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Xbox 360 Core System Going to Japan
Grooves writes "Microsoft is bringing the Xbox 360 Core System to Japan a week in advance of the PlayStation 3 launch. Previously only available in North America and Europe, the Core System will cost 29,800 Yen ($256), approximately 10,000 yen ($86) cheaper than the premium Xbox 360. They're also throwing in a few games. From the article: 'According to a Microsoft spokesperson, buyers of the new base system will also get two free games for a limited time: Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ninety-Nine Nights. Microsoft will additionally announce the release of three other Platinum games which will be priced at 2,800 Yen, or $24.'"
Fantastic! Now it will cost them even less to buy a system they don't want!
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Cut your losses. They don't want it.
give it up! xbox360 is kawaikunai.
PS3 will be putting the last nails in the Xbox 360's coffin no matter what the MS and the MS Fanbois think. There is no other way around it.
Morality, filters both ways.
Can anyone comment on the possibility that the Japanese simply don't want to buy a console from a non-Japanese company? I understand the level of nationalism over there is turned up to 11, but I could be wrong. Thoughts?
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Considering how technologically concious the Japanese seem to be, I doubt they'd be more willing to buy a dumbed-down version of a console that no one wants already. It will sell units because it's cheaper, but it won't be enough to give Microsoft a real boost in the market.
And even with this core console's price, it could still cost too much. The Wii is set to release with the price tag of, at most, 25,000 yet ($225 or so, I believe), and those Japanese have been eating up the DS, so there's no reason the same won't happen for the Wii.
From what i've read, even Japanese gamers are weary about dumping $600 or so on a PS3 - toss them a comparable system at 1/2 the price and that sitting next to the Wii (which that market will prob gobble up faster than any system in history) and MS could have a shot - shoulda done it with a free RPG though (99nites is better than PGR but nothing great)
also, when are we going to get $24 games in the states??? that would also definately boost sales here during the PS3 launch...
Crazy awesome!
He's got a gun!
Ninty Nine Nights? That game was garbage. They're not going to convince Japan to cross over with that. If you're going to make a package, at least put games they'll actually care about in there!
The 360 is dead in Japan. This latest effort is utterly futile. The 360 is sitting at an embarrassing 150k consoles sold after eight months on the market in Japan.
The 360 is dead in Europe. After eight months on the market the console hasn't even hit a million sold yet. Microsoft only shipped 200k new 360s to all of Europe last month. Europe clearly isn't impressed with the 360.
And the 360 is selling at a rate after eight months on the market in the US that is 300k units behind the first Xbox.
150k in Japan + ~800k or so in Europe + 2.3 million in the US - Microsoft needs a massive price cut immediately or they face going the way of the Dreamcast with the 360. The Wii and PS3 are about to hit the market and the console world is about to forget the 360 exists.
Microsoft should make a deal ($$$$$) with Sega and call it a Sega Xbox 360 in Japan. Have a few cosmetic changes and have some Japanese engineers oversee the production of consoles sent to Japan. Japanese gamers may feel that it is Japanese enough to purchase. It is a very large console (until the 65 nm manufacturing sets in), but it is still smaller than the PS3!
Microsoft will have to approach Japanese developers who are creating PS3 exclusive games, but who are not under exclusive contract to Sony. With the fear of a inexpensive Wii and an overly expensive PS3, Microsoft offers them 1.5 x amount of money where x is the cost of porting the PS3 game over to the XBox 360. The developer makes more than their money back on porting it to the Xbox 360 and Microsoft can build it's Japanese game library. Even if this was wildly successful I don't see Microsoft building more than 20% of the Japanese game console market.
Has anyone else seen the ign footage of the Wii in action. It looks kind of interesting, but apparent from Red Steel, all of the games had a kiddie look to them. That WILL hurt the Wii among some gamers.
Buy up or partner with some companies making the kind of games that japanese gamers love to play (preferably those making popular franchises rather than just games in popular styles) and offer them briefcases full of money to make their games exclusive to the XBOX 360.
Staggering. I'd hardly call the 360 a "dumbed-down version of a console that no one wants". It's selling just fine here in the US, and (at the moment) it's the best thing out there. It plays the most of the old xbox games and the newer games have some pretty good titles, too. Oh, and the "dumbed-down" interface and xbox live system is second to none. That I can start the thing, shut it down, check with other friends online, stream video/music from my server PC to any room in my house I've got it plugged into -- Microsoft finally got it right. So, no, the 360 is hardly a "dumbed-down version of a console". Your comments (and many of the MS haters above) show little experience with the 360. I'm no MS fanboy, but I've had a 360 since January and I get more impressed with the interface and useability each time I use it. Not quite as usefull as a modded xbox, but nearly so, with very nice user interface. The wireless controls are exceptional. As for "technologically concious" -- the Japanese like their electronics, but god help me no Sony 200 button remote is good design -- and you can't convince me ANYONE wants that. Yet the Japanese buy it anyway -- why? The xbox360 features both a high level of technology and good design. If more Japan-only games were developed there would be no excuse for not having higher sales figures
Microsoft HAS TO release it in Japan -- wether they want it or not. A market boost is almost irrelevant -- they need to get it IN the market. I think the previous revolt against the xbox in Japan was enough to show the Japanese bias. No Japanese style games? -- GET A JAPANESE DEVELOPER TO MAKE SOME! Come on! I won't argue that MS didn't have some PR issues in Japan with the original xbox launch, but the reasons that get cited (non-Japanese centric, not enough Japansese titles) are rediculous and easily remidied. There seems to be a lot of anti-MS bias in Japan (hell -- even here in the US) and they seem to take their electronics purchasing to a new nationalistic level. Don't think people really buy stuff that way? Know any Americans that will only buy Ford's or Chevy's? Yup -- I know quite a few that are so restrictive in their purchasing abilities. The Japanese seem to be the same about their electronics.
Then we're going to compare the Wii and the DS and think becasue the DS is such a hit in Japan, the Wii will be the same? THey're in two totally different markets! With totally different target markets! You can say the Wii is targeting the casual gamer much like the DS -- but I can't take it on the train, I can't take it on the bus, I can't take it in all these urban public transit places that the DS thrives on. I like the Wii, but I'll make no such comparisons. It's success will in no way depend on the DS or the market it serves.
p0rn is the prime driver for any technologies.
Know your Otaku (as in Japanese nerds) customers. They are not into fps.
You Xbox fanboys really need to get over the REAL fact that the Xbox360 doesn't enough killer-app games to sell the system to the Japanese.
This is a smart move by Microsoft, they know they suffer in the Japanese market place due to brand affiliation and they I bet they are having a whale of a time hearing about Sony's problems (Europe PS3 delay to March 2007) and now that can capitalise in Sony's home market. I definitely think that the PS3 will have a hard time competiting with the 360 due to factors such as the time advantage MS have, the cost of the 360 dropping over that time while the PS3 being priced out of it's own major markets, the online capabilities of the 360 far outshining anything sony have produced previously (along with MS knowledge of the web, unlike Sony) and others, but I will reserve full judgement until I have a PS3 in my hands and can actually play it. If I were Sony, I'd be rather nervous about the performance in the marketplace of their third outing right now.
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