Assassin's Creed III dev says press gives a pass to Japanese games

So he is made that games that need to be translated from a different culture that have different ideals are not held to the same stander that his games are. What is wrong with him?

Ask a native American which is worse the re-writing of history glamorising their people's genocide or the press giving Japanese games an easy ride.  Better subtle racism than the blatant racism of AC3 imo/

For a bunch of people who are supposedly professing open mindedness, your not being very tolerant of his opinions and point of view.

Alex Hutchinson belongs pretty much with the stereotype of people that doesn't understand japanese culture or want to even try to.  I'm a guy who prefers games from the east more then western gaming myself and I gotta say theres a ton of games that are out or been out this gen that are pretty freaking amazing pieces.  But of course saying that one side of the coin is better then the other is just foolish.  Alex you may belong to a big name label but your a Dbag get over yourself..

Hutchinson is an idiot. Japanese narratives are just as bad, but the (noob) press is unfamiliar with that narrative, so sometimes they do get a pass, just like Gears gets sometimes.

I mean, which Japanese games is he talking about? Final Fantasy 13 or 13-2? Ok, the narrative is poor there. Dragon Quest? Hilariously poor. Zelda? Sophomoric and boring. Resident Evil? Again just dumb and poor writing.

The few games that have well written narratives these days are coming from Rockstar Games or indie devs.

Frankly, I'm amazed this guy is speaking publicly when he sounds so ignorant. What a fool. Nintendo games have gotten more criticism  than I've ever seen since there was a Nintendo, it's kind of sad how their games haven't evolved. 

Man, this guy is really kicking a dog when it's down. Not cool.

Well, if we were to consider AC on "is the story any good?", I guess the series would have stopped at Altair.

Perhaps the gibberish narrative of Japanese games has more to do with the translation, as opposed to the story itself? I wonder what a Japanese-translated AC would sound like to a native Japanese speaker.

I think the subtle racism is on his side. First off, they rebuild the ground up when it comes to each FF itteration. They are each their own stand alone game. Assassins creed tells you to fork 60 dollars over to get the next chapter of a narrative that seems to be more drawn out with each game. He criticises thier games, As for AC story, it gets more convoluted as it goes on. Give me Persona 3, a masterpeice in story telling, over AC any days. And yes, Persona 3 is HIGHLY Japanese, filled with crazy babble, but I shed a tear at the end of the game, where as AC tells me, TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT 3 INSTALMENTS! 

BTw, the only reason im looking forward to AC3 is DESPITE its story. The ship to ship combat looks amazing!

Well Ill give him one thing, Japanese games arent the pinnacle of storytelling. I still think they've yet to release games on new gen consoles that compete with what FFVII, Suikoden 2 and Persona did on earlier gen consoles. On the other hand, most FPS like Gears of War or Halo have crap scenarios as well. I think though the Western RPG(Mass Effect, Dragon Age, NWN, Kotor, Fallout etc...) has set the bar so high over here that when your playing most american games, including non RPG's, you can also find the idiotic plots laughable or just plain boring. I guess the developers in North America can see it as a compliment, that the bar is set higher for them.

I'd have to agree with this guy. For as many story-centric RPGs Japan churns out, I can't remember the last time I was ever impressed with the writing. More often than not, critically acclaimed games like FF8 have some of the most miserable dialogue, plot and (most importantly) characters I have ever experienced. It's holding us back as an industry.

I, for one, cannot wait until To the Moon Episode 2 comes out. Teach em how it's done!

I don't like the Aesthetic of Japanese Games design... there's a vastly different psychology behind a lot (NOT ALL) of their entertainment. No amount of press coverage is going to change that or the differences in our mentality or societies.

Well, considering most 'story driven' Japanese games are centralled around angst and pretty much nothing else, I have to agree. Yes, Japan has a lot of games with good stories but when they get games with a bad one people don't really give a shit (except in a few rare cases like FFXIII). Either way, both Eastern and Western games really need to get better with there story telling. Theres a reason why Mass Effect sold millions of copies. Same with FFVII, Dragon Age, etc. We like a good story!

HAHAHA This guy!

kind of like how i rate games: are they fun to play? i see his point.

I think this guy is a duche but he has a point. the story of most asian games and movies for that matter suck bad the acting and story telling is just plane ugly take metal gear the story is absolute junk a two year old could have thought it up as far as final fantasy I consider it art beautifully rendered even thouh the story is not that great. mario was a stroke of genius it was developed for a younger audiance and did not concentrate on story telling zelda metroid contra were all great games

I don't think games should be judged on their stories at all;  The story is merely a driver - and a backseat one at that.  Further, narrative and story are two completely different things; narrative is story-telling.  Huge difference.

You can't throw the two around as the same entity; they're not.  They're siblings.  Sometimes, one of them needs to wear a helmet and live under close supervision for the rest of their lives.

Sounds more to me like sour grapes, and coming from someone that can't differentiate between a game's story versus how that story is conveyed, it's utter tripe.  Now, comparing Bayonetta against Gears of War is like pitting Black Adder against The Tudors.  Their stories AND story-telling are totally opposing styles, and for totally different purposes.

Plus, you're a developer; what the fuck do you know about writing a plot and fleshing it out?  Don't quit your day job.

I agree with absolutely nothing you've said. Japanese devs get a pass because so many game journalists love Japanese culture, they adore manga, anime, hentai, and know exactly what a "tsuba" is. Hint it's part of the "fuchi." So if you know the mythical origin of the "Hamon" you can be a games journalist, and no wikipedia, they know their hannae and tatamae.

To me (i'm european) it feels like a lot of american games are pretty much an obvious marketing plan with generic characters, steroids, muscles, boobs, gangsters and guns and that can be fun, but also really really disgusting, bad taste and low key when t gets too generic and commercial. Well the same cultural flaws applies to japan, it's full of androgyn teenagers, long dialogues to say nothing that this guy calls gibberish, bizarre sub-quests and dungeon monster hunting, insanely cheesy love stories, and psycho-bizarre sci-fi story twists that sometimes are really hard to get.

In this mess, Nintendo is pretty much the only developper that manages to release games that are universally appealing, and for that they deserve the attention, this is what this guys fails to understand. Mario, Zelda and Metroid have never been my favourite games, but i've played them all and they always delivered.

So, basically  what's this guy is saying is that white people who like Japanese video games are being racist against white people. Wow, makes perfect sense to me.

Is everybody in ubisoft stupid or what?  What was this guy under a box when Other M and Final Fantasy XIII have been called out for having downright terrible writing.

And please Gear of war or your stupid dragged out AC series are not gold either so relax. 

Make a story half as good as Metal gear then talk. If not STFU.

I don't know why they give so much attention to comments like this!

He is only expressing his thoughts!!!!

Just like some are doing here!       VVVVVVVVVVVVV

He's sparking a cultural skirmish on feeble ground! Every culture has its cliches and those cliches are adapted into media form. They have their masterpieces and their tankers just like we do. For every Gears of War there is a Mass Effect. For every Bayonetta there is a Final Fantasy. It's all relative.

but japanese games, a lot of times have better gameplay (dark souls). or are atmospheric and tell story by asthetics (soc, ico)

about two games into the series the plot felt like it was just stalling for time until they came up with an ending. we see desmond jumping around and think "shit just got real," and then we spend another few games in the animus any goddamn ways.

Is the Story Good? Re-release your entire series. Either dump the modern era, or at least dump the Animus and make Desmond an archeologist peicing together the story.

Also, stop skipping the 2nd to last chapter. It's really disconcerting to be going from swords and knives and horseback one moment to shooting phasers from holographic doppelgangers the next.

Ironic, Assassin's Creed's story makes as much sense to me as Metal Gear Solid.

All his claims are belong to just.

"Hutchinson said he thinks games should be judged on a simple scale of; is the story any good?"

So at what point did gaming morph into interactive cinema experiences, because i was under the impression the most important part of a game is actual gameplay.

Wonder how often this guy uses the word weeaboo.

Call it "gibberish" or whatever you want, Japanese games tend to present much more unique and interesting narratives.

I don't really think this guy has a right to criticize narratives as gibberish when the whole AC series is based on ideas about genetics that were refuted hundreds of years ago and that anyone who has ever taken a class in biology would know are BS.

Who's the racist one here?

Story is important in games but not over gameplay. If I wanted a complex twisted story, I'd watch a movie or read a book.