sure, we've had a few new ips.. but i only blame that on this generation turning to pc inspired gaming on consoles. once that settles in.. sequels will be pouring down the pipe. i mean.. correct me if im wrong.. but wolfenstein 3d is known as the shooter that almost created and most certainly popularized the genre. and look here we are 16 years later STILL SHOOTING AT NAZIS.

all the japanese have to do is make a world war II or futuristic space shooter, or a gritty third person sandbox game... and they'll make millions.

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That said, I'd be willing to bet a CONSOLE that if the first system to release next gen starts off with strong Japanese support that the imbalance wouldn't seem to stark.

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I love Japanes game but as an adult, I feel like a lot of their games aren't directed at me anymore. Capcom is on the right track, but they really need to get Monster Hunter on both next-gen consoles soon. Plus, they need to look very hard at the control scheme, for some of their games to fit todays gaming and not 2001.

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I remember, though, playing lots of western games even back in the day since I always like Midway´s work on a lot of games. Stuff like Killer Instinct, racing games, some adventures made for Genesis, etc. Always like 50/50 for me, NEVER cared for nationality, still don´t care. If a game is good, even if it´s made on Zimbabwe or Argentina I´ll proudly play it!

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Even though series like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy have large numbers of sequels, at least every game is different than the last. Can the same be said of American game series like Madden? Japan does make a lot of grind-fest RPGs, but America also makes a lot of brown-and-grey shooters. Both sides need to work on the original IP issue, but it's hard to take risks in this terrible economy. It might be easier for these developers to work on original IP if Japanese studios would be more motivated to surpass Western game studios and if Western game studios feel threatened by the progress and innovation of the Japanese game studios.

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Narrowing it down to the PS3, to get a more recent view, Japan and Europe are about tied, America still a bit behind.

So no. All that has happened is that Europe and America have gotten better, which is hardly surprising.

Japan's bread and butter in the gaming market may be endless JRPGs, but America produced a console which markets itself on endless FPSes. Console FPSes FFS.

God help us if Japan imitates America.

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