Japan: Why all the big headed baseball games?

Wii sports will be a runaway hit then!

I didn't like the article as it did little more than speculate. I was hoping that they would interview some Japanese Developers/Execs and get the scoop on this. I was interested until it became obvious that it was an editorial piece.

"Kawaii"

That's why.

stuff has looked like Hello Kitty in Japan for decades, it's just their style

I don't think realism should be the goal for every game. Konami and Namco have baseball franchies that strive for realism and that's fine. But they sell less than their big-headed baseball games.

Why is that? Well, the article doesn't even try to find out.

It's ironic he asks Japan a question in the title, but not once in the article does he actually talk to anyone from Japan.

You can't even hit the batters in these games!
I know it is intended for little kids, but my 8 year old cousin who plays little league even asked me, while playing Backyard Baseball, why don't the batters ever get hit?

A valid question indeed.

here I thought video games were for a release from reality. Not all games have to be realistic to be fun. So they like bigheaded games, big whoop. As long as its fun, I don't care what it looks like.

I've been playing this series since 1996, and I'm playing Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 13 now. The PowerPro games are popular because of the story mode. Konami has aother baseball game that is "normal", it's called Pro Yakku Spirit. This game I would say is up there with MLB 06 The show, it's one of the best played and polished baseball games to come out.

I LOVE this series. I've played it since I was a kid on the Super Famicom; it's very addictive, and yes, cute. Realism is great and all, but after a while it becomes a drag. PowaPro is a game where the looks take a back seat and you get to play the actual game!

...Who am I kidding. I play it FOR the cute characters! I can't name one baseball athlete besides Ichiro and Matsui, but I sure love PowaPro!

As stated above. I thought our buddies from the east like cute things.

As long as making up a couple of theories and writing pretentiously about them qualifies as "investigatory journalism..."

Trend? Isn't this just one series? One that's been on going since the SNES.

"As long as making up a couple of theories and writing pretentiously about them qualifies as "investigatory journalism...""

Seriously. Come on, guys, this is Tim Rogers. This is what he does. You can't take him seriously.

If you don't know the name, go hit up Something Awful, get educated and have a good laugh in the process.

Jeff beat me to the obvious comment - you can't expect actual insight or solid thinking from a Tim Rogers-penned article.

Personally, I find it amusing that he can bemoan a game he calls fun. "Damn those fun games... why can't they be more like Oni?"

Not need to ask them, I will give you a scientific explanation.
This is simply to compensate. Two words, "small Penis".
It is common practice among humans to try to emphasize certain body parts or use tools in order to remove the attention front others. i.e female use high heels shoes to look taller, wear makeup to hide their ugliness or emphasize their face so people do not look at their unavailable ass. Base on scientific studies Japanese developers have small penis and microscopic balls; which explains why they are not making RPG games for the 360; instead the resort to emphasize the “big head” in their work/games as a form of therapy to restrain their depression and frustration over their physiological limitations.

Its not new, I remember big head games like NBA Jam and Virtual Fighter kids

bladestar sorry for the lost of your wife to a japanese

@Joystiq, what can I tell you, she was Japanese; and they can get scare, considering their also small component (I don't blame her); so for her own safety she decided to play safe. You should know don't you.

It's compensation.

has anybody looked at the haeds of real baseball players from the steroid era. They had huge heads and now that their bodies are starting to shrink from them not using steroids anymore those big headed japanese baseball games look more realistic than the American ones.

If Microsoft wants to know why they're sucking in Japan this is a huge reason why. Face it, Master Chief just ain't cute!

Well im black and not racist at all.

And if it's compensation, their head should be small instead of big. At least you can do is make some sense.

You must be (a teenager) raised where there's nothing but hate (Alabama, Montana etc. ???).


By the way some of the greatest baseball players today are Japanese. So i guess they dont need realism games as much as Americans since games are made to escape reality.


Base on YOUR scientific explanation, Americans want everything big. So what does that say about us???

Oh come on.

At least agree that the Japanese are just plain into anime, no matter what. Just downloaded some japanese 18 porn, and GUESS WHAT. Goddamn ads for animeporn at the end of it. Its goddamnn everywhere in their society.

Yeah, those damn Japanese don't seem to have a healthy American hang-up about 'kiddy' like we do in the West! Freaks!

Man, now you'll tell me that your average American is incapable of accepting any form of art that doesn't strive for realism. And I KNOW Americans are all up on Picasso and Van Gogh, and Monet!

There's a simple answer for this one... Nature had an article up about "A Scanner Darkly" where they said that cartoons stimulate your brain in the same region that lights up when you feel rewarded. There are a billion different ways you can take this information, but the bottom line is that cartoons make us feel some sort of joy.

Oh and I don't know if the Japanese are any more "into" this stuff, it's probably just a little more accepted in the culture to be into cutesy things. They also have a concept of the uncanny valley and know that games that look like a wax museum turn off a lot of gamers... hence Miyamoto's stance on the Wii