http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172266
Hideo Kojima is the ex Konomi guy who is now in charge of his own studio. He was made famous for the Metal Gear series.
A few highlights:
Kojima also points out that the hi-definition era has changed the rules of game design itself. "Game design up to now has been about making rules," he notes. "It was like a card game; there were lots of things that weren't possible and had to be cut. With hi-def, the more real it gets, the less instruction you need to give, so preoccupying yourself with making rules seems silly. Western developers have realized this, but Japanese ones are still preoccupied with making these rules."
The presence of Japanese games outside of Japan has taken a huge decline in the past decade. Nothing feels new and people have just stop caring. I remember when Xbox was about to come out, and the lingering fear was about MS winning over Japanese developers. Fast forward to recent times when the 360 was about to come out, and no one could care less about winning over japan, and american/euro games have been topping the charts ever since.
Kojima Productions is going through a restructuring atm. The plan is to update the company and borrow what they like about western developers. Kojima is a huge fan of Valve, so I'm exited to see what happens.
Hideo Kojima is the ex Konomi guy who is now in charge of his own studio. He was made famous for the Metal Gear series.
A few highlights:
Quote:
Kojima agrees, adding an even more pessimistic note to matters. "The US and European marketplace are far better balanced. There are games everyone can play -- maybe calling them '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 also points out that the hi-definition era has changed the rules of game design itself. "Game design up to now has been about making rules," he notes. "It was like a card game; there were lots of things that weren't possible and had to be cut. With hi-def, the more real it gets, the less instruction you need to give, so preoccupying yourself with making rules seems silly. Western developers have realized this, but Japanese ones are still preoccupied with making these rules."
The presence of Japanese games outside of Japan has taken a huge decline in the past decade. Nothing feels new and people have just stop caring. I remember when Xbox was about to come out, and the lingering fear was about MS winning over Japanese developers. Fast forward to recent times when the 360 was about to come out, and no one could care less about winning over japan, and american/euro games have been topping the charts ever since.
Kojima Productions is going through a restructuring atm. The plan is to update the company and borrow what they like about western developers. Kojima is a huge fan of Valve, so I'm exited to see what happens.
