And everything is scrubbed astonishingly clean so that every visitor can view the park as intended. Every costume design is painstakingly reproduced. Every last stairwell and streetlamp serves a purpose and has meaning. Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine typed up screenplays in Hollywood back in the early ’90s before he ever shipped his first title, so he understands the paramount importance of building an enthralling world, painting a believable picture, and providing the player with the tools to immerse themselves in his creations as much as technology allows. His 2007 undersea opus, BioShock, was the thinking person’s action game, bringing thoughtful contemplation to the too-often-brainless genre of the first-person shooter.ĭisney appeals to that same sensibility in fans around the world, but particularly in Japan Tokyo Disneyland is the most-visited theme park outside of the United States for a reason. What do a crooning French candelabra and a steel-drummin’ Trinidadian crustacean have to do with a Massachusetts-based game developer helmed by a Vassar-educated drama major? A supreme, almost fanatical attention to detail, for one.
In Japan, one American brand reigns supreme over all others, however. Harland Sanders, of all people, among them-most have failed to properly consider the specific tastes endemic to the archipelago’s culture. While a few high-profile exceptions succeeded-folksy Kentuckian restaurateur Col. For the last four decades, countless American corporations have tried and failed to break into the lucrative but famously fickle Japanese market.