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XBox (Games)

Survey Sees Tough Times for 360 in Japan 116

Posted by Zonk from the who-would-have-thought? dept.
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that a survey recently conducted by Japanese news agency C-News would tend to suggest that the Xbox 360 will encounter consumer resistance when it is launched in Japan. From the article: "The poor showing for the Revolution is perhaps understandable, given that Nintendo has released only sketchy outline details regarding the console so far - but the figure for the Xbox 360 will come as a disappointment to Microsoft, which has focused heavily on the Japanese market in recent months." GameDailyBiz has a look at the survey as well, concentrating on the PS3's popularity.
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Survey Sees Tough Times for 360 in Japan More

Survey Sees Tough Times for 360 in Japan

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  • C stands for Captain obvious? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Fr05t ( 69968 ) on Wednesday July 13, 2005 @10:12AM (#13053678)
    "C-News would tend to suggest that the Xbox 360 will encounter consumer resistance when it is launched in Japan."

    No tell me it ain't so! I really expected the Xbox 360 to do so well in the Asian markets!

    Oh crap I forgot to open my tag.
    • I think this survey has happened too soon personally. Xbox360 hasn't had any real showing in Japan yet...just here in the states. The only thing the Japanese gamers know is from what they've seen happen over here and in magazines. Isn't MS having a big press conference later this month in Japan? And aren't there supposed to be alot of big name Japanese developers on board this time? I think they need to redo this survey after that happens...and then maybe once more when the official prices come out.

  • Protectionism? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by UberChuckie ( 529086 ) on Wednesday July 13, 2005 @10:13AM (#13053685) Homepage
    Is protectionism a factor in the same people many people would only buy domestic cars?

    • Re:Protectionism? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by danzona ( 779560 )
      Is protectionism a factor in the same people many people would only buy domestic cars?

      I don't know if I would call this protectionism (maybe nationalism?) but I agree with your example.

      The same mindset that made Americans (back in the 70s/80s) insist that American cars were better than Japanese cars, despite overwhemling contrary evidence, probably exists in some Japanese making them insist that Japanese consoles are better than American consoles.

      Although in this case they are probably right.

      • Re:Protectionism? (Score:3, Informative)

        by ZephyrXero ( 750822 )
        I think it has less to do with nationalism and more to do with the fact that there weren't many Japanese made GAMES on the first Xbox... Where the system is not nearly as important as the actual games they're playing on it. There's supposed to be about 10 times the Japanese support this time, so it should do alot better this go round on that factor alone.

    • Re:Protectionism? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75@@@yahoo...com> on Wednesday July 13, 2005 @10:40AM (#13053957)
      Is protectionism a factor in the same people many people would only buy domestic cars?

      (I'm guessing your first "people" should be "way")

      Some people (or as I like to call them, "idiots") suggested when the Xbox first bombed in Japan that it was because of some sort of "racism" or xenophobia against westerners. You don't seem to be going that far, which is good, but I should probably try to head this off before it goes down that road...

      The Japanese have no xenophobia towards westerners. In fact, just the opposite - American and European products are "in" in Japan and have been for some time now. Levi's, McDonald's, Starbucks, Gucci, Prada, all incredibly powerful and popular brands in Japan. Western-style clothing has completely replaced Japanese-style clothing, western-style weddings are now standard (even if the participants are not Christian), and for a while the #1 film of all time there was Titanic. Even Pearl Harbor did pretty good box office, considering!

      So to even suggest there's protectionism, xenophobia or worse, "racism" going on is at best ignorant.

      The fact is MS just got it so completely wrong with the original Xbox that they will probably never recover there. They paid absolutely no attention to the wants of Japanese gamers at first - they do have different tastes, and they have different wants and needs as far as the design of the console itself goes. The system was not what they wanted, the games were not what they wanted.

      One thing about Japan is there is a lot of brand loyalty, and conversely a lot of brand avoidance. If a company gets a reputation, it is very hard to shake that reputation. The Xbox pretty quickly got a reputation as being big, ugly, unreliable (the scratched disc issue was a big story there), with bad games that nobody wanted to play. Despite the marketing for the 360, that reputation is going to be a very tough thing to overcome there. If you ask a gamer in Japan what they think of when they hear "Xbox", the most likely answer is going to be "kusoge" (I'll leave you to look that up).

      Even ignoring that, though, I'm not convinced the Xbox 360 has overcome all of the original Xbox's issues. It is still big. It is still not styled the way the Japanese expect a console to be styled. (Painting the thing white does not automatically make it look like a Japanese product.) The PS3 has some issues too, but Sony's brand loyalty can overcome that. MS is not operating from that position of strength there so they really had to nail the design of the system, and they didn't. At least not for Japan, despite all their best efforts (including consulting with a Japanese design studio - who they seem to have totally ignored).

      I have a feeling MS will get more than 2% of the market when all is said and done, as they really are making a push with developers there this time. But they will still be a very distant third, and I'm not sure the ROI is going to justify the effort and expense.
      • What is it with Mitsubishis and Hondas in Japan? In the US, it seems like there's a fairly even mix of Honds, Toyotas, Nissans, and at least some Mitsubishis. In japan, everything is Toyota with some Nissans ("Nissan Cube [google.com]", worst. name. ever.). A japanese person was surprised that we buy Mitsubishis in the US, she said something about them catching on fire or something.

        But yeah, my impression was definitely that there's a lot of brand loyalty/avoidance over there.

      • Your theory (which is what it is after all) seems interesting except for a detail, if western is so "IN" then shouldnt they be interested in western games as well?

        I mean, when anime was completely "IN" America, anime games were also "IN". Suddenly Japanese can handle 2 hours of Pearl Harbor (dear god their resistence for crap is amazing) but they cant play halo ( a space soldier fighting aliens? there must be at least a 100 animes/manga with the same theme) or a Fighting/Volleyball game with girls showi
        • That's exactly the point. You claim the Japanese should want Halo and DOA3 volleyball. Go into any Japanese game store and tell me a Japanese gamer needs an XBox to play a space-themed shooter or a game with cleavage. As far as cleavage goes, they'll get a lot more of it for their money out of a "dating" sim. The XBox failed in Japan not only because it was ugly and big, but because there isn't any compelling reason for the Japanese gamer to buy it.
        • Your theory (which is what it is after all) seems interesting except for a detail, if western is so "IN" then shouldnt they be interested in western games as well?

          Two things:

          1. They are interested in western games. They are just not interested in bad western games. American and to some extent European audiences don't seem to see the difference. I mean what are you expecting, a crap GTA ripoff like True Crime: Streets of LA to sell as many copies in Japan as here? A mediocre shooter like Halo selli
          • Ok now Im confused. First you said they went to see Pearl Harbor and now you are saying they want quality? ??

            Ok so you didnt liked halo, congratulations, what about the millions of people who bought it in America and Europe and play it online almost every day?

            Why did the Japanese bought GTA? because is an American game that plays Exclusively in a Japanese console? (at least for a few months)

            What about phantom dust? thats a succesful Japanese exclusive xbox game that made fans buy one to play it, and it w
          • While certain 'western' things may be 'in' for the Japanese people, in certain cases they are indeed very protectionist of their 'local' brands. Heck even the survey says a huge chunk of those people surveyed would buy a Revolution or PS3 because of the brand. I'll agree that either absolute is true, just like you say, but you do need to admit that their is alot of protectionism in Japan.

            Vehicles and Electronics are the biggest things that the Japanese feel protective about when it comes to brands. That sa

        • Japanese won't play Halo for the reason they won't play most FPS:

          1) Games that simulate pointing guns at others from the first person are viewed as excessively violent and offensive. No, seriously, I can dig up quotes from Japanese gamers on this if you want. Third person is okay for some reason, I recall GTA being a hit over there with import fans.

          2) Many Japanese gamers experience acute motion sickness when trying to play FPS, any FPS. This phenomenon is well-documented and has lead to the entire FPS

      • The fact is MS just got it so completely wrong with the original Xbox that they will probably never recover there. They paid absolutely no attention to the wants of Japanese gamers at first - they do have different tastes, and they have different wants and needs as far as the design of the console itself goes. The system was not what they wanted, the games were not what they wanted.

        Even ignoring that, though, I'm not convinced the Xbox 360 has overcome all of the original Xbox's issues. It is still big. I

        • Re:Protectionism? (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Khuffie ( 818093 )
          Wait...did you just say the PSP went through a great deal of quality control?
        • The XBox is hardly what I would call "big" considering the kind of hardware in it (that is, relative to the size of my desktop)

          Most consumers don't consider the kind of hardware in a game console. They want it to function reliably, run the sort of games they want to play, and not be too big/too small. To put it another way, if MS had decided to use a lead inner coating for the XBox, to reduce EM interference or whatever, would you merely shrug off the extra 20lbs or would you be at all moved to consider
      • The Japanese have no xenophobia towards westerners.

        Except that they do (though it is beginning to die out along with the older generations of set-in-their-ways Japanese, as is their traditionally conformist culture). They might like some of our products, but that doesn't mean that even a majority of them like us as a people. As for how nicely they treat Americans? That's called "politeness," something that the Japanese are very good at. The Japanese aren't nearly as xenophobic as they were 50 years ag
      • So in your limited view there is no racism in Japan?

        And the real answer is......

        http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4671 687.stm [bbc.co.uk]
    • Is protectionism a factor in the same people many people would only buy domestic cars?

      Maybe, except they've done poorly in all the Asian markets. I'm surprised they're so far behind Sony in Korea.

    • Go to Akihabara [google.com] and compare the number of iPods on display to the number of XBox's (hint: tons of ipods, only one or two xboxes). Go on the Tokyo subway or visit tech worker's mini-cubicles, and count how many iPods you see (hint: lots).

      Japanese aren't really that xenophobic.

    • Is protectionism a factor in the same people many people would only buy domestic cars?

      Only if the foreign car sellers put the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car [vincentvds.net] for 25 years.

  • Look at the current titles (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Iriel ( 810009 ) on Wednesday July 13, 2005 @10:17AM (#13053715) Homepage
    Just a glance at the games available for the Xbox and another look at some of the most popular games and genres in Japan should shed some light on this big mystery that Microsoft can't figure out.

    While not all, most of the Xbox games are pretty geared towards American pop-gaming trends, and you can't expect to market to another country when you don't speak their language (figuratively, of course). You have to know your audience.
    • Japanese games were (in the NES and SNES days) geared toward Japanese pop-gaming trends; but that didn't stop them from being fanatically popular in the US.
      • That's because in the NES and SNES days, console gaming wasn't the industry that it is now. People have multiple vendors to choose from (even PC) and the wealth of titles available for each is enormous when put together.

        Back then, it was a little bit easier to impress when there wasn't as much selection for consoles in the US or there was a niche yet to be filled by American game developers.

        Now there is a plethora of choice in the gaming market, and most people that have the option to get a system aren't
      • Actually, I remember reading somewhere that back in the NES/SNES days Nintendo was very commited to making their games as universally appealing as possible.

        For example, in the early days of Nintendo of America, it was administered by a mix of Japanese and American people, so that they could act as some kind of ambassadors who would report back to Nintendo HQ about current trends and cultural issues.

        They seemed to have stopped doing that now though.
    • duh. But you know why they are like that? It starts with most Japanese developers shunning the xbox when it came out. Team Ninja (part of Namco) was about the only development team to insist on Xbox. Most developers just ignored it from the start, with no one who developes Japanese games (with the one noted exception) developing for the xbox who was supposed to make Japanese style games for it? US game companies? Eroupian game companies? I don't think they would understand what makes a game a japanese style

  • No Shit (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rAiNsT0rm ( 877553 )
    Wow, this took a scientific survey? The Japanese are not suckers like we are here, in fact Europe is not either when it comes to consoles. One mediocre game (Halo) is not enough to get them excited in the least. They demand innovation, sometimes wacky, and also games that are targeted to them. Xbox will never supply this. How many unique puzzle games on Xbox... yeah. How many dating simulators/train simulators/anime/etc. titles on xbox... yeah. How many Hentai, Mahjongg, puyo pop, Katmari Damacy's... yeah.

    • You're talking out your ass! From what I see, Japanese games suffer just as much from "play it again" syndrome as anyone else, perhaps even more. Console RPGs are almost entirely the same every time, as are side scrolling spaceship shooters, and there's also billions of those incredibly pointless slashers with no story that involves you mashing buttons for 20 hours straight until you beat the last boss.

      American games on the other hand seem to focus on shooters more, and maybe racers, and sports games -

      • I never stated ALL Japanese games are innovative... I stated exactly what I meant, the Japanese demand originality and innovation much more than Americans do. I was a game reviewer for some years, and have extensively worked in the industry, I am quite sure of my comments.

        Think back through the major innovative games, how many originated in Japan or from a Japanese game? TONS. Tetris is an exception, Myst to some extent, and a few others but could be counted without taking my pants or shoes off.

        The real i
        • Hmmmm.... lets see... innovations out of the "west" as there isnt alot of difference between Western European, Canadian and American developers to make a distinction.

          1) CREATED THE FIRST COMMERICALLY SUCCESSFUL CONSOLES!!!! Hmmm... thats a pretty big one isnt it? The Atari and Intellivision basically invented the market. Not to mention the games on those systems pioneered most of the concepts that are cloned today.

          2) Created the first 1st person shooter. Thats a pretty big deal, no?

          3) Basically c
          • To be fair, there is one area I missed that the japanese are big at. The party game. the donkey cong drum game, and Dance Dance revolutions come to mind.

            I wont bother with my personal opinion on these games, but I will admit, for reasons I dont understand other people seem to enjoy them. Then again... other people enjoy Karaoke... probrably the same group.

            So I suppose net result, I can think of two Japanese contributions to the world of gaming.. 1- the pet game
            2- the party game

            I give the Japanese
            • HaHa, you are an idiot and you have now proved it with your completely off-base response which is wrong on so many factual levels it would take me hours to break them all down.

              hehe, yeah lump in Canada, Europe, etc. to claim *AMERICA* is where innovation comes from. Christ, flawed logic spews forth from your post like a waterfall. Umm, Molyneux is not American by the way... but again, in your made up world he is.

              Gee, simulation titles aren't deried from Japanese titles... heh, whatever.

              Yeah, you must be

              • Re:No Shit (Score:1, Troll)

                by Serapth ( 643581 )
                No, my argument was dead on. You however are ignorant to "innovation" outside of the realm of traditional Japanese video games. These are the things I pointed out to you.

                hehe, yeah lump in Canada, Europe, etc. to claim *AMERICA* is where innovation comes from. Christ, flawed logic spews forth from your post like a waterfall. Umm, Molyneux is not American by the way... but again, in your made up world he is.

                Lumping Canada, Europe and Western Europe is pretty much a requirement in todays market. Bas
                • heh, you really amuse me. It's the only reason I keep wasting time to reply. Umm, I am an American and covered American games for well over 4 years... a japanese fanboy I am not in the least, I simply have a solid grasp of the videogame industry and history. I still find it funny that you equate the fucking *publisher* with mattering at all in where the game was developed. How sad, a publisher simply publishes a game. Yeah all of those games were NOT created and developed by an American or in America, my po
                  • I will admit the whole fighting game is pretty much locked by the East. That is an area I will hands down admit they innovate in.

                    That aside, almost every example you gave isnt actually innovative at all, except of course the ones ive already mentioned. Many of them are damned fine games, but the core almost every one is a refinement of an existing play dynamic. I guess the problem is partially the game media itself, the word innovative is thrown around WAYYYY to much, so people start associating refine
                    • I would love for you to show me how Game and Watch is not one of the biggest innovations and spawned the entire console market. I would love for you to show me prior art for Bubble Bobble, I would also love to see how you attempt to break some of these down. Shenmue was the first title to have unrestrained production values, another huge innovation... not in game design/play but in how games are created. Not all innovation means that it has been done before, simply an innovative twist that changes gaming ov
          • 1) CREATED THE FIRST COMMERICALLY SUCCESSFUL CONSOLES!!!! Hmmm... thats a pretty big one isnt it? The Atari and Intellivision basically invented the market. Not to mention the games on those systems pioneered most of the concepts that are cloned today.

            You mean like how Henry Ford invented the automobile?

            I think the real point you're trying to make is how american companies are great at creating new industries. And they're also really good at getting pushed out of the market due to their incompetence.

            7)
            • You mean like how Henry Ford invented the automobile? Actually no. Henry Fords contribution to *INNOVATION* was the automated assembly line, not the automobile. The car had existed before he was born. But yes, once your acknowledge his proper innovation its actually a fairly good parallel.

              We are talking about INNOVATION, im getting pretty sick of repeating that, as pretty much everyone that has responded seems to be missing that fact.

              Here for quick reference... or incase you simply dont understand,
              • If you're going to use Starcraft as an example, you might as well use Warcraft I and II. Starcraft IMHO is still the best RTS out there though.
          • Your understanding of innovation is absurd, if you think that the endless streams of American FPSes, RTSes, and EASports titles are worthy of being called 'innovation'. I could make just as much fun of "Doom Quakem Forever XVIII Arena Tournament to Capture Some Goddamn Flag" or "Madden (insert year here)" or "Command of Warcraft: Age of Kingdoms XX", or "NASCAR: Turn Left For Three Hours". Of course, there are innovative games coming out of the US, as there is in Japan, but let's just ignore that and throw
            • Argh... same bloody thing.

              FPS's arent innovative... the first one was. If you read my other posts ive made, I already explained dune is regarded as the first RTS.

              Innovation was about the first console, the first FPS, the first RTS, etc... etc... after that, theres a ton of derivitive shit, but thats never been what I was talking about.

    • Re:No Shit (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Christ, who modded this dipshit up? Halo is mediocre? It only took the console gaming world by storm, that's all. And of course you don't mention that if one is a Star Wars fan, the XBOX is the only console, and that the 10,000 samurai games for PS2 don't make up for it. Yeah, apparently innovation in your mind is how many different directions you can slice up ninjas, bushi, ronin, etc.
    • You have issues, my friend. Japanese are "suckers" just like everywhere else in the world. XBox was just not geared to their lifestyle. They like sleek, compact designs since they have much smaller living spaces. The original controller was too large for their hands. The XBox was designed with a Westerners in mind and that is why it failed there. Not because they aren't suckered in as much as Westerners or some other ignorant, racist statement like that. There are plenty of appealing things about the

    • Re:No Shit (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Cornflake917 ( 515940 )
      Wow, you modders have some serious issues. Any time some one says something along the lines of "Americans are naive and stupid," they get modded insightful. Why is that? The parent's post is nothing but flamebait.

      There are no such thing as "FPS/Media Consoles." Hentai and dating games are not innovative (serously you're trying to tell us porn is innovative?) And Americans aren't clueless about video games. They just have a different and less socially inept taste of video games than the parent's.
    • One mediocre game is not enough to get them excited in the least.

      Rather, it takes dozens of mediocre games. Long, multi-game series of mediocre games. Entire generes of mediocre games.

      Use of irritating, nonsensical titles helps too.
  • Everytime I go to their site I look for the place to mark their articles 'troll'.

  • Doesn't surprise me (Score:4, Informative)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Wednesday July 13, 2005 @10:58AM (#13054147)
    Given how the Xbox sold so poorly in Japan, I'm not surprised that the Xbox 360 is expected to. To get an idea of just how much the Japanese seem to dislike the Xbox take a look at this article [gamespot.com] from GameSpot about sales in Japan for various games/consoles.

    The Xbox sales for the first half of this year are 9,000 some units. Well that's to be expected from old hardware right? Wrong, the PS2 sold over one million units in the same time frame, and it's older than the Xbox. Additionally the top selling Xbox game in the period was Fable, selling 12,000 units. A re-released PS game sold more copies than it.

    I'm not sure what it is about Japanese consumers that turns them away from the Xbox. Maybe it's the fact that both Sony and Nintendo are Japanese companies whereas Microsoft is from the US. Even with games like FFXI slated to come out for the Xbox 360, I don't think it's going to do much for it in the Japanese market. I firmly believe it will be #1 in America, but in Japan it might as well not even try.

    • Re:Doesn't surprise me (Score:4, Insightful)

      by thesandtiger ( 819476 ) on Wednesday July 13, 2005 @11:10AM (#13054277)
      I think it is largely a cultural difference, not a nationalistic difference.

      Look at the styles of the games that do well in the larger markets in Japan and the US. For the most part, the Japanese mainstream just doesn't get into the same stuff that makes the USians buy games, and for the most part the reverse is true in the US.

      If Microsoft wants the 360 to do well in Japan, they're going to need to make a huge investment in getting a large library of games that the average Japanese person will want to play. Sony did it right with the PS and PS2 - they have a huge library of games for Japanese gamers, and another huge library of games for USian gamers.

      Now as to the FFXI game for the 360 - that's *one* game. And, there will be a few more that are *sort of* geared towards the Japanese market. But, unless Microsoft can come up with a must-have like Nintendogs, these few titles just aren't going to cut it.

      To put it in reverse: Imagine if the PS2 library of "american" games numbered less than a dozen - no sports games, no beat-em-ups, no driving games, none of that stuff. How many USians do you think would buy a PS2 just so they could play Parappa the Rapper? My guess - about the same number proportionately as the number of Japanese who'll buy a 360 for FFXI.
      • To put it in reverse: Imagine if the PS2 library of "american" games numbered less than a dozen - no sports games, no beat-em-ups, no driving games, none of that stuff. How many USians do you think would buy a PS2 just so they could play Parappa the Rapper? My guess - about the same number proportionately as the number of Japanese who'll buy a 360 for FFXI.
        I believe that was called the Gamecube.
  • Seriously guys, why do tou even try to name the xbox here in slashdot? are you fond of answers such as "xbox suck$! instead lets propose nintendo as a new religion!" or "fps are the the same since doom"? most of the people here use linux and/or are over 30, they hate MS with the passion of a thousand tortured souls.

    Anyway, yes it did came as a surprise, not this article, but the lack of asian oriented games for x360 out of the bunch of fps titles and heavily american based games (such as madden) only 3 or
    • I wouldnt say that. What you saw from the XBox was at E3, with marketing targeted at North American gamers. They showed what they figured there target audience wanted to see ( sports games and shooters mostly ).

      Later this month, they have their unveiling in Japan. This is most likely where the new announced Square game is going to shown. This is where Mistwalker studios games will be shown... The markets are different and the games those markets want to see are different. I would want until after th
      • Wow, thanks I didnt knew that, thats the best answer Ive gotten here. ;)

        Still there are some key areas where MS apparently didnt considered the Japanese the most obvious of them is size, MS promised the x360 would be smaller, since Japanese want their consoles to be easily portable, they didnt comply with that (although the ps3 isnt so small either). Lets wait and see...
  • One thing that the article doesn't talk about, and I wish that it did, was what people thought of the new XBox 360 design.

    Now I don't like the way that the new Xbox looks (big disappointment for me) but I'm sure that Microsoft wanted to design something pleasing to Japanese eyes given all the flack that they got about the original Xbox. I just wonder if they were successful.

    Does any have any info on this?
    • Quoting another poster:

      "Even ignoring that, though, I'm not convinced the Xbox 360 has overcome all of the original Xbox's issues. It is still big. It is still not styled the way the Japanese expect a console to be styled. (Painting the thing white does not automatically make it look like a Japanese product.) The PS3 has some issues too, but Sony's brand loyalty can overcome that. MS is not operating from that position of strength there so they really had to nail the design of the system, and they didn't.
  • The Revolution's showing at E3 was no less poor than any of the other consoles.

    Seriously. All we have for the 360 and PS3 are bull shit numbers that mean nothing, there are NO real world numbers just hyped up BULL SHIT.

    Second the games shown on the systems were fucking pre-rendered crap that wasn't even running on the console. Whoopty fucking doo.

    Third people say the Revo was just an empty box. What, you mean the PS3 was a complete and final product? Fuck no not even close and the same thing goes for the
    • Second the games shown on the systems were fucking pre-rendered crap that wasn't even running on the console. Whoopty fucking doo.

      You mean, other than the 360 games that were running on Alpha dev kits at E3? At least one system was showing actual games...
      • Did you get to play the game? Did ANYBODY get to play the game? Did you even get to see what that "Alpha dev kit" actually was? Do we even know for sure if it was an actual game, running on an actual dev kit for the 360 or are we just taking their word for it?
        • Ummm, people played Perfect Dark Zero on the Alpha dev kits for the whole MTV special (which was pretty bad, the only part I cared about was seeing the girls who run my clan on there). Multiple other people have played actual games on those dev kits.

          And I've seen actual games running on an actual 360. No canned stuff. And I've seen both Alpha and Beta dev kits up close. I've watched other stuff running on the hardware too.
  • http://www.cube-europe.com/news.php?nid=8009 [cube-europe.com]

    Meanwhile Microsoft continues to lag way behind. Not a single game for the console ranked in the top 100 sales chart for the first half of 2005 - just like 2004. Fable sold the most with 12,090 copies, but this was no where near the 100th place in the chart (Rockman Zero 4 for the GBA, which sold 65,341 copies). Embarrasingly, the best-selling game for the PSOne (a reissue of Valkyrie Profile) still sold double the volume of Fable.

    Happily, Nintendo were t

  • Why the HELL do people think that the Japanese Shit dont stink?

    Most good video games were made here first. Remember Atari? Remember Commodore? Some of the most memorable moments in gaming took place on those two systems, yet your collective heads are so far up the Japanese ass that you cant smell the shit they produce. I can think of one innovative title off the top of my head that came from the far eastern shores last year. Katamari...Thats it. The rest was Ratchet and Clank, Sly cooper, and Mario rebrand
    • "Ooh, look, another Resident Evil title...wonder if I kill zombies in THIS ONE TOO! It was eye candy, face it."

      Which is why the American press named it the fourth best game in recent years, [gamerankings.com] above such American classics as Half-Life 2 and the Halo series. Because it was eye candy. Right.
      And I'm sure the American press was also holding their noses when Paper Mario 2 was consistently rated one of the top RPGs of the year, and when Pikmin 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Zelda: Minish Cap, and Viewtiful Joe all reci
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