Cultural Differences and Video Games

I was reading this article over at Siliconera, and there were a few sentences that stood out to me and made me think about the cultural differences between Eastern and Western gamers.

"I tend to think population density and wireless play are elements of its popularity. I have seen many people play some iteration of Monster Hunter Portable on subways while clustering between cars. You have to do something to kill time while riding public transportation. Why not hunt monsters with your friends?

Outside of metropolitan areas many people in North America drive and I doubt Capcom is going to flagship a drive-n-dragon-slay campaign. How can Capcom replicate the success of the Monster Hunter Portable series when part of the reason is due to lifestyle differences? Capcom USA has a challenge if they really plan to make the series explode outside of Asia." (Bold is mine.)

I actually often think about the differences between Japanese and American gamers when I think about what many Japanese developers are doing with portable gaming. You don't see a PSP or a DS (ok, well, maybe a DS if you're in a metro area) on every street corner here like you do across the Pacific. I picked up the PSP remake of Final Fantasy Tactics, which included a couple new job classes that your characters could be, and was dismayed to find out that the only way to get the gear for those classes was through head-to-head game play against other people. With no true online play, this means you have to know someone who has a PSP, and the game, and wants to do what you want to do.

Portable gaming is hot in Japan, but really, when you think about it (and regardless of the amount of DS systems sold), its not so hot over here in North America. Many of the online elements in PSP and DS titles that require you to actually know someone else with the system go largely unused over here. I haven't been able to play with anyone in any PSP game because I only know one other person in my vicinity with a PSP and I'm pretty sure he doesn't like the games I like to play.

Are people more personable in Japan? Would they rather have face-to-face interaction with someone - most likely a friend - to play games with instead of the anonymous online play that is so popular in America these days?

Another reason for the lack of ability to use these wireless features is because the infrastructure is different in many Western countries, as opposed to Eastern nations like Japan. How many of you, outside of metropolitan areas, use public transportation to get to and from work every day? Probably not many, we all drive. That cuts down on any possible portable gaming time. To be quite frank, most of my "portable" gaming is done in the comfort of my own home.

Perhaps, because of these cultural differences, we should see a change in the way games are localized. Until face-to-face gaming becomes as prevalent in North America as it is in Japan, maybe developers could "localize" content - in addition to dialog - for North American releases. What if you didn't have to play head-to-head with someone else to get the gear for the new classes in the North American PSP version of Tactics? It would then be much more appealing to those who may not have the luxury of knowing someone else with the same intentions.