The 360 - Online, Japan, HD-DVD

Lots of tidbits about Microsoft's next-gen console floating around this week. On Monday, the company revealed that almost 60% of 360 owners are now using Xbox Live. GameDaily discusses what is making their setup so dang popular. Major Nelson's Sunday podcast included a lot of details on the 360's approach to HD-DVD. HD Beat has the rundown on what was said, including the inevitable Sony smack-talk. Finally, Gamasutra has a feature on the 360's position in Japan. A group of analysts debate whether or not the system even needs Japan in order to be a success. From this last article: "I don't think that American gamers are enamored [with] Japanese product because it comes from Japan; rather, I think Americans like good games, regardless of the country of origin. Microsoft doesn't need Japanese development to succeed in the U.S.; it needs good games, period."

Comments

MS Needs Japanese Developers for Japan not the US

[twistedsymphony]

Yeah americans do like good games as opposed to games from a particular country. But you'd be foolish to think that a game developer familiarity with their countrymen's likes and dislikes doesn't help sell games in that country. US games developers are generally more in tune to the US game market, and Japanese Game developers are generally more in tune with the Japanese game market. Microsoft might not need Japanese developers to sell more consoles in the US but it's pretty clear that they'll need them to sell more consoles in... Japan.

Japan-love

[Rob T Firefly]

"I don't think that American gamers are enamored [with] Japanese product because it comes from Japan;

When was the last US-based Anime convention this guy went to? You could engrave the katakana for "Super Happy Fun Watermelon Millard Fillmore" on a bologna sandwich, leave it out on the dealers floor, and someone will buy it for $50.

Re:Japan-love

[iocat]

$50! I paid $299 on ebay and that was a steal. Super Happy Fun Watermelon Millard Fillmore is sweet, although if you can find it, Super Happy Fun Watermelon Millard Fillmore Side Story X: Fourth Imperative of the Dieraga Monarch is a lot more sophisticated.

If you agree use "zonked" tag

[SuperKendall]

On each one of these stories that is not really a story, apply the "zonked" tag (click on the little triangle next to tags). At the end of the year we can all search for "zonked" stories and have a good laugh.

On this story, my main beef would be the HD-DVD link doesn't really talk about the 360 HD-DVD support at all, it's just general information about the HD-DVD format.

Re:Breakdown, please

[twistedsymphony]

Yeah the numbers are skewed.. though the Silver accounts are free you still have to SIGN UP for it and the console is quite content playing games without a silver account. Of course it doesn't make any sense to NOT do it considering the vast number of features you're missing out on. Even still I know a good 5 or 6 people IRL who own Xbox 360s and have no Xbox Live account at all, some of them don't even have broadband... heathens!

I'm on the other side of the spectrum. I have a Gold account, and my significant other has a Gold account too. I also have 2 Silver accounts registered as Europe and Japan so I can access the marketplace content from those countries AND I have 4 or so other Silver accounts that were made by some of my friends who frequently come over to play the console despite not owning one themselves. So on my console alone I have 8 Xbox Live accounts... I know quite a few other people who've made multiple Silver accounts for accessing other marketplace content or for friends to use etc.

So the real question is: does that 60% represent the percent of consoles that have one or more accounts on it, or does that 60% represent the total number of accounts over the total number of consoles?

The analyst article is worthless

[2008]

Why ask American analysts about the Xbox in Japan when you could ask some actual Japanese people? They have games journalists over there, how about getting their opinions?