With that attitude I won’t buy FEZ on Steam. Don’t want to support such a ‘mega-lo-manic behavior’.

..Japanese games. And for a large part western games suffer from the same problems. But to react to someone’s not-unfounded opinion with name calling and petty ignorance of the games and art they have created is flat out childish, and I hope if I’m ever to release a game, not to have to deal with such idiocy.

The list of games you’ve quoted is irrelivent too, as the audiance member’s question was about “modern Japanese games.”

Wow. Everybody getting so bent out of shape over this guy’s opinion. You
know what I think is ironic?.. that you’re all so high and mighty while
making personal attacks on the man himself. What he said was not to be
rude, but to be honest.

And he’s not the first one to say such things about Japanese games:

In 2010 Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, then of Capcom, said the Japanese game industry was lagging five years behind the West.

“I look around Tokyo Games Show, and everyone’s making awful games,” Inafune said. “Japan is at least five years behind.”

And a year earlier, again at TGS, Inafune said: “Japan is dead.”

It doesn’t matter that he was speaking to a japanese person. I can’t believe someone can reduce a nation’s video game making prowess to dim-witted sports team rivalry. The fact is that Japan pumps out endless amounts of anime style, over sexed, battle-frenzied, over-emotional to the point of being completely ridiculous and void of thought, games. This is not my opinion, by any means of all

The creators are assholes. On that we agree.
I try not to support assholes with my money if I can help it.

seriously fuck off, never seen someone being disrepectful to a guest, especially someone who wants to know more about the west industry.

also love how this guy clamor’s that he’s game has been in the indie awards “twice” lol such arrogance from this asshole.

sorry for my words, i just don’t like people like this guy, if you wanna say something bad, just keep it to yourself.

The absurd, volatile, aggressive morality of gamers, though, I guess.

I felt quite the opposite. I believe the creators might be assholes but these are good games and I wanted to see more support for that instead of “Oh he hates the games we like? Screw him and his game.” I for one am looking forward to playing Fez since I don’t own an Xbox.

Phil Fish is a douche bag and should not be encouraged with our dollars.

May he go broke and out of business and learn some humility by pushing a mop for a real game developer like Kojima who makes brilliant games while also displaying a little humility.

This guy, Kotick, the hack job who made braid and Cliffy B are the biggest douche bags in the industry.
At least Kotex and Cliffy B waited til they made it out of their garage before talking out of there ass.

Lucky for us we wont be hearing from ol’Clifford for awhile.
I guess the stress of making more dude bro games became too much for the ignorant man child.

Back to Fish.
Go F*** yourself Fishy. Only reason I’ll download your demo will be so I can promptly delete it without ever playing it.

I agree with you. I’m really not a fan of his attitude, and think what he said to Mr. Goto was very rude.

What’s funny lies in the game itself. Fez actually takes quite a bit from Zelda. If you watch some of the gameplay on youtube, it’s quite obvious. He was heavily influenced by… you guessed it, Japanese video games.

For someone that put quite a bit of Japanese like gameplay in his game, all of this is sorta ironic.

What an asshole…
He apologized, but still.

I forgot Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World as part of the list.

FFI-FFX
XenoGears
Kingdom Hearts
Super Mario Bros.
Chrono Trigger
Secret of Mana
Zelda Link to the Past & Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda I & II
Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3 & Knuckles
Terranigma
and more.

For those who want to know all the details, kotaku published two articles that cover all the details.

http://kotaku.com/5891178/when-you-say-japanese-games-just-suck

This is from the article –

During a recent Q&A session after documentary Indie Game: The Movie, which features Fish and his game Fez, a Japanese game developer noted that so many indie game seemed inspired by old Japanese games and asked what Fish (and the other panel members) for an opinion on the country’s modern games.

According to website Develop, Fish replied, “Your games just suck”. Here’s Develop’s description how that was receieved (please read the whole article for context):

Others looked on awkwardly as the Japanese developer was then subjected to a string criticisms about game design flaws in his native country. The developer nevertheless thanked the panel for their response and returned to his seat.

I contacted Fish about the comment. “My delivery could have been more tactful,” Fish replied via email, “but I do think most modern Japanese games are god-damn awful.” Fish was clear that he does not hate all Japanese games, but did add that he felt as though many Japanese games are stuck in the past.

This article goes into detail about the Japanese game designer he (Fish) said “it” to – Makoto Goto.

http://kotaku.com/5891833/japanese-games-just-suck-target-speaks-out

From the article –

Goto didn’t know what Fish meant by “suck”. It’s slang and not taught in schools or textbooks. Rather, he gathered what it meant by the reaction it caused and the way the mood in the room changed. He, as they say in Japanese, “read the air”. Goto was taken aback.

With everyone looking at him, Goto said, “I broke out into an uncomfortable sweat.” That night, Goto couldn’t sleep, turning over the question over and over again in his mind. Goto seemed worried that he didn’t understand.

Fish’s comment, as previously detailed on Kotaku, blew up. Japanese forums and blogs were buzzing with the young game designer’s remarks. Many Japanese gamers were understandably angered. Yet Goto, the person at the center of this hurricane, showed himself to be levelheaded.

Phil Fish is no jerk—outspoken and brash, maybe, but he’s not a bad guy. While he probably doesn’t regret the sentiment, he did tell Kotaku that he could’ve used more tact. Earlier today, Fish contacted Goto via Twitter, writing, “I’m very sorry I was so rude to you in my answer. I hope the rest of your GDC was more enjoyable.”

Goto replied, “Thank you. I am OK. I had a great experience when I attend GDC at the first time for me.” He then added in a separate tweet, “I forgot to mention this… I hope you enjoy your rest of GDC, too.”

I think it was Pixel, and he didn’t praise Fez.

Not sure when, but some Japanese dev praised Fez to which Fish replied “Sorry, but Japanese games just suck.”