Spaces in Japanese game text?

[phreadom]

So furrykef and I were talking, and the topic of spaces in Japanese game text came up.

Does anyone know why the spaces are used? Is it just to make it easier to read given a lack of kanji? It's the only place I can think of seeing regular use of spaces in Japanese text.

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[furrykef]

In all-kana text it's normal, 'cause it does make the text much easier to parse. It's when it's used with kanji that it seems unusual...

[micahcowan]

If you get the opportunity to browse through a Japanese bookstore (there's a Kinokuniya in San Jose, for me), skim through the children's books for other examples.

[furrykef]

Yeah, that's what I thought...

BTW, when I did "Moero!! Junior Basket" ("Hoops" in the U.S.) for lltvg.com, I found it probably had the most vile text of any game I've played. The language is fairly straightforward, but it's all katakana (no hiragana... I find all-katakana harder to read than all-hiragana) and NO SPACES. Argh.