In September, a quarter of a million people journeyed through Japan’s punishing late-summer heat to the cavernous expanse of the Makuhari Messe convention centre in the industrial hinterlands west of Tokyo. They came for the 27th Tokyo Game Show, which was back in full ostentatious form this year after a pandemic hiatus and a timorous return in 2022. Most came hoping for the chance to play one of the hundreds of as-yet-unreleased video games on display within the show’s 11 hangars. Others hoped to broker deals to have their video…
Tag: Games
Chinese video games are on the rise, but I wish they got more respect
One of the most popular video games in the world today is Chinese. Not that everyone would be aware of the fact, or would care, but that game is Genshin Impact and it was created by Shanghai-based miHoYo. Its style and characters are greatly influenced by anime, and many players might have thought Genshin was Japanese-developed; it is telling that miHoYo is inspired by that country’s culture. Despite being the world’s biggest video games market, China still remains relatively minor as an international cultural force in games. Video games are…
World of Warcraft to go offline in China, leaving millions of gamers bereft
Millions of Chinese players of the roleplaying epic World of Warcraft (WoW) will bid a sad farewell to the land of Azeroth, with the game set to go offline after a dispute between the US developer Blizzard and its local partner NetEase. Massively popular worldwide, particularly in the 2000s, WoW is an online multiplayer role-playing game set in a fantasy medieval world. Known for being immersive and addictive, players can rack up hundreds of hours of game time. Blizzard’s games have been available in China since 2008, through collaboration with…
New Limits Give Chinese E-Gamers Whiplash
Many in China’s gaming industry agree that games have some downsides. The most popular games in the country are made for smartphones and are free to play, meaning the businesses making them live and die based on how well they draw users in and get them to pay for extras. The game makers have become experts at hooking players. But top-down attempts to wean children off games — what state media has called “poison” and “spiritual pollution” — have sometimes been worse than the problem itself. Boot camps fond of…