Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil franchise, recently stated that he prefers to play Western style games over those that are developed in Japan. Mikami realizes that the Western and Japanese markets for video games are vastly different and that Japanese gamers don’t really appreciate the style of games that are popular in North America.
Unfortunately for Mikami, this doesn’t sit well with him because his upcoming title, Vanquish, is geared more towards Western gamers than those in Japan.
“So, at the most basic level as a Japanese person it does make me kind of sad,” he said. “Right now the Japanese market and the Western market in terms of games are very different. And on a personal level I enjoy Western games a lot more. And, so, even if I make a game that is closer in taste to the Western market, the Japanese audience doesn’t really appreciate it too much.”
Considering Masahiro Sakurai stated earlier that Japanese developers should stay away from that type of development, it would seem that Mikami disagrees whole-heartily and actually prefers the Western-style of gaming to that of the Japanese.
Which style do you guys prefer first?
I don’t really prefer one style over the other, but I think they should remain separate. Unfortuanetely, I have been disappointed many times over with the releases of RPGs that make it to the West, and it’s really creating a wedge not only between myself but all of gamers. As long as we’re getting mediocre titles like “Infinite Undiscovery” and “Enchanted Arms” as our main source of Japanese next-gen titles, we’re going to continue to drive away the RPG market.
Luckily, I’m moving to Tokyo in August so I’ll be able to really check out the Japanese gaming scene. If anyone at PSU would like to contact me for event coverage at Tokyo Game Show, I’m down.
As long as a game is good, I can’t say I prefer one style over another, but I do find myself playing Western games a lot more.
Back in the ps1-ps2 days I used to prefer Japanese games. But with the lack of jrpgs the ps3 had at the beginning of this gen, I finally started to get more into western games(because I didn’t really have a choice).
I still to this day haven’t played a jrpg this gen that has anything on most of the jrpgs I used to play back in the ps2 days. So I’m in the middle right now. I hope Final Fantasy Versus will change the way I’m starting to feel about jrpgs this gen tho.
Ok im going to be real the creator need to remake all the resident evils. I mean look at what you didnt have and what you have now. One you have the Playstation 3 that gives you graphics that you didnt have. So I guess what im trying to say is that stick with what you know and what you good at. I would hate for resident evil to end on 5.