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Japanese Console Rumors Debunked

Posted by simoniker on from the ps4-not-coming-out-in-time-for-halloween dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Video-Fenky blog post translating the 'Truth behind the rumors' feature that ran in Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu recently. Intriguing questions answered by major Japanese gaming companies include the use of the Cell processor in Sony's Playstation 3 ("..we will be investing 200 billion yen [$1.7 billion] over the next three years into Cell manufacturing facilities."), why Nintendo aren't so hot about online support ("As long as the rate of broadband installation isn't up there with TV sets, then online play can't be the core of business development"), and why Nokia's N-Gage won't be coming out in Japan ("..protocols are incompatible, [the N-Gage] cannot be used as a communications device in Japan.")

15 comments

  1. good start by Acts+of+Attrition · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now if only we could convince Nokia not to release the N-Gage in the U.S. too....

  2. Re:Console games are dying! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait a minute... weren't PC games the ones dying 6 months ago? What's going on?!

  3. kindness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    How nice of the Japanese to console all those poor, debunked rumors. Perhaps the rumors can return the favor and console the Japanese populace about their troubled deflating currency.

  4. Online play by M3wThr33 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In surverys, only 30% of people said online play affected their console choice, and only 10% actually would NOT get an online console.

    Compare that to the investment needed to entice 20% of the market and you see why Nintendo doesn't care. MS and Sony are wasting cash to CREATE the market.

    1. Re:Online play by handsomepete · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Compare that to the investment needed to entice 20% of the market and you see why Nintendo doesn't care. MS and Sony are wasting cash to CREATE the market."

      Yes, they absolutely are. However, as a result of creating the market they're gaining credability and developing infrastructure to support the future online games which will most likely be, as crazy as it drives me, the predominant force in the market 3 or 4 years from now. That's why Xbox Live might be one of the most ingenious things Microsoft has done in quite a while: They've basically created a brand name for online gaming, and that'll definitely stick as long as the console can survive now.

    2. Re:Online play by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 1

      And what percent of people do you think bought the original DOOM and cared that it had LAN support?

      It all has to start somewhere.

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
    3. Re:Online play by Daetrin · · Score: 1
      Only a 30% of the people said online play affected their choice? Only a third care abotu that issue?

      Excuse me, but that seems to be a rather large segment of the demographic to blow off. And the 10% who say they would actively not get a console that had online compatibility, what are they going to do if Nintendo comes out with an online strategy? Just not buy a console at all?

      Given that Nintendo has sold significantly less than 30% of Sony's numbers, i don't see how doing something that would influence more people than the total number of consoles they've sold so far would be wasting cash.

      They need to have a broadband expansion, they need to have a bundle pack that includes that expansion, and if they're smart, they'll make sure that the expansion is forwards compatible with the GCN2.

      The idea that games that depend on accessories won't sell well seems to be outmoded, at least as long as the accessory in question is multi-purpose. The PS2 has quite a few games with network support, and a fair number of people who use that capability.

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
  5. Poor Nokia by Man+In+Black · · Score: 1

    "Nokia's N-Gage won't be coming out in Japan"

    Boy, yet another nail in the coffin... is anything going right at all for this troubled system? The only thing I've heard about it that's even close to good news was John Romero working on a Red Faction port... and even that is rather mediocre.

    Wasn't planning on buying one, but geez, we need some competition for the GBA.

    --
    -"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
    1. Re:Poor Nokia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      "Wasn't planning on buying one, but geez, we need some competition for the GBA."

      PSP will be the first "real" competition for the GBA in the US since the Game Gear.

      Anyway...after playing with the N-Gage at E3, I HOPE it fails, at least in its current state. As a gaming machine, its pretty crappy. Hell, I'd probably take the Tetris or Breakout clones on my crappy cell phone than trying to nagivigate an actual game with controls like that.

      I can't see the NGage working as a phone OR a gaming machine...

    2. Re:Poor Nokia by RichardX · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The only thing I've heard about it that's even close to good news was John Romero working on a Red Faction port

      Uh... so the best it's got to look forward to is the guy who brought us Daikatana porting one of the most disappointing ("Geomod! It's gonna rock! fully deformable maps!") FPS games of recent years?

      N-Gage died on level 1 with 0 points.
      Your attributes:
      You were cursed.
      You were doomed.
      Fate abandoned you.

      Shame really. It sounded quite promising.. but you just have to look at the "ergonomics" of the thing to realise what a mess it's going to be.
      Still, I live in hope that I may be proven wrong, and it'll kick ass. Kick-ass gaming systems are always welcome round these parts. I'm just not getting my expectations up, is all

      As for competition for the GBA.. GP32!
      Or for that matter the NGPC, but that's deader than the dreamcast now. Still a great wee system though

      --
      Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
  6. no n-gage in japan = no dev support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    really. Talk about dead on arrival!