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Heavy Japanese Support for Xbox 2

Posted by Zonk on from the no-home-court-advantage dept.

Gamasutra has word that there are already several Japanese game development studios and designers lining up to create titles for the Xbox 2 system. Yoshiki Okamoto, a former producer at Capcom, is quoted in the article as being surprised at the response the new console is getting. From the article: "I've been hearing that some other designers will also be joining. There are a lot of surprises. I find myself saying: 'What, this development studio!? This game!? These people!?'" Commentary on the upcoming console's Japanese future also available at GamesIndustry.biz. Update: 04/07 03:18 GMT by Z : The translations from the original source came from Gamespot.com.

9 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Resistance is futile... by the_skywise · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You will be assimilated.

    I'm not too surprised actually. Microsoft has been pushing hard and listening to what the Japanese developers want. (And probably throwing alot of money around as well)

    In that sense, I'm all for it. Microsoft's generally pretty good when competing.

    I'm worried, though, what happens if Microsoft "wins" the market.

    1. Re:Resistance is futile... by hawkbug · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, if M$ wins the market, you basically have what we had in a few different scenarios from the past:

      1) The original Playstation: It was around for a very, very long time - even after PC games looked a million times better due to evolving hardware. The PS2 didn't hit until 2001, and even then, it didn't seem to outdo computer games at all. It took the Xbox for Sony to really get serious in my opinion, and we'll have to see what the PS3 can do.

      2) Traditional Microsoft Monopoly, aka IE: Once Netscape was killed off, around 2000-2001 I'd estimate, Microsoft quit developing added features into IE. I don't care if IE 6 has a different version number, it's basically 5.0 with some security fixes, nothing really added feature wise. Not until XP SP2 did we see a pop up blocker, and a shitty one at that. Mozilla has them running scared right now in that department.

      3) Intel Pentium III: It was a fine chip, but slowly evolving and extremely overpriced. Once AMD debuted the Athlon, Intel was racing to keep up, and basically still is today. The AMD/Intel battle has done marvelous things for the computer industry, even though it may end up killing one of the companies off... not Intel because of their cash reserves I think, but if AMD screws up, they are probably sunk.

      It just goes to show that without serious competition, the market isn't forced to improve. If M$ can manage to kill Sony's game business unit (which is highly unlikely, but possible I suppose) it would probably just buy Nintendo, and whammo, XBox 3 won't come out until 2020.

    2. Re:Resistance is futile... by badasscat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm not too surprised actually. Microsoft has been pushing hard and listening to what the Japanese developers want. (And probably throwing alot of money around as well)

      The problem is it's not Microsoft or the Japanese developers that determine a console's success there. It's Japanese consumers. And Japanese consumers think of the Xbox as a bad joke.

      There is a lot more brand loyalty in Japan than there is almost anywhere else, and it's peppered with both a bit of xenophobia and a bit of nationalism (I'm not saying this is necessarily bad or that it's a whole lot different than here, but there is definitely a bias against non-Japanese electronics there, especially). Even getting some big-name Japanese games is not necessarily going to help the Xbox 2 - I mean people thought DOA3 would sell systems there and it didn't. Neither did Soul Calibur 2. Would Dragon Quest 9 or Final Fantasy 13? Maybe, maybe not. Those games would probably sell some systems, but it's a mistake to think that any single game - or even a few big games - will help turn around such a negative public perception.

      I remember when the Xbox was first released in Japan, there was a picture floating around of a couple of Japanese guys at TGS looking at the system. They were literally pointing and laughing at it. It was a funny picture, but it pretty well illustrated MS's problem there.

      This time around, MS has convinced developers that they'll do better, but it's not clear to me that there's really all that much they can do. I mean Ford's been trying to sell cars in Japan for a long time too, without much success. My guess is the honeymoon with Japanese developers will be a short-lived one once the initial sales numbers come in, unless those Japanese developers are in it more for the western game audience than for their home audience (which is possible, but would be a big mistake for them if you ask me).

    3. Re:Resistance is futile... by ZephyrXero · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In responce to your "Final Fantasy 13?" comment...

      Like it or not, the system with Final Fantasy is the one that wins the console wars with every prior battle. NES, SNES, PS1 & PS2 all had the FF series and were the top selling game consoles of their time (and no, Crystal Chronicals doesn't count...it's a completely different game). Now the interesting thing is, SquareEnix has not announced who they'll be supporting in the next gen, everyone assumes Sony, but we don't really know yet. For all we know they might go multiplatform this time around? The other strange/interesting factor this time is also that the original creator of the FF series is set to release at least two games for the Xbox2, and they'll probably be RPGs I bet...

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    4. Re:Resistance is futile... by Have+Blue · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Even the great controller mistake was largely corrected

      Speak for yourself. A large number of people, myself included, found the large controllers quite comfortable and don't look forward to being forced to adapt to an S.

      (No, I do not have freakishly large hands- I have no problems with the Gamecube controller either. But please, Microsoft, don't fix what isn't broken. I really hope the Xbox 2's controller ports are backwards-compatible, or at least that a third party clones the original for XB2...)

  2. ok, okamoto.. by evilmousse · · Score: 2, Interesting


    i want a fighter to contend with the currently dominating soul calibur. and think about blending them with mmorpgs if at all possible, and by that, i mean replacing the d&d method of diceroll situational decisions with true hit-detection & move priority that makes for fighting goodness. i know that's a lot to ask, but i'd like to see better steps in that direction than Iron-Phoenix, which i have to admit is a fighter, and uses the idsoftware approach to multiplayer battles. i'm still waiting for the one that gets tech like streetfighter or soulcalibur.

  3. Re:Unexpected! by ZephyrXero · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Whether we like it or not, Xbox2 is going to be pretty big hit. Microsoft is making some pretty smart choices and some pretty dumb ones too. They may even have a very slight chance of coming out on top of Sony this go round? I'm just worried about what XNA is going to do to smaller/independant developers mainly... although I haven't heard if it's a required purchase to be "allowed" to make games for Xbox2. Then again, I'm also of the opinion that this next generation isn't going to do so well, at least not at first. With ever rising prices, quite a few smaller developers will probably continue supporting the current consoles and casual gamers probably won't be able to see enough of a leap in graphics between these two generations to justify a $300+ system. It will certainly be an interesting time...

    --
    "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
  4. Wait, What? by Stolethis · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If I remember correctly, lack of Japanese developers was what hindered the X-Box so much before. I can't think of a single game for the system made in Japan that was console exclusive or playable. Microsoft has historically been disliked by Japan. Sony even tried to make thier own version of Unix a decade or so back so that they didn't have to use Windows. Maybe Gates just bought the country. God knows he could do it and still have enough money to use as toilet paper.

    --
    What do Saddam Hussain and Little Miss Muffet have in common? They have Kurds in their Whey.
  5. Re:IE analogy does not hold water, et al by RdsArts · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hell, we've even got history to back this up. Just look at the NES/SNES/Genesis era. Nintendo fought tooth-and-nail to keep NES sales without moving to a new hardware, but at a point you just can't sell the hardware anymore. The Genesis was eating them alive, and is really the only reason they started moving to the SNES.

    Assuming MS does get a leader position and then allow it's hardware to stagnate, all it takes is some up-and-comer to come up with nifty hardware and suddenly you get to watch the industry gravitate away from the leader.