Capcom confirms Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

@Shinta I didn't know people could get a read on a game half a year before release with little to no known information on the topic, except clairvoyants anyway.

@Shinta

I hope that isn't a slam against Inafune.

I do agree, though, that this game looks entirely skippable. Multiplayer RE? Meh.

Unless they charge you an extra 500 points upfront to access the game itself as soon as you start it. Which I wouldn't put past Capcom.

@Red Runner Sorry to disappoint you, but it was. He spent the last few years of his tenure at Capcom telling everyone how behind the Japanese games industry was. He played a big role in bringing on western developers for games like Dark Void, Bionic Commando and DmC.

It seems like the trend continues, even with one of their most valuable brand names.

@Shinta

No offense taken, but in some regards he does have a point. Japanese devs have been stagnating and slow to adapt to the changes in gaming. Japanese culture in general is slow to accept new changes, so in a way, it's part of how they are. Even so, I think they can modernize games without having such a huge Western influence...

I think the new DmC will be utter garbage. Ninja Theory is a developer with a questionable track record and their new vision of Dante is a joke.

Whatever, though. I fear Capcom will do nothing but spiral downwards with its greedy cash-grab DLC and its lame attempts to make games with a "worldwide" appeal.

@Shinta
Honestly, I think the Japanese game industry is behind the curve. Sure, there have been some great Japanese games in the past few years (mostly from Clover/Platinum), but most are just content to stagnate and do the same old thing since the PS1 era. I just see a lot more progress from Western developers in virtually every aspect: writing, storytelling, gameplay, technology, online multiplayer etc...

@Red Runner Ninja Theory's version of Dante is Capcom's. Capcom actually complained about early versions of NJ's Dante because he wasn't different enough.

Also, the Bionic Commando reboot was a great game. People just like to complain when a game in a series is different from a previous game.

I personally welcome change. I will try the games and I will probably like them.

Don't really care much about what others think anyway. Gamers these days bitch about every little thing.

@CynicalStrike

You'd think that if anything, developers would have emerged from the 32/64-bit era with the idea in mind to perpetuate new and fresh ideas for games, since that era actually had a lot of new ideas given how the industry was moving towards 3D. Clearly the lessons haven't been completely learned by Japanese companies yet.

@Androu1

A bit off-topic and all, but I think Capcom was pretty dickish and stupid to say "make a design that would piss us and/or consumers off". Capcom's been doing really, really good at making its fans pissed off lately, though.

@CynicalStrike
I don't feel westerns have surpassed the Japanese in story, or much else in gaming really. All we do is turn everything into an FPS, TPS, or a Third Person sand box game with free running.
HOwever I don't feel the Japanese have progressed either. I think honestly both are equal. Usually when I play a Japanese game it's for it's weird, or captivating, story. When I play a Western game it's for tons of blood and mindless killing.

@CynicalStrike You have to admit that it's a bit ridiculous to talk about stagnation, while every western game company tries their best to make the next Call of Duty replica.

@The Aquacharger
Well, as far as perspective goes we're really stuck with first and third person, and shooting has been a core part of gaming since 'Spacewar!'. Virtually every mainstream game involves some form of violence, shooting is just the most common.

Still, look at what devs like Rockstar are doing within those constraints: Red Dead Redemption was a huge risk purely in terms of genre, and L.A Noire looks to merge sandbox gameplay with old-fashioned adventure gaming, fueled by cutting-edge technology.

Also, in the RPG genre Japanese games are stuck in the same old routine of turned-based combat, linear stories and generic, stock characters. I'd much rather play something like Fallout, Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age. Really, all of this is just my opinion and preference, so feel free to disagree.

@Lucky48

Care to name a few current gen examples of superior Japanese game storytelling? I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. I honestly want to know what can stand up to Alan Wake, Amnesia, Uncharted, Portal, Bioshock, Limbo... even the last Silent Hill game (which was European) was the best in the series since SH2.

Of the most notable Japanese releases I've played this gen, their narratives have been meh, at best, but mostly terrible. Fragile, Valkyria Chronicles, Deadly Premonition, Mad World... The only story I've played that I can say was above average was No More Heroes, but that's just Tarantino style camp.

To be fair, I haven't played MGS4 yet. That will likely stand up to my examples, but I doubt it would be considered far superior.

@MLS Tactics Ogre, 999, Professor Layton, Devil Survivor, Nier, The Last Remnant, Dragon Quest IX, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, 4 Heroes of Light, FFXIII, Tales of Vesperia, Fire Emblem, Half Minute Hero, Jeanne d'Arc, The World Ends with You, Folklore, Bayonetta, Xenoblade, The Last Story, Lost Odyssey, Crisis Core, Fragile Dreams, MGS4.

I'm probably forgetting a few, but Nier and Lost Odyssey alone prove that you're wrong.

@Red Runner
Is Japan a slowly adjusting culture in comparison to America, or in comparison to the world in general? Because I can see the former as being a somewhat legitimate statement, but the latter seems less so. Compared to, say,nearly all Latin American, Asian, African, and Eastern European countries over the past 100 years, Japan's adjustment speed seems fairly rapid. Historically, Japan's rise to its current state was meteoric.

@Shinta
Blaming Inafking for this one is just plain bias. If you don't like the guy, fine, but calling this game "his legacy" is just stretching a little too far. And where in the world did you learn he has anything to do with the attorcity they call DmC? Besides, it's not even out yet, I'm skeptical about it as much as the next guy, but I restrain myself from bringing down the "hammer of the internets bashing" before I actually get to play the game in question.

Something maybe YOU should try to learn.

@Shinta
Oh, and I liked how you can list JRPGs.

Lost Odyssey? Really? You really think that Lost Odyssey has a better plot than Alan Wake? You're new to this, right? Sorry dude, I've played tons of "Lost Odysseys" back in the PSOne era. With better plots.

@TheShaper Yes, I think Lost Odyssey has a better plot than Alan Wake. I hated Alan Wake.

@My Prerogative To be fair, I've lost pretty much all trust I have in CRAPCOM to make a good game anymore, but you're right. Most releases should get a clean slate until we know more about them. Still, I can't say I'm confident about this.

@MLS
I don't think it will be very easy for Japanese writers to craft a story that is appealing to both Japanese and white Western audiences. One need only look at the best selling books and movies in America to see that there is very little foreign influence there. And you can look back many decades, perhaps even a century for this trend. The few foreign books that are popular tend to come from either Anglo populated countries (Harry Potter) and other white Western countries (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Musically there is a similar situation as well. No Japanese music has ever become popular in the US, while there are endless numbers of UK musical acts that make it big in the US.

Many American movies become popular overseas, but from what I can tell, nearly every single one is popular because of its spectacle aspects, not because of mere story telling. I don't believe The Black Swan, for instance, will do very well in China or Japan, while movies like Avatar did much better. The Pianist and Schindler's List may be considered great films in the US but I dont' think they did well in places like Japan.

Point being, I don't think a writer in Japan and a writer in America is on equal footing when attemping to craft a story that will appeal to American audiences.

@Shinta

I won't deny that lots of those games are good, but many of them are interchangeable from a presentation and story standpoint. Almost all of them are fantasy RPGs, as if that hasn't been a dried up well already. I've also seen plenty of trash talked about those games for having an embarrassingly hammed up presentation (999 and FFXIII in particular).

I wanted Fragile to be good, dearly. But that had a lousy unraveling, and a very annoying cast of characters. The setting was the only real standout of that story. I love me some Professor Layton, but the actual plots to those games are the least enjoyable part (though not terrible). I personally think Ace Attorney games are brilliant. I love everything about them. But better stories than Alan Wake? Get real.

I'm not trying to rag on Japan. All weekend, I was playing Snatcher and watching Tekeshi Kitano films, and loving it; but you know, that was the 90's. This is now. Your login name and avatar give me the impression that you're just backing up a fanaticism, and not really giving these games a critical look. Because, really, a Dragon Quest game tells a story better than Portal? You can still love these games, but let's be honest here, it's the same stuff over any over, and the presentation is getting no more innovate (aside from TWEWY, which had a fresh modern setting, but like most JRPGs, so hammy it was almost unbearable.)

@MLS "Your login name and avatar give me the impression that you're just backing up a fanaticism, and not really giving these games a critical look."

Really? Maybe I just actually have a different opinion than you do. Jesus Christ.

Lots of people have said that Lost Odyssey, Nier, and 999 have fantastic stories. Tactics Ogre was totally rewritten and given high marks everywhere for the story and excellent translation. Lots of people may have talked shit on FFXIII, but it has a deep mythology that will be expanded on for part 2,and I happened to really enjoy it.

Since when are fantasy RPGs all disqualified now? You listed Dragon Age.

@GuardianLegend
great post. It is tough to make a story for another kind of audience. I think part of the problem is trying way too hard to do that (and that could be what the core of the problem is today). Although, it's been proven possible to just make something for yourself, and like minded people will dig it.

I think through game history, lots of plots have came overseas with brilliant stories. Silent Hill 2, MGS, Killer7. It's just not so much happening this generation. I really don't have an answer for it. Maybe the market is too obsessed with the bottom line right now to experiment.

I'm just crossing my fingers that Shadows of The Damned as some wild psychosis stuff in it that I can dig into. Maybe Catherine has some of that too, but I saw the first 30 minutes of it and got a bad feeling I'll be in for more one-note characters and a shallow plot. At the same time, I'm hyped as hell for LA Noire and Portal 2 JUST for the story. Only a mindless fanboy would say the creative cream of the crop is not as good as Japan's, but why even have that discussion in the first place? Why not just be happy for good games from anywhere?

The whole Japan vs the rest of the world discussion is dumb anyway. It's all just people or corporations making games across the globe. They pander to their lowest common denominators with RPGs and dating sims, just as we do with FPSs and Madden. When I was a teen, I wasn't playing Silent Hill and saying "this is from japan, it's so different", I was just digging a cool game, just as I do today.

I think this is a case of the medium being the message. Cultural obsession is dominating the discussion. More good stories will come out of Russia, Japan, America, not because of who made them, but because they are good.

@Lucky48

Good call on Yakuza. You got me there. I've heard nothing but good things about those games.

@Shinta
I did not list Dragon Age. I hate the fantasy genre, with a full admission that it is my personal preference. Notice how I also didn't mention wartime FPSs games as well. Same reason as fantasy RPGs It's an objectively played out genre, where only some ridiculously innovative stories or wild narrative presentation can stand out. You'll have your big "oh shit!" moments, and hella rendered cut scenes, but the narratives... they're just mad libs at this point.

Whereas Apeture Science Labs, Rapture, Bright Falls. You don't see places like these in most games. Those very settings have more character than actual characters in most other games. Uncharted 2 is just Indiana Jones, but the presentation, the EFFORT in the performances and direction went much further than gamers expect.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories scrambles your brain just as well as Team Silent did in their prime. Limbo had evoked more out of me in 8 seconds, than most JRPGs have with 8 minutes of text logs. The subtle unraveling of the Portal plot is brilliant. No cutscenes, not diaries laying about. You piece together the mystery yourself. Even a silly shooter like Left 4 Dead has lore and background information crammed into almost every bit of casual dialogue and wall scrawlings; while just about all of the games you mentioned are still shoving the same old plots and messages down your throat in large 30 minute cutscene chunks.

I'm not saying "this sucks, and the other doesn't". Square Enix doesn't rot your brain. If you dig that world, awesome. I play all the Fatal Frame games, knowing what I'm gonna be in for, and that it won't blow my mind. I like me some of "the same ol shit" as well; but give credit where credit is due. These are examples of innovation in storytelling here. Don't deny them that praise.

This is my last post in this discussion. I think enough has been said.

@MLS "give credit where credit is due. These are examples of innovation in storytelling here. Don't deny them that praise."

Are you serious? Read your first post in this thread and take your own advice. You started out questioning someone simply because they said that they feel that Japanese and Western games have equal storytelling. No one even said it was better until you did.

Then I pointed out several examples from this gen of games with very solid stories and you say I'm a fanatic and that all fantasy RPGs are discounted. That also discounts pretty much anything from Bioware and Bethesda, which most people use as their examples of the best storytellers from the west. My mistake about you listing Dragon Age, the guy above you did.

In the end, maybe you should just take your own advice. I have no problem with you enjoying whatever games you want. You asked for a list of games, and I responded. But don't lecture me about giving credit where it's due when you do no such thing.

And I have no idea why you keep bragging about the story for Portal like it's some stroke of genius. It's a puzzle game, remarkable in the fact that it actually has a story in there somewhere. And Alan Wake's story was awful. How many times can you run across hicks in flannel throwing axes at you before it gets old? I purchased the game on day one, and even got a copy for my friend so we could both play it, and we both hated it. The game didn't sell that well either, and received mixed reviews. FFXIII and Alan Wake actually have the exact same Metacritic score.

@The Aquacharger

Mass Effect, Bioshock, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Dragon Age would all like to have a talk with you when you're done.

@Shinta

Yeah but he listed Dragon Age, then Fallout. See there's more variety in the Western Genre. Personally, I would like to play a lot of games that are different AND good as opposed to a bunch fantasy RPGs. Not saying JRPGs are bad, just saying that's all you listed.

@D4rk 0p3rative There is not more variety. Half of the JRPGs that come out these days are sci-fi. Half are fantasy. A few are modern day. FFXIII had post-apocalyptic areas that looked just like Fallout. Resonance of Fate was heavily sci-fi.

@MLS I think MGS4 was really a love letter to MGS fans. Not really for non MGS fan IMHO.

@Shinta

"And Alan Wake's story was awful. How many times can you run across hicks in flannel throwing axes at you before it gets old?"

I thought we were comparing story not gameplay?

@Shinta

No offense, but a lot of those games have stories that are not so much deep, but more "let's throw a bunch of random crazy plot ideas together in the last half and hope for the best". Japan's storytelling has long been juvenile and nonsensical, and most of those games fit that bill.

@MLS

I was unwaware Portal's story was so enthralling. I thought the main appeal was the puzzle gameplay mixed with a gun that created connecting portals.

@ChaosBladez

I would guess take a look at the socom game /6 did, I find it atrocious. If the do to RE what they did to socom, RE may be dead....

@ChaosBladez
I can't get into the games now due to the inability to move and shoot so I hope they change that. I know, many here have freaked when I've mentioned it previously because they feel it adds to tension. Yet in reality, if something is coming at me I would be able to side step of back up and take the shot. The mechanics they have used are simply lazy and giving false tension due to unrealistic body movements.

I used to love the original RE games - but they need to grow with gaming and not continue to stagnate on control.

@Duke

Seriously, theres no reason why they cant let us at least move along at a slow pace while firing weapons. It doesn't add any tension for me, just frustration.

@R Planteer

Yeah, it's not like moving while shooting made Dead Space 2 any less tense.

@EazySCT I am pretty sure that 90% of all Resident Evil games are third person shooters, not first person. Factor in that /6 has only made Third Person Shooters in the past, I doubt this will be "another fps."

@Jawmuncher
Me too. I have no idea what above posters are talking about, complaining about stagnation, but yet when they try to dynamically change RE, they get all bent out of shape.

I'm all for it. Even if I want a classic style of Resident Evil, guess what, I'll just go play an old one.

@Jawmuncher Hey thats awesome, how about some more awesome variation in your awesome choice of wording?


P.S....Youre awesome.

@Mr Oddworld
So Awesome Bro

@Acosta02

I think a big part of the indifference to RE is that it's still very japanese. The style of the chatracters, the way they talk, the symbolism, the haircuts...

that stuff used to sell in america...but that was before there were too many western studios. Now we have dead space, and a billion other action games that are very westernized

@eat it

Uh...considering that RE was inspired by American horror films -- particularly those of Romero -- and the characters are American, and act American, and look American...and the setting is America at least up through RE3, I'm not seeing how RE is a "very Japanese" series. There are better examples of Capcom games to cite as being "Japanese-ish".

@Red Runner
Not only that RE doesn't get Jap dubs in Japan and the original intro movie was a bunch of American actors.

@Red Runner
When the main boss turns into a tornado, it's very japanese. Final fantasy was based off western fantasy stories like lord of the rings. Does that mean it's the spittin' image of it? RE is nothing like american zombie flicks.

@Bewoulf

exactly. while the characters may technically be american they don't talk like americans. they don't act like amercians. and they still have goofy haircuts. Scroll to the top of the page and look at that haircut! sure some teenagers might have that haricut but do you think a military guy in america would ever have that haircut? but then are a ton of other things. the zoom-ins on the antaoginsts faces the way the walk and posture themselves the way they are presented... maybe they're not very japanese but they're not nearly american