20 Reasons Why The 360 Might Fail in Japan

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."

Comments

Still bad design.

[tktk]

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.

Um

[M.C. Hampster]

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

[Evro]

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.

Slashdot a little overzealous in M$ bashing...?

[Aeron65432]

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

I realize...

[aftk2]

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

Re:Kill my karma

[KeeperS]

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:Does it matter?

[Gogo0]

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.

Re:Kill my karma

[Saige]

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.

I don't blame the Japanese

[alan_dershowitz]

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.

Maybe Zonk is Colour Blind

[Corngood]

And also, illiterate.

Why the Japanese hate US games.

[Neo-Rio-101]

Most Japanese I speak with have told me the number one reason they won't buy American.

The games are too unforgiving.

What they mean to say is that they are generally "unfair". Most FPSs fall under this category. Let's say that the typical Japanese player is playing an FPS and suddenly a sniper from out of nowhere on the opposite team gets a head shot on him. What does the Japanese person do? He switches the game off.

He doesn't get frustrated. He doesn't whine about how unfair it is and start namecalling over chat. He doesn't get angry and try harder. He just says "this is too hard, and unfair, therefore this isn't fun" and switches off.

Japanese want to play games that are (a) fair and (b) fun. They do not derive sick pleasure from being killed from out of nowhere with no chance to respond in a logically thought out way.

Re:Why the Japanese hate US games.

[Anonymous Coward]

"If you've worked in a Japanese company for a considerable amount of time,"

American branch of a Japanese multi-nat (pretty good American presence) with many on-site Japanese-born executive and support staff, seasonals, and visitors, yeah, four years.

"having to speak Japanese"

It's still a struggle due to severe apathy on my part, but sure.

"and having to deal with customers/superiors in business situations as I have,"

Perhaps not as you have, but yes, with the additional relationships of having Japanese subordinates and equals in staff, with far less direct contact with customers if you're even going to mention them.

"then I think I stand to learn considerably."

Unquestionably and regardless of any of the above qualifications, from my point of view, if indeed you weren't joking.

The head-facing-forward way to look at what you've dismissed as childish is that you're expected not to be an asshole when others make mistakes, and the same courtesy will be extended to you when YOU make a mistake. This is hardly a childish attitude, as it requires consideration and moderation of your own emotions in deference to those of others. It also expects that the wrongful person has the wherewithal to understand his responsibilities to right his own wrongs, which has typically been the case with the Japanese I've worked with. This consideration is considered respectful going both ways. Everybody saves face.

For example, no Japanese that I know will tell you that you're being a penis-brain for being as dense to this concept as you've shown. But I will, because I am an American, and you are a penis-brain for the aforementioned reason. See? Now you're on the defensive, putting you in a position where a response from you is now warranted (you now have to regain face, because I didn't let you save it, and I've also lost face, also because I wasn't respectful enough to you to let you save face), and the outcome would just be continued negative reactions from both parties. In contrast, the expected response from a Japanese person as I'd see it would have left you to feel bad on your own terms, not requesting or demanding any kind of response from you other than for you to realize that you should get your shit together on your own. That person would not have lost face, and everything ends there.

I'll give examples from personal experience. Last month I fucked up slightly at work thanks to not following through on some double-checking (simple due diligence shit), and it led to a slight delay on a pretty unimportant (ultimately) project. The whole time, my Japanese subordinate kept chugging away on what I told him to do, but afterwards I found out that he was clear on a concept that my superior had asked of me all along. My American staff members did the same, but their only understanding of the project was what came from me. My director's response was that other teams would have to pick up the slack due to the setback, but he didn't say anything negative about my own work to me in private or in front of my staff. I felt like crap, and I redoubled our work on the project, almost pulling all-nighters a couple times. My director hadn't come off like an ass in my eyes, just disappointed, and it pushed us. Later the same week, my team was in gear and bringing other teams up to date on how we'd fixed things ourselves. Our director hadn't even asked them to take over any slack, he expected that we'd do it ourselves. I asked my Japanese staff why he didn't tell me that what we were doing was a little different from what our director wanted, and he apologized. That's it. I realized that he had just passed the buck to me, but he just didn't say it. After all, I'm his immediate boss. We saved face.

Going back way farther to find an example of me being the guy to let someone else save face, same scenario. One of my Japanese co-workers/friends (same managerial position) once caused my team to have to redo all of his team's work on one project for the past two

Re:So sick of reading this bullshit.

[gorim]

You really need to spend some time in Japan. The size thing *IS* a real issue.

Its not a matter of stereotypes, its a matter of reality.

1. With the original Xbox, who the heck wants to carry that thing from a store to their home ? Hint: most people won't throw it in the trunk. They have to hand-walk it out the store, down the street, into the subway, through x number of connecting subway and train lines, back up the street, and up the stairs into their apartment.

2. Most people *really* don't have room for something as large as an Xbox. Yeah sure, they have room for a TV, but thats one concession people have to make. Think they will make another concession for an xbox when they can just get a PS2 and keep what little space is left ?

3. The xbox is noisy as hell. Well the original PS2 was noisy too but they quieted it down. In a small space, noise matters.

Overall, size counts because as someone else said, people buy tons of devices and they are extremely frugal on space and cost.