I know there have been lots said elsewhere about the rift between Japanese and Western Gamers, but this top 100 list compiled from a top Japanese gamer website should shed no doubts about it..
[url="http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2401&…"]Famitsu Top 100 games[/url]
Out of one hundred games, only *one* non-Japanese developed game made the list. [:0] GTA: Vice City made it at #76.
p.s they sure do love their RPG's.
Majority of those games would be in my top 100, then again its probably because I grew up in tokyo as a kid and I'm half japanese. I love all the FFs and Dragon Quests. Resident Evil rocks too it was called Biohazard when I was playing it in Japan was very scary for me back then. Western games has always had a hard time in Japan I'm not sure why.
I think the list is pretty spot on. Very much RPG focused. I noticed Wizardy was quite high on the list, no pokemon entry before 50. I think the #1 game is spot on. I watched Joel play through X and then I played X-2. Must stay that was the first game to make me cry.
Was suprised to not notice Katamari on there!
I think the list is more influenced by a more 50/50 gender split in gaming. If this were a list of western games there would be at least 20 FPS games on it.
quote:We found just four games designed outside Asia, and only one in which the version that was sold in Japan, was actually created outside Japan. The Wizardry, Sim City and Tetris Japanese versions were all created locally while Grand Theft Auto can claim to be fully non-Japanese.
While the japanese versions of these games might have been made in japan, wouldn't that have been more about localising a version of the game rather than making from scratch? I don't think this makes the game a Japanese game.
quote: list is more influenced by a more 50/50 gender split in gaming. Definitely a huge influence, but don't forget about the huge dominance of console gaming (as opposed to PC gaming) in Japan and the love of fantasy-themed games which make up almost all of the top 30.
Just another post to add in this thread on why Japanese gamers might not be laching on to Western games. Ubisoft CEO has lamented on the way Western games are treated in Japan and is giving up on breaking into that market. [url="http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/14/the-great-schism-eastern-vs-western-g…"]From Joystiq[/url].
quote:"the titles coming from Europe and the United States are tagged as 'foreign games' they are not seen as 'normal' games. There is a special section for games coming from export markets and that is not helping us at all."
I must have asian blood in me - that top 100 is pretty much smack bang on mine.
Half Life 2 would be thrown in there somewhere along with Disciples 2 & *maybe* Morrowind for my list but thats pretty much about it.