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XBox (Games) Microsoft

20 Reasons Why The 360 Might Fail in Japan 120

Posted by Zonk from the gates-zilla-indeed dept.
1up.com has an interesting look at the forces ranged against Microsoft in Japan, as the 360 poises for a major push in foreign markets. From the article: "There are enough reasons (we have ten) to believe things will be different next round, and Xbox 360 will eat away at PlayStation's dominance in Japan. Yet there are those who still believe Japan will never embrace a non-Japanese game console (and we've got ten reasons why these arm-chair analysts are correct.) Warm up your typing fingers as we give you ten reasons why Xbox 360 could kick ass in Japan, and ten reasons why it could bomba bomba in Kutaragi's backyard."
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20 Reasons Why The 360 Might Fail in Japan More

20 Reasons Why The 360 Might Fail in Japan

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  • Kill my karma (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Gizzmonic ( 412910 )
    Wireless controllers suck. Why are they going to be mandatory on the new consoles? I look forward to interference and loads of batteries. Fuck!
    • Actually I look forward to wireless controllers. Somehow my dog always get tangled up in my controller cable ...

      The only fear I have is, that my gf will loose the controller somewhere.
    • If the DS will the Revolutions controller then I won't need batteries and I'll only need to rechart it every 5 hours.

      Wouldn't be able to tell you what the 360 will use, but I'd hope they'd use rechargle controllers.

    • Re:Kill my karma (Score:5, Informative)

      by KeeperS ( 728100 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @06:53PM (#13334626)

      Wireless controllers don't have to suck, they just generally do. The Nintendo Wavebird is a good example of a non-sucking wireless controller. The batteries last seemingly forever, and I've never had any latency or interference problems. If Microsoft and Sony can pull off something similar, it shouldn't be a problem.

      Of course that has very little to do with the 360's potential success in Japan, but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

    • Re:Kill my karma (Score:5, Informative)

      by Saige ( 53303 ) <evil.angelaNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @07:07PM (#13334729) Journal
      Sorry, wireless is not mandatory on your 360.

      The controllers come with a cable that hooks to the USB port. This cable will let you play wired instead of wireless if you want, and can be attached during play if the batteries lose their charge - you don't have to quit playing.

      BTW, there will also be rechargable battery packs available, so that you don't have to keep buying batteries. And judging by how long the Wavebird lasted on just one battery, I wouldn't expect them to use a lot of batteries either.

    • Re:Kill my karma (Score:3, Informative)

      by aliens ( 90441 )
      When was the last time you used a wireless controller? I'm guessing not in the last 3 years.

      The wavebird is awesome, still haven't changed the batteries, unknown number of hours on it.

      Same with my wireless logitech for my PS2.

      All surrounded by my wireless 802.11bga wireless router and 2.4ghz wireless phone. Never noticed interference.

      You make it sound like changing the batteries once a year if you're playing 8 hours a day is like being asked to climb mount Everest. If you need to change that often perhaps y
      • I have a Wavebird. It suffers from interference. I know I'm not alone on this. Many of my friends have told me they won't play Resident Evil 4 with a wavebird because "R" doesn't stay down when you keep it down.

        The Logitech PS2s are pretty good except they don't last. My friend frequently replaces the buttons on his Logitech.
    • But then they replaced them with these wireless ones, which are obviously inferior.
    • The Wavebird for the Gamecube is excellent, my batteries seem to last for ages. And as I use rechargables when it does start flashing I simply recharge them.

      I have been using this controller for a few years now and it has never once missed a button press or suffered any sort of interference.

      So not all Wireless Controllers suck, perhaps just the ones you have tried sucked.
    • They are not mandatory the core pack includes a wired controller. There won't be interefernce becasue if they were going to be pretty standard microsoft would make sure they were perfect. Finnaly they will be recharable or it wouldn't need batterys , you seem to forget microsoft aren't stupid.

  • Still bad design. (Score:5, Funny)

    by tktk ( 540564 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @06:32PM (#13334451)
    Co-designed by Osaka-based Hers Laboratories, Xbox 360 sports a softer and more feminine look than its predecessor.

    Unless it actually has boobs, this isn't going to help. In the Japanese market, the main design flaw of the Xbox was its sheer size. It wasn't a masculine/feminine problem. Personally, I think it's still too big but being able to stand vertically helps.

    • Re:Still bad design. (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I think the main design flaw in the Xbox 360 is the games. They aren't designed for Japanese gamers, and Japanese gamers already have a seemingly better console to look forward to, which will have better games for japanese gamers.

      Heck, Sony's been setting up features that may or may not be great for gaming, but who cares when they have so many extra features to throw against the hype of the xbox.

      Face it, the thing thats going to sell Xbox is either the loyalty gained by people impressed with the first one,
    • You are very correct. In Japan, size is everything and smaller is better when it comes to video games.

      The XboX fits nicely into American living rooms, but is far too large for Japanese homes. The 360 looks like an improvement, but not too much.

      Look at the new Nintendo box (Revolution is it called?) -- ass tiny. That, and the Nintendo name, will help sell it.
    • Minor point of fact: The XBox 360 is a touch smaller than the PS3.
    • Co-designed by Osaka-based Hers Laboratories, Xbox 360 sports a softer and more feminine look than its predecessor.

      Do they also design Dell corporate workstations? I swear I have one on my desk that looks just like it, but in black.

  • Um (Score:5, Interesting)

    by M.C. Hampster ( 541262 ) <M...C...TheHampster@@@gmail...com> on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @06:43PM (#13334535) Journal

    Come on editors, let's get on the ball.

    The article has 20 reasons why the Xbox might Fail in Japan or not. There are 10 reasons why it might succeed and 10 reasons why it might fail.

    Can someone fix the headline?

    • Re:Um (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Evro ( 18923 )
      It's a Zonk article, and it links to 1up.com, apparently some kind of kickback site judging by the rate with which Slashdot links to them.

      From what I can tell in his bio, this is now Zonk's full time job... you'd think he'd put a modicum of research into the stories he posts.
      • Seriously. It's not even in the story but in the text he posts. Slashdot mirroring the descent of TechTV into G4.
    • And also, illiterate.
  • Not like I enjoy defending Microsoft, but if you read TFA, it's-

    10 Reasons Why the 360 Might Fail in Japan
    10 Reasons Why the 360 Might Succeed in Japan

    • Re:Slashdot a little overzealous in M$ bashing...? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Slashdot may be a Microsoft bashfest in general, but you forget this is games.slashdot.org we're talking about here. The only place to find more Xbox hype would be the Team Xbox site.
    • Yeah, the text mentions 10 reasons why it might succeed and 10 reasons it might fail, and this gets summarized on the headline as 20 reasons it will fail.

      Welcome to news, the Slashdot way. Where truth or an unbiased opinion are significantly less important than fanboy-ism, choosing sides, selective quoting, a little distortion of facts and karma whoring.

      Face it, this is just an entertainment site. The news stories are just references to real news, and they are modified to please the standard stereotype ge

  • I realize... (Score:4, Funny)

    by aftk2 ( 556992 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @06:46PM (#13334569) Homepage Journal
    that bashing the XBox 360 is the Slashdot meme du jour, but the article actually consists of 10 reasons why it might fail, and 10 reasons why it might succeed.

    How do I know this? Did I read the article? Bah! It's in the damn summary:

    Warm up your typing fingers as we give you ten reasons why Xbox 360 could kick ass in Japan, and ten reasons why it could bomba bomba in Kutaragi's backyard
  • I don't want to sound bad, but does it matter if XBox 360 doesn't succeed in Japan? Isn't it okay to do well in certain markets, and not do well in others? Some Mozilla fans are just fine with a 5% marketshare. There are plenty of other examples of foreign companies trying to sell to the Japan market, and failing. Isn't this okay, isn't it something everyone can accept?

    • Re:Does it matter? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Gogo0 ( 877020 )
      Because some of the biggest and best dev studios are japanese, and if a console is failing in their home country (many times their primary market), they arent going to develop for it.
      • I disagree that some of the 'best' studios are Japanese.

        I have as much dislike for Japanese style games, as the Japanese (in general) have for Western style games.

        To me, they actually have the worst studios, putting out the worst games.

        Strangely, it is a French studio that is my favorite...Ubisoft of course.

    • I think, given the choice, 9 out of 10 corporations would prefer to do well in every market.
    • A small market share is generally acceptable to a company if they're making a profit, but Microsoft wasn't making a profit. A few million or so more Japanese Xbox owners would have helped stop, or, at least, slow down the hemorrhaging of money this go round. Potentially losing a few billion dollars more in the next go round by ignoring Japan would be extremely foolish.
    • It matters to those of us trying to decide which next-gen console to buy who don't like American taste oriented FPS/Sports titles. If the 360 fails in Japan (as the XBox did) we won't see many games that appeal to us. This happened for me with the XBox - great console, but I only have 5 games for it, compared to 20+ each for both PS2 and Gamecube.

      Of the 360 "launch period" titles the only two games that look like they appeal to me are either coming out eventually for the PC (ES IV) or from a dev that u
      • It matters because they were losing money for most of the time since the XBox was released. The Japanese market is essential if they want to stay in the game, because they're just losing money otherwise.
    • I gathered the following stats from various sources via Google:

      USA in 2003:
      Population....................291 million people
      Percentage playing games......50%
      Hardware and software sales...$10 billion

      Japan in 2003:
      Population....................128 million people
      Percentage playing games......37%
      Hardware and software sales...$4.1 billion

      The bottom line: The average Japanese gamer spent $86.50 on their hobby that year, while Americans only spent $68.70 the same year.

      So yes, success in Japan DOES matter. While the
      • Crap. I goofed up my stats, turns out the number I posted for the Japanese sales was actually for software sales ONLY in 2003. A little further research gave me not only the correct number for 2003, but I also found data for 2004. The following are my corrections for 2003, plus the same data for 2004:


        USA in 2003:
        Population....................291 million people
        Percentage playing games......50%
        Hardware and software sales...$10 billion

        Japan in 2003:
        Population....................128 million people
        Percentage pla
        • Sorry, but those figures seem quite inaccurate. All the numbers I've seen indicate that US software sales were in the $9.9bn range (console & handheld--no PC) in 2004, while Japan's *total* game software sales were $2.17bn.

          The US made up around 55-60% of all game software sales in 2004, with everything else split in the various regions.

          One good example of this is Capcom's economic forecast over the next 3 years... they view it as, "Share ratio by each software market; Japan 2 : North America 5 : Europe
    • Japan is 40% of the game market while north america is 42% (numbers out my ass but generally true) so yeah success in japan matters.
  • Many people believe one of the reasons the first Xbox failed in Japan is its relatively large size. If you've ever been to Japan, you know how little space there is. In this round, however, the Xbox 360 is actually slightly smaller than the PS3 model that Sony has shown. So it will be interesting to see what difference, if any, this makes.

  • duh. no games! (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The Xbox 360 is going to launch with about as many "Japanese" games as the original Xbox did.

    While Microsoft has signed on several big name developers to do games, none will have games ready for launch. By the time these titles do come out Sony will have the PS3 and it will be too late for Xbox 360. Also, only a couple Japanese titles really draw a lot of mainstream attention in Japan. The others are somewhat niche. Remember Jet Set Radio? Dead or Alive 3? Yeah, they really helped the xbox out.

    http://forum. [pcvsconsole.com]

    • Re:duh. no games! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by badasscat ( 563442 )
      While Microsoft has signed on several big name developers to do games, none will have games ready for launch.

      To expand on your point a little, here's the thing:

      It doesn't matter what names you have signed up to make games for you. What matters is the games they actually end up making. This was true of the original Xbox too. The Xbox (and the Xbox 360) has a real reputation in Japan as an American system, for Americans. (They don't really even think about Europe; they just think about where the system is
  • I don't really know which side to root for. On the one hand, I want to see American products succeed in foreign markets. On the other hand, I don't like Microsoft and I don't want to see them succeed.

    Choices, choices...

    • Root for MS to make a boatload of cash in the Console market. Stay with me now, If PC OS sales (or PC sales) drop and Xbox's are in every home, Bill makes it primary biz.

      I know, I know, we all "hate" MS, but they will not go away. They might diversify and restructure. DirectX is not "evil" tech, games run smooth, almost never crash on an Xbox. Has your XboX been infected with spyware/viri, ever? I personally hope they end up in more devices and get off our PCs. We have to make it profitable for them thoug

  • Actually I'm suprised, a great list of 20 things about the XBOX 360 that needs to be considered. I personally considered getting a XBox 360 but for the legacy Xbox games formost.

    The biggest hurdle is Xbox 360 is American. Japan isn't fooled by a "we are coming out first". It might be good for a little time but Xbox and Gamecube both came out at the same time.

    PS2 was going to be the clear cut winner when the PS2 was announced as it had the gamers and games lined up. Final Fantasy started the attention bu

    • Re:Good list (Score:3, Interesting)

      by shawb ( 16347 )
      I think it's funny that Microsoft is pushing to be the first to market with the next-gen system. For most generations, the first to market ends up being forgotten completely (for more information see Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:

      The first of the current generation of video game systems was the Dreamcast.

      The first of the generation before that (64 bit) was the Jaguar.

      The first 8 bit system? Colecovision, which had the distinction of doing pretty good for an extremely short period of time untill the NES was released.
      • What combination of chips made the genesis a 32 bit system? I've always heard it described as a 16 bit system, althought there were also 32 bit addons attempted.

        Maybe you're thinking of the Sega Saturn?
        • I think its fair to say the Genesis/Megadrive was a 16-bit device, since it is written on the front in huge gold letters.

          http://mo5.com/MHI/Firmes/Sega/megadrive.jpg

      • I completely agree, Of course the first "128-bit" system was also the neo geo... (was a sweet system though)

        btw, Dreamcast was pulled more because of piracy, not because it was a failed system, from what I saw of it, it's a decent system.

        And it's iffy if Gensis is a 32 bit as someone else meantioned. Technically it was similar to the "cell" system where it had multiple systems. (or was that the saturn who had like two Gensis cores in it?)

        Anyways I agree it's going to hurt MS more then help them by being fi
        • The genesis was 16-bit, and had a setup similar to the PS2 (new main processor plus older co-processor for compatibility). It had a 16-bit 68000 as its main processor, and an 8-bit Z80 coprocessor to control sound and provide hardware backward-compatibility with the Master System.

          The Saturn had two 32-bit Hitachi SH2 processors. Strangely enough, so did the 32x, although they were clocked slower.
          • ahhh that's what was going on.. I remember they said 64 bit on the saturn even though it's technically not true.

            Good times. good times :)
  • Its American. Duh.

    Given the choice between guilt-tripping about feeding the American Mega-Corp monster your heard-earned yen, and providing needed greenbacks to your local silicon-pimp zaibatsu, the average Japanese will, simply, buy Japanese.

    See, hegemony works two ways: for you, and against you. And until Microsoft do something about their utterly cheesy PR (yes folks, its true, people do actually see through the hype after the 3rd or 5th reboot..), and their general association as an utterly untrustort
    • I wouldn't by any kind of electronic device or car from a North American company.

      North American electronic engineers are too tall and clumsy, unlike their short and nimble Japanese counter parts.
    • "It's American. Duh."

      Not necessarily. The iPod is a prime example of an American product doing very well in Japan.

      Though some Japanese might follow the "buy Japanese" principal, the same as Americans try to push the "buy American" agenda, many more do not follow that thinking. If you go to an electronics store in Japan, many of the electronics are labeled in English to appear more expensive and of higher quality. The Japanese also frequently purchase merchandise from other nations such as Korea, Germany,

      • The iPod is a prime example of an American product doing very well in Japan.

        For most customers, it's not about American or Japanese.
        An iPod is small, stylish, simply a cool product from a cool company.
        (At least the original) XBox is the exact opposite: big, ugly and from the most un-cool company you can imagine.
    • Given the choice between guilt-tripping about feeding the American Mega-Corp monster your heard-earned yen, and providing needed greenbacks to your local silicon-pimp zaibatsu, the average Japanese will, simply, buy Japanese.

      Tell that to all the iPod-owning, Windows-using, Levi's-wearing, Mariah Carey-buying, Starbucks-drinking, Gucci-coveting, McDonald's-eating Japanese people that partake in western products every hour of every day.
      • yeah, thats not as many japanese as you may think .. its certainly not more than the rice-eating variety. mcdonalds isn't totally popular in japan.. there is still a huge stigma to eating like an american..

  • Dog Fight Baaaby! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @08:29PM (#13335330) Homepage Journal
    A nice little read. But this just tells us what we already knew, it's gonna be a do fight baaaaaaabyyyyy! And that can only means good things for gamers. Even the Dreamcast had some nice games in its ultimately losing effort. So I think we're gonna see some really interesting stuff coming out of Japan on Xbox 360. Some have said here and elsewhere that the Japanese will never embrace a foreign console, but I don't think it's that simple. The impression I have is that the Japanese like new things that are cool whether they come from Japan or not. That's why Nintendo and Sony, for example, would even bother with so many variations on their consoles (special editions, etc.) that come out in Japan but generally do not make it to the U.S.. And that's why there are a million and one cell phone models in Japan, and so on. In Japan, companies have to keep things fresh and new to stay in the game. If the Xbox 360 can deliver fresh, new Japanese games that people will want to play, then they have a shot. They may not take down Sony and Nintendo, but a really strong showing would be as good as a win in the land of the rising Sun.
    • "Japanese like new things that are cool"

      Not that obvious! I look at the way MMORPGs and online gaming in general ate away the korean and US market. For a country that live and breathe videogames, Japan didn't embrace it nearly as much as I would expect. This is the same country that didn't like Gran Theft Auto. Even though it sold like hot cakes all around the world. Japanese markets and tastes are unpredictable.

  • While Microsoft is touting Xbox 360 as the most powerful next-gen hardware, most believe the PlayStation will outperform it in terms of graphics prowess. This could mean trouble for Microsoft as Japanese Xbox developers had one thing they all loved about the first Xbox: it was the most powerful machine on the market. That advantage may vanish next round.

    Why does this matter? The PS2 was the most successful console of the latest generation, even though it had the worst graphics (not counting the Dreamcast,

  • I don't blame the Japanese (Score:3, Insightful)

    by alan_dershowitz ( 586542 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @11:06PM (#13336230)
    For not wanting to play American games. I Don't want to play american games. I spent my teenage years playing Dragon Warrior and Phantasy Star, Mario Brothers, etc. Japanese RPGs are awesome, and their puzzle games are extremely creative. On the other hand, in the USA you get a slightly updated NFL game every year, or shit like BMX:XXX, Gex, and a shitload of terrible movie licenses.

    American games feel like they were designed by marketers, not artists, because they are.

    It does say they have "all" Japanese publishers on board this time...Maybe it'll be different then, I hope so.

    PLEASE NOTE: The preceding was a generalization, there are some good american games. But clearly not enough that appealed to the Japanese market, or me.

    --Proud Dreamcast owner, still has some of the best games ever.

    • Wow. What he said. Exactly!
    • I won't contest what you've said about games made in the USA, because at least a _some_ of them do fit that bill. (But then again, not all.)

      But you've also got to realize that the game-producing world doesn't consist only of USA and Japan. Ever heard for example of Bioware? You know, of KOTOR and Jade Empire fame? They're Canadian actually. Lionhead Studios, makers of Fable? They're in the UK. Etc.

      So the XBox has plenty of games which aren't made in the USA. (And the PC even more of them.)

      The USA actually p
      • I don't disagree. A ton of great games came out of Europe for the Amiga. My primary concern was that I really, really like a lot of Japanese development houses, and prior to this, it was seriously underserved on the X-Box, which clearly had a lot to do with why it did so badly in Japan.

        Incidentally, Wired did an article that claimed that a large, large portion of Japanese buyers of the X-Box only bought it so they could play Dead or Alive 3, since it was an exclusive on that system. Obviously, that reduces
        • Well, I'm a fan of Japanese RPGs too, and there have been some very good games in other genres too. But just saying that you don't have to limit yourself to that. While USA and Japan indeed seem polarized around different extremes of the game spectrum (not a good-vs-bad games spectrum, just different games for different tastes), there are other countries which produce stuff close enough to either extreme you might prefer.

          About the XBox itself, you raise a valid question. That's been my reason too to not buy
    • Yup linear Japanese RPGs always rocked compared to explore anywhere you want and do whatever you want types of the old Ultima/D&D/Might & Magic/Elder Scrolls/Bard Tale's etc days! I likes the FFs/DWs too, but going from point A to B to C couldnt hold a candle to the others mentioned above. On the other hand character development and plot drove the linear ones, but I could get that from reading a book too.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday August 17, 2005 @12:36AM (#13336620)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I've actually seen evidence of this in a Japanese game! In Devil May Cry 3 (Capcom, PS2 2005) the Japanese vesrion is easier. In the Japanese version, when you die, you can use an item to bring yourself back to full life right where you are in the middle of the fight. In the US version, using the item pushes you back to before you entered the room, and you have to redo the entire fight over. The Japanese version's difficulty modes are easier. Normal is America's easy. Hard is America's normal. Dante Must Di
    • In my experience it's the Japanese who get a kick out of obscenely difficult games, and also doing obscenely difficult things with games.

      For example, take the orginal Resident Evil, which was almready fairly unforgiving. It became such a sport to finish the entire game with nothing but the knife in Japan, that Capcom included the Tofu mode in Resident Evil 2, where you play with a big block of tofu that only has a knife to defend itself.

      Also numerous Japanese RPG's just don't get accepted on the mainla

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Dude, that can't be true... look at the Japanese vertical shooters (go play Mars Matrix).
      • Actually, in a game such as Mars Matrix, you're never caught without any hope. If you're shot, you see the bullet onscreen, and to be honest, your hitbox is so small (This is by design), that you can get out of ANY situation. If you can't, use a bomb, and be more careful in the future. Run out of bombs? Well it's your own damn fault for using them.
        • Er, the Mars Matrix hitbox is fairly large, and I'm fairly certain it gets larger with the ship as it upgrades. Its certinaly larger than the hitbox of Ikaruga, for instance. And while the ship can deflect shots (which is a slowly recharging power) there are no bombs (as in Giga Wing, etc). Its a hard game, and there are no cheap ways out of things (like bombs). And seeing the bullets may make me hope they don't hit me, but it doesn't change the fact that they do. Still a great game though, and a shame
  • I nominate the title image [1up.com] from this article as the successor to the Slashdot Borg Gates icon. :)

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