Video Game Companies of Japan
| Video Game Companies of Japan | |
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Today I would like to introduce some video game companies of Japan. |
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Here in Japan we are used to it. But foreign friends maybe unfamiliar with Japanese video game companies. |
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Firstly, Nintendo, the famous maker of video game consoles. Home consoles include Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System, NES), Super Famicom (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), Nintendo GameCube (GCN) and Wii. Portable consoles include Game Boy and Nintendo DS. Games by Nintendo include Mario Bros., Zelda and Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) series. Pokemon is published by The Pokemon Company, which is under Nintendo as the money is from Big N. |
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The Pokemon Company mainly responsible for licensing. |
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Next comes Sony Computer Entertainment. Home consoles include the PlayStation line. Also it makes handhelds such as PSP. A full subsidiary of Sony. Not many worldwide blockbuster by SCE, but Gran Turismo series are quite famous both in Japan and overseas. |
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These two are famous throughout the world as the developers of video game consoles. |
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Sega was a developer of video game consoles in the past. It's a Japanese company too. |
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It made Sega Mega Drive (Genesis), Sega Saturn and Dreamcast. It stopped its console business after Dreamcast. |
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Sega also develops arcade games. Its famous game series include Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega is now combined with Sammy and under Sega Sammy Holdings Inc.. |
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Let's talk about game developers then. |
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Square Enix, combination of Square and Enix. Square is famous of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. Enix got Japan's hottest RPG, Dragon Quest series. Final Fantasy VII is too famous so you should heard about it. |
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Taito Corporation is included in that. |
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Taito is famous for Space Invaders. It runs many amusement facility. |
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Let's talk about Konami. |
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I think Konami's Metal Gear Solid series is hot overseas. Football video game series Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer) is Konami's too. Konami Digital Entertainment, subsidiary of Konami, is responible for game publishing now. Konami also runs fitness clubs etc.. |
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How about Capcom? |
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Biohazard (Resident Evil) series and Street Fighter series are hot worldwide. Monster Hunter series are hot in Japan. PSP's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Monster Hunter Freedom Unite) had sold 3.5 million just in Japan. Since Japan's homeland market is less than 20% of the whole world's game market, you can figure it out how hot it is. |
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Bandai Namco (Namco Bandai Holdings) is famous throughout the world too. |
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Bandai mainly deals with anime and toys. Namco absorbed its game department. Dragon Ball and Gundam games are Bandai's well-known. You guys know Dragon Ball. I suppose Namco is famous for Tekken series. |
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Many anime-games huh. |
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Lastly, Koei Tecmo Holdings. Koei and Tecmo combined on April 1, 2009. Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series are doing quite good overseas so many should know it. As for Koei, it makes games from history of Japan and China, Mus・(Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors) series are famous in Japan. |
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Main Japanese companies are mentioned above. |
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These companies are on the stock market. Of course there are many not mentioned here. But the fact is the giants are making most of our games. As for overseas, only giants can make a living. So you can grasp Japan's image by remember today's introduction. |
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As we introduce, I notice that there are many companies combine their business. |
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Even giants are combining. Number of companies decrease and easy to grasp. |
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That's right... |
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As Japanese companies always have overseas subsidiary, not all games are made in Japan .Recent trend is to make foreign-targeted games by foreign studio, so note about that. |
August 10, 2009 3:18 AM | Japanese Video Game Industry | Game,Japan
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Hello
I've been an avid reader of MakoNako for about five years now, pertaining to it's original Japanese release, and it's great to see the English version launched so it is available to a wider audience. The articles so far have been a great summarisation of the current situation of Japanese Otaku industry and maintained a good tone of colloquialness that makes it interesting to read.
However, I felt that this particular article had too many awkward phrases that stood out. Too frequent that the reader had to abruptly stop to rethink what was trying to be conveyed. I do appreciate the effort of working with a second language and understand that translation is a feat in itself, but I only hope that the quality presented in the earlier articles could return.
hahaaha i love those anime faces when you are talking lol it's funny and cute and yeah i remember when dream cast some out later failed lol