I wonder what would happen if they decided to focus hard on the PC market. But I suspect that they see the PCs as a sort of weird contraption, mostly used for work and for visual novels. And as Inafune remarked, the japanese culture is very conservative by nature. They are very curious and love every new thing that comes from abroad. But they get every inovation and they adapt and trasnform it so as to suit their "national" taste.

As for the lolitas, I'm the same opinion as you. Even though they seem to have a really huge fanbase. Most of the guys I know who like Manga/Anime seem to have a strage fixation on these half-child/half-woman voluptuous creatures. Brrrrr

Ya know, it's funny that you say that, considering how many Japanese companies actually ARE starting to port to PC, or at least explore the possibility of doing so. Tecmo/Koei might have flubbed their DW ports, but when was the last time they ported anything to PC at all? Maybe they just need some encouragement, so they know it'll be a profitable venture for them to continue to do so.

Uhm, hard to say, let's be honest here, considering the console games price and their main audience i would say that they really need their games to be (also) on consoles, i'm not aware of the economy over there but i would assume that making games is really expensive (even when they look like a ps2 game). so... yeah...

As for the manga/anime, that's the problem, since those people are the majority (in that medium) you would assume that but trust me when i say that there are mangas with really REALLY good stories/artwork like Shin Angyo Onshi, , [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Century_Boys]20th Century Boys, Pluto, and so on...

Even the Hayao Miyazaki work is just overwhelming in quality since he creates this stories and worlds that is exactly what is missing in videogames (and yes, i'm aware of Ni No Kuni but from what i've heard he wasn't involved in it and what people are complain about that game is that even if it looks like one of his manga/movies it doesn't have the same story quality or imagination).

Dunno, i think Japan is stuck between a rock and a hard place, while they need to cater to their audience (moe, lolitas, 12 year old girls with barely no cloths. yadayadayada) they also want the rest of the western market that... uhm... doesn't like that stuff.
I mean, i could easily play any of the rpg's released during the ps1/ps2 era (even if it was the same generic kid from the village that saves the world) but i just can't play most of the rpg's that were released in the last years... There's this rumor from a neogaf insider (even if i don't completly trust him) that Sony is making a jrpg made for a more mature audience (aka no lolitas stuff) so let's see...

Ah, thanks! The question is, should they even attempt to adapt to the western or global market? Perhaps it is a necessary evil for large-scale AAA productions, since the Japanese market isn't big enough on its own? Still, it appears to me Japanese developers were at their best when they didn't attempt to cater to western audiences and just did their own thing. Isn't that how they gained much of their popularity in the Western world to begin with? Because their games were different and more creative, and sometimes a little strange, compared to the standard game concepts Europeans and Americans were used to.

Ehhhhh.... hard to say because like i said, they're market nowadays is just way too much... eccentric for the western market and they're lagging behind in terms of engine/graphics, that's why they end up outsourcing (to western devs) games like Dead Rising, Devil May Cry, Lost Planet, Castlevania, Front Mission, etc. In the end they weren't well recieved by the fans or the general gaming community so that's why they're back on doing their own stuff.
But again, they're in that weird spot, they have financial problems and really need to step up the quality of their games, can they do that by themselves? Bloodborne is an amazing game but let's be honest here, the loadings, framerate and some graphical glitchs show that they still have stuff to figure out.

Oh, and Kojima leaving Konami is really one of the biggest blows to the company, not only because of his fame (mgs = kojima) but because of what he brought to the table in each of his games, even if he only made mgs games (in the last years) they were full of creativity. And the fox engine? Open world, those graphics and 60fps on consoles?
Looking foward to see where he will end up and what games he will make.

But that was recently, part of the problem in the japanese industry is what happened to those brilliant minds from the past:

Sega

- Yu Suzuki (Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier, Hang On, Shenmue) left Sega to make his own studio and nowadays make mobile games.

- Yuji Naka (Sonic's, Phantasy Star, Nights into Dreams, Burning Rangers) left Sega to make his own studio and now makes games for Nintendo.

- Tetsuya Mizuguch (Sega Rally, Space Channel 5, Rez) left Sega and made his own studio where games like Lumines and Child of Eden where "born" but later he also left his studio (Q Entertainment) and was working as an assistance to some mobile games. He has a new game to annouce so who knows...

- Noriyoshi Ohba (Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Skies of Arcadia) left Sega and moved on to another company to be vice president.


Capcom

- Keiji Inafune (Mega Man, Resident Evil, Onimusha) left Capcom and has his own company, working currently on Mighty No 9 (kickstarter);

- Hideki Kamiya (Resident Evil, Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry) left Capcom and as everyone knows is making games like Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101 and Scalebound on Platinum Games.

- Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Dino Crisis, Onimusha) left Capcom and was making games here and there and he's currently on Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within) that belongs to Bethesda.


Square Enix

- Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Front Mission, Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story) left Square Enix to found Mistwalker where he made two amazing games (Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey) but unfortunatly it was for a console where there wasn't too much appeal for those type of games. Nowadays he's making mobile games...


- Yasumi Matsuno (Tactics Ogre, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy) left Square Enix to be a freelancer and for the looks of it he's currently working on... yeap... you guessed it, mobile games.



So you see, those three big companies lost their identity when these guys (and the rest of their teams) left their respective companies and now their terrible fate is to make mobile games (well, terrible for the fans of their work, not sure if they're successful with those games).

As for companies, well, Nintendo is still makes good games (not so much with consoles and i still hate that company), Platinum Games is sucessful, Level-5 is a talented studio and is enjoying the sucess of Yokai Watch, From Software gain their spotlight with the Demon/Dark Souls (and i still want Chromehounds 2)... uhm...

Konami made PES games that had some sucess, MGS is their biggest title but i don't know what the future holds and like the rest of japan, mobile games....

Koei Tecmo is a Musou factory...

Bandai Namco is the Activision of Japan by grabbing all the (japanese centric) licenses so i guess they're doing ok...

Capcom lost their way and is trying to get back together but since apparently their engine (Pantha Rhei) is having some troubles (where the hell is Deep down?) and they're on a financial tight spot, i don't know what to say but i'm curious to see what they have to annouce this year, especially if now they have a clue of what to do with the RE franchise.

Sega lost their talent so now they're focusing more in their western side for AAA games while they continue with the mobile + animu garbage...

Eh, like i said, Japan is in a weird spot...

I actually liked The Room.

The same could be said of the west's love of over glorified violence. I know if there's a choice between grotesque violence and a little bit of sexualised fan service, I'll be going with the latter thank you very much.

Glad I'm not the only one.

AKA Silent Hill "The Escort Mission"

Yeah I know but it still had an outstanding story.
They better get on that shit, the natives are getting restless.

I liked the concept of the game, stuck in this room which is seemingly in another dimension, and using the hole in the bathroom to travel to different "worlds", it was very unique and weird.

damn, first the paid mods fiasco, now this...

I fear the you-know-what will come... http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/thefr.gif

Kojima should hire Team Silent and do a game with them after December, it would be a dream.

wat?

I never played PT. Wan't that interested. Not sure why as I consider Silent Hill one of the greatest gaming series of all time. Now this thread had brought to my attention it's coming disappearance, I'm downloading it. Probably still will not play it any time soon, but at least now if I do want to play it, eventually, I have that option.

The west show off cheesecake from time to time.

God of War, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry 3, Metro Last Light, GTA as of late, Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls and of course the Witcher, Dragon Age 3 at last, Mass Effect.

Sometimes I want violance to fit the aesthetic of the game. (A Metal Gear without blood is not Metal Gear)

But I wanna see some fanserivce aswell.

Well, we SH fans are used to this already...

It doesn't hurt any less though. Goddammit, Konami.