The Nippon Line 2008 Special

Welcome to a special year-in-review kind of instalment of my Nippon Line. Two steps forwards, no step backward: let’s take a sideways look at 2008 and then leap into 2009. Here we go!

J-megatons
Aside from the announcements of Dragon Quest IX and X for Nintendo platforms, perhaps the biggest shock to the Japanese game industry’s system during 2008 was the Nintendo DSi. This controversial upgrade to the DS Lite (Do we really need built-in cameras? Nintendo says yes, gamers remain unconvinced) was unveiled and released in an almost Apple-quick procession of hype followed by the reality of a new product.

Inevitably, Japan really loves the DSi. If Nintendo could manufacture a million units for Japan each month, I reckon they’d have no problem clearing their inventory every 30 days. Another inevitability is how methodical, box-ticking and widespread the DSi advertising campaign has been. Girls in McDonald’s: check. Old ladies at home: check. Businessmen catching the train: check. It’s explicitly clear, just from watching Japanese TV commercials, exactly whose patronage Nintendo is after.

2009 will be the year of the DSi, as the Lites are left to dim (get it?) and the whole DSiWare downloadable game service improves and expands. I’ve already got Utsutsu! Made In Wario playing on my DSi, and it’s a hugely promising sign of what can be done with 500yen software on a camera-equipped machine like this. OK, it’s just a portable Eyetoy game in effect, but it’s got that Nintendo pizzazz and zing, as well as the fun qualities of other made-up words. 


Biggest disappointment of 2008
What I’d like to know is: what is going on at Konami Tokyo? Specifically, I’m talking about the division responsible for the Winning Eleven franchise (aka Pro Evo), which has now been stagnating for the past five years. The latest version is a stinky crap-filled pond of a game, when it should be The Ultimate Sports Game.

I’m not sure what ‘resting on laurels’ actually involves, but it’s pretty clear that Konami Tokyo has become expert in the art of laurel-resting. What Winning Eleven needs is a new engine – or at least a genuinely overhauled version of the existing one – to bring it up to date and make it look respectable on platforms such as the PS3 and Xbox 360. Beneath the ‘2009’ tag and a few new modes, the latest incarnations of the series are effectively hi-res (but lo-quality) ports of manky old PS2 code. Sort it out, Konami!


Funny shit
It’s often claimed that VHS beat off Betamax (no, not like that) principally because it was the format favoured by the porn industry, and the same thing has been applied to Blu-Ray’s victory over HD-DVD. But this never really struck me as being important until last week, when I was watching a Japanese TV programme celebrating the 2008’s most essential electronics.

One of the presenters, a famous comedian, explained what he thought was so great about the PS3 – and it had nothing to do with games. “It can play Blu-Rays… have you seen adult videos on Blu-Ray?! I’ve got my PS3 hooked up to a 50-inch plasma and their boobs look massive!” Everyone else on the show found this hilarious, although the comedian himself was being entirely serious. And that’s why the PS3 is outselling the Xbox 360… perhaps.
 

Ay-up, 2009!
Now that Japan’s New Year celebrations have fizzled out, everyone is at last back at work and beginning to sober up. But what lies in store for the Japanese videogame industry during 2009? Below you’ll find three of my stonewall predictions. They’re mostly well reasoned, but are, I confess, laced with pure guesswork. Here goes:

1. Gran Turismo 5 to not be released. This is an obvious prediction, and it’ll obviously come true. Sony as a whole is in big trouble, and while GT5 sales could help to revive its fortunes, its development must be using up capital like a foolish banker. I think that the best Gran Turismo’s fans can hope for is that Prologue will be patched and patched until Sony ends up saying, “GT5? What you’ve got there is GT5, sunshine!”

2. Japanese tastes to favour handhelds over home consoles by an even greater margin. This is what it boils down to: people here in Japan prefer to play games on handhelds, and have done so for the past few years. I think it’s partly because people don’t like being chained to a TV indoors. Anyway, I can only see this situation continuing to develop along the same lines. The DSi and PSP will be the biggest-selling hardware formats in Japan during 2009, I have no doubt. And Dragon Quest IX will outsell any home console game you might care to mention.

3. Some big Capcom games to sell poorly. I don’t think Resident Evil 5 will cut it in Japan. I don’t think Street Fighter IV will cut it in Japan. I don’t think Capcom would still be in business were it not for the Monster Hunter series, as most of the big C’s talented developers have left to form their own studios (look out for Madworld, Infinite Space and Bayonetta from ex-Capcom people during 2009). But hey, everything’s alright because if all else fails, Monster Hunter 3, at least, will not. It’ll be the only console game to rival Dragon Quest IX’s mega-sales, and Capcom will live to fight another year.