has said he believes that the future of Japanese game development is in trouble following his experience in working with American studio, The Collective.
Speaking with Game Development Magazine, Yamaoka, who has worked on numerous instalments in the Silent Hill franchise, said that “Japan is in trouble”, before elaborating on western firms, insisting, "They're very advanced”.
"There are of course advantages and disadvantages, but overall, I'm really impressed with the American staff and their technology," he offered. "Their graphical and technical ability is amazing. There's a huge leap, actually."
Indeed, Yamaoka feels that Japan’s development industry is slowly falling behind its western counterparts on a technical basis: "I look at what American developers are doing and I think wow... Japan is in trouble," he said.
Silent Hill 5 is due out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 some time in 2008.
Source: PS3qj
Comments
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princevegeta1980
- 6:01am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 1
don't worry, one day too you'll be first, hohoho!
japan in trouble? who's making gt , mgs and final fantasy games, lol! with just these three franchises how could say such cr@p man, get real and wake up and smell the coffee!
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 6:47am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 5
May be he meant to say,that he's the one in trouble,because as far as i know,the MOST advanced games are japanese,FFXIII &VSXIII,GT5,MGS,just to name a few.Even if japanese games aren't that graphically superior,they're the ones who have always come up with innovative gameplay,mixed with immersive compelling storylines,so no JAPAN IS NOT IN TROUBLE.(BTW i'm not japanese)
OR
We are taking this out of context,and he was just trying to praise american devs,since it's the first time he's worked with them.
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tom ass
- 7:17am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 7
Japan has always produced extraordinary games and always will. Technology and graphics can make a good game, but its the creative intellect of the developers that make unforgettable gaming experiences i.e. MGS, FF, Shadow of the Colossus, etc. You'd have to be incredibly shallow to think a game needs advanced graphics and tech to be considered good. Look at the Wii. The graphics don't make you jump out of your seat but its outselling the technologically superior competition. Japan ain't goin no were.
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Staticneuron |
Staticneuron- 8:01am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 10
I think this was his way of praising the people he worked with.
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SolsticeZero |
SolsticeZero- 9:42am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 12
I don't think he's really talking much about the quality of the games, but the studios themselves. Maybe he feels that the American studios are more organized and less prone to delays. I dunno if that's what he means, but thats how I interprete it.
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Organic_Shadow |
OrganicShadow- 10:11am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 13
At the same time though, this guy is a composer... and just because graphics and technical skills are advanced here in the US, doesn't mean we know how to make superior games. We are just captializing on the business in a more aggressive way than Japan, which results in crap games like EA has been putting out, or Kane & Lynch, etc.
I think Japan IS in trouble, but only in the sense that they are moving backward a little and have lost any or all desire to move forward in the graphics and technical areas alongside the creative/innovative area. They would rather something be PURELY fun, than impressive and with an amazing delivery/presentation. Which is sad, becuase I think the Japanese game developer base has GREAT presentation and delivery skills. Level 5 and SquareEnix are living proof. Why should we have to settle with just those two though?
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CONFLICT__01 |
conflict01- 10:45am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 16
R u tripin or wot ?????? japan has nothin to worrie bout at all !!!!! Japan is still best, then europe, then america !!!! wot a plank !!!!!!
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zbamf
- 11:12am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 17
I've read about the Japanese market being in trouble before coming from other Japan developers. Its easy to pick out the big guns and say look at these but thats only a handful out of hundreds of games every year. On a whole I would say that Japanese developers are behind Western developers in tech terms and the Japanese developers come to western developers for help and advise. If you look at the average US/EU game they are more technical superior to the average Japanese games. There are way too many anime style games in Japan and while western games appeal to the world on a huge scale, Japanese developers, especially the top ones, i.e. Square, Komani, capcom will develop games with westerners in mind but mainly Japanese games only appeal to Japan with only slight interest from gamers abroad.
If I moved to Japan and was fluent in Japanese I would still import most of the games as whats out there in the Japanese market is weak and over-flooded at the moment with puzzle and party games with many RPG's that are not to the same calibre as say FF.
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Dave-The-Rave |
Dave-The-Rave- 11:26am GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 18
What the heck is he on about japan has the BEST DEVELOPERS FULL STOP. Followed by Europe then America DEAD LAST
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gingo |
gingo- 12:10pm GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 19
psn id: gingo... i think this is partly right about america being more advanced because they pump millions of dollars into the games industry to improve it whereas japan rely on intelligence and human work ethic i still think japanease are the best developers, european are most creative and america just make the most lol
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Uncool |
Admodistrator- 12:54pm GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 20
In terms of development for games, hands down Japan takes it for presentation and innovation for what they offer. Though I do understand they are in somewhat of a trouble with the technical aspect. However they aren't going to sacrifice good gamplay, storytelling, etc like what there American counterpart consistently does.
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InfernoReaper |
GrimDarkling- 1:11pm GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 21
Until the US can make CGI like FF, I don't think they have to worry.
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yoboyrob9041226 |
BIGROB904- 3:45pm GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 23
i think that japan are more creative i love most of the stuff that comes from there they are more reliable psn id bigrob904
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Richmond |
richmond-reaperx- 6:53pm GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 27
The way I see it, I think this guy is both right, and wrong. Like a few people above me have said, I think that the absolute best the Japanese put out there (ie. FF, MGS, etc) is better than anything else from anywhere, but in terms of overall depth, the Westerners probably win the overall battle, as alot of their "second tier" games are decent, whereas with the Japanese, there probably isn't much of a second tier, it probably goes straight from first tier to third tier games. That's just my opinion though.
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Link64 |
Link64- 7:46pm GMT - December 17th, 2007
- 28
he right guys i don't see that many japanese games in these next gen console except towards the Wii & DS where i see most of japanese games shine. take the ps3 & the 360 for example is much more advance but there aren't that many japanese games being released on that was his point. western games dominated the sales charts most of the time. japanese games developers needs to step up there their games or they'll lose to the western developers. we'll see what will happen in 2008 cause FFXIII, Super Smash brawl, MGS4, White knight Story,GT5 just to name a few will sure put focus on the japanese developers.
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cOwpander |
Sobe_Elixir- 1:02am GMT - December 18th, 2007
- 29
I think both sides have there pros and cons. Let's face it, what is the Percentage of games developed in Japan that make it to other territorys and vice versa? Japanese developers have there strong points as being creative and innovative with there games ,rather than focusing on graphics. I would disagree with that article, Japan loves there games, what can I say.
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