Can't find an Xbox 360? Come to Japan!
Discussion
While Europe and the US suffer from a huge shortage of Xbox360s, here in Japan, the scene is a little different...
The 360 has been heavily promoted on TV, in magazines and I can hardly go anywhere in the city without seeing countless posters on buses and trains. But all this money spent seems to have been worthless so far. On Saturday at 6.30am, stores started selling Microsoft's newest console, sadly the journalists outnumbered the people queuing up. One store in Shibuya had around 150 people waiting outside, but most others looked like this...
The reason for this lackluster support from the Japanese gamers that the launch games didn't really appeal to them. To succeed in Japan, you need a fighting game, an RPG and a racer, all on day one. We received one of those RidgeRacer6, and the rest were Tetris, PerfectDark, Fifa and a bizarre party game. The much needed fighting game (Dead or Alive 4) has been delayed until just after xmas and an RPG won't be here until Feb. Still, these guys/girls were happy...
Anyway, after the first couple days of sales, there are still 100,000+ unwanted consoles sitting on shelves. So while you guys back in the UK struggle to find 360s to play on, here there are stacks available...
So, the good news for people like me, is that when PGR3 finally comes out in Jan, and I go to buy my 360, it might be even cheaper! What MS should have done is waited until Feb to launch in Japan, that would have allowed the to release with a much stronger launch lineup and receive some positive press for once. And, that way, Europe and the US could have used the 150,000 consoles that are dormant here.
The 360 has been heavily promoted on TV, in magazines and I can hardly go anywhere in the city without seeing countless posters on buses and trains. But all this money spent seems to have been worthless so far. On Saturday at 6.30am, stores started selling Microsoft's newest console, sadly the journalists outnumbered the people queuing up. One store in Shibuya had around 150 people waiting outside, but most others looked like this...
The reason for this lackluster support from the Japanese gamers that the launch games didn't really appeal to them. To succeed in Japan, you need a fighting game, an RPG and a racer, all on day one. We received one of those RidgeRacer6, and the rest were Tetris, PerfectDark, Fifa and a bizarre party game. The much needed fighting game (Dead or Alive 4) has been delayed until just after xmas and an RPG won't be here until Feb. Still, these guys/girls were happy...
Anyway, after the first couple days of sales, there are still 100,000+ unwanted consoles sitting on shelves. So while you guys back in the UK struggle to find 360s to play on, here there are stacks available...
So, the good news for people like me, is that when PGR3 finally comes out in Jan, and I go to buy my 360, it might be even cheaper! What MS should have done is waited until Feb to launch in Japan, that would have allowed the to release with a much stronger launch lineup and receive some positive press for once. And, that way, Europe and the US could have used the 150,000 consoles that are dormant here.
The 360 mags I bought pre-purchase prattled on and on about how MS cocked up the xbox over there big style before... from the marketing, to the games, press, etc.
Their single biggest goal was to try and launch the system successfully. I really dont remember what the sales figures were with the original xbox, but it was something like 100-1 or 50-1, when pitted against the PS2. Seems they have failed again, then?
Me personally - I cant wait for the PS3
which is destined to be a much much bigger hit over there.
Their single biggest goal was to try and launch the system successfully. I really dont remember what the sales figures were with the original xbox, but it was something like 100-1 or 50-1, when pitted against the PS2. Seems they have failed again, then?
Me personally - I cant wait for the PS3
which is destined to be a much much bigger hit over there. UKBob said:
Me personally - I cant wait for the PS3
Me too - following the developments on the PS3 with interest - some of the movies which have been produced as teasers are impressive. Seen the Killzone video? My god, it makes CoD2 look tame.... cant wait.
Isn't it because they all Nintendo freaks in Japan? And prefer the cartoony Mario style games instead. Although after seeing the 360 on the gadget show last night I wasn't impressed, I guess it needs an HDTV as the display he was using looks like a low res monitor screen, zig-zag edges to the graphics, poor. And as for making such a big thing about real world physics and head movement in the car (Project Gotham was the game), sorry but that's been around for ages in PC racing games (called world movement and G-force, both settings which can be adjusted to suit). I guess they haven't yet developed a game to use the 360's extra power.
FourWheelDrift said:
Isn't it because they all Nintendo freaks in Japan? And prefer the cartoony Mario style games instead. Although after seeing the 360 on the gadget show last night I wasn't impressed, I guess it needs an HDTV as the display he was using looks like a low res monitor screen, zig-zag edges to the graphics, poor. And as for making such a big thing about real world physics and head movement in the car (Project Gotham was the game), sorry but that's been around for ages in PC racing games (called world movement and G-force, both settings which can be adjusted to suit). I guess they haven't yet developed a game to use the 360's extra power.
Run it on a PC monitor though and its all there...
off_again said:
Me personally - I cant wait for the PS3
Me too - following the developments on the PS3 with interest - some of the movies which have been produced as teasers are impressive. Seen the Killzone video? My god, it makes CoD2 look tame.... cant wait.
But thats all they are. Pre-rendered video. It's like saying ' Saving Private Ryan' makes CoD2 look tame.
Sony are masters of hype. People all too soon forget the crap they spouted about the PS2 and what it could do. Remember the exact same scenerio with Sony producing FMV for the PS2 and saying it was in game ? I do. IMO the majority of people who purchased PS2 over the Xbox were sucked in by the hype or were ill informed about the difference between the 2 machines. I purchased I PS2 for GT4 months after release of the PS2 and enjoyed it. I then added an Xbox to my collection of consoles and the PS2 turned into a door stop. In fact I gave it away.
Guess all I'm saying is don't believe A WORD of the hype Sony spouts until you actually see it for yourself. Don't get me wrong. If PS3 can :
1) Deliver significantly better visuals than Xbox360 ( 1080p is of no interest to me. I've just got my nice shiny HDTV and will not be upgrading anytime soon.)
2)Deliver a comparable on line service ( Live is a massive selling point for me )
3)Give integration to my PC for streaming media
then i'll be in the Q with everyone else !
TheLemming said:
maybe its cause the japs arent fake gamers like most of the world.
"Fake Gamers"?
Do go on Brian, I dont quite get that one.
Lets remember that it seems VERY difficult for young Briantheyank to submit to any gaming thread without it turning at some point into a tedious 'console war thread'.
So with the best will in the world lets see if brian can :
a) Take part in a thread without bashing the Xbox 360 ( it's getting boring )
b) Anoying the majority of other posters
Remember brian you have already spent some time in the SinBin for trolling recently ....
I sincerely hope you can meet the above because you certaintly have the gaming knowledge to become a valued poster on this forum !
right, the PS2 is better than the Xbox 360 right. the Xbox might be heavier but the playstation has a sturdy exoskeleton. In a fight between the two the plasystation could win. The playstation could strangle the X-box which wouldn't be able to do anything about it because it has WIRELESS CONTROLLERS. hahahahahahaa.
of course a PC has more wires but they are rubissh aren;'t they, for flight sims and stuff. boring games i mean.
of course a PC has more wires but they are rubissh aren;'t they, for flight sims and stuff. boring games i mean.
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