Japan and the FPS

[BoringSupreez]

Probably because looking down the barrel of a gun gets old after a while and the Japanese have caught on...

They couldn't have "caught on" if they never gave the genre a chance in the first place.

[Erik_Twice]

Probably because looking down the barrel of a gun gets old after a while and the Japanese have caught on...

They couldn't have "caught on" if they never gave the genre a chance in the first place.

Exactly

Half Life 2 was released in a weird on-rails arcade in Japan. Weird as fuck.


Anyways, what about Doom? The original was shareware but even it sold 1M big box copies through mail order, it must have been noticed in Japan.

[Brendand]

theres quiet a few japanese fps

[BoneSnapDeez]

I would like to see a kawaii anime FPS come out of Japan someday. Like, imagine TwinBee as a FPS...

[Menegrothx]

On the flip side, Americans seem not to like RPGs as much as the Japanese (I have zero sources to back that up; that's just the vibe I get from American gamers in general, so don't crucify me. ).

Fallout, Baldurs Gate, The fricking Ultima series, MMORPGs etc... Not to mention that Dungeons and Dragons and many other actual role playing games originate from America.
Americans do like RPG games, they are just are made in a different style than JRPGs. In fact quite many RPG enthusiasts think that Western/American RPGs are more true RPG games than JRPGs - one of the main reasons behind that is the fact that Japanese people are really into game consoles, only dating sims and games like that seem to get released on the PC there, while Western RPGs, atleast traditionally, are mainly developed for computers

[AppleQueso]

theres quiet a few japanese fps

Care to name them?

Rail and light gun shooters like Time Crisis don't count, and the Metroid Prime series was developed in the west, Texas specifically.

[Zing]

Goldeneye in particular seemed to benefit from strong recommendations from acquaintances. The multiplayer aspect led many of my friends to evangelize the game every chance they had, in a seemingly desperate attempt to get more players (didn't work on me). If the game didn't get a decent foothold in Japan, it may not have reached the critical mass it needed to have the snowball effect of recommendations or exposure.

[Ack]

Hmmm...

JSWAT
Gun Buster
Golgo 13
Star Cruiser
Silent Debuggers
Metal Head
Robotica
Outrigger

Now some of these can be played in other modes, like Outrigger, but these are all fps made by Japanese companies. But far, far more are made by American, Russian, or European developers, with South America and certain other Asian groups following suite.

[isiolia]

Weapons are perceived as an extension of the self in Japan, and this even applies somewhat to the gun. When you see a gun in a Japanese game, it's either a survival tool (Resident Evil 2), part of the player (Mega Man), or both (Super Metroid). A lot of the ideas that a popular Western FPS appeals to are just less relevant to Japanese culture. Since a lot of Japanese people think All Western FPS=Call of Duty, the problem is exacerbated.

I don't think that's really the case. Japan has no real shortage of games that involve shooting the ever-living hell out of things - Contra, Metal Slug, etc. You've got shooters, like Vanquish (which is 3rd person, not an FPS, but still), Metal Gear Solid series... not to mention the volume of bullet hell/etc style games that might involve mechs or ships, but are still guns guns guns.

I think it'd fall a lot more to Japanese players not caring for first person games in general. Not so much the content, but the perspective.

My theory on that would be that Japan tends to be a lot more console centric than US/EU gaming, at least historically. One of the factors that can influence motion sickness with first-person games is field of vision/view (FoV), and console versions typically use a narrower setting than PC ones (less on-screen at a time, suits slower controls, etc), and are less likely to allow you to adjust it as well. I could definitely see console gamers getting a worse initial impression of the first-person perspective than those who started on the PC.

[ZenErik]

I would like to see a kawaii anime FPS come out of Japan someday. Like, imagine TwinBee as a FPS...

Something like Gal*Gun but FPS instead of rail shooter would be fun. i would totally be down for that.