Not sex from ME necessarily, but for the things this man is saying I feel he deserves it. Nevermind the fact that I worship the man for creating my Anti-Drug: Megaman!
In the growing division between east and west gaming recently (pitting games against one another like Mass Effect 2 versus Final Fantasy 13), Keiji Inafune has stood alone in his deafeningly harsh criticism of his country's products.
Stating that Japan is content with the cookie cutter industry of making generic, cookie-cutter games for the rising populace of female gamers and otherwise catering to nerdy shut-ins of Japan, Inafune made himself a terrifying wake-up call to gamers on either side of the pond. As many of the man's products were the only solace in my lonely childhood, I find myself compelled to consider his point of view.
His first bomb dropping assessment came at a press show unveiling Lost Planet 2, where he reportedly dressed as a pimp and unloaded on the state of affairs. His most recent bomb hurling episode went to far as to cut the legs out beneath Capcom making him easily the most disastrous personality since the guy who made Dead or Alive!
I gotta agree with the guy. I feel Japan has lost its roots of the quality output of the 16-bit days, where America got only a trickle of the goodness pouring down on the japanese masses and Japan squatted upon gaming consciousness like some great squid leering at our wallets with eager tentacles.
Oh god... I'm already talking tentacles.
Anyway, with the Wii going from Nintendo's last hope, to the best idea ever and the false security that came with the multiple mergers over the last several years, companies in the east have essentially become what America was back in the cold and dank Quake era of gaming where one or two drab, brown-colored shooters ruled the day until a few drops of creative gold leaked upon the console linked masses.
With Microsoft in play with the appearance of the first Xbox, a sleeping giant had awoken and we were only half aware of it. Take it from a guy who used to stand in the bushes outside Square-Enix's house with a machete and jar of Vap-o-rub, I don't even return their calls anymore when they ask why I don't show up now that I'm invited to things. Almost all of the stuff that I look forward to is happening on my own continent or in Europe.
Why bring this up now? Recently an amazing annual event that used to drive the beat of my heart and the flow of my soul occurred: Tokyo Game Show! With its booth babes and cosplay coupled with its exclusively awesome vision of things to come, TGS used to mean something. Part of its ineffective, impotent mark on the market lately is because of the internet spoiling news as it happens and the other half is that the stuff shown at TGS just doesn't register the almighty event that once commanded an industry. The cosplayers seem to catch more attention lately than the actual GAMES!!!
Conversely, the games that appear at European Game Shows, San Diego Comic-con or E3 actually appear as bombshell level news. Hell, even MGS: Rising video debuted on American soil as opposed to in Japan. That's nuts!
Before I get too tangental when I'm trying to break down another guy's tangents, I'll just concur with Inafune in saying that Japan needs to get its act together before they let idiots like the the fuckwit that ruined Final Fantasy 13 kill off all the venerable franchises still holding up the wobbly three and a half legged table that is Japan's game market.
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