The latest entry in my “RPG Journal” (a series of articles at my personal blog, Lark’s Island) evolved into a mini-editorial on the state of Japanese game development. Perhaps I oversimplify the situation a little, dividing the industry into only Japan and the rest of the world, but I speculate on Japan’s resistant attitude towards foreign influence, and its consequences on the game industry as a whole:
If we step back and look at the larger picture, we get a sense of a cycle between advancements in Japanese and Western game development. Right now, we have an entire generation of Western game developers who were influenced by the groundbreaking Japanese games they grew up with. The lessons learned from the likes of Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy and Resident Evil were evolved, pushed forward, and reimplemented, albeit in a Western fashion, resulting in the past decade’s rise of North American and European game developers. But what happens if Japan refuses to let the pendulum swing back the other way?
Check out my full article at Lark’s Island: RPG Journal – Last, But Not Least
Wildcat-Lvl
/ September 19, 2012Thanks, Nester!