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Lost Odyssey Dev: Western Studios Ahead Due to PC Development Experience
by Aaron Linde, Apr 21, 2008 8:00pm PDTThe president of Japanese developer Feelplus has suggested that the migration of PC developers to consoles might be the reason behind Western dominance of next-gen consoles.
Feelplus president Ray Nakazato said that the Japanese market is producing less higher-end, technically advanced games than its counterparts because it lacks the lengthy history with PC development that Western developers have.
"We need to look at the overseas market more seriously," Nakazato told Gamasutra. "I think one big factor is that in Western gaming market there is a long history of PC games. A long and big market with the PC games, so I think there are a lot of great developers and creators who kept making PC games."
The advent of engines built from the ground up for cross-platform development, as well as piracy and sales concerns, have moved several traditionally PC-focused developers towards the console business in recent years.
"I think [for] this generation of consoles, finally those people started showing up in the console game arena," Nakazato added. "That's one big reason that Japan also seems to be a little behind in that arena."
Comments
Also, Piracy isn't THAT big of a deal in PC gaming, devs just make it a bigger deal than it really is so they have an excuse to bitch at PC gamers.
-and if the "Western Hemisphere" devs are so experienced with PCs, how come Ubisoft Montreal can't make a decent PC port? Is it Ubisoft Shangais (sp?) fault?
Here's the real reason with the "Migration" - THE EXPLOSION of console gaming in the states! Everyone and their dog has a 360 and a Wii now, you just gotta move with the Market, but PC gaming hasn't "died" because most people have a PC AND some other console.
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Not necessarily two aspects for why Western developers might be developing more (and more technically advanced) games, but certainly two aspects for why I'm glad they are doing so.
I know that Western games can be more cliche in terms of what we, as Westerners, expect to see in our Hollywood-esque story development, and I'll be damned if I just don't care as long as I don't have to put up with a comic relief sidekick (or multiple thereof) that is a 13 year old Japanese school girl, a fairy, a talking animal, etc.)
Oh and the event that put the icing on the cake for me in terms of my (probably) too harsh statements above was a scene in Devil May Cry 4 (Dante being one of my favorite characters) where Dante and one of the main villains pretty much have a 'You Got Served' style sing-off before one of the major boss battles in the game. It scarred me for life.
And yeah I do know that some things get lost in translation.
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