Good games that teach Japanese?

[CFFJR]

That's gonna drive me nuts, not knowing what it says.

[Inazuma]

It was directed to Hashiriya as a joke. Maybe he will be nice and translate it.

[Breetai]

Try not to rely on anime too much because that's not how people usually talk in the real world. I can tell when people learned their Japanese from anime. Live action dramas and movies about realistic situations work much better.

うるせー！アニメをバカにするなっ！

アニメから日本語を覚えたこの俺様はなぁ、てめぇの下手糞喋り方よりず～っと上だ。　アニメのおかげでこんなにぺらぺらになった。てめぇなんかと比べて天才だ！

つ～か、生まれた日から天才だった。めっちゃくちゃ強くて格好良くて頭がいいの俺の日本語はもう世界一なんだよ、バカヤロー。死ね！

I do not know these: 覚俺様糞喋強格俺界. I fail.

But... for daily conversational Japanese, actually moving there really does help!

I did play around with the Japanese Coach game a bit. It was okay at the beginning, but I didn't really stick with it so I can't judge it.

[Inazuma]

I do not know these: 覚俺様糞喋強格俺界. I fail.

http://www.polarcloud.com/rikaichan/

If you can't read kanji on a website, just use this handy extension. You can also bring up a text entry field and enter your own kanji to look up.

[vlame]

School, $180 a semester.

[GSZX1337]

I've been considering getting some WonderSwan games (ie. Kaze no Klonoa: Moonlight Museum) that (I'd assume would) have simple words to help me learn simple Katana. Would this be a good idea?

[hashiriya1]

うるせー！アニメをバカにするなっ！

アニメから日本語を覚えたこの俺様はなぁ、てめぇの下手糞喋り方よりず～っと上だ。　アニメのおかげでこんなにぺらぺらになった。てめぇなんかと比べて天才だ！

つ～か、生まれた日から天才だった。めっちゃくちゃ強くて格好良くて頭がいいの俺の日本語はもう世界一なんだよ、バカヤロー。死ね！

アニメに興味がねー。　もう子供じゃねぇんだぜ。　お前はまだおもちゃで遊ぶか？　子供みたいだなぁ、おめーッ！

とにかく、現実的にはそんな言い方はちょっとだめだよ。。日本に居る時に気をつけてね。でも、イナズマくんもう分かってるだろう。

It was directed to Hashiriya as a joke. Maybe he will be nice and translate it.

Yeah, he was just going off about how awesome I am.

[Inazuma]

アニメに興味がねー。　もう子供じゃねぇんだぜ。　お前はまだおもちゃで遊ぶか？　子供みたいだなぁ、おめーッ！

とにかく、現実的にはそんな言い方はちょっとだめだよ。。日本に居る時に気をつけてね。でも、イナズマくんもう分かってるだろう。

分かりました。日本に居る時は気を付けます。日本人達に失礼な言い方は行けませんですね。こう言うのはちょっと苦手なんですけど頑張ります。

ほとんどアニメやゲームから学びました日本語といえ、やれば出来ると思います。ご安心下さい。

さっきなのは大変失礼しました！悪気がなかったです。ほんのジョークですよ。でも、ハシリヤさんはもう分かってるですね。さすがです。

Translations:
Hashiriya told me that I am very attractive and I thanked him.

[hashiriya1]

分かりました。日本に居る時は気を付けます。日本人達に失礼な言い方は行けませんですね。こう言うのはちょっと苦手なんですけど頑張ります。

ほとんどアニメやゲームから学びました日本語といえ、やれば出来ると思います。ご安心下さい。

さっきなのは大変失礼しました！悪気がなかったです。ほんのジョークですよ。でも、ハシリヤさんはもう分かってるですね。さすがです。

分かってるよ。俺も冗談だったよ。

ベストの勉強法は人によるね。それぞれ人にあったやり方がある。
俺もゲームで勉強したことあるけど、アニメに興味がないから、使わなかった。
俺のおススメ勉強法はリアル的なドラマや映画を見ることだ。
もちろん日本に住むことはベストな勉強法だ。
もし日本に住むことが無理だったら、アメリカで日本人の友達を作るべきだ。

Translations:
Hashiriya told me that I am very attractive and I thanked him.

Well, duh!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Honestly, I've never encountered a game that really teaches the language effectively.

Learning Japanese takes a lot of effort. I've never had formal instruction, but I am immersed in it at work (school with many exchange students and Japanese language program) and I do a lot of self-study. I wouldn't say I'm anywhere close to being fluent or even proficient. I'd say I'd "passable" a good portion of the time, however.

The best way to learn the language is immersion, of course. Sign up for a class if you can. There's a language school near me where you can sign up for a six-month course for only about $200. See if there's anything like that near you, or try the community/traditional college route.

If you want to focus solely on self-study, I would recommend the Human Japanese software (NOT Rosetta Stone). Go through the lessons slowly, day by day. As far as books go, the Let's Learn (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji) series of books are fantastic, as is Japanese Demystified. I'd get some kanji flashcards eventually too (all of this stuff is available on Amazon).

Realize that video games and anime are supplements to learning the language, but can't be your primary method. I recommend playing a Japanese version of a game where you're already familiar with the English script. I'm a huge Earthbound fan and played Mother 2 while learning Japanese, found it to be quite eye-opening.

Good luck!