Creative director of Assassin's Creed 3, Alex Hutchinson, has accused game journalists of "subtle racism" thanks to the way they treat Japanese games.
Not because journalists constantly rip them apart because they're Japanese, but apparently because they enjoy them. Hutchinson, on the other hand, does not.
He recently told computerandvideogames.com, "I think there's a subtle racism in the business, especially on the journalists' side, where Japanese developers are forgiven for doing what they do. I think it's condescending to do this. Just think about how many Japanese games are released where their stories are literally gibberish. Literally gibberish. There's no way you could write it with a straight face, and the journalists say 'oh it is brilliant.' Then Gears of War comes out and apparently it's the worst written narrative in a game ever. I'll take Gears of War over Bayonetta any time. It's patronising to say, 'oh those Japanese stories, they don't really mean what they're doing.'"
I'll grant him that some Japanese games are a little on the weird side, but you can't expect everything they do to be like Gears of War. After all, they're coming from a completely different culture, and is a more closed market, refelective of it's own culture. So whatever does make it out, it's garunteed it'll be different thant Gears of War.
And while Japanese gamers may have made games the rest of the world sees as odd, we've made contributions like Shaq-Fu, so obviously we've all made mistakes.
In the end, developers, journalists, Japanse or American, we all have our own tastes.
