Aoyama, Yoko and Hiro Izushi. 2003. "Hardware Gimmick or Cultural Innovation? Technological, Cultural, and Social Foundations of the Japanese Video Game Industry." Research Policy 32: 423-333.
This article acknowledges the fact that without companies like Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, or Sega, the video game industry as a whole would not be as viable an operation as it is today. It traces the penetration of the Japanese video game industry into the global market by tracing the Japanese video game's association with Manga, Anime, and a rich creative environment that lead to a collaborative environment with hardware manufacturers that systematically leveled the playing field of video gaming and stabilized it. Unlike the American market lead by Atari, Japanese companies were slower to catch on but much more active in the overall dissemination of their product into the market.
Because of the cultural proximity of hardware manufacturers to software manufacturers, Japan lead all video game industry discussions. Aoyama says,
"Evidence shows a presence of cultural proximity between platform developers and third-party software publishers, as it has been observed in other industries. Japan's software publishers have been in a unique position to access, almost exclusively, dominant platform developers particularly at the early stages of the industry's development. There are multiple ways in which cultural proximity matters, yet in all cases it functions to reduce barriers of communications and facilitates the flow of information." (Aoyama 2003: 434)
So, basically, these authors are saying that the cultural proximity of the group of engineers of a piece of hardware will allow them to create software that probably works better for it. I think that this is a fair sentiment. A thing to note here is that this article was written in 2003 and already the effect of the Xbox was being seen. The authors note: "The entry of Microsoft with Xbox may undermine the exclusive advantages of cultural proximity..." Looking with the eyes of 2009, this is definitely the case. Aside from the Wii, which enjoys the celebration of its cultural proximity while also tackling the idea of the "Gamer" generic type, Japanese gaming has been on the decline.
This is where the justification for studying the video game comes in. For the first time in decades, games from American Developers are being created for American gamers on a system created for a system from America. This shift of cultural proximity allows for influence of video games from a culture that plays and creates them to be studied.
Evidence of Japan's Decline:
1 comments:
Oh snaps I was just thinking about the resurgence of western game development and what it meant to me as a gamer to me this morning. I want to read whatever you write about it.
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