https://automaton-media.com/en/column/ AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo. Fri, 06 Mar 2026 09:53:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://automaton-media.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cropped-automaton-sitelogo-120x120-1-32x32.png https://automaton-media.com/en/column/ 32 32 https://automaton-media.com/en/column/when-a-three-month-project-turns-into-four-years-looking-back-on-japanese-indie-developers-struggles-to-estimate-development-time/ https://automaton-media.com/en/column/when-a-three-month-project-turns-into-four-years-looking-back-on-japanese-indie-developers-struggles-to-estimate-development-time/#respond Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=62096 AUTOMATON WEST's Weekly Throwback. ]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/column/when-a-three-month-project-turns-into-four-years-looking-back-on-japanese-indie-developers-struggles-to-estimate-development-time/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/news/death-stranding-gameplay-tips-by-hideo-kojima-himself-a-paralell-universe-where-final-fantasy-7-remakes-tifa-has-long-hair-looking-back-on-what-we-were-doing-on-twitter-in-2021/ https://automaton-media.com/en/news/death-stranding-gameplay-tips-by-hideo-kojima-himself-a-paralell-universe-where-final-fantasy-7-remakes-tifa-has-long-hair-looking-back-on-what-we-were-doing-on-twitter-in-2021/#respond Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=58877 AUTOMATON WEST's Weekly Throwback.]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/news/death-stranding-gameplay-tips-by-hideo-kojima-himself-a-paralell-universe-where-final-fantasy-7-remakes-tifa-has-long-hair-looking-back-on-what-we-were-doing-on-twitter-in-2021/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/news/remember-the-pokemon-sapphire-playthrough-which-was-entirely-beaten-by-actual-fish-looking-back-at-some-of-our-weirdest-stories-from-2020/ https://automaton-media.com/en/news/remember-the-pokemon-sapphire-playthrough-which-was-entirely-beaten-by-actual-fish-looking-back-at-some-of-our-weirdest-stories-from-2020/#respond Sun, 15 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=56743 AUTOMATON WEST's Weekly Throwback.]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/news/remember-the-pokemon-sapphire-playthrough-which-was-entirely-beaten-by-actual-fish-looking-back-at-some-of-our-weirdest-stories-from-2020/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/column/a-western-perspective-on-mecha-games-gundam-one-year-war-maybe-the-best-gundam-game-ever-made/ https://automaton-media.com/en/column/a-western-perspective-on-mecha-games-gundam-one-year-war-maybe-the-best-gundam-game-ever-made/#respond Fri, 13 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=56647 A column on Namco's Gundam: One Year War by Ollie Barder.]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/column/a-western-perspective-on-mecha-games-gundam-one-year-war-maybe-the-best-gundam-game-ever-made/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/reviews/a-western-perspective-on-mecha-games-armored-core-3-a-brilliant-game-that-renewed-my-faith-in-the-series/ https://automaton-media.com/en/reviews/a-western-perspective-on-mecha-games-armored-core-3-a-brilliant-game-that-renewed-my-faith-in-the-series/#respond Thu, 22 Jan 2026 03:30:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=55968 A column on Armored Core 3 by Ollie Barder. ]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/reviews/a-western-perspective-on-mecha-games-armored-core-3-a-brilliant-game-that-renewed-my-faith-in-the-series/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/column/minoru-arakawa-the-man-who-never-became-ceo-of-nintendo-part-1-the-humble-beginnings-of-noa-the-creation-of-mario-and-a-legendary-lawsuit/ https://automaton-media.com/en/column/minoru-arakawa-the-man-who-never-became-ceo-of-nintendo-part-1-the-humble-beginnings-of-noa-the-creation-of-mario-and-a-legendary-lawsuit/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=55234 A deep dive into the life of Minoru Arakawa, the man who created Nintendo of America, by Syosin Kai, a researcher of the history of Japan’s game industry (Part 1).]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/column/minoru-arakawa-the-man-who-never-became-ceo-of-nintendo-part-1-the-humble-beginnings-of-noa-the-creation-of-mario-and-a-legendary-lawsuit/feed/ 1 https://automaton-media.com/en/news/from-atelier-ryzas-thick-thighs-being-a-product-of-the-japanese-economic-recession-to-fgo-causing-a-boom-in-demand-for-european-13th-century-classics-automaton-wests-top-5-most-bizarre-moments-o/ https://automaton-media.com/en/news/from-atelier-ryzas-thick-thighs-being-a-product-of-the-japanese-economic-recession-to-fgo-causing-a-boom-in-demand-for-european-13th-century-classics-automaton-wests-top-5-most-bizarre-moments-o/#respond Wed, 31 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=55482 A round-up of the top 5 weirdest, most random and downright bizarre topics Automaton West covered in the year 2025.]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/news/from-atelier-ryzas-thick-thighs-being-a-product-of-the-japanese-economic-recession-to-fgo-causing-a-boom-in-demand-for-european-13th-century-classics-automaton-wests-top-5-most-bizarre-moments-o/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/news/more-than-70-of-gacha-and-live-service-games-in-japan-get-discontinued-before-their-third-year-gacha-game-researcher-finds/ https://automaton-media.com/en/news/more-than-70-of-gacha-and-live-service-games-in-japan-get-discontinued-before-their-third-year-gacha-game-researcher-finds/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=53998 According a database recording almost 2,200 different live-service games, more than 70% of titles ended services before their third year. ]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/news/more-than-70-of-gacha-and-live-service-games-in-japan-get-discontinued-before-their-third-year-gacha-game-researcher-finds/feed/ 1 https://automaton-media.com/en/news/are-japanese-steam-users-really-that-stingy-with-positive-reviews-we-asked-5000-of-our-readers-and-the-answer-is-yes-kind-of/ https://automaton-media.com/en/news/are-japanese-steam-users-really-that-stingy-with-positive-reviews-we-asked-5000-of-our-readers-and-the-answer-is-yes-kind-of/#respond Wed, 15 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=53010 We recently asked around 5,000 of our Japanese readers about how often they left reviews on games they enjoyed, and why (or perhaps, why not).]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/news/are-japanese-steam-users-really-that-stingy-with-positive-reviews-we-asked-5000-of-our-readers-and-the-answer-is-yes-kind-of/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/column/we-asked-over-10000-of-our-japanese-readers-to-name-their-no-1-gaming-platform-but-they-were-too-biased-to-pc-gaming-for-a-fair-match/ https://automaton-media.com/en/column/we-asked-over-10000-of-our-japanese-readers-to-name-their-no-1-gaming-platform-but-they-were-too-biased-to-pc-gaming-for-a-fair-match/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=52005 PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch or mobile? We asked more than 10,000 Japanese gamers about their preferred gaming platform. ]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/column/we-asked-over-10000-of-our-japanese-readers-to-name-their-no-1-gaming-platform-but-they-were-too-biased-to-pc-gaming-for-a-fair-match/feed/ 2 https://automaton-media.com/en/column/not-so-obvious-things-that-make-games-fun-vol-1-breath-of-the-wild-and-dragon-quest-is-masterful-use-of-gating/ https://automaton-media.com/en/column/not-so-obvious-things-that-make-games-fun-vol-1-breath-of-the-wild-and-dragon-quest-is-masterful-use-of-gating/#respond Tue, 12 Aug 2025 13:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=50929 A look at the role of "gating" in game design, through the examples of Dragon Quest, Zelda and Dark Souls.]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/column/not-so-obvious-things-that-make-games-fun-vol-1-breath-of-the-wild-and-dragon-quest-is-masterful-use-of-gating/feed/ 0 https://automaton-media.com/en/news/japanese-fps-dev-shares-theory-on-why-aaa-developers-in-japan-fail-at-making-fps-games-they-all-try-to-copy-cod-and-set-themselves-up-for-failure/ https://automaton-media.com/en/news/japanese-fps-dev-shares-theory-on-why-aaa-developers-in-japan-fail-at-making-fps-games-they-all-try-to-copy-cod-and-set-themselves-up-for-failure/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000 https://automaton-media.com/en/?p=49831 Developer of indie FPS game Beyond Citadel shares their theory on why the Japanese game industry never made a successful FPS. ]]> https://automaton-media.com/en/news/japanese-fps-dev-shares-theory-on-why-aaa-developers-in-japan-fail-at-making-fps-games-they-all-try-to-copy-cod-and-set-themselves-up-for-failure/feed/ 6