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The New Japan 360 Plan
Gamespot lays out Microsoft's new plan for the 360 in Japan. They're not taking the initial cool reception for their console lying down. Initiatives include new games, an emphasis on the Live system, and updates on ongoing projects that appeal to Japanese gamers. From the article: "Taking time out from development work on a clutch of Xbox 360-exclusive RPGs, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi gave a progress report on a number of projects underway at his Mistwalker development company. His first game, Blue Dragon, is on track for a 2006 release. Sakaguchi says the game is playable and his team is currently focused on game balance and presentation. Sakaguchi's second game, Lost Odyssey, is slated for a 2007 launch."
Why does it seem like both Sony and MS are trying to play catch up with each other? At this rate, they will be running in circles while Nintendo walks right on by.
I was pretty skeptical about the potential for this thing - in Japan, the US, elsewhere - because it had a really sucky launch lineup.
But since I got mine on April 2, despite buying three games (COD2, Oblivion, GRAW), I have spent most of my time downloading and playing the demos that are FREE. I'm also a Natasha Beddingfield fan and appreciated the video download of her singing two songs.
If MS can start distributing Movies and TV shows through this thing, that will be HUGE. And it seems like it's just a matter of them negotiating it.
I know and talk with a number of folks in Japan quite often, and most of them are tied to the videogame industry in one way or another or at least very hardcore gamers... their response... ::Cue Crickets::
Blue Dragon is not the great savior MS keeps claiming it is. Public opinion and interest is non-existent. It is too expensive, too large, and offers no real compelling reasons to buy one especially with the force fed "Japanese" games Microsoft paid big bucks to churn out purely to pander to the Japanese. The game has been in development too long, and with too many problems along the way for it to be worthy of relaunching the system based on it. The lines of *three* people in some places will repeat themselves and life will continue.
One of the best stories was from a friend of mine who was being bargained with by a store owner to purchase a 360 at below retail on launch day just so they could move them... he was trying to buy a new video camera.
Good luck with this one MS.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
It will be interesting to see what happens with the XBox 360 and the PS3 over the next 18 months. Lets face it, the XBox 360 is still-born in Japan and will likely never recover (regardless of how much money Microsoft throws at it); at the same time Sony may alienate 3/4 of gamers with the massive expense of the PS3 (assuming the price rumors are true). If this continues I can't see either console becoming nearly as dominant as the PS2, Playstation, SNES, NES or Atari were.
I'm not going to bet money on it, but it seems like both Sony and MS have burned their chance in Japan; at the same time Microsoft hasn't had all that much success in Europe or North-America with the XBox 360 (and again at the rumored price point I can't see the PS3 being successful). It reminds me of the SNES-to-N64 transition, most people discounted Sony because everyone wanted a Nintendo or Sega System; it was only through the mistakes of Nintendo and Sega with their consoles that opened up the door for the PS2. Maybe I'm being optimistic but it seems that if Nintendo can provide unique, inovative, game-play at a reasonable price then they have an opportunity to 'win' the console wars by default.
It seems like the XBox 360's plan all along, for as long as I've been paying attention to the thing, has been, at some point Mistwalker will release some games, and suddenly ill will and failure will become success and happiness and light, and Japan will love the XBox 360.
I mean, Mistwalker's games will be coming out at about the same time as the PS3 and Nintendo Revolution, and will have to compete for hype time with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (coming soon for the Revolution) and Final Fantasy 13 (coming later for the PS3). But, hey, Blue Dragon is made by a Japanese person! The fact that it was made by a Japanese person means Japanese people will suddenly, instantly love it, right? It must be so!
It kind of honestly seems to me like even now, Microsoft's plans aren't about succeeding in Japan. I mean, I'm sure they'd love to succeed in Japan. But that's not what their main goal is. Their main goal is about projecting the image, in the west, that they're succeeding or about to succeed in Japan. They don't care if it succeeds in Japan, but it is very very important to them that Americans think it's succeeding in Japan. This is just speculation, maybe Microsoft isn't really intending it this way, maybe they really just do believe that two JRPGs, by themselves, are enough to break into a Japanese market that otherwise has shown zero interest in the thing.
But in effect, it looks to me like the chief beneficiary of the XBox Japan strategy isn't Japanese consumers, or even the Japanese XBox sales team. It's just a bone tossed to the Microsoft faithful in english-speaking countries, who can go on message boards and brag, see? See what a big impressive deal the XBox 360 is! It's taking over the markets! It's unstoppable! Even Japanese people love it! Well, OK. They're going to love it. Start loving it. Soon. Soon as that Mistwalker title comes out, they'll instantly go nuts for it. Just trust me.
..Then why is the Ipod so successful there, when surrounded by plenty of other asian made Mp3 players?
Yeah, the 360 technically "outsold" the GC for this sales period. But the GC has sold about 33% more than the 360 this year (total).
OK, I live in Japan, and have seen how things work here.
Firstly, the Japanese are very collectivist. I don't mean to sound insulting or anything - they just are. They care about what everyone else does and thinks, and very often you see these kind of "collective decisions" being made, seemingly spontaneously across a huge market. That's why marketing is so incredibly important here - to try to influence this silent "decision". You can see it in the very, very high quality of japanese commercials compared to, well, anywhere else. It's really, really important.
Now sometimes this behaviour is good, and sometimes it's bad. It's wonderful when some hot technology comes along and is just adopted by EVERYONE just like *that*. The right people saw it, they bought it, they told some more people, and like a chain reaction everyone loves that new thing. It just happens and it's amazing. The DS is like that. You can't buy one for love or money here in Tokyo.
What you don't want to be is on the flip side of that coin, when your product is rejected by the group. A product at debut, especially a high-status/visibility item like the 360, has maybe 2 weeks to get that snowball rolling after launch. After that, the same effect can be seen, in the negative. The product becomes unpopular BECAUSE it is unpopular. And before you know it, everyone has just invisibly decided your product is a turkey and you know what? It is.
That's what has now happened to the 360, just as it happened with the original. It is a LEPER in japan, there are piles of them sitting in every electronics store. I do not know a single person who has even mentioned them, and I hang around techie types. It is a leper, it will never sell, it has failed, game over, good luck next time.
I should add that the marketing for the 360 was very poor. Seemed cheap and tacky, and the very colours of the 360 seem calculated to annoy japanese - americans might think the "alien green" is cool and x-treme but the japanese just think it's ugly and tacky, and that was yet another blow to the 360's chances right at the critical moment.
Dead. Deceased. Pushing up the daisies. Nothing more you can say.
thanks,
Sho
In Japanese atleast. I'm sure it has been mentioned before. In Asian culture, the character X is synonymous with all sorts of badness and is used by teachers to grade really bad papers and has connotations of death and whatnot.
Another words, how about changing the name.
Selling the X-box in Asia is like trying to sella a console for the American market named the "Suxbox", "Shitinabox" or "Crapconsoloe 360" or something to that effect.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
This is like when you say something you think is hilarious, but nobody laughs, so you think they just didn't hear you right, so you say it again. Turns out no-one was laughing because they didn't think it was funny in the first place.