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My work is fine up to now.

Plan of My Speech

I think I would start with an introduction about the importance of Japanese game developers in the industry. I think I would start talking about Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto. Nintendo pretty much made lots of new innovations to the industry. Miyamoto's Donkey Kong was the first video game to actually include some sort of narrative or storyline. Video games before Donkey Kong were basic shooting games or sports titles where the "high score" was the main objective. Donkey Kong changed all that as Mario had to save his girlfriend who got kidnapped by Donkey Kong. Now every game nowadays has some type of single player mode that includes a storyline or narrative of some sort. I would also suggest that if the Japanese game marjket didn't exist, the video game industry would not have been as innovative or successful as it has been for the past 30 years or so. Japanese video game developers have included so many innovative features that other gaem developers often copy and replicate.

Mainly back in the old days when the Atari 2600 was the most popular video game console, but most of the games lacked creativity. There was an abundance of sports titles released at the time plus many game developers were all developing their own version of Pong too.

Next I might talk about how the original Nintendo console pretty much saved the video game industry from dying out. In 1983, there was the infamous video game crash. Unlike today where the only consoles available are from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, back then there were heaps of consoles released from several different companies. Supply of video games and video games console were clearly exceeding demand and consumers obviously couldn't afford to buy them all. A lot of video game makers went out of business during this time and it looked like the industry was doomed forever. Thankfully, Nintendo came to the rescue in 1985 to essentially save the entire industry.

I might also delve into the differences between Japanese games and Western ones. I remember reading someone's comment that "shooting" style of video games aren't popular in Japan. This is because the country and strict gun laws. This is a direct contrast to the US where FPS games are the most popular video game genre with the Call of Duty and Halo franchises shooting up the charts. Japanese games usually are more Fantasy based where the characters have big swords or use magic to overcome evil. Games that come to mind include the Final Fantasy series, Devil May Cry series, and the Legend of Zelda series just to name a few. The characters had more meaning and gamers cared about them more than in some Western developed games these days.

I might also look at the character design of Japanese games too. Japanese game developers are more creative with their character design than Western developers. Japanese games tend not to be "realistic" so you can get characters that look outrageous. Here is an example of some wacky characters that have been seen in Japanese video games.

Western game developers have not been so creative as of late. There has been some controversy about the lack of diversity and creativity recent games have with their main characters. Here's a look at some recent Western developed games and some of their main characters. Most of them look the same and are male. There was controversy in the industry as a whole that most video games are male because having a female main character wouldn't sell as many copies!

Female characters in general are sexualised whether the game is developed in Japan or abroad. All of them are curvey and have big breasts. Tekken is famous for creating Nina Williams while Lara Croft got famous because of her sex appeal back in the '90s.

If I am to conclude my part of the presentation, would be the state of the Japanese gaming industry and how it stands right now. I will obviously do a bit more research on the subject, but as far as I can tell (I'm already a gaming journalist) Japanese video games are not as popular as they used to be. I mean back in the Nintendo era, games like Super Mario and Legend of Zelda were in everyone's homes. Fast forward to the Super Nintendo/Megadrive era and games like Street Fighter and Sonic the Hedgehog were just as popular too. The Sony PlayStation continued to create popular Japanese gaming franchises with Resident Evil, Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo, Tekken and Metal Gear Solid. The PS2 was pretty much a sequel to the PSOne with most of those franchises dishing out popular sequels.

I think with the current console generation, the PS3 and Xbox 360 had more popular Western developed video games. With the exception of Gran Turismo 5 and Metal Gear Solid IV,  most of the best selling games this generation were developed outside of Japan and Asia. Some of the games that spring to mind include FIFA 13, Battlefield 3, Red Dead Redemption and of course the annual Call of Duty series. Some of the more famous Japanese gaming franchises have underwhelmed gamers recently. New iterations of Final Fantasy and Resident Evil games have disappointed fans because they strayed away from their traditional roots and started to emulate the gameplay of Western developed games instead.

The PSOne introduced many famous Japanese gaming franchises that are still popular to this day. It is also important to note that the console was the first to be marketed towards adults instead of young kids. Since most kids that grew up playing the original Nintendo and Super Nintendo in the '80s and early '90s respectively, they were now teenagers and/or young adults.

It's also worth noting that the PlayStation used CD-based media that allowed the console to have cutscenes and proper orchestral music. Because of this advancement in technology, games had a more movie like quality to them than ever before. Games like Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid truly made video games more cinematic and emotional than ever before. 

I could also delve into the future of Japanese gaming. Sony has pushed to make the PS4 more successful than the launch of the PS3 back in 2006/2007. Sony plans to make the console more accessible this time around making it more affordable plus making it more focused on video games rather than other apps and features. Sony president Shuhei Yoshida recently noted that he wants to the PS4 to focus more on diverse games that were outsude of the FPS genre.  Right now, the Wii U from Nintendo has struggled to appeal to a wider market compared to its previous video game console. This is because the console is underpowered and Nintendo is relying too much on its existing first party titles such as Mario, Pokemon and Legend of Zelda etc.

Speech Draft

Things always start off small and have humble beginnings, until eventually they improve things get bigger. Before we had high definition flat screen TVs, televisions were relatively small and had roundish screens. Not to mention that TV networks didn’t even operate 24/7 like nowadays and broadcasts were all in black and white too.

Much like the history of television, video games also had a humble beginning. Before we had the fancy consoles graphics of today, video games also started off small. Pong is usually recognised as the first video game ever made and it was just two while lines and a white dot. It was supposed to represent the game of tennis at the time.

In 1977, the first video game console was born with the Atari 2600 which was developed by an American company by the name of Atari. It was the first chance for people to actually play video games inside of the comfort of their own home. Most games at the time were only available at the arcades.

Speaking of arcades, one of the most famous arcade games ever created was one called Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong was created by one of the most creative minds in video game history. If it wasn’t for Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, the video game landscape might have been different if he never existed.

Because of the simplicity of the technology of arcade machines and the Atari 2600, most video games of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s were simple sports games. Also, most of those games were only played on one level or screen that hardly changed.

Miyamoto changed all of that when he introduced Donkey Kong in 1981. Not only was Donkey Kong the first game that featured Mario, but it is also credited as the first ever video game that featured a storyline. The Guinness Book of World Records Gamer’s Edition in 2008 credited the game for two important accolades. These accolades are the “First Use of visual storytelling in video game” plus “first example of the use of cutscenes to tell a story”. A simple visual of Donkey Kong kidnapping Mario’s girlfriend was a small step to more elaborate and technical storylines that will feature in video games in the next 30 years or so.  


By the time the year 1983 came around, the video game industry was in a bad shape. The market was flooded with too many bad video game releases and consoles and consumers didn’t have the time or money to spend it all. Unlike today where there are only three different game consoles out there, back in the early ‘80s, several companies wanted to copy Atari’s success with the Atari 2600. As a result of this, there were no less than ten different video game consoles out there. Atari itself wasn’t bullet proof too. The American company made some bonehead decisions that made them lose a lot of money during this time too. The company ordered 12 million copies of Pac-Man. Although demand for the game was high, 7 million copies were sold which left them with 5 million unsold copies. Another famous commercial failure was the ET video game too. Atari had big hopes for that game too but it turned out to be one of the worst video games ever made and Atari again was left with millions of unwanted copies and millions of lost dollars.

Many video game makers in America were struggling to makes ends meet and many assumed the video game industry would be dead forever. This is until Japanese company Nintendo released its first ever video game console in 1983 called “The Nintendo Entertainment Console”.  It’s entry into the market pretty much saved the whole video game industry from disappearing forever. There were so many things that Nintendo did right with the console and it also introduced us to many famous video game characters and genres. It didn’t truly make an impact until it was released in North America and the rest of the world in 1985 and 1986 respectively. From that point onward, Nintendo became the only video game console that people needed to buy. 

Although the Nintendo video game console launched with 18 titles, it was the release of Super Mario Bros that garnered the most interest. Although the game wasn’t the first ever 2D side-scrolling ever made, it became the model for many other game developers to copy its style in hopes to replicate its success. Mario became a pop cultural phenomenon from this point onward and is still recognized as the most famous video game character of all time. This is all thanks to the accessibility and fun factor that the original Super Mario Bros. game had. The game went on to sell over 40 million copies worldwide and became popular all over the world. Mario's success made a huge influence to the industry as a whole because Sega responded in kind to make its own Mario type video game. This was how Sonic the Hedgehog was born and from there, platform games gave birth to other iconic characters such as Crash Bandicooot. 

Nintendo continued its dominance of the video game industry well into the early '90s. The company released the Super Nintendo in 1991 and everything was going great. That was until Sony came along and the PSOne was born. The PSOne was initially going to be a CD-add on for the Super Nintendo but both Nintendo and Sony had a fall-out. Because of the disagreement between the two companies, Sony went ahead and made the PSOne a stand-alone console instead.

The PSOne was the first stand alone video game console to use CD-based format in favour of blocky video game cartridges. Thanks to the upgraded technology, games on the PSOne had a more movie-like quality experience to them. For the first time ever, games could have actual orchestral music and full voice overs too. Final Fantasy VII is always heralded as one of the first games to actually have a movie-like quality to it. Another game that made full use of the PSOne's technology was Metal Gear Solid as well.

When it comes to character design, the differences in appearances in Japanese gaming and Western gaming is instantly noticeable With Japanese gaming, I've noticed that game developers and designers take more risks and are unafraid to be more creative with the characters that they decide to include in their games. This is especially true when it comes to certain fighting and RPG style games. Japanese game developers don't care if the characters are not human and can talk or have super powers or what not.

Here's a picture of Blanka who first appeared in Street Fighter II. As you can see, Blanka is a green skinned monster with wild orange hair. Not to mention he can generate electricity with his own body. Nobody really cared that it was "unrealistic" for a character of this kind to exist since it's a video game. Other examples include Kimahri from Final Fantasy X. He's a blue skinned furry tough dude that can talk in English sometimes. Then there is Mokujin who is a living breathing training dummy that exists in the Tekken universe.

Compare this to Western game developers and the diversity of character design is gone. Western game developers have lacked the ability to create diverse and wonderful characters that feature in Japanese video games. Most of them are male, bald and human. There is a saying among gamers and game journalists that this is the "Bald Space Marine" syndrome. Let's take a brief look at some of the characters from some well known  Western developed games and see if you can spot any differences between them. I can assure you that no photoshop has been done to any of the characters whatsoever.

First up, here's a character called "Starkiller" from The Force Unleashed Star Wars games.

Secondly here is Cole McGrath from Sony's InFamous games.

And lastly, here is Captain Sheppard from the Mass Effect trilogy

As you can clearly see, the Western developed games are less creative when it comes to their character design. Not to mention that a lot of Western developed usually feature a Caucasian male as the main lead. There has been some controversy that some game developers are too shy to include a female main lead as they feel male gamers won't buy their game if a female is the main character. Considering Lara Croft is still popular and Final Fantasy XIII sold close to 6 million copies, I think that those game developers are just being sexist.