News

Press "condescending" to West as Japanese devs enjoy 'positive discrimination'
Posted: 17.08.2012 12:51 by Simon Priest Comments: 5
Assassin's Creed creative director Alex Hutchinson bemoans the state of affairs in the press when it comes to Western and Japanese games being rated in terms of narrative and pacing.

The Ubisoft exec said some Japanese titles were praised highly despite story being "literally gibberish," but that Western studios would never be 'let of the hook' for it. "It's condescending to do this."

The same hordes who heap praise atop Japanese 'gibberish' would turn and eviscerate the likes of Gears of War, argued Alex Hutchinson. Two standards applied?

Asked how Nintendo skates on by with the same franchises being released year after year without being hounded about it, Alex Hutchinson gave his "real" answer: "I think there's a subtle racism in the business, especially on the journalists' side, where Japanese developers are forgiven for doing what they do. I think it's condescending to do this."

"Just think about how many Japanese games are released where their stories are literally gibberish. Literally gibberish. There's no way you could write it with a straight face, and the journalists say 'oh it is brilliant'," he continued.

"Then Gears of War comes out and apparently it's the worst written narrative in a game ever. I'll take Gears of War over Bayonetta any time. It's patronising to say, "oh those Japanese stories, they don't really mean what they're doing."

"I just think the simple question should be; is the story any good?"

Check out the full interview between Alex Hutchinson and CVG. Assassin's Creed 3 releases on Xbox 360 and PS3 October 30th in the US, 31st in EU and on PC November 20th in the US, 23rd in EU.

Source: CVG

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Comments

By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Aug 17, 2012
SirRoderick
Sometimes they sort of do, I agree with that. Not in the extent that they seem to be saying, but it is slightly biased I'd say.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Aug 17, 2012
nocutius
If it actually does exist it must be very minor, I never noticed anything weird regarding this.
By HenoKutus (SI Core) on Aug 17, 2012
HenoKutus
the japanese games are more "cute" games,and for europeans not very interesting except for fighting games like Tekken,but thats about it.
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Aug 17, 2012
unsilviu
I don't understand how Nintendo can milk its franchises so blatantly (Zelda is a prime example, each game is a variation on the same initial theme), while Western games get stale after a few incarnations.

I don't think their games are better, and franchises do get really stale after a while, my guess is that SNES nostalgia blinds most reviewers and consumers. That, and the casual market, which Kinect sucks at.
I can't comment on other Japanese games, since I don't like JRPG's as a genre (hope that guy's not still around to start this again -.-)
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Aug 17, 2012
SirRoderick
Well it happens in the form that a Japanese game isn't generally taken very seriously, not as a product mind you, but rather that they can get away with inconsistentsies in design, story etc without people really raising an eyeborw. After all, they're Japanese, of course their games are weird.

I can see where that biased feeling would come from, but I don't think it's nearly as serious as they are putting it out to be.