They started the gaming run and I hope they will be the last game company standing.

The wii is a nice system but not next gen.... i'm hoping their next iteration of the nintendo system is truly next gen.

I remember when i was Crucified for saying such a thing.

Westerners like Action RPG's, grounded fantasy games that aren't over the top in nature and real life type games like sports, racers, shooters that has some realalistic elements such as gameplay/physics/thinking it through to survive.

We like games that we can relate to on some level, it just can't be wacky, child-like and have over the top drama ect. We tend to like realism vs an over the top fantasy excapes.

At least some Japanese devs will be able to adapt because we need their imagination in the industry working side by side in some games but as a leading force or the Japanese being needed, we do not need them, they're dead in the water.

The Western Devs are mixing it up, up grading all genre's to next-gen and the Japanese can't keep up and change fast enough. If it ain't broke why fix it mind set will be their undoing.

No ones saying theres no good games coming out of Japan it's just not needed if the current trend gets more wide spread. I have one Game Developed by the Japanese can't even think of any in the next two years that i want maybe Lost Oddysey but that game is baby sat by MS to ensure Western appeal and quality.

You don't necessarily need any one region, but I can't imagine Not playing these titles.

I myself have allot of admiration for ARTISTIC design as well as game play. And Japanese developers blow the west away on both counts imo. They have a wonderful eye for colour, camera angles etc. Western games are great but not too original. There are allot of genres that both sides do well, or not as well depending on opinion. And then there is fighting games. The west just doesn't do this good in ANY way at all.
Oh, and for any nerd who even try's to mention Mortal Crapbat as a decent fighter, don't. It's $h1t. Always was $h1t. Always will be $h1t. Just got famous on gimmicky blood n death moves. LOL, they even use their own nerd programmers for the motion capture! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Fat nerdy white guys doing martial arts in shirt and ties.
Seriously, thats just ONE of many reasons that this game blows hard compared to it's Japanese counter parts.

points:

-west only has sports, FPS, strategy games. repetitive. all the same style.

-jrpgs also has same style in some sense but possibilities of innovation are endless. plus there are other genres, lots of 'em.

-western characters are usually old, bulky, no sense of hairstyle.

-jrpg characters are usually young, cute, and takes care of their hair.(most are spiky, i know) and they're all created to look beautiful.

i dont know, i dont mind not having any western games.

Jap's like Japanese dev/produced games and Americans like American dev/produced games.....Oh everybody already knew that....awww shucks.

The industry is moving in a different dirrection. Come on bro Every One Loves Golf vs NBA Street Home Court, JRPG's vs Next-gen Action RPG's. Get out of here.

NO ones playing those games as more and more adults are becoming gamers or child hood gamers are growing up and has out grown the need for the traditional round eyed, V-mouth, spike nosed, stick leged Blue/pink hair littles boy/girl carring a 500 pound sword looking around riding Pig Lizzards and giant Chickens asking where the monster is that killed daddy and mommy in a over dramatized fashion so we can go slash it to death.

EHH hee; eeh hee!, beed of sweat the size of an Orange running down side of forehead.

JRPG's are repetitive and over the top; other Japanese made games in other genre's are too wacky and over done for alot of peoples taste Too much drama. Westerners don't need to be told how to feel about whats going on in the game, we let the gameplay do the talking.

Western Games mostly have some believable element to them that we relate to also having more complex gameplay were you have to think things out, we also like realism with grounded in realality physics and such, are love for Fantasy is more grounded (Like the differnces between Eastern and western versions of GodZilla movies). lol.

One side likes what they like and is too scared to venture out to compete in the new industry, they must appeal to the west or parish muh hahahahahaha hahaha.

I see some have came to deffend Japanese developers by posting lists and saying it's just American ignorance & stereotype yet it's 90% of what being said about it is coming from head figures and Devs from Japan lol don't make post the links.

GT was great back in the day but if you think for one minute the Japanese gamers are going to pass up realism well that's just crazzy and my point; it's the growing trend. Do you want me to post the link saying that the growing trend in Japan is more complex and ultra realism which happens to western prefference. stereotypes ignorance lol.

who needs rpgs like ff,dragonquest,phantasy star and white knight story?

who needs action games like DMC,ninja gaiden,castlevania,rygar or games based off of japanese design?

who needs leading racing games like ridge racer,outrun or gran turismo to steal ideas from?

who needs quirky games,puzzle games,fresh ideas from nintendo and other japanese companies?

who needs top rated hits like lost planet,dead rising,blue dragon,lost odossey.or games that take ideas from japanese games like gears did with resident evil 4?

who needs 1/3 of the market to succeed overall in the console race?

without japanese games and their ideas,a lot of what you play would suck.because those ideas were copied from a japanese game.i'll admit europe has surprised me with game making lately.hopefully that continues.some american companies get it(god of war 2 looks and plays sick).

but you would be fools to think japan doesn't matter.and deep brown,what is your problem with american super heroes?they are just stories.doesn't europe have fantasy stories or is it still medievil times over there?i'll admit,i'm tired of the gun games.most of the gamers would never join the military,but play combat games thinking their realistic.

To me this all sounds chauvanistic, that everything in the US is the best. The industry may be moving on, but Japan is still very much in the forefront with great original games that aren't kiddie - if you think they all are then what you have there is an ignorant stereotype.

It's fine liking a certain genre of games, but it's another to call the games you don't like crap and that we should leave them behind.

...that has to be some xbox maggot who thinks "who needs Japan". Remember it was even MS' foremost concern to occupy Japanese market this time around but when they saw a 'clear' fall of 360 too in there, they said it isn't necessary. Now they know they cn't have the best from Japan, and whosoever gets the best from Japan, rules the industry !!! Se here:

-Shadow of the Colossus
-Final Fantasy
-Dark cloud
-Metal Gear Solid
-Dragon Quest
-Gran Turismo(Wow!!!)
-Devil May Cry
-Silent Hill
-Resident Evil
-Okami
-Mario
-Virtua Fighter
-Tekken
-Dead or Alive
-Tenchu
-Sonic
-Zelda
...and Many Many more, even if you consider only the Nintendo's ones.

That person would be a retard and not a gamer at all who never played Japanese games in the last gen and who is not intrigued by White Knight Story, FF-XIII, MGS-4, DMC-4, VF-5 and the upcoming Gran Turismo 5(after watching GT4 on PS2 ofcourse).

were else are we gonna get our tentacle monster porn from? ;~)

Don't under-estimate the Japanese gaming crowd/industry, they have their own tastes in games as much as most part in the west does theirs. Time and technology would be on their side when one of these days they'll come-out with some killer games that the west would ask themselves - how in the bloody hell did they do that?!

i was in the military.i know how realistic that was.but gamers here think playing combat games are realistic or mature.you're fooling yourself.when you get shot,you bleed,sometimes you die.that's real.i had friends die.some just in training.

but how many combat games do we need on the market?how many does microsoft need?people claim the japanese make the same type of games.but i could say our american companies,especially EA,make the SAME games over and over again.so to think the japanese don't contribute,is to not be realistic.microsoft needs their games.and the ideas they come up with.

is that coming from an american or what?

i mean here in europe we get games from america and japan.....we need them both if we want it all.

I have to say the Western Style games definitely appeal to me alot more than the Japanese Style games, but of course thats probably because I'm American....oh, I forgot to apologize for being such a biased chauvanistic American fool. OK, but seriously just because I'm American and I favor Western Style games doesn't mean I think the Japanese genre's should perish, but at the same time I think you would have to be foolish to deny how strong the west has become in the videogame industry, and IMO they have surpassed Japan on many levels.

Honestly I disagree with some who say the west is un-original because I think Japan has become much more redundant, most of the "major" best selling franchises are very old,.....Nintendo has done (paper) Mario for like 30 yrs, and FF (which I never liked) is on what version? -Fortunately, for Japan western gamers are very diverse and many of them do like FF type JRPG's, although the west has proven that the western style RPG's can be made just as good or better, and there definitely is a trend of their popularity rising....hell the other day another member pointed out to me that even the upcoming FF is not going to be your traditional "turned based" combat style JRPG. I don't know 'cause like I said I haven't been interested in that game since like, uhmm well forever, but either way it does at least make you wonder why they are "changing" such a proven formula which is at the "core" of almost every JRPG?, I would say there are alot of signs that show the west influence is growing. I also I think even the mighty Square Enix is licensing Epics famous engine....hell alot of Japans "Big" name franchises are more aimed at the west, like MGS, Resident Evil, Metroid etc. -don't get me wrong they do have their that traditional Japanese appeal but in many ways the realism that they bring is definitely something that caters to western tastes.

Now finally I think its a bit ironic that some of my fellow "western gamers" think we Americans are sort of "close minded" when it comes to gaming. -WTF?...hmmm I guess you should never make judgements about a population based on comments on a website. Americans have traditionally supported all cultures of gaming throughout the industry's history because we have brought more Nintendo and Sony consoles and games than any other country including Japan.....it seems if any country is guilty of that it would be Japan, although in fairness I think it has alot to do with their culture and there views on gaming are "slowly" changing. I'm not bashing Japanese dev's at all, but honestly I have to agree with power of green on this one or at least paritially because the industry is moving in a different direction or at least its "grown" so much that Japan's influence isn't nearly as great as it once was, I have lived in Japan for 3 yrs over the last 7 yrs and I can tell you some of the games sold over there are only sold there for a reason, hell look at some of their top ten games sold from week to week, alot of them would fail here and the west in general miserably....yeah Japan and even some in the west will always love some of those extremely quirky games, which is good for them, theres room for a little bit of everything, but I think recently it seems that even Japanese dev's have started to recognize publicly that they have to make more games with a "multi-cultural" appeal to ensure worldwide success.= Japan itself is small compared to other countries.

Well it seems as if you #14 comments can be interpreted in different ways....

"To me this all sounds chauvanistic, that everything in the US is the best."

My overall perception of alot of the previous comments was that the Western/American influence in the industry has grown in a big way and yes I "believe" it surpasses Japan's, -maybe thats my "American perception", and whats wrong with that? I understood the title of "Who needs Japan?", as a phrase that captures the sense of pride that America/West can succeed without Japan's approval (acceptance) -Japan has celebrated its wealthy history in the industry for a long time, I think thats great, but they are not exactly "friendly to the western ideas/games", thats fine but I'm "proud" of how far the western market has "grown up" and honestly if I or anybody else thinks its "better" than what Japan is doing as a whole then we SHOULD say so, its just AN OPINION....and I for one, hope to see Americans favoring homegrown products more. In no way am I in favor of "bashing" the other culture or products, I love going to Japan and the people and I hope we will always be "open" to other ideas but again I think Americans should show some "favortism" and support their fellow Americans much more than they do right now. The reality is that if Americans do heavily favor or support something then it will continue to grow and enjoy a healthy future worldwide or worst case scenario it will become a part of American culture....which is at least good for Americans.....just like "IF" nothing else Japan will always be able to enjoy certain games that mostly appeal to them, because Japanese dev's will always have something that caters to their tastes....either way there are no losers.

don't be full of it.i'll admit that our devs have gotten better at game design,but if you think japan doesn't matter,you're not as smart as i thought you were.

racing games.if it wasn't for ridge racer,tokyo extreme racer,outrun,daytona,sega rally,gran turismo,you wouldn't have the type of racing games we see today like juiced,need for speed,forza,etc.

i played early rpgs on computer,they were nothing like zelda,and they were nothing like ff,dragon warrior(quest),phantasy star,etc.most of the rpgs got better because of japanese design.us rpgs now pattern their design after D&D,but who plays D&D anymore?i haven't for 20+ years.

platformers:pitfall pushed it.but it doesn't hold a candle to mario or sonic.and most 3d platformers wouldn't exist without mario 64.

flying:from pilot wings to ace combat,japanese console flying games wipe the floor with american flying games.only crimson skies gave them a run for their money.but where is it now?thought so.

games with the icon pressing like in god of war 2(awsome game),well...let me see....yu suzuki did that years ago and devs still steal his ideas.from outrun,shenmue,virtua fighter,etc.

tecmo bowl...hmmmmm....easy to see and pick football plays.stolen a thousand times over.tecmo bowl is a japanese game there buddy.real sports,m network,atari football,those didn't have it.

controllers:the japanese wiped the floor again and again with controllers.microsoft copied sony's design and improved in areas.but they still copied a japanese controller.

i hope you get what i'm saying.alot of the games you play would not be what they are if not for the japanese.you may think you out grew their games.that's fine.just don't buy any for your 360.and when you're playing cliffy b's gears of war on 360,thank capcom for him taking his idea from RE4.games from japan might have western flavor,but they are still japanese.so go ahead and sell lost planet and dead rising while you're at it.oh,don't get RE5 either.

i'm not knocking your taste in american games.i like them too.but i'd take a japanese game or controller over an american one any day.because in the end,they think about design and a good story and a controller to play the games a lot more than american devs.ask any dev what designer they look up to and i'd bet miyamoto would be on the top of their list every time.hmmm...a japanese game designer........hmmmmm....

also,i'm well aware that combat games are not real to gamers.360 may have other games on the system,but what genre is bought the most on 360?did viva pinata sell as much as gears?kameo?any game other than a shooter?hmmm......i wonder why....

i defended my country,but i don't have a "need" to shoot lots of things.maybe you do.why don't you raise your hand and sign up.

there seems to be very little going on here if it's not a FPS.
Games like God of War 2, Gears and oblivion are not the rules they are the exception. Japan has hit a point in there development where they do seem to be lost for what to do, but game like Virtual fighter, Ninja gaiden, Okami, Viewtiful Joe, Resident Evil 5, Final Fantasy, Devil may cry, and metal Gear are just a few that are far beyond anything that has ever been accomplished in western gaming. Who else but the japanese can make people look like fools and still make them have a good time.(Wii and Dance Dance Revolution) Japan is still needed to balance the gaming needs of all true gamers and its a position that they have filled very nicely. A Good, Great or Amazing game is a Good, great and amazing game no matter where it comes from but to say that nothing good comes from japan when the track record speaks for itself that's just lame and very ignorant.

deepbrown.....I understand Japanese still do make alot of great games, just because I don't like FF and other games in the same flavor doesn't mean I don't acknowledge their worldwide popularity....but it does seem as if you guys can't accept not everybody is in love with JRPG's and other "quirky" (I don't know how else to describe them) games out of Japan. You still misrepresent my position, I never said Americans don't like Japanese games, in fact many times I have praised MGS which you named, I'm not knocking any Japanese games, I'm simply stating that western dev's are just as good and they deserve the recognition. I'm just expressing MY OPINION that western dev's are no longer in "Japans shadow", and in fact depending on your preference western dev's may be better for you(personal preference)...and I'm not only talking about shooters, I'm not a huge fan of RPG's of any kind but I do like the western style ones alot better than the traditional Japanese style ones like FF. -Whats wrong with that? Why shouldn't we say that if thats how we feel? I never bad mouthed "Okami",(I didn't even mention it) I'm sure its good, just not my cup of tea. For instance you probably prefer alot of those Japanese style games over the western style ones, which is fine -just makes you a gamer with preferences different than my own, and don't act as if I'm painting the picture for ALL Americans or westerners, but in general there is a BIG difference from the typical Japanese gamers taste vs at least American's taste. (I don't know too many Europeans, but I have met alot of cool guys from Europe on XBL. Again if you watch Japans most popular games sales chart from week to week you will notice a significant difference from what sells here in the U.S. and abroad. Americans/westerners should be just as proud of their dev's and support their homegrown games "IF" they believe as I do that western dev's have some kick@ss stuff to offer that can easily compete with Japan's best. -Hey if I'm wrong and Japanese dev's content is sooo much better than the west then there's nothing to worry about, right?

shadowgamer.....again you mis-judge my comments, I never said that Japanese dev's don't matter, -NO I said that: "I understood the title of "Who needs Japan?", as a phrase that captures the sense of pride that America/West can succeed without Japan's approval (acceptance)" and I stand by my comments....yeah, I'm sure M$ and western dev's would love to do well in Japan, and I applaud their effort, but I don't think they really believe its absolutely neccessary now as lets say 7 or 8 yrs ago. because "Gaming" has become a huge success everywhere not just a niche market in the U.S. and Japan....all ages and all types of gamers have joined what use to be just for "nerds" and "kids", the industry indeed has evolved, especially since all those kids are now adults....and yes whether you believe it or not alot of those same adults like me that grew up on Nintendo, don't find Mario so attractive anymore, some do, but alot of us don't so what should we do?...buy it anyway simply for the nostalgia, or should we feed our need for something that we at least believe is more "sophisticated"? -uhmm, and you talk about controllers of course its completely subjective as with everything else we are discussing but IMO the 360 controller is absolutely the best hands down. -I guess you have only talked to a certain kind of gamer if they all feel like you do. Now again you act as if I "insulted" Miyamato, -No I just don't want to play most of Nintendo's library of games, thats all. I grew up on them, and I respect him, but that doesn't mean I still like the same type of games....I have nothing against them, I would play if I were at someone else's house and they offered, but I'm sorry I won't be buying the next Mario party or the like. Is that OK with you? Last of all you asked: "why don't you raise your hand and sign up (?)" Well if you must know; I did 13 yrs ago and I'm still loving it, I have a great job, its alot of work, but at the end of the day there alot of satisfaction in my "particular" job, so next time you should remember you don't know people just by comments on the internet.....either way I will thank you for "defending our great country", -I continue to do so to the best of my ability.

kornbeaner.....I have no problem with your post at all, those are your preferences, personally I love God of War, and MGS series so its not like I only want one console to succeed, -NO I just want western dev's to get the same respect I think they deserve so in the future we will continue to get more great games from western dev's that cater to western tastes(ME), which I believe we are seeing more and more of and without question their popularity has grown leaps and bounds compared to just 6 or 7 yrs ago. yeah, you are right if a game is great its doesn't matter where it came from....like I said I love MGS series and its a Japanese dev game, but for the most part I don't think alot of the Japanese dev's have bothered to make games that are intended for western audience's, for the most part they seem to cater to what Japanese gamers like and "if" we like it too then thats great(hell why shouldn't they? they are after all Japanese)....like I said the atmosphere is changing an Japan dev's are realizing that if they want to attract more gamers from outside of Japan they have to "adapt"/appeal to a broader audience.....hey, its not like I'm calling their "stuff" terrible, FF is "hot" if you are into that and of course it will continue to sell but over the last few years I could name just as many or more great western dev titles that CAN compete with the best that Japan has to offer. That is of course "in the eye of the beholder" but looking strictly at sales it is a pretty good indicator.

I hear you BBsin,vvvvvv but actually thats a great example of the strength of the western market, because if a title is good enough like Halo and GTA, the American market is so huge that they can sustain a stellar franchise alone, yes so could Japan but its "sales" numbers wouldn't be nearly as impressive without success abroad,.... on the other hand "IF" Halo3 has huge sales here in the U.S. it could still have impressive sales numbers whether Japan is on board or not, its already happened before, hell even if not 1 copy is sold in Japan it could still possibly lead worldwide sales, same as GTA it could fall flat in Japan but if it sells very very well on both the PS3 and 360 it could be the dominant next gen sales leader. I highly doubt the same could be said for any title on the Wii or PS3 that only sell's well in Japan but not in the U.S. or Europe.=Again the fact remains that Japan is relatively small market, thus it is not "critical" to the success (huge sales) for western dev's....which leads to so many other commercial products like toys, clothing, books, advertising deals, movies, and etc = adds "hype" creating an even larger audience for the sequel.

yeah..right. start asking that very question when theses games get released for the nextgen.
MetalGear,DMC,Mario,ResidentE vil,Zelda,FinalFantasy,Kingdom H earts,any good fighting game, GranTurismo. etc.

It all depends on the player's preference. But Japan still reigns with the top system seller games. North America is catching up though, NA has gone a long way... kudos to them.

P.S. the big differnce is that japanese games will sell EVERYWHERE but most american games will not do so good in japan. for example.
FinalFantasy/ResidentEvil will sell in japan and the U.S very well, but Halo and GrandtheftAuto does bad in japan but very well in the U.S.

I love how all of the Sony sympathizers are licking Japan's balls. Way to support your country, guys.

Why are people always supporting japanese games when they don't support american games.

Halo & GTA all the way.........

If you like Halo and Grand Theft Auto as much as I do please agree,thanks!

i don't care where a game is developed , be it East or West , all i care about is the quality of gameplay and the level of enjoyment i get from it .