Why Is Japan So Behind?S  Once upon a time, Japanese games
eclipsed Western ones. They looked better, were more fun and
were just better. Those days have passed.  At last year's Tokyo
Game Show, Mega-Man designer Keiji Inafune said that the
Japanese game industry was "finished". Inafune, it seems, was
speaking in hyperbole. The Japan industry is not finished — case
in point, Nintendo. That's a Japanese game company that has been
doing extremely well.  The rest of the Japanese industry,
however, has been hit pretty hard. The Western market has
exploded, and Western game development has truly come into its
own.  2ch, the largest bulletin board in the world, had a thread
on this exact issue on why Japan is so behind the curve on game
development. The thread is of interest as it provides a look at
what those in Japan think about the issue. Game translator and
Yokai Attack! author Matt Alt translated the replies:  -Japanese
game developers are born and raised and live in Japan. With
games, with art, with otaku cul