Just recently I've finished the Special route on Ridge Racer 6. Afterwards, i went on to check my in-game stats. Apparently, I've been playing this ONE game for over 68 hours and counting. And I still haven't beaten the game. Unbelievable.
Playing RR6 so extensively for the past month or so made me realize how different Japanese game developers approach game design, as opposed to the western game developers. Western game developers seem to be so obssessed with cramming every bit of detail into their game's graphics, while Japanese developers opt for simpler graphical effects and less detailed textures. The reason for this seems to be that Japanese developers want to leave enough computational power and memory space for other elements in the game, such as A.I. and gameplay quality. In RR6 it looked like they opted for simpler effects and textures simply to keep the framerate at a constant 60 FPS even when so many cars are on track at one time. The constant framerate really helps with the gameplay, which can get really frantic on the higher classes.
The less-is-more approach of the Japanese reminds me of their approach towards Anime...I remember watching the documentary feature on the Animatrix DVD, and it mentions how Japanese animators use a lot of shortcuts to produce more work in less time...and somehow they manage to make their work look more spectacular in comparison to their western counterparts.
The Japanese also have this knack for inserting some personality into their video games. And that's interesting because I always thought the Japanese are more reserved than the Westerners (the people in the west love to be frank and speak their mind--sometimes they love it too much, imho.). Something as ridiculous as the RR6 game announcer, for instance, really adds to the game by making the race environment feel more alive and exciting. Recently I got to play the PGR3 demo, and while I was blown away by the graphics and sound, the environment for that game, like previous PGRs, is really serious and hardcore. It will definitely scare away anyone who has never, ever, ever played a racing game in the past. The personality that Japanese developers put into their games is also reflected in the colorful style and design of the elements of their games. Elements like characters, places and things...there just has to be a pastel color somewhere, on a Japanese title. Even a place as grey as an airport hangar in RR6 is transformed by Namco into an interesting place filled with light, color and life...with elements like airplanes flying by, confetti getting thrown on your car...I've seen those types of effects in previous Japanese games in the past, but have only begun to really notice them after playing a lot of Western games for a long time (like Halo, Baldur's Gate II etc). PGR3, on the other hand, while colorful in its own right, really sticks to realism in their environments through and through. Only in RR6 will you see a statue of a dinosaur before entering a big turn towards the finish line.
Playing RR6 so extensively for the past month or so made me realize how different Japanese game developers approach game design, as opposed to the western game developers. Western game developers seem to be so obssessed with cramming every bit of detail into their game's graphics, while Japanese developers opt for simpler graphical effects and less detailed textures. The reason for this seems to be that Japanese developers want to leave enough computational power and memory space for other elements in the game, such as A.I. and gameplay quality. In RR6 it looked like they opted for simpler effects and textures simply to keep the framerate at a constant 60 FPS even when so many cars are on track at one time. The constant framerate really helps with the gameplay, which can get really frantic on the higher classes.
The less-is-more approach of the Japanese reminds me of their approach towards Anime...I remember watching the documentary feature on the Animatrix DVD, and it mentions how Japanese animators use a lot of shortcuts to produce more work in less time...and somehow they manage to make their work look more spectacular in comparison to their western counterparts.
The Japanese also have this knack for inserting some personality into their video games. And that's interesting because I always thought the Japanese are more reserved than the Westerners (the people in the west love to be frank and speak their mind--sometimes they love it too much, imho.). Something as ridiculous as the RR6 game announcer, for instance, really adds to the game by making the race environment feel more alive and exciting. Recently I got to play the PGR3 demo, and while I was blown away by the graphics and sound, the environment for that game, like previous PGRs, is really serious and hardcore. It will definitely scare away anyone who has never, ever, ever played a racing game in the past. The personality that Japanese developers put into their games is also reflected in the colorful style and design of the elements of their games. Elements like characters, places and things...there just has to be a pastel color somewhere, on a Japanese title. Even a place as grey as an airport hangar in RR6 is transformed by Namco into an interesting place filled with light, color and life...with elements like airplanes flying by, confetti getting thrown on your car...I've seen those types of effects in previous Japanese games in the past, but have only begun to really notice them after playing a lot of Western games for a long time (like Halo, Baldur's Gate II etc). PGR3, on the other hand, while colorful in its own right, really sticks to realism in their environments through and through. Only in RR6 will you see a statue of a dinosaur before entering a big turn towards the finish line.