Xbox 360 And Japanese Nationalism

[Mulboyne]

[Buraku]

maybe not racism but something about pride

...like the way French always say French wine is the best and mostly support local goods in France

Nippon knows that Xbox could be as good as or better than any Sony playstation, but they'll never admit it

the big problem with Xbox is that it looks to much like a big American product, it needs to be dinky like a old Japanese gameboy or slim like the playstation

[CheapyD]

I agree with the article.
If the 360 had must-play games that the Japanese were interested in, they'd buy it, no matter what country it came from.

[Buraku]

Why Xbox 360's Not Playing Well in Japan
...it's big and heavy," says Ichiro Ookawa

That's exactly part of the problem
we must consider that most Japanese live in what the West would describe as dog-kennels...forget the tiny houses in Nippon there an't even enough room on the streets for these giant Xbox machines



the 50ft gajin females laugh at japanese weaklings




Also the gaming culture is very different, Americans or Europeans play different gaming shit like some Stealth bomber game, Doom, Laura Croft stuff, Duke Nukem, Space invaders, Half-Life series, GTA, some Trekkie games, Hitlers tanks and their invasion of Europe...these types of games don't sell in Japan

While Kingdom Hearts, Ninja Gaiden, Pokemon games, Yu-gioh, Hentai-porno games, Finalfantasy-30 are the bigger sellers in Japan

[Mulboyne]

Virgin: Xbox 360 suffers in Japan

Microsoft's Xbox 360 is seriously struggling in Japan after disastrous sales last week. The next-generation console, which is proving popular in Europe and North America, only managed to sell 1,169 units between June 19 and June 25, according to the latest sales figures. In the same period, more than 157,000 Nintendo DS consoles were sold and just under 25,000 Sony PSP units were snapped up. Xbox 360 games are also struggling with not a single game inside the top 50 Japanese sales chart. The news will come as a stark warning to Microsoft bosses, who will be keen to raise the fortunes of their next-generation console in Japan ahead of the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii later in the year.

There's talk of a relaunch.

[Kuang_Grade]

Well, summertime is often a slow period for consoles and there haven't been any new games with much excitement attached to them (Rockstar's table tennis anyone?) as of late, although SEGA's mech based Chromehounds (released last week in Japan) should have some J appeal. If the marketplace is effectively waiting for the PS3, then MS might as well wait it out, keep their powder dry, and then come out fighting in November

In the meantime, it sounds like they are learning a few ways to talk to some J market segments



Models sport military look for Xbox360 'call of duty'
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/entertainment/news/20060703p2a00m0et021000c.html

Pin-up models Natsuki Yoshihara and Haruka dressed up in outfits with a military tinge as they tested their skills at the 3D shooting game "Call of Duty 2" in a recent event in Tokyo for Microsoft's Xbox360 game console.

The models took part in the game as part of the "Xbox Live Funtime" event for Xbox fans.

"Call of Duty 2" is a first-person shooter game in which players take on the roles of American or Russian soldiers in such historic wartime events as the Battle of Stalingrad or the Battle of Normandy. The game features realistic graphics, down to the smoke from explosions, and reconstructs the tension of battle scenes by using sounds recorded from real guns.

When players connect to a network through Xbox Live they can play against other gamers online.

Yoshihara and Haruka, who put on green military-themed clothes at the June 30 event, let out excited shrieks as they fired their guns in the game and were shot down by other players.

"I just fired at people no matter if they were allies or enemies," Yoshihara said. She said that the game's voice-chatting feature had gripped her attention.

"It's so realistic," Haruka added. "Next time I play I want to get together with everyone and work out a strategy before we fight." The model said the game was enjoyable.

"Even a novice like me was able to enjoy it," she said.

[Buraku]

Xbox cries 'Racism'



or maybe its land of the rising pervert ?

[jingai]

Doom, Laura Croft stuff, Duke Nukem, Space invaders, Half-Life series

What, do you still think this is 1998? You forgot Quake and Unreal.

[Kuang_Grade]

[Mulboyne]

[Hokuto-shinken]

Why get a crap box when you can get a Wii?

I think people in Japan have more taste.

[Buraku]

Japan to get more Xbox role-playing games
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20744838/
Microsoft seeks to boost the console, which is struggling in the country

[halfnip]

Why get a crap box when you can get a Wii?

I think people in Japan have more taste.

I've got both. The Wii for when folks come over and an old XBox for all of those movies/shows that I stream from my PC to my TV via XBMC. Amen for the XBox!

[Mulboyne]

Another analysis of the Xbox 360 in Japan:

Japanese devs sound off on 360

[Kuang_Grade]

Possibly the only time this will ever happen, MS scored the number #1 selling game last week in Japan by selling 58K copies of Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, edging out a Final Fantasy game for the PSP. However, it is worth noting that it is the only 360 game in the top 50 best selling games in Japan for the week of 9/23-9/30.

http://www.m-create.com/ranking/

[james]

Space invaders

well if it's space invaders they want, i've got an atari 2600 and 7800 that i'm not using much..

[Buraku]

Singapore has banned a Microsoft Corp video game which contains a scene showing a human woman and an alien woman kissing and caressing each other, a local newspaper reported

What, do you still think this is 1998? You forgot Quake and Unreal.

I guess because the last year I'd some free time to waste a weekend of video games was back in 1998.
Ah the years of cheap parties, piss poor beer, ganguros that wanted to abuse you and our favorite eikaiwa schools

[ttjereth]

[Buraku]

Xbox 360 sales far below PS3, Wii in Japan
http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=5214

[Kuang_Grade]

Xbox 360 sales far below PS3, Wii in Japan
http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=5214

Well, judging by the numbers in that link, the 360 is doing about 25% of the hardware sales of the PS3 through the first half of the year, which is actually higher than I would have expected...I would have thought it would have been around 15%...Of course, this could merely be a reflection of how poorly the PS3 has been doing rather than indication of the strength of the 360.

[emperor]

Why Japan hates Microsoft...

&

rings of festivity?

[Mulboyne]

[Buraku]

blame the evil Koreans and their takeshima shit

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[amdg]

blame the evil Koreans and their takeshima shit

What they didn't report on - who was the first nimrod to try and register his address as takeshima.

[Kuang_Grade]

Nice of Fuji TV use a xbox 360 core/tard pack with the WIRED controller in that piece...after all, all the current generation J designed hardware use wireless controllers, while those foolish, K loving Americans are stuck with thier ye olde wired controllers.

[canman]

Sorry to take this off into another direction, but can any of you gamers tell me, are any of these games region free. I keep reading that some are and they aren't, but what is the deal. For example, I read that PS3 games it is up to the manufacturer whether the games have been region locked or not. What about X-box 360 can you play US games on it or not. Trying to decide what to get my boy for Christmas hence the question. But also something dad can play.

[American Oyaji]

Not sure about Wii, but on PS3 and 360, it is up to the publisher. Best bet would be to research online.

But if you should probably decide what you want to game in primarily, E or J.

if E, buy an E system and order E games.

[Kuang_Grade]

Sorry to take this off into another direction, but can any of you gamers tell me, are any of these games region free. I keep reading that some are and they aren't, but what is the deal. For example, I read that PS3 games it is up to the manufacturer whether the games have been region locked or not. What about X-box 360 can you play US games on it or not. Trying to decide what to get my boy for Christmas hence the question. But also something dad can play.

I haven't imported any 360 games myself, but Play-Asia has a fairly detailed list showing what they know works, what they know doesn't work and what they aren't sure about. They don't have it indexed, so you'll have to page through multiple pages to find the game you may be interested in.
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-xbox360_compatibility_guide-49-en.html

There's not a ton of super kid friendly games for 360, mostly movie tie in dreck, although they are starting to work on that a bit harder than they were when the launched....Peter Moore made a surprisingly big deal about this during last summer's E3 and they made a big push for new Naruto game, of which there have been seemingly several dozen released in the US on the gamecube already.

See if you can download a demo for Viva Pinata...its a bit odd and it takes a bit of geting used to (least of all smashing the pintas that you don't think are working out with a shovel until they explode)

[Kuang_Grade]

A really interesting appreciation of a Japan only Xbox1 game, Metal Wolf Choas

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2007/12/column_robotochan_american_civ.php#more

In Sakura Taisen's case, it's easy to see the reason why: succinctly, it's a steam mecha tactical RPG that is also a dating sim featuring women who are actors in a Japanese theater when not fighting demons. While there may be a niche market for such an experience in Europe and North America, the game could end up being too far out of left field for many gamers, and thus the company doing the localization would be taking a major financial risk. Sakura Taisen can be said to be "too Japanese" to make it to the United States.

The same cannot be said about Metal Wolf Chaos, which features the US President in heavy mecha armor on a rampage across the United States.

The only thing more perplexing about the lack of release for Metal Wolf Chaos in the United States is that it was released only in Japan. Mirroring the inexplicable creation of 1942, an early vertical shmup developed by the Japanese that had a US fighter taking down Japanese carriers and battleships, From Software, mostly known for their excellent Armored Core series (and the mostly unknown by Westerners Another Century's Episode series, covered previously on this column), had created a game perfect for the American market, by making it take place exclusively from an American point of view, and made it for the Xbox, a US-centric console.

But while 1942 made it to the United States, and was merely a strange game for a Japanese developer to make, Metal Wolf Chaos--a game taking place in America, starring the US President, parodying United States politics--was enjoyed exclusively by the paltry number of Xbox owners in Japan.

Metal Wolf Chaos' plot is as insane as it is brilliant. You play as US President Michael Wilson, 75% Super Robot anime hero, 25% pastiche of current President George W. Bush, piloting a late model tactical mobile armor somewhat similar to VOTOMS' Armored Troopers. The nation has experienced a coup d'etat lead by your former Vice President, who has taken control of the military and news organizations of the United States.

Instead of fleeing the country or collecting loyalist troops around you, you instead opt to defeat the entire US military in a personal war, city by city. The first stage's opening scene sets the tone perfectly: Michael Wilson explodes out of the Oval Office onto the White House lawn in his mecha whilst screaming "LET'S PARTY! Welcome to the White House!" in B-movie grade English. Control is then given to the player, to literally stomp on US infantry and knock helicopters out of Washington D.C.'s skies.

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