Slashdot Mirror
The Xbox 360 and Japanese Nationalism
Ant writes "4 Color Rebellion has a transcript of a segment included with its recent Podcast. The piece concerns the launch of the Xbox 360 in Japan, a launch that's amounting to one of the weakest in Japanese gaming history. The authors look into the reasons behind the failure, and try to dissuade gamers from some poorly thought-out rationalizations for the console's lack of success." From the article: "McDonalds knew that some of its tastes would not appeal to the Japanese so they changed their menus. Along with the standard Big Macs and fries they also have Teriyaki burgers, fried shrimp burgers, and other things for the Japanese pallet. They didn't force the American tastes on the Japanese and thus, they thrived. Now look at the Japanese Xbox 360 launch lineup. First person Shooters, sports and car games. Games that sell really well in America but other than the car games are not to the Japanese taste. Had they launched with RPGs, simulation games, party games, gambling games and fighters, they might have done a whole lot better. McDonalds changed their company for the Japanese taste. Microsoft tried to change the Japanese taste for their company."
This is what's going to cause the console collapse in a couple years, frat-boys aren't gamers at heart, and when the novelty wears off they're going to go right back to cheap beer and cheap sluts. Especially when the $500 consoles and the $70 games start interfering with the pursuit of said beer and sluts. Hmmm, this months supply of cases of Natty light, or "Random Shooter Sequel 13" for the Xbox? Right-o, beer it is!