Major Xbox 360 Briefing in Japan Next Week
Tales of and Phantasy Star to lead announcements
Microsoft's Xbox wing in Japan today invited many media outlets, including SPOnG, to a major briefing dated for April 6th next week, with those close to proceedings hinting that some major announcements are planned. Indeed, those close to planning have openly mooted Phantasy Star Universe from Sega and a new Tales of title from Namco will headline the event.
Microsoft has suffered terribly in the Japanese market, with consumers again rejecting Microsoft's courtship dance, seeing its revised offering go unsold. The situation has been compounded by the fact that the Xbox 360 was in part designed to appeal to a consumer base renowned as being the most discerning on the planet. Indeed, Microsoft openly touted its refreshed credibility in the Japanese market prior to launching its hardware and in fairness it had covered every base except the inherent xenophobia of its target market.
As to what else Microsoft may show is up in the air, though a new Square Enix exclusive has been mentioned in some circles, as have various Sega arcade conversions including Virtua Fighter and Afterburner. Other titles mooted include Konami's Winning Eleven as well as various Xbox Live Arcade titles...
Whatever happens, it's going to be big, and attractive to our Japanese gaming friends. As to whether they'll buy an Xbox 360 to play what is offered is anyone's guess.
Microsoft has suffered terribly in the Japanese market, with consumers again rejecting Microsoft's courtship dance, seeing its revised offering go unsold. The situation has been compounded by the fact that the Xbox 360 was in part designed to appeal to a consumer base renowned as being the most discerning on the planet. Indeed, Microsoft openly touted its refreshed credibility in the Japanese market prior to launching its hardware and in fairness it had covered every base except the inherent xenophobia of its target market.
As to what else Microsoft may show is up in the air, though a new Square Enix exclusive has been mentioned in some circles, as have various Sega arcade conversions including Virtua Fighter and Afterburner. Other titles mooted include Konami's Winning Eleven as well as various Xbox Live Arcade titles...
Whatever happens, it's going to be big, and attractive to our Japanese gaming friends. As to whether they'll buy an Xbox 360 to play what is offered is anyone's guess.
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Comments
jadnice 29 Mar 2006 13:39
1/5
Waste of time and money... Microsoft just give up already... they don't want your poorly designed, power supply big like their house, weak games line up (yes all your big hits...the few of them are all on PC), over heating issues, and noisy console will always fail there.
PS3 and Revo will rule in that market...so get other it.
PS3 and Revo will rule in that market...so get other it.
kriv 29 Mar 2006 16:45
2/5
Wow that last post reminded me of the 80's "Nintendo Vs Sega".
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quicksilver 29 Mar 2006 19:01
3/5
in fairness it had covered every base except the inherent xenophobia of its target market
xenophobia...can't you do better than that tired old fallback argument? i really can't see what microsoft has done to genuinely apeal to the japanese on their own terms and i think japanese gamers have noticed this. the upcoming rpg's are a start but, geez, they've done eveything *but* cover all the bases. wait, let me add the phrase "in fairness" to make me seem unbiased...
VenomBrock 29 Mar 2006 20:04
4/5
Hahaha...look at those poor little PS3 fanboys. Get real. There are other consoles other then Playstation in the world. Live with it.
As for this announcement...Great news. A new Tales game is always good to see and adds more Japanese support to the already large backing from Japan to the 360 including games like Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Ninety-Nine Nights, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddysey, etc.
Now let's see what the Rev got...that's the only one we've seen next to nothing about.
As for this announcement...Great news. A new Tales game is always good to see and adds more Japanese support to the already large backing from Japan to the 360 including games like Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Ninety-Nine Nights, Blue Dragon, Lost Oddysey, etc.
Now let's see what the Rev got...that's the only one we've seen next to nothing about.
quicksilver 1 Apr 2006 05:11
5/5
wow, watch where you point that thing. i didn't see anything pertaining to the PS3 in my comment so i can only assume that you misclicked. and if not then i stand by my claim that the XBOX line just hasn't appealed to the japanese...yet. but in any case you're right that Tales is good news for them and maybe microsoft will gain some ground this time around.