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The Xbox 360 gets released on Saturday here in Japan, and it seems like (not surprisingly) they failed on getting people excited about the console — I know I don’t really care.
I know I tossed off a throwaway joke about Japan and the 360 at the end of my last post about the console. I know it really seems like I’m being unduly harsh. But the situation with Xbox in Japan right now is really that bad. In the boardrooms. On the streets. There’s no good news. Ever. Today we’ve got a new report with Japanese industry analysts slamming the hell out of the system’s “limited attractiveness of its titles and its lukewarm functions.” Then there’s the reports from the Tokyopia industry insider crowd that Microsoft Japan isn’t even making sure that demo kiosks are set up correctly in the nation’s most highly-trafficked retail locations (see Andrew Vestal’s report from Shibuya Tsutaya). And the fact that Dead or Alive 4 — the one game that Japan’s tiny population of diehard Xbox otaku are dying for — got delayed again. Again: no good news, ever. (GameLife)
Me, I’m head over heals in love with DRAGON QUEST 8, and it’s completely taken over my life these past few days. Oh, and it looks like we’ll be doing a PSP game session at Cafe Pause this Saturday, so I’ll post about it again once we settle on a time.
Update: But then there’s this from The Magic Box: “Famitsu estimates that Microsoft will be able to sell 100,000 units of Xbox 360 at launch in Japan on December 10.”