The Gamer's Quarter

[Blazehedgehog]

Marc Ecko's Getting Up is really just an American take on Jet Set Radio. Just as people always comment how box art for videogames in America always has to look "meaner" than how it does in other regions (to the point where they even make pink fluffball Kirby frown), Getting Up takes Jet Set Radio, and, for lack of a better term, "GTA-ifies" it with gratuitious violence, a hip-hop/rap soundtrack, and a grittier, more intense style. Every time I see any media on this game, it makes me nearly awe-struck to witness just how vastly different American Game Design and Japanese Game Design really is sometimes.

I can almost imagine it being the year 2000, and Marc Ecko, after hearing Jurassic-5 was doing some music for the American version of a game called "Jet Grind Radio", decides it's too "japanese" - like those cartoons he saw one Saturday Morning, and gets it in his head that he could do a better job.

I dunno. I've said this on other forums, but most of the time it falls on deaf ears or something. I figured TGQ here would be a good place to stir up an intelligent discussion on the matter (?).
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Webpage | DeviantArt | MP3

[Shapermc]

Honestly I just found out recently that this was going to play like JSR... which was the first thing that interested me. So I may look into the game now.

So are you specifically asking about the US and image or are you wanting to know about Getting Up specifically? Because, the US has always been shafted for game cover art. I see these kinds of comparisons and most of the time I never understood it.

I think that you are more asking about why does the US want Kirby to frown?

Well, I don't know. I think it has to do with the fact that I don't really understand a lot of the people in this country. I never really have. I am sure that Getting Up will sell more because it looks less Kiddy. But that is not the important thing, why do we want Kirby to Frown.

This is a very excellent question, I just don't have the answer. But this is truely a cultural thing, look at GTA sales in Japan. If you look at Issue 2 (?!) we have an article about Ratchet and Clank getting cartooned up even futher for importing to Japan.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[friedchicken]

I heard a story about this game on NPR the other day, and its failure to cite JSR as an earlier graffiti-inspired game actually caused my wife to write to NPR criticizing them for it.

See, I have to admit that I haven't seen Getting Up, so I won't comment very strongly about it. That said, it sounds like it's primarily about the tagging, while JSR is (in my opinion) primarily about motion, with tagging as a distant second. I'd like to write more on this subject, I'll just have to get my thoughts together.

But I know what you mean about GTA-ification of American-produced gaming. I'm convinced that it's marketing driven-- that American gamers want (or are perceived to want-- let's not forget that a shitload of Japanese games make it to the US nearly unaltered these days) the violence, bloodshed, and criminal behavior (none of which I'm against in principle) in their games, and that games without them will somehow be perceived as kids' stuff. But violence in games is nothing new-- it's just easier now for it to represent it in an extremely realistic manner. But we've been over that topic previously here.

Me, I sort of turn my nose up at a lot of American games of this sort not because they include violence, but because to me they're not the least bit stylishly executed. Let's face it, Killer 7 is very, very bloody, but it's so fucking smooth, with that slight (or not so slight) edge of weirdness. An American take on the same game would probably remove the weirdness in its entirety.

[Blazehedgehog]

Not really asking anything. Just stating, mainly. Most people either don't understand what I mean, ignore me, or think I'm nuts whenever I talk about this.

It's just fascinating, I guess. The stigma of what Americans consider "cool". With... violence and stuff. Compared to JSR, which is almost a completely non-violent game, save for the fact the cops shoot at you.
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[friedchicken]

Hey, I understand exactly what you mean. And I agree, but I also question whether or not this idea is just perception on our part. No, not that there aren't a lot 'cool' violent games like you're describing, but that it's 1) uniquely American and 2) that most Americans want that sort of game, exclusively. I think it's more of a question of the sheer amount of marketing that goes into violent games than that they really sell more or are more popular.

But even if there are, there are enough people out there who want Kirby games (regardless of the image on the packaging), or Super Princess Peach, or Trauma Center, that all of these games have made it over here (or are about to make it over here) entirely intact.

So then, is it a matter of perception?

[SuperWes]

[dhex]

i think i should turn that throwaway post on ic from a few days/weeks ago into an axiom:

north american developers make games for 15 year old boys who wish they were old enough to buy beer; japanese developers make games for 15 year old buys who make cardboard outfits for conventions.

(i was the 15 year old who wanted to be old enough to buy beer, and would have beaten up cosplayers had i the chance or any clue that they actually existed. hence my current tastes.)

and perhaps it is the rose colored glasses of yesteryear which convince me that when i was younger, pc games did make a nod to being somewhat more "mature" - in the winking at the audience sense, or the merciless difficulty inherited from tabletop rpg convention senses rather than the bang bang you're dead glitz of san andreas (which is a good game in its own right, and perhaps unfairly maligned in some ways.)

comparing ultima 5, for example, with any jrpg is an interesting contrast in design styles. whether that has implications for anything else and is just me confusing subjective taste for something more concrete i can't really say right now.
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[seryogin]

[GSL]

[DonMarco]

What about the tanks?
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Collector of over 1,538 strategy guides. That's weird, right?

[Mr. Mechanical]

Sup DonMarco I just posted at DPS for like the first time in ever.

I also plan on checking out Getting Up when I can find it for ten dollars or so.

[DonMarco]

I've played 20 minutes of the game today.

$10 is a little low. I'm thinking closer to $15-18.
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Collector of over 1,538 strategy guides. That's weird, right?

[SuperWes]

[ryan]

I agree that the turn towards violence is more geared towards the market. With the cost of developing a game being what it is, it's simply trying to check off as many bullet points as possible in ways to recoup and gain on the investment. Violence is pretty popular in every culture, so that's a pretty strong check to add. Even the frowning kirby can be seen with Sonic's attitude setting him apart as a mascot.

There are also a lot of games that sell very well that aren't violent - or not so in the traditional gun and sword sense. Casual games sell unbelievably well and most of those consist of more traditional puzzle elements. Violence for the sake of violence also doesn't always sell - compare something like 187 Ride or Die to Mario Kart Double Dash. Hell, just take 187 as-is and you'll find a giant thud. In terms of execution, you can take Twisted Metal Black and 187, both are violent (one being more macabre, but violent nonetheless) but the one that handles better, has more interesting characters, stories, and settings is the one that sold well.

I think beyond the 'cool' factor some companies may be looking for, violence and gore also offer easier ways to make an experience more intense withing necessarily making it so.
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Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

[DonMarco]

[Mr. Apol]

[friedchicken]

Well. I think bullets equal violence, rubber or no.

But JSR was the bright, beautifully colored, amazingly-soundtracked face of civil disobediance.

And what a HORRIBLE MISTAKE Getting Up has made by not allowing you to design your own tags.

Oh, sorry, I meant Marc Ecko's Getting Up.

As a strange aside, when I searched ebgames.com for this game, typing in 'getting up' returned no results. Only when I searched on 'ecko' did I get it. It made me laugh a little to think that the same would be true if I went to the store and tried to buy it! Ha!

[dessgeega]

"excuse me, do you have getting up?"
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