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Was Blue Dragon What X360 Needed In Japan?
simoniker writes "Have major RPG Blue Dragon and other Microsoft efforts paved the way for Japanese Xbox 360 success? 8-4 Ltd's John Ricciardi and Kotaku's Japanese correspondent Brian Ashcraft have been talking about the issue, with Ricciardi commenting on Gears Of War's recent appearance in the Japanese Top 10 game chart, with 33,000 units sold in one week: 'I mean, granted, everything is relative — so yes, in a market where the average 360 game sells around 5,000 copies, 30,000 or so may seem like a big deal, but at the end of the day, their userbase is not expanding. The week Gears came out they only sold a little over 7,000 pieces of hardware. It's not enough.'"
'I mean, granted, everything is relative -- so yes, in a market where the average 360 game sells around 5,000 copies, 30,000 or so may seem like a big deal, but at the end of the day, their userbase is not expanding. The week Gears came out they only sold a little over 7,000 pieces of hardware. It's not enough.'
Microsoft needs to get on the ball and release their Zephyr hardware revision, with HDMI, 120GB drive, and integrated HD-DVD. People know it's coming, and so they're probably waiting for it.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
The obvious answer is no, Blue-Dragon was not what the XBox 360 needed in japan being that the XBox 360 is still the worst selling videogame system in the country ...
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At the same time it should be noted that there are more pieces of XBox 360 software being sold than PS3 software which implies the PS3 "aint doin so hot"
Yes, a high-quality exclusive game that appeals to the Japanese market was what they needed, and desperately.
Was Blue Dragon sufficient?
No, obviously not. One game is never going to turn a console from an abject failure into a success all by itself. Few people will buy a console when only one game out of the entire library interests them, and so it is with the 360.
Blue dragon is what MS needed, past tense, to show they had a chance at all in Japan. What they need, present tense, is another Blue Dragon, and another, so that people will have multiple reasons to want one, and to hope that more games they'll like will come out. Even still MS being successfull in Japan is very iffy, but without this, failure is guaranteed. Sort of like when a paramedic needs a defribulator, even though it may not save the patient -- their other option is to sit by and note the time of death.
The enemies of Democracy are
MS just doesn't get that they just don't get Japan. The Xbox games are all very Western and Japan just doesn't enjoy them. I mean look at where 90% of FPS games come from, then look where 90% of RPGs come from, there is a very clear difference between the two markets and MS need to understand this.
I like muppets.
The Xbox 360 is a high quality game system at least on par with the PS3. The fact that the Japanese public won't buy it is basically proof in my eyes that they won't buy ANY American products. There's always some excuse about how the product isn't marketed right or built to their tastes, but the bottom line is they are biased against American products at the same time they are killing many of our industries.
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How many Americans spend a lot of money buying Japaneese Music, Movies, or Books?
There are some, but they are a pretty small minority of the population. Do most American's ignore it because these Music, Movies and Books are poor quality? No! American culture is drastically different than Japaneese culture and they have completely different views on what makes good entertainment and what doesn't.
The XBox has never taken off largely because it lacks the type of games Japaneese gamers like
Of course, your conjecture is bullshit. Above and beyond the Levis and IPods, there are plenty of American products they consume. Music and movies were especially popular. The women liked french fashion. Yeah, the Japanese are somewhat isolationist, but they'll still buy it if you market it to them appropriately.
In case you hadn't noticed, XBox360, while a good system, has jack and shit in the way of Japanese RPGs. These are the types of games that are most popular over there. No, there isn't some grand conspiricy to lock Microsoft out of the market.
Lets try to keep the bigotry in check, shall we?