Have American Game Developers Lost Their Mojo? : Othor Games

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:03 am

thats why i mentioned japan specifically..........their glory days are long behind them at this point.

I disagree, it's just that much of their focus has shifted towards handhelds due to lower interest in home consoles and lower development costs. That's where you'll find most of the quality JRPGs and so on these days. Also, Japan is just as big in the gaming industry as they've ever been, but that industry has grown significantly in recent years, thanks in part to the increasing presence of Western developers/publishers.

Anywho, I don't keep track of Western developers well enough to know where they're all based, but I'd say American devs are no better or worse than anyone else these days. Some games look better than others, some run better, some are terrible, etc. I tend to only like Japanese games for both the types of gameplay and exaggerated (can't really think of better word right now) style, but I know a good game when I see one, regardless of country of origin, and there's an extreme shortage of said good games wherever you go.

» Tue May 17, 2011 5:56 am

It's not the devs who lost their Mojo, it's the market that has changed. It's no longer for nerds, it's games for everyone that the big ones want to produce. Smaller projects everywhere, yes, even the US of A, still can aim for someone else. It's just that those high revenue games can't dare be a risk. Shareholders don't like that.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:09 pm

Square Enix says hi.

Square Enix might say bye..
http://busydizzys.com/media/blogs/BusyDizzys/square-enix-stock.gif

» Tue May 17, 2011 5:06 am

I agree the Wii is holding them back. I understand it's a great tool for the elderly to exercise with but it is holding Nintendo back as to what they can do.

The Wii has done better then the XBox and PS3

Last I checked, Canada was in North America...

Damn you people from the States, not only are you claiming all of the American continent for yourself, but now you make it sound like the only games worth playing come from the US and Japan

Lately I've mostly been playing The Witcher (Poland) and X3 Terran Conflict (Germany I think). I do not think however, that US developers have 'lost their mojo', so to speak. Its just that since they produce the most games it is only logically that they also produce the most crap. Never liked any Japanese games (or Korean, as Aion painfully showed me). Not that they're bad, the style just doesn't appeal to me.

If you want to call us "United States of Americans", then by all means, call us that. When the frustration and annoyance of saying all that sets in, simple "America" will be there with open arms.

Not to mention never once did we try to claim the whole of the Americas, and we ARE the only country with "America" in the name.

What annoys me are people that assume that we are being arrogant and "claiming" the whole region.

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:31 pm

If you want to call us "United States of Americans", then by all means, call us that. When the frustration and annoyance of saying all that sets in, simple "America" will be there with open arms.

Not to mention never once did we try to claim the whole of the Americas, and we ARE the only country with "America" in the name.

What annoys me are people that assume that we are being arrogant and "claiming" the whole region.

Well actually I do believe that there are a few South American countries with America in their names. But if not "Americans" then what? U.S.ers?

As for the actual topic, I don't really like many non-western games. Never did get into FF, but I love Pokemon.

» Tue May 17, 2011 7:47 am

One could say their game industry bombed.

Oh no you didn't...

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:58 am

I think the developers have not lost their mojo but games are now millions of $ of investments so they are under intense pressure from Marketing and Commercial to:
1/ Release them asap
2/ Attract a public as large as possible i.e. a public that wants an FPS and/or an easy RPG with simplistic quests.

About the highly touchy questions of "americans", I do agree the name is totally improper. Spanish speakers solved this by calling them "estadounidense". I call them "people from the US", it's simple, only 8 letters more, I am not that lazy. To be noted that Hawaii is one of the state and is not part of the Americas. So, the name US is more proper than USA. After all, it is copied from UK and not from UK of Britain Islands or whatever.

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:49 am

One could say their game industry bombed.

Not exactly. They've just shifted focus to their own market instead of aiming for international appeal. Handhelds are really the platform of choice over there now, since they suit the Japanese lifestyle better (along with being cheaper to develop for).

Also, didn't Stalker suffer from the same QA issues Obsidian titles do?

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:02 am

One could say their game industry bombed.

:rofl:

I think a few of my favourite games are American, but mostly they're european:

GTA series (British)
Metro 2033 (Russian?)
Mirror's Edge (Swedish)
Assassin's Creed 2 (Actually, I think this one's Canadian, but it's a French publisher)

» Tue May 17, 2011 7:02 am

If we are going off companies like Bethesda I would say no.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:31 am

Nope not by a long shot, Japan's days of ruling the video game world are over.

Agreed, OP why are you so obsessed with Graphics?Just play the game, who cares about the graphics if it has good game play.

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:55 am

:rofl:

I think a few of my favourite games are American, but mostly they're european:

GTA series (British)
Metro 2033 (Russian?)
Mirror's Edge (Swedish)

The hell ?
That is awesome.

But I think R* is American, GTA is a R* game so it was probablly just a British branch.
Not sure, dont really check, but I dont care where games come from aslong as they are good.

» Mon May 16, 2011 11:17 pm

...Bioware (the company that made Dragon Age) is not an American game developer.

That depends on your definition of "American".

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:40 am

Good god, I've never seen a case of http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/NostalgiaGoggles.png this bad before.

» Tue May 17, 2011 5:48 am

The hell ?
That is awesome.

But I think R* is American, GTA is a R* game so it was probablly just a British branch.
Not sure, dont really check, but I dont care where games come from aslong as they are good.

Rockstar North (previously called DMA) is from Scotland. The first GTA did have a very "British" feel to it. Back in the 90's there was simply more regional flair to games, you could generally tell if a game was from America or Europe.

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:25 am

But I think R* is American, GTA is a R* game so it was probablly just a British branch.

Nope, R* is British - they're global now, but DMA design (a scottish company) invented GTA, which is still developed in Edinburgh

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:15 am

Good god, I've never seen a case of http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/NostalgiaGoggles.png this bad before.

:rofl: I need a pair of those, ASAP!