Contray to the opinion of many of the people here, it seems, I think the video game industry is in great shape. Maybe I feel that way because I'm more of a PC gamer then a video game, but still, I love my PS2 and GC.
If I have one gripe aganist the industry in general, though, it's how many freakin games are unavailble or unplayable to those of us outside of Japan and the lack of development for video games outside that country.
There are so many games released each year that I get all excited about, because they apeal to me and my 'odd' intrests, and then shake my head as I realize that they will never see a US release or it's not worth trying to import them.
Not all games are unplayable. For many games that have none or little text, such as shooters or the like, it's no problem importing them. However, if we have a game such as a RPG or dating sim, and we REALLY want to play them, it leaves us with three options:
1) Learn to read Japanese
2) Hope that some group decides to 'hack' the text into English
3) Use a walkthrough or some other file to understand the game
Let's examine each of these:
Number one is fine for some people, but how many of us can take the time to study a language and keep up on it? Japanese is NOT a easy language for Western people to learn to speak. I know -- from personal experience. I took Japanese for two years in high school. Speaking it comes about the same as other lanuages, but learning to read it takes a LOT of work. It's totally different to anything we've learned growing up. And after ten years, I can still speak a little of it but reading all the of the kana and Konji well enough just ain't going to happen.
Number two is actually a good choice if you have a older game, like something from the SNES and Genesis or NES days. A lot of these games have either been translated or are being translated, thanks to the ROM's being dumped and groups working them. But it's not as easy to do with a CD based game, and there are other difficulties as well.
Number three can be done in some cases -- if someone has taken the time to actually explain everything in a file. But try playing a Japanese RPG with one of these in your hands. It totally spoils what is going on in the game and what else is going to happen, and you're not going to get the same 'fine touches' that you would from playing the game.
How long do we have to suffer from this situation? There used to be a time when all video games were American or European made. But back in those days, it would'nt have mattered as much, since games had so little text. I have nothing but the highest praise for Nintendo for single handly bringing video games back from the dead, but since then all games have been in the complete domain of the Japanese, and we have been under their thumb since.
Perhaps things are getting better. There are signs that the video game companies execs in Japan are finally starting to realize how important that the American and European markets are. Take the US alone. There's 260 million people here in the US, and conservative estimates by the IDSA are that at least 30 million of them have access to a game console. The installed base in North America is bigger in Japan. There's more games being sold, more money being spent, more profits to be made. Kojima has said in a interview about MGS3 that he thinks the game will do better in the United States then in Japan. Indications are finally the Japanese are realzing that there's more money to be made by realizing more games in the US. Europe may not be as big as the US, but it's still a big market.
What I can't understand is why some company has'nt created a simple device that would do the same thing that Babelfish or any other simple translation program does -- run the game text from the system through the device and onto the TV, taking Japanese and translating it into simple English. Yes, it may not work for all games -- it would have to be able to access the language files in the game. And yes, the translation would probaly be as bad as Babel. But at least it would be something -- and a way to enjoy any Japanese game. If the game has Japanese voice, perhaps the device could even have a microphone, and translate the voice. The technology exists to make such a device, it could be sold for no more then a couple hundred, and the import demand here is big enough that I'm sure such a project would be profitable.
Of course, it would also help if more American video game companies existed. Not counting WD, as they only translate games, Rockstar Games is the only company I can think off that actually makes games from start to finish outside of Japan.
Yes, a lot of Japanese games are unique to Japanese tastes. But so many of these games, such as RPG's and dating sims, would do so well outside Japan if the means to really ENJOY these games existed. The whole industry runs off money, as does any other industry. Has no one else realized the money trail that could be followed here? I find that hard to believe.
In the meantime, nothing left to do but continue to suffer. >