Which Country Has Been More Important To The History Of Games: America Or Japan?

The UK.

Agreed!

well japan pretty much brought gaming to existence and had it in its shoulders for more than a decade, but this is an international forum with a lot of users from US so i'm going to bet 'murica is going to win.

Definately The UNITED KINGDOM !

Uh actually gaming started in the US. Nintendo revived it. Sega was started by an American by the way. The biggest console manufacturers were Nintendo and Sega for a bit. Then we got Sony and MS.

Japan.

Because when Gaming Died in the West it was actually booming in Japan.

Both of these regions are pretty equal in terms of influence and importance. Off the top of my head, SEGA and Nintendo basically created the current console gaming market and shaped countless genres into existence. Video RPGs wouldn't exist without D&D which spawned Ultima and Wizardry, two series that created the RPG genre as a whole, id Software are responsible for shaping up the first person shooter genre.

I guess the choice is solely going to depend with what region you've had the most exposure, and how knowledgeable you are with each region's achievements in the gaming industry. Overall, i think they're both around equal, considering console and PC gaming.

i agree with Krelian-co Japan brought gaming to life, Even though im an xbox fanboy and i love halo (both american) Japan also made METAL GEAR SOLID!!! So im guessing Japan overwheighs Murica

Until the PS2 generation - Japan

Starting last gen - America/EU

The UK.

Why? What would put them on top of Japan and the US in terms of gaming importance?

They have the best taste in games.

Awesome

All they do is buy Fifa and COD week in week out.

The only time i'll accredit them is Ni No Kuni positive sale there,and solid Ratchet sales (the classics atleast)

no shit lol

Link

ITT brits feeling left out and insecure

how cute.

Japan had the larger influence for decades. That is not to discredit the Western influence of earlier times but Japan preety much made gaming what it is today

Both really. What amazes me is how behind Europe is in this industry. Yeah sure there are some studios but you can count them with one hand.

Murica as the Atari 2600 was the first successful game console that brought games to your home .

Murica also started the Arcade business and was already successful before Taito not only imported them but made their first game (space invaders ).

The UK

Zimbabwe and Saudi arabia! Have you guys seen Unearthed? The game is crazy good.

<----American that voted Japan because he is not a clueless idiot that doesn't know his gaming history.

The weeaboos hacked this poll.

Bangladesh is a growing market

Japan without question. they brought gaming back from the dead in the 80's and is the reason many of us are gamers today

Japan wasn't even responsible for the creation of console gaming, let alone computer gaming in general. Even if there was no XBOX, people would still be playing games by American companies, and using CPUs, GPUs, and chipsets from American designers and manufacturers. Some stuff would be assembled (or even designed) in Taiwan, but that is not Japan.

So yea, 'murica is going to win. And I'm not even an American.

Enter the British

1982 - The ZX Spectrum, a colour home computer developed by Clive Sinclair causes a sensation in the UK, similar to the effect the Commodore 64 had in the US. Some credit it as the machine which started the UK computer industry. Rivals such as the BBC Microcomputer and the Amstrad CPC would quickly follow. British classics like Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, The Dizzy series and David Braben’s inflential Elite delight gamers.

1986 - Codemasters, one of the oldest surviving British game studios, is founded in this year. Richard and David Darling’s company enjoy early success with the Dizzy series on the Spectrum. They would become famous for driving simulations.

1987 - Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar found Bullfrog Productions. Molyneux creates Populous, the first god game for the PC, an early indication of his ambition.

1992 - One of the most significant games in video game history is released. Sensible Soccer was the only British title to make it onto a global list of the most important video games of all time - alongside the likes of Tetris and Super Marios Bros. Designed and programmed by Chris Yates and Jon Hare for the Amiga, the game was beloved by many.

1997 - The top-down 2D, violent free-roaming world of Grand Theft Auto is unleashed on the world. The entire series would go on to sell over 114 million copies. The creators of GTA, DMA Design, would be acquired by Rockstar – one of the most famous names in video gaming.

What about the Vic 20, C64, Amiga, BBC, Amstrad, Spectrum, Apple, PC? Just because you've been force fed the whole "Nintendo saved gaming" nonsense doesn't mean its true.

Japan before, now it's all about Canada.

Rockstar North, Crytek, DICE, Rocksteady, Ninja Theory, Creative Assembly, Guerilla Games, Avalanche Studios, Remedy. Just to name a few of the most famous ones.

Japan! No Contest!

And to add to that:

Evolution Studios, Codemasters, Team 17, Bizarre Creations (RIP), Double Eleven, Lionhead, RARE

Agreed, the UK

I assume you're familiar with Grand Theft Auto? You're welcome.

Zing!

and Kaf-whackl Bogey down!

@Sushiglutton: As a fellow Canadian, I could only name Bioware as the most significant indigenous developers in Canada. Ubisoft Montreal and Rockstar Toronto are offshoots that frankly, part of international corporations.

That said, it's easily Japan, both in the past and in the present (Nintendo alone ensures that).

IS that even a question ? Japan hands down.

Japan I guess if you like playing games which support the disgusting image of sexualised pre-pubescent girls.

And where would the UK be if the Commodore 64 and NES in NA and Japan never took off?

Japan gets my vote, especially with the likes of Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, and Square. There are many more, but those are the ones that stand out to me.

I never claimed that the UK should hold top honours when it comes to most important or influential. I just like to see credit given when it's due.

I think it's just that people think *Nintendo saved gaming!*

When it was actually only *Nintendo saved US gaming!*

Well both countries have been major in the legacy of videogames. If we look from a software point of view it's not really close as the windows platform with directx, to Linux, to Dos. From the 70's to now USA has always had a software edge now with Android, C++, java, DirectX, etc. Then there is the hardware where it's another easy win for USA, for as much as Japan is touted as super advanced they come nowhere near in the microprocessing development. Inventions like the vacuum tube then on to the breakthrough transistor America has always had the edge. Companies like Intel, AMD, Nvidia, IBM, Qualcomm, sun systems, Texas instruments, these are all us companies and just look under the hood of any new gen system and you find it's all AMD.

Without Japan gaming wouldn't have took off like it did on consoles

The video game crash happened only in North America as the rest of the world actually managed to learn how to use a home computer after the 2600 area give or take a couple of hundred thousand Murican C64 users with a brain .

Atari, Spectrum, BBC , Acorn and MSX to name a few where all pretty complicated for the average US consumer, this was the time UK indie devs flourished .