Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Discusses Xbox E3 No-Shows

Posted by simoniker on from the bye-bye-gamie dept.

Thanks to GameSpy for its 'Sole Food' column discussing why certain Xbox games were missing from Microsoft's line-up at last month's E3 show in Los Angeles. Titles mentioned, with included late-breaking Microsoft response, include "part action, part collectible-card game" Phantom Dust ("Microsoft Game Studios has decided to not publish Phantom Dust for North America"), action title and "everyone's favorite goggle-wearing, vacuum-wielding, time-shifting cat" Blinx 2 (We plan to make an official announcement after E3"), and "console massively multiplayer online RPG" True Fantasy Live Online ("The Level 5 team is focusing on developing and polishing the game for the Japanese release this winter, and as a result the timing of the U.S. release of the game is still undetermined.")

10 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. HL2 by quecojones · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What about Half Life 2 for the XBox?

    --
    "PROFANITY is the inevitable literary crutch of the inarticulate MOTHER FUCKER." -- some PC user
    1. Re:HL2 by Wuukie · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think Valve said in an interview (couldn't find it, though, sorry) that they'll first finish HL2 on PC before they make anything with the ports.

      So maybe that's why. There just isn't anything to tell about.

  2. Re:japan? by csumk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Whilst the eastern market may not be massive, it is reasonably significant. With the japanese market comes the japanese developers - if your console isn't popular in japan the these developers are less likely to produce games on it. You are only going to get lazy ports at best. MS needs developers like Square producing games for the XBox if it is to really challenge Sony.

  3. Re:japan? by Mandoric · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There're both historical and economic reasons.

    1) When the US game market crashed in the '80s due to saturation and shovelware, the Japanese market didn't. Until the release of the XBox, every console that received mass acceptance was created by a Japanese company---the Americans had mostly given up on the market, their efforts limited to the 3D0 (backed mainly by Matsushita/Panasonic) and various attempts at reviving the Atari name.

    2) Due to this, Japanese designers of hardware had a financial head-start, which transformed into a technical proficiency head start for Japanese devs, who began work on most consoles months to years before American ones.

    3) While Japanese population is only half that of the US, PC gaming is less common, console gaming is more, and in any case the population of Japan is at least on an approximate level with that of natively-English-speaking Europe---and, in addition, the large Southeast Asian market traditionally uses Japanese hardware and software, increasing numbers.

    4) Due to the realities of Japanese population density, niche games are somewhat easier to promote---distribute and advertise in a few key cities, and you can sell to a majority of the population. This means a greater variety of games, from a greater variety of developers; in general, the huge publisher overheads in the US (massive land area) and Europe (5 or 6 languages necessary) are reduced.

  4. Re:japan? by Babbster · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Those are all good reasons, generally speaking. In the case of Xbox, though, Microsoft is simply trying to find the must-have game that will attract large numbers of Japanese gamers - Halo did this for MS in the US and the hope is that TFLO will be their breakthrough game in Japan.

    I would note, too, that it's pretty rare these days for US publishers to focus on the Japanese market at all. Microsoft has to do it because, apart from Team Ninja at Tecmo, there is a dearth of Japanese developers willing to develop Xbox exclusives.

  5. Re:japan? by BlueCodeWarrior · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This, imho, is one of the greatest weaknesses of the XBox, and part of the reason that it'll be so hard for it to catch up to the Sony / NIntendo console of the moment...

    This lack of Japanese publishers making Japanese games is a bigger deal than it seems at first look. Imagine if all of our (I speak for those who live in the US, home of Microsoft and the XBox) games were made by someone from a foreign country, and only a few by Americans...

    I wonder how many Zero Wings they have over there.

  6. Aptly enough by Dachannien · · Score: 3, Funny

    With a name like Phantom Dust, it pretty much had to be vaporware.

    1. Re:Aptly enough by MrScience · · Score: 2, Informative

      This was one game that I was reeealy looking forward to. With 4-person gameplay, each person with a unique mixture of skills (from a pool of over 300), and fully deformable environments (use telekenisis to grab a piller to bash one oponent, while causing the walkway to collapse on another oponent), it looked extremely fun.

      --

      You quitting proves that the karma kap worked. The most annoying of the whores shut up. --CmdrTaco

  7. Re:japan? by Lynxara · · Score: 2, Funny

    I recall an anecdote my Japanese-major friend told me about the Japanese dub of big American sitcom "Laverne & Shirley"... the premise and dialogue made so little sense to the Japanese that the translators felt the need to add a little change that would help the show conform more to Japanese tastes.

    They added, as a subtitle at the beginning of the title sequence, "These women were just released from an institution for the insane."

  8. More fantasies? by ChibiOne · · Score: 2, Funny
    What's the deal with profiting on the "Fantasy" games? Not satisfied with the "Final" one and the "Star", now we get the "True" one? And don't forget the "Tales of", too.

    Still waiting for "The Tales of the True Ultimate Final Phantasy Star EX"