Kojima addicted to Left 4 Dead and wants to "Quit being Japanese."

Ok, he doesnt WANT to quit being Japanese... I took that out of context to get more hits. :P

"The US and European marketplace are far better balanced. There are games everyone can play -- maybe calling 'kids' games' would be inappropriate -- but there's also a deep base of core titles made with movie-industry people that explore the depths of hi-def. I'm addicted to Left 4 Dead right now, but people say to me that that game would never work in Japan."

Kojima's a little pessimistic about the Japanese video games market, laughing as he says;

"Maybe I should quit being Japanese. And speaking of which, there were hardly any Japanese games nominated in Spike TV's Video Game Awards this year. It's sad to see that Japan's games failed to even register in America last year."

When asked why Japanese developers struggle to keep up with the overseas competition, Kojima is just as damning;

"Because they're Japanese. Japan makes all their own books and movies and music. You can't export entertainment made by Japanese people in the Japanese language, so it's all made with the sort of budgets that guarantee profit within the Japanese marketplace only.

"Meanwhile, the English-speaking world is a global one. The scariest scenario I see is people overseas taking the ideas from Japanese games, running the Hollywood business merchandising machine on them, and taking all the revenue. If that happens, then there won't be any new Japanese creators."

Famitsu

Source: GAF. Some of the comments in that thread are hilarious. My favorite ones are " I hope he noticed how easy it is to play L4D online without entering a billion usernames and passwords.", "Kojima's been talking alot of crap lately." :lol:

I find it amusing that he's forgetting the Wii... the biggest gaming phenomenon in years actually is a Japanese product.

Hilarious. In so many ways.

The fine folks at Capcom would like a word with you about your views on Japan, Mr. Kojima.

Japanese games didn't do well in the Spike awards because they don't make enough first-person games where you play as a generic muscular space marine, shoot aliens with big guns, and the entire gameplay engine made around realistic splattered gore from said mangled alien corpses. It's just like how you look at Japanese awards and readers choices and such, and there's virtually no American games on the list, but the yearly rehash of Gundam and Dynasty Warriors are there. Seriously, I wouldn't put much stock in Spike as being able to identify what's relevant in America, especially since the awards were just a front for a multiple-hour-long infomercial. The more money you pay, the more screentime/awards you get.argianas

No kidding. I didn't even know they HAD a Spike awards show this year. In fact, since the morans at Spike took MXC off, I haven't watched them. I wasn't even sure they were still on the air. And yeah, the awards shows they have had have ranged from "let's not stray too far from the mainstream" to the gaming equivalent of a long skiddy-streaked pair of undies.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to make more western-y games, but he wants to be less Japanese because the Spike VGA show didn't have any Japanese games? :|

Tsk tsk tsk...

The Spike awards were awesome this year, and if you missed seeing Megan Fox in a very hot little red dress, and Jack Black having a threesome with a PS3 and a 360 then that is your loss sir. HiResDes

The threesome was awesome!! I'm glad how Jack Black was cheating on the Wii and the DS all along! :loll:

There's nothing wrong with wanting to make more western-y games, but he wants to be less Japanese because the Spike VGA show didn't have any Japanese games? :|

Tsk tsk tsk...

DJ-Lafleur

The VGA thing was just a reference. You can look at all the top ten lists of last year, and you wont find many Japanese games in there.

Well, first off, the Spike VGAs have always sucked, so I wouldn't really care if I were him. Second, Japanese games still kick ass.Legendaryscmt

[QUOTE="HiResDes"]The Spike awards were awesome this year, and if you missed seeing Megan Fox in a very hot little red dress, and Jack Black having a threesome with a PS3 and a 360 then that is your loss sir. S0lidSnake

The threesome was awesome!! I'm glad how Jack Black was cheating on the Wii and the DS all along! :loll:

For those who didnt get to see the Manajatua.

Ok, he doesnt WANT to quit being Japanese... I took that out of context to get more hits. :P

[QUOTE="Famitsu"]

Source: GAF. Some of the comments in that thread are hilarious. My favorite ones are " I hope he noticed how easy it is to play L4D online without entering a billion usernames and passwords.", "Kojima's been talking alot of crap lately." :lol:

I find it amusing that he's forgetting the Wii... the biggest gaming phenomenon in years actually is a Japanese product.

It's great to see someone like Kojima enjoying Left 4 Dead. I know in a recent IGN interview, Sakaguchi says he loves Gears of War 2. I think this is beneficial because guys like Kojima and Sakaguchi are being influenced by western games which will inspire them to do something different and make better games. Like how Inafune and Capcom has done already. Even though the majority of Japanese developers will stick to the same formula, as long as these industry icons continue to make great titles, I think Japan will stay in the ball-game. SFIV and Resident Evil 5 will definitely be huge this year and will be the top games. And I'm sure they will get nominated on Spike this year, if not, Spike will be a bigger joke then it already is.ASK_Story

Alot of Japanese games blatantly ignore the Western audience which is fair enough. But they show a basic lack of innovation within their own core titles, and many of their popular games would NEVER work here in Europe or the US on a grand scale. Kojima has the right idea and is only echoing the same worrying thoughts that many other Japanese devs have expressed recently. They just need to try something new.Swannzie

To gunswordfist,

I think FPSs can use a guy like Kojima. We've seen way too many Tom Clancy Mission based FPSs that have no story or character development whatsoever. Those that do feature a story just haven't been able to pull it off. Half Life 2 is the only FPS I've played that also had a fantastic story, no other FPS even comes close. If there's anyone who can fix that, it's Kojima.... now let's hope he hires an editor for his next game.

I'm glad to know someone like Kojima can enjoy Left 4 Dead. It seems that L4D has that great balance of core and casual (or simple and strategic) and in a sense blurring the line between them. Something tells me that Kojima could definitely use that kind of game structure in his future projects. But I find it concerning that he looks at the Spike VGAs as if it was the pinnacle of American video game awards. :?

I'm glad to know someone like Kojima can enjoy Left 4 Dead. It seems that L4D has that great balance of core and casual (or simple and strategic) and in a sense blurring the line between them. Something tells me that Kojima could definitely use that kind of game structure in his future projects. But I find it concerning that he looks at the Spike VGAs as if it was the pinnacle of American video game awards. :?

martialbullet

Watch him make hour-long cutscenes involving zombie monologues. :P

To gunswordfist,

I think FPSs can use a guy like Kojima. We've seen way too many Tom Clancy Mission based FPSs that have no story or character development whatsoever. Those that do feature a story just haven't been able to pull it off. Half Life 2 is the only FPS I've played that also had a fantastic story, no other FPS even comes close. If there's anyone who can fix that, it's Kojima.... now let's hope he hires an editor for his next game.

To gunswordfist,

I think FPSs can use a guy like Kojima. We've seen way too many Tom Clancy Mission based FPSs that have no story or character development whatsoever. Those that do feature a story just haven't been able to pull it off. Half Life 2 is the only FPS I've played that also had a fantastic story, no other FPS even comes close. If there's anyone who can fix that, it's Kojima.... now let's hope he hires an editor for his next game.

S0lidSnake

To gunswordfist,

I think FPSs can use a guy like Kojima. We've seen way too many Tom Clancy Mission based FPSs that have no story or character development whatsoever. Those that do feature a story just haven't been able to pull it off. Half Life 2 is the only FPS I've played that also had a fantastic story, no other FPS even comes close. If there's anyone who can fix that, it's Kojima.... now let's hope he hires an editor for his next game.

[QUOTE="Mash_Affect"][QUOTE="S0lidSnake"]

To gunswordfist,

I think FPSs can use a guy like Kojima. We've seen way too many Tom Clancy Mission based FPSs that have no story or character development whatsoever. Those that do feature a story just haven't been able to pull it off. Half Life 2 is the only FPS I've played that also had a fantastic story, no other FPS even comes close. If there's anyone who can fix that, it's Kojima.... now let's hope he hires an editor for his next game.

gunswordfist

[QUOTE="gunswordfist"][QUOTE="Mash_Affect"]I have little doubt that Kojima would add more story than has been seen in many shooters. The part I doubt, is his ability to make a meaningfully better story than has been seen in many shooters.Mash_Affect

I'm just glad that there is one nation that **** like call of duty,half life and other hollywood a like titles arent the most popular. -Flagg-

stupid VGA awards!

stay japanese KOJIMA! or else i dun noe what could happen ~

It would be a good start if Kojima takes a good look at what the west is doing with thier games, and what they offer in general. and I think that he could create some really compelling games if he wanted.

But lets be honest, the western market is just about as bad as the japanese.

The games that really tryied something new these last few years has been eastern european, and the stale waters of western games is pretty clear in my oppinion

Fallout 3, good game, but little more then a SLIGHTLy updated oblivion

Gears 2, oh dont make me laugh at this one, I generally like the series, and the bosses are great, but it felt rather stale... same old...

Crysis, yeah its pretty I get it... nothing really innovative about it tho, its gameplay is average at best.

it seems to me that the western market is falling into the exact same trap that the japanese fell into