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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."
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.
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?
Forget the whales - save the babies.
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.
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.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
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.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
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.