I don't see the logic on that. There's a big possibility that if the PS3 keeps being delayed and ends up being too pricey the X360 could become the dominant console in the west. If that happens, japanese studios wont be able to sacrifice that market and "refuse" to release their games in the X360 just because is not available in japan. Also the demand for japanese games in the west is pretty high, yet western games (the big point of the Xbox series) in japan never go beyond number 20 in the sale charts. So that makes the japanese market expendable for MS, yet the developers there cant do the same with the western market. On the other hand, revolution is not an option since the specs are too low (compared to the other 2) and the control scheme would be impossible to emulate with normal pads. In other words: US+europe is clearly bigger than japan, and who dominates those 2 markets wins the war. About the japanese taste, sorry but you can find everything everywhere. Wanna bet? I once met a jew who was a big fan of Hitler and the Nazis. While he didnt aproove the mass genocide of his fellow jews he had no problem with the death of other minorities like the gypsies, the homosexuals, oppositors, and the invasion of sovereign nations around germany (and the mass murder of the civilians there). The dude just loved Hitler's ultraconservative ideas.
You have a serious problem You like Japanese games because they are better than your own country's games. Anything like Metal Gear or Final Fantasy from the west? No? Well shut up then. Like I've said before, I'm not Japanese but I prefer their games over US made games. US sports, gangster crap, and so called "realistic" in your face shite doesn't do anything for me or the Japanese and that's what Microsoft have to understand. I so much wanted the 360 to do well over here. The actual machine looks smart but without any eastern suport I won't buy one for the reasons listed above. Yakumo
The Japanese may not 'understand' the 360, but then again they struggle to cook fish properly, I certainly won't lose any sleep over them 'hating' the 360.
It is not whether they ultimately succeed in marketing the 360 or any XBOX efficiently in the Japan territory. It's their global image as a company that needs to make "a stand" even in hostile places, such as Japan. Microsoft can surely afford the loss without second thought in order to keep its global character.
Shadowlayer - If a Japanese game studio ever makes a game that is not released in Japan I will eat my proverbial hat! Therefore if the 360 is pulled in Japan the only Japanese games you would find outside Japan would be ones that are released on ps3/rev and 360. It think that is what I was getting at. The other big issue in the Japanese game market is that at least 50 percent of total releases per week are never intended to leave Japan at any point. Japan is "almost" a self sufficient market. Just look at the vast amount of shops in Akiba totally devoted to Bishy games. That is a totally Japan contained profitable market, ditto for half the RPG, all the Pachinko, Gambling, ADV. It is only the really big players in the Japanese market who are trying to make games that appeal to both Japan and the "west". These big budget games are rather rare in comparison to the vast volume of Japan "only" games. Quantity is a big factor in the Japanese market. I don't see the issue here really, MS having a shot at Japan isn't really hurting anyone. Personally I like my 360, while it does not get much use at the moment - it was cheap and the games are coming in very cheap as well (20-25 quid each at the moment). And please can we stop saying that all the Japanese "hate" the 360, the market is simply not "aware" of the 360's existence. "Hate" implies that Japanese people are trying it or aware of what it offers and rejecting it, most Japanese gamers I know just don't care enough to find out more about it. It is a case of apathy not rejection. EDIT - just read that Wrestle Kingdom is being ported to the PS2 - talking about not catching a break. That is gonna send out the - hang on, we will port it eventually message. Rumble Roses is next IMHO.
I guess it just depends on the genres you like. If you like FPSs and customisable RPGs, go western. If you like JRPGs with emo characters and angst, go Eastern. I happen to like both Eastern and Western games. You are generalizing Western games with the "gangster crap" and whatever else. Sure there are Gangster games in the US, but those dont appeal to me. Nor do sports games. There are A LOT more games than those coming out of America, and I think they are pretty good. Just because you love everything Japanese and hate everything American, doesnt mean American games suck.
That is because that's what most of them are. Just look at the latest version of Final Fight !! I hate many things about Japan and many things about the US. The simple truth is that the American idea of good doesn't do anything for me. Nothing to do with hating or liking anything. Japanese stuff is more like European than what American stuff is which is probably why I like it more. Anyway, go ahead and tell me 5 BIG games to come out of the US that aren't in your face shit or gangster crap. By the way, stuff like need for speed is "in your face" so that won't count either. Remember that FPS don't interest me really either. So please try to convince me and then you'll see why Microsoft are finding it hard to sell the 360 in Japan. Yakumo
well Warakia, remember what the creator of RE4 said about his head being cut-off if the game was ever ported to another console.. exclusivity has its cost, and apparently more money can be made with certain ports than leaving them to be exclusive.
Sorry to jump-in like that in your conversation folks, but Factor5 , an american (populated mostly by german blokes) development studio has given out three pretty nice games. Silicon Knights, is another example, (with the first Legacy of Kain comming in mind, and of course Eternal Darkness, a good game by anyone's measures). Also, in the wider meaning of american (the continental meaning) a fair amount of games from a certain montreal-based development studio have got some platform-gamers occupied for the last three sequels. (you can all guess which game that is ). Metroid prime shouldn't be considered a first person shooter , and it's made by an American based studio. (if it was a first person shooter, i'd suck at it, so Metroid Prime isn't, Geist is - and i like them both) IMO the reason that most of the games you have in-mind are "in your face" games, is that most people actually like that crap (i m not one of them, as I detest anything that tries to make a buck out of pop-culture and a music i find boring - hell, even Tony Hawk's games have given me second thoughts about whether or not I should still like punk rock music now that it's being whored like that) To be fair however, not all Japaneze games are stellar either. And let's not forget that games such as Conker's Bad Fur day (the original) are not likely to be made from Japanese developers due to the toilet humour and raw content (which I am a big fan of in the way conker presents it). That said, a conker-like game would be more probable to come out the doors of an American studio than a Japanese one. The Europes do have a finer taste in game mechanics and focus less on the corporate marketing that goes on inside the game, unlike most EA games for example. At the end of the day, all games sell, more or less, so there's an audience for "in your face" stuff, for clever stuff such as most of the Japanese (they ve got a recent artistic hype about innovation, which could lead their stuff down the toilet- Killer7 came pretty close to the flush, but it was mysteriously saved by being the only game that offered movie-like psychotic behaviours, the gameplay was far from stellar) , for sequels, and for Mario Party (when will it ever end?) :033:
Barc0de - that is exactly what I'm getting at, sorry I must be distracted today(!), hypothetically only certain titles will make it to the 360 after being released on either a Sony or Nintendo system. (if 360 was pulled out of the Japanese market) In the case of RE4 it was released on an underperforming platform in the Japanese market. Given the time and money put in, it quite simply needed to sell more copies. Therefore it was a logical step to move it to the PS2. How often does a PS2 game get ported to another console because it has underperformed in sales? I'm sure even with the poor sales in Japan, Japanese companies will make games for both the PS3 and 360. My point was that they might not make them ONLY for the 360, if the 360 was not supported in Japan by MS. Let us see how big budget games like BLue Dragon and N3 do in Japan. I reckon if they underperform (likely) they may be ported or updated to the PS3 (unless it is legally impossible). Just look at todays news of Wrestle Kingdom, being imported to a vastly inferior console just to grab more money.
hey, they wanted to release Black and White on the original PSX. the horror.. the horror EDIT: One of the reasons that nintendo went down the controller path ,is IMO to contain its third party games as exclusives. Nintendo and its consoles have always lived mostly on exclusives and the apparent damage of the flip side can be seen on the GameCube.
Too true ! THere's an awful lot of crap released here. But Conker is British. I actually like that game very much with it's foul toilet humour. This is one reason why I favour European titles. A game is a game not reality filled with adds that you just can't escape. Sega have many adds in their games but luckily they are used as part of the background mostly making them less noticeable. Yakumo
That isn't fair, last I checked not to many of those coming out to begin with. I highly doubt you are the sole reason why MS is doing poor in Japan, to ask people to "convince you, then pick that is "allowed" and isn't seems, I don't know, araggont? People play what they like, simple as that.
you're missing the point. What I'm saying is that I don't like the types of games that Japanese don't like meaning that Microsoft need to understand this to get a better grip on the market. Releasing Tom Clancy stuff, driving games like Need for Speed, Tony Hawks, EA stuff and so on isn't going to help them one little bit over here and this is what they need to figure out. I'm no big fan of Japanese adventures, dating sims, pachinko games and so on but I know that is what sells quite a few systems over here. Basically Microsoft neglected the Japanese market again by not doing their homework. True, they did release a much better looking console that would appeal more but without the software to back it up they aren't going anywhere. Why do you think the Jag and 3DO failed BIG time ? The 3DO was actually produced by Panasonic as well so being American had nothing to do with that one dieing, just poor software. Yakumo
Yakumo, I implied that conker was european since it was neither US or JPN studio behind it To your knowledge, since you live in Japan, was conker ever released in that country? If yes, how well was it received by the Japanese audience? Besides being one of the most enjoyable and stress-free games I have ever had the honour to lay my dirty fingers on, it's quite a technological achievement on the coding side as well, even compared to Donkey Kong64's memory-hungry routines (which I blame on it's 64DD initiation) and the amazing Banjo-Tooie. Let's hope Rare will do Conker some justice this time around, although i haven't played the XBOX version (it looks amazing btw) i m aware that the language is more "cut" than "uncut" compared to the n64's version.
Final Fantasy has gone to hell in a hand basket, so there is no reason to mention it. It's all shit nowadays. Metal Gear, well the only thing I can say about that is Splinter Cell and Hitman own the shit out of Metal Gear any day of the week. Metal Gear doesn't even come close.
