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We here at Pixelnauts don't exactly have the funding necessary to send a team of editors out gallivanting across the Pacific to cover the Tokyo Game Show. As such, we have to make due with getting our news from the same sources that you do: giant gaming news sites.

So after a week of perusing these various gaming hovels in search for an enticing nugget of info, I finally made an interesting discovery (or should I say, non-discovery): there were no interesting nuggets that came out of Tokyo this year at all.

The Tokyo Game Show has been the barometer by which the thriving Japanese gaming culture is measured, as well as the venue from which some of gaming's more memorable and significant announcements have been made, yet TGS 2009 seemed like a shadow of its former self.

So now that the dust has settled, everyone seems to be asking if this poor showing is indicative of the current weakened state of the Japanese gaming industry in general. The father of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune seems to think it is.

In perhaps the most newsworthy piece of information to come out of the week, Inafune stated at a hands-on event for his upcoming Canadian developed Dead Rising 2 that he thinks Japan developed titles are already irrelevant. "Personally when I [look] around at all the different games at the TGS floor, I say 'Man, Japan is over. We're done. Our game industry is finished.'"

The sentiment seems to be gaining a lot of traction lately among gamers, developers, and publishers alike. Major Japanese publishers like Capcom, Square-Enix, and Konami have all recently expressed a need to shift to a more western focus -- a strategy apparent in a lot of their recent moves: Square-Enix's purchase of Eidos, Capcom teaming up with Valve Corporation to release their content through Steam etc.

It's a far cry from the country that genuinely made gaming everything it is today. But dropping attendance figures as well as a lower publisher presence at TGS this year reveals that Japan is now struggling to find its place within an industry that is increasingly moving westward.

Perhaps the most significant response to this transition of power so to speak, has been the movement to develop games that appeal specifically to western audiences. At this, Capcom has led the charge with titles like Dead Rising and Bionic Commando. Konami's star player, Hideo Kojima, too has expressed a need to abandon the methods and development standards that Japanese games have been based upon and make games that work in western regions.

The problem is that developing games that the Japanese think American and European audiences want to play is not the answer that Japan is looking for right now. In fact, I believe that doing so will only serve to hasten their diminishing influence and presence within the global gaming community.

By abonding their roots to focus on making games that, they believe, will appeal to a wider audience, the Japanese will effectively over-saturate one or two genres while neglecting countless others -- thus increasing the risk and potential for closure -- something that is unfortunately quite common of late. American audiences don't need (and the market can't sustain) any more FPS clones or 'lone warrior' style action games prevalent among many western devs. Yet if Japan continues to insist on allocating resources to develop these types of titles, they'll end up losing the unique identity that made Japanese games the ultimate standard of what video games could be in the first place -- not to mention the money and market share.

Catering to a western audience by developing games like those that western devs make can't be the solution. Japanese companies will simply fail if they try to compete with Infinity Ward, Bungie, Naughty Dog, or Ubisoft Montreal on their own ground. Moreover, Japanese developers already have the ability to make games that sell like hot cakes in the States, just look at Nintendo. And indeed the largest showing at TGS this year was, unsurprisingly for Square-Enix's inevitable mega-hit, Final Fantasy XIII. And it was recently reported that Square-Enix CEO Yoichi Wada predicts that sales of the title will exceed 6 million units.

Rather than balking at the prospect of a changing gaming market and proclaiming the death of the Japanese games industry, the Japanese need to slow down and focus on what they do well. They need to find more interesting and dynamic ways to implement their strengths into their games. Mechanics involving things like tactical action, art design, interface, etc. rather than try to compete directly with titles that come from the west by abandoning that which makes a Japanese game, Japanese. Instead, they should look to the things that Western devs do well and incorporate them into Japanese games. Things like action, story telling, pacing etc.

What we are witnessing in comments like those made by Inafune is an initial backlash against the changing global gaming market. Once known for its untouchable game development talent, Japan now finds themselves only a small part of an industry that continues to burgeon every year. It is simply that now, market share is beginning to be reflected more accurately based on Japan's population.

It's easy to look at the whimper that was TGS 2009 and proclaim the death of the Japanese development community. And while it's true that Japan may be going through a transitional period, we should look at our own major gaming expo, E3, and the tumult that has been surrounding it as late before we make any broad statements. If E3 has taught us anything, it's that death is a very strong word to toss around.