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gaming Non-American developers, American games?


Steel Accord

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So for those of you who know me, you'll know I'm a bit of a flag waver at heart but I also like to think I'm worldly enough precisely because of my patriotism. That's neither here nor there though but the culture and fiction of these great United States is key to this question I have. There have been a number of video games released in the past couple years by non-American developers who set their games within the United States and with American protagonists.

 

-Alan Wake

 

-Life is Strange

 

-Heavy Rain

 

-Beyond: Two Souls

 

-The upcoming Detroit: Become Human

 

Interestingly, these tend to be more relatively grounded as far as video games go, concerning the lives and interactions of otherwise ordinary people caught in extreme or fantastical circumstance. The two companies that predominantly come to mind in this regard are Quantic Dream and Remedy, who are French and Finnish respectively. Of course this goes further back than that but the primary perpetrator of this used to be Japan, with Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and such. Although those could hardly qualify as close approximation's of U.S. culture. Then again, R.E.'s scale went global and the remake seems to be taking cues from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance.

 

That's part of the thing though, of the games I listed these aren't just backdrops, they're almost cultural tributes at least some of them are. Alan Wake is mired in a Twin Peaks eeriness with an accurate depiction of small town Americana.

 

This is, by no means, a bad thing but it does kind of perplex me. Quantic Dream has yet to make a game set in France and pretty much ALL of Remedy's games are set in and mostly ABOUT U.S. locales. (Although I'm not sure where Death Rally takes place.) I guess the ultimate question is, why is this?

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One of the most famous studios to design their games almost exclusively around American culture would of course be Scottish developer Rockstar North. The Grand Theft Auto series, while often taking a somewhat critical and deconstructed look towards it, has still become so embedded around the American way of life that both Dan and Sam Houser have expressed how they can't ever see themselves taking it elsewhere, lest they lose a core factor in what makes the games so appealing and successful.

 

Ditto for Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire. The latter game I particularly enjoyed as a setting of post-WWII 1950's America (I've always loved 40's-50's culture in media) and the societal effects present as a result of the encroaching "Red Scare", but also showing how rapidly the nation was advancing forward post-war as the worlds most predominant superpower.

 

 

 

the primary perpetrator of this used to be Japan, with Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and such. Although those could hardly qualify as close approximation's of U.S. culture.

 

Maybe not, but I think it's still telling how a lot of these Japanese developed games (Metal Gear especially) choose to set their stories in America largely to make use of their ideologies as a backdrop. The Japanese are a people very proud of their own culture and contributions to the world at large, yet it seems many of them find American culture far more interesting to work with. Sure, you could argue that it's also because the U.S. is an enormous market and they want to appeal to it, but when a writer and designer with the prestige of Hideo Kojima creates an epic tale that more or less shows America (and, in a twisted form, its ideals) as a nation capable of controlling the direction of the human race, it can give you pause for thought at the scale of its influence.

 

So really, regardless of personal views on them, it's hard to deny that America is just an interesting place. It's ideals and culture just seem to create a far more compelling backdrop than anywhere else, and possibly also the rich diversity found across its many states also plays a key factor. Add on top of that some of the worlds most famous and well known landmarks, and you've basically got yourself one big interesting sandbox to pick and choose from. My guess is its just that; America offers people a little bit of everything.

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They're simply appealing to the largest market.  As probably the largest consumer of video games the US is a key market for video game developers, not only this but due to the prevalence of US made films and television series across the Western world, non-American audiences can relate to US cultural tropes more readily than a US audience would relate to non-American culture.

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(edited)
So really, regardless of personal views on them, it's hard to deny that America is just an interesting place. It's ideals and culture just seem to create a far more compelling backdrop than anywhere else, and possibly also the rich diversity found across its many states also plays a key factor. Add on top of that some of the worlds most famous and well known landmarks, and you've basically got yourself one big interesting sandbox to pick and choose from. My guess is its just that; America offers people a little bit of everything.

 

I guess I never really thought of it that way. I mean I love my country and deeply so but I identify as American beyond merely being a citizen. I would think other people would feel the same of their own nations, holding their history and ideologies as core of their identities and wish to express them in their art.

 

I should make it clear, I'm not offended by any of this it just strikes me as odd that people don't show equal fascination with their own countries. I'd play a game set in the underworld of Paris or the streets of Glasgow. Hell one of my favorite games was the Saboteur and that had characters representing the powers of World War II except the U.S. and Japan.

Edited by Steel Accord
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Yeah, I don't know why most AAA titles are reluctant to experiment with different locales more often. Even on the off-chance they do use a non-American location, it's usually either: A} An almost completely barren location in some obscure (or outright fictional) war torn African/Middle East type nation, or B} Paris, which is like the one European city developers will actually use, probably on account of it being one of the most recognizable. Why London is so often overlooked despite it being arguably the most historically famous city in the world is beyond me.

 

I'm not sure if you ever played the Broken Sword series, but I always loved that in particular for its wonderful depiction of multiple countries across the world that the protagonist travels to on his journey. There are some slightly obvious stereotypes present, like when you travel to Ireland, of course the main location you visit is a frickin' pub with Fiddle music playing to many drinking patrons, and pints of Guinness on tap! However, it also has you visiting an old castle ruin that is a surprisingly faithful homage to the many real life castle ruins found around Ireland's landscape, and acknowledges that many of these existed as far back as Viking times. It's just nice to see a game even briefly focus on what this country was like back in ancient times, and how many of these heritage sites are still in existence today and can be visited.

 

It's almost like a little educational clip for tourism. :-P

 

I do wish more games would take the time to actually make use of their locales and show that they are more than just pretty or interesting scenery.

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Why London is so often overlooked despite it being arguably the most historically famous city in the world is beyond me.

 

I can name plenty of games that feature it.

 

Wolfenstein: the New Order - occupied by the Nazis

 

Mass Effect 3 - leveled by the Reapers

 

Assassin's Creed Syndicate - under Templar control

 

Ninja Gaiden 3 - Ransacked by terrorists

 

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 - Also ransacked by terrorists.

 

. . . . . . I'm sensing a bit of a pattern here.

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I can name plenty of games that feature it.

 

Add BF1 to that, you stop a German bombing raid over London XD

 

 

And on a different note, DICE also has a lot of games featuring the US military as main characters, and they are a Swedish developer if I remember.

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There was also Grand Theft Auto London, although granted it wasn't a full game as such, but rather an expansion for the original GTA.

 

That. and one could hardly call the top-down sprite view of the original GTA an "accurate" depiction. Probably the only thing that let you knew you were there was the cops going "You're nicked!!" :P

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