Halo 2 triumphant Stateside as incredible Japanese apathy bites

Yeah, right. How could we do that? Oh, I know, maybe we could drop an atom bomb on them, when they are on their knees and dying to surrender... just so we can test our new weapon!.

Then lets do it again a couple days later.

What pisses me off when Americans talk about terrorism, and how mush of a tragedy 11/9 was, is that we are the worlds biggest terrorists. The only country EVER to use nuclear weapons against another country.

You say Screw Japan, I say SCREW USA.



Yeah, because no American ever acted in an insular way, or ever favoured American goods, services and products over another country's.



It's true, except the word you were looking for instead of 'stupid' was 'innovative' or 'fascinating' or maybe 'interesting'. Xbox is none of those things, it's a big, ugly, black PC laid on its side, with very few decent games for it.



Yeah, instead let's buy bigger, uglier, less well made electronics from USA. U S A. Go! U! S! A!.

C'mon, with a choice between a Panasonic or a Zenith TV, I know what I'm buying.

WIth a choice between PSTwo and Xbox, I know what I'm buying. You rednecks can buy what you like.



In computer games. No they can't.

Let me start this by saying that I like lots of Japanese games and lots of games developed in the west as well. But I think there's still a relatively big difference between them.

From the perspective of the way games are perceived by developers in both markets, it's clear to me that
the Japanese gaming market is mostly based on Console[b] and [b]Arcade[b], while the North American market and about every other market on the west are based mostly on the [b]PC.

We all know that all the best home-systems since the Atari 2600 were created in Japan. And the only console developed in the USA that's truly successful on a much more global level than the Atari 2600, the Xbox (which, ironically, is actually a box with PC components), was only released in 2001. And of course this is reflected on the games that are developed in both markets.

Most Japanese developers know how to work with closed-hardwares much better than most developers of the west. It's a simple matter of tradition.

Some clear examples of this are some of the biggest games on the Xbox : Fable and Star Wars : Knights of The Old Republic. I do like (and own) both games, but sometimes when playing these games, it's almost like the Xbox hardware has the minimum requirements to run them. (if you've played these games you know what I mean). And then we have the ultra-polished Ninja Gaiden with its incredibly detailed graphics (considered the best in a console game by many people) running at constant 60 frames per second. Ninja Gaiden is the perfect example of a CONSOLE GAME.

Want to do better in the Japanese market? Do this :

1) Start treating your console like a console;
2) Release Japanese-Rpgs (you know... the kind that are developed by, err... Japanese developers) on your platform (Why...OHH...Why did they cancel True Fantasy?).

As for Halo and FPS in Japan, I still think that's kind of a myth. The only reason why Halo 2 won't sell that much in Japan (in absolute numbers) is because not many people have Xbox's over there in the first place. For those who don't know, the original Halo was one of the best-selling Xbox titles in Japan. And maybe that's because Bungie has done a great job in creating a fantastic original console first-person shooter? Just my guess.

In related news, here are the hardware sale numbers for the first week of November in Japan (according to Media Create):

1. Playstation 2 (PStwo) : 114831
2. GBA SP : 27611
3. Xbox : 4959
4. Gamecube : 4656
5. GBA : 982

Xbox in THIRD place! Only because of ONE title : Dead Or Alive Ultimate. If you give them what they want, they will buy it!

Agreed, I think any sane person does. FF Series developed in Japan, Lemmings Developed in the west.

Street Fighter Series developed in Japan, Doom/Quake developed in the west... etc, etc, etc.



Whoa there. America MAYBE, and then for a few years in the 90s, MAYBE. But the PC has NEVER been the dominant games platform in any other western market.

While the influence of FPS games, which are fundamentally PC title, has been immense, the platform itself has never been the biggest in terms of revenue or units.

In fact, the FPS "concept" really came to fruition in Tomb Raider style explore-and-shoot-a-bit-'em-ups. Even tot he extent that the best FPSs, Halo and Half Life, have been compelled to include more narrative elements in the games.



Yes, but you can't infer too much from that. It was one of the best selling Xbox titles EVERYWHERE. The reason being that, for a long time, it was the ONLY Xbox game worth owning. Halo 2 in benefitting the same way.

Sure. I do know that. But I was talking about game development. Notice that all of the "west" titles you mentioned were originated on the PC, as PC games. I remember everytime I played Lemmings on the Master System or in other console, I used to think : "Dammit, I wish I had a mouse to click on these stupid lemmings" (kind of a bizarre sentence, if taken out of context). I'd include on the "great-games-from-the-west" list The Lost Vikings, as well as Prince of Persia. All of them developed originally as PC games (although these 2 could very well be consired console games gameplay-wise, if they were originally developed for consoles). What I'm trying to say is that most of the best ORIGINAL games from the west appeared on the PC first, and in that post I was not considering the "west" games, developed for consoles/arcade, that tried to emulate (some succeeded, some didn't) the greatness of some genres ORIGINALLY invented by Japanese developers (games such as Battletoads, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat,... etc).





Sure, that's true. But I think that if the Japanese absolutely didn't care about FPS, all of those who bought Halo over there wouldn't consider it worth owning and wouldn't have bought it.

Everyone Took what I said completely different than what I intended. I ment that Microsoft should just say screw Japan because they can't do anything and its better off not worrying about them anymore. Japan is very closed minded in there electronics and its better off just not worrying about them for right now and focus on there other markets.When the next XBox does come out then they can try again but for now just screw it. and I Love Japan thats why I had the (secretly loves japan) subtext because I love there culture and there ideas because they have wonderful innovations there. I may have sounded rude but I was just trying to say it in a way that sounded like Japan for Microsoft was not that important at the moment. I am sorry if i hurt anyones feeling and sorry if it was something that caused an uproar. BTW I don't see how comparing a computer/console war to Hiroshima as appropriate.

P.S. I may be a jerk but I am never, never, ever going to be racist or malicious.