Japanese game shops, lately burdened by a huge surplus of unwanted Xbox 360s they cannot sell, are now offering to buy used Xboxes for a paltry ¥500.
One shop explains their decision:
“We’re buying Core 360s for ¥500… A lot of places won’t buy them at all, you see.”
“We’ll buy Arcades for ¥3000… Elites sell for more.”
Most shops will also have nothing to do with older models.
Reportedly there are Xbox 360 owners actually willing to sell their units at this price.
It would appear Microsoft’s withdrawal from the Japanese market is not far off.
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Oh man i would like one that cheap.......just to see it RROD!!! lol
I played CoD MW2 Team Death match, and ended up facing a full team (6) of Japanese (they were pretty good too). So I suppose there are Japanese out there that do like our shooters. It just happens to be that they are both 1. The minority. 2. Ignored (because they are a minority).
Everyone acts like they don't exist, but they do.
"They're a minority so lets ignore them (their existence)." Seems to be about right.
No one is saying that they don't exist. Its just there not the majority like gamers here in the states. I also hope the 360 does pull out of Japan these post about 360 vs ps3 are just annoying when everyone know pc is king.
Hmm it looks lik the Xbox will soon become worthless...
Hmm it looks lik the Xbox will soon become worthless in Japan.
Fixed.
Next time: Xbox used as a target practice at a range.
There was one time someone used a Spas-12 to blast the Xbox lol
All according to plan.
Christ all this ps3, xbox shit is annoying. All you monkeys can just keep arguing amongst yourselves, I'm happy to be part of the PC Master Race.
My problem with most of the comments is the fact that they speak from a fanboy perspective rather than a market reality perspective. Proof positive that most weeaboos have their heads firmly up their asses.
Guess we'll be busy playing games while you'll be messing around with driver updates, hardware upgrades etc.
Oh, remember the old days? IRQ conflicts and base mem optimization. Oh what fun. Master race? More like assblaster.
"Master race" ? oh lulz.
I think it's a reference to Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, who is a brilliant reviewer by the way.
wahahaha nice picture.
what is quality and what does it do?
Anyway why support a market that CONSISTS on fking the consumers over time and time again?
Despite there being a high percentage of idiots in the world...mainly known as amerikkkans, those that only soil the good name the american people focused so hard on, promote such retarded bs.
Yet again. The xbox 360's failure in japan is due to it's own demise. Not only in japan eventually everywhere else. Despite the blind ignorant fanboys supporting it. Shits getting old.
You know if Microsoft was willing to spend money on marketing...they should have also invested some of that in quality. In which...they would have dominated the market. Yet...that's why microsoft is a business and why there's not even a handful of quality games on that piece of shit paperweight.
I have personally worked at a video game store here in America for a while. What kills me is that there is a want for the foreign market games, but the want is limited to a select amount of people. This includes myself. As of current though, the only possible ways to fulfill this demand is to either purchase off ebay, Game/ Anime conventions, torrents, or other websites like playasia. In the last several years, of course the X360 outsold the PS3. This was due not only to the initial PS3 price but also the available game choices.
IN MY OPINION, the 360 is a dying/ dead system due to its poor manufacturing and companies business logic. YES, it had some great features. Yes it had a lot of games. Microsoft messed up though, "even admitting to it", by stating themselves that all 360 are doomed to fail. Providing an addition 3 year warranty is nice and all, but why as a company, do you need to do such a thing if your product would have worked correctly in the first place?!! Sony got it right and what they didn't they improved on. Ultimately, the goal is to generate a system that can offer something for everyone, be reliable, and not break the piggy bank. Sony did this to the best of their abilities and will prob do it again in the future.
I personally own both the 360 and PS3, and feel both have pro's and con's. I will also say that I have had one of each system die on me. The X360 RROD and the PS3 received the ever terrifying yellow light of death. There was no joy in either circumstance. I thankfully had a warranty on each system through my company thus did not have to pay to get a new ones. What sucks though is that state side the choices for the PS3 are lacking due to the want of AMERICANIZED games/ games that meet our f'en harsh filter and rating systems. I would love to have many japanese titles hit the states, but our censorship system wont allow it.
Hell, was it not 2008 when they put an individual here in the states in jail for ordering several doujin from Japan. Upon hitting stateside, the mail service opened his package, found the doujins, and arrested him for ordering and obtain pornographic material of children. To this i stated WHAT THE F*** is wrong with our country! When did any form of manga or animation become real people? When did individuals loss their freedom and rights? Seriously!When can we get an f'en reform of the government and stop trying to make every issue and conflict of the world our own.
Actually, seeing rare comments that worth more than the article itself is kinda like finding a pearl in a pile of goo. Thanks for the info, bro.
The reason for many launch and first year Xbox 360 consoles having severe hardware failures early on in their lifetime, and the Xbox 360 itself not being steamrolled by Sony's ruthless, baseless hype over the PlayStation 3 is one and the same; Microsoft released it too soon.
That's right, they spear-headed the seventh generation of consoles just so Sony wouldn't have a chance to outsell them almost 6 to 1 (according to Wikipedia) like they did with the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox. And, to a large extent, they accomplished their main objective of turning into a major player in the industry. To an absurd, borderline consumer-insulting cost, but they succeeded.
Otherwise yeah, this entire thing has become too huge of a business, and the same reason why Microsoft resorted to doing that is behind many Japanese games not getting released in America or Europe.
kinda lame question but... is that possible to import a $5 x360 from japan? it is said in the news that someone is actually willing to re-sell an used xbox on this price...
any problem on using it on the rest of the world? (region lock?)
it may have lots of different opinions but still it is an intresting console with some multimedia capabilities... even if the price gets ten times higher with the import taxes, it worth the effort.
Where can I import one?
Ugly ass characters of Xbox fame, on par with FACELESS hero of thousands of americans (what was his name? chief somthing?), did their part
"It would appear Microsoft’s withdrawal from the Japanese market is not far off."
Good. I've been saying that Microsoft should just get out of the Japanese market for a couple of years now. Microsoft honestly doesn't need Japan for the XBOX to be successful, and anyone that thinks they do is deluding themselves. Does Japan need the west to be successful with anime and manga? Heck no, they make most of their money off their own people. Games are no different.
If you want a direct example, take for instance Mass Effect 2, which is guaranteed to sell mountains of copies on the 360, which will in-turn make Bioware, EA, and Microsoft even more wealthy, all without Japan's help. Does Japan care about Mass Effect? Hell no, Japan hates those rag tag, toe rag, piece of shit western RPGs.
It's a shame, but people have to face the reality that most Japanese gamers have no reason to reciprocate; The love many of us have for Japanese games is a one-way street.
Actually, it seems like the Japanese animation industry is floundering. There's a reason for producing such vapid, half-assed rehashery like Dragon Ball Kai, and that reason's the American dollar.
Please do elaborate. Are you referring to how the world economy is still recovering ? or...the japanese supposably producing things while aiming at an american dollar? Because as far as anime is concerned, the latter is obviously not true.
Tha latter isn't an all-encompassing problem, but it most definitely IS an issue. Anime adaptations of manga series have always been dumbed down because of differences in the target demographics, but what has happened with Kai and most probably also Naruto is clearly due to Japanese animation producers taking too much into consideration overseas' sales numbers. And make no mistake: the big bucks comes from those shows, not the (generally sick) stuff Arte comments here, no matter how much "air cut, sell uncut" business logic is applied to those shows.
If the Japanese animation industry manages to break free of the moeblob, content-free garbage, we will probably start to see more and more gratuitiously, overly dumbed-down shonen and maybe even supposedly seinen series, whenever the next Cowboy Bebop shows up.
But the Japanese do like certain Western RPGs. Oblivion and Fallout 3, for example, are relatively popular in Japan.
I love how I got thumbs down on this post... What's the matter guys? Too much reality for you?
I've read posts that claim that playing the xenophobic card is wrong and points to the success of devices like the ipod as proof. While posts like that are certainly true, they don't go far enough into WHY the ipod is successful in Japan. It appears that the ipod is successful becuase when a Japanese consumer buys one, they are presented with Japense itunes content and they are able to take their Japanese music collection and load it onto the device, thus making it a Japanese experience.
When a Japanese gamer walks into a game store to look at the xbox isle, if the first game he sees is something like Madden or Army of Two, he will likely turn around and run as fast as he can. Honestly guys... Tell me how I'm wrong.
In my mind Microsoft or any other company (Apple perhaps?) can solve this whole problem by totally isolating the markets and then letting each side chose what titles they want to cross the boundary. If a Japanese publisher picks up an American title and it fails, they have only themselves to blame. Likewise, if an American or Japanese company wishes to publish a Japanese title in North America or Europe, it will be their choice. More isolation of the markets would solve issues of turning off gamers with American content.
The challenge to this would be convincing Japanese developers to develop entirely Japanese content for the system. You would have to convince them that the system is powerful, easy to develop for, and not tainted by the stench of American games.
Honestly. If the Japanese are given a chunk of brilliant hardware to work with and top-shelf support, what would they be able to complain about?
It's either this model, or get out of the Japanese market. I don't see any other way.
If this marketing model failed and people still refused to buy the system despite piles of great 100% Japanese content, then something else is going on that needs to be studied.
Again, rather than spamming thumbs downs, why don't you fine people actually come up with some constructive criticism.
Because Xbox 360 doesn't have a services where you can Download Adult Videos for 800 points thats why the Japanese won't buy the Xbox 360 It doesn't have porn.
Don't even buy this shit for $1.
Is it surprising? I think not. Till the day Xbox will actually be able to match up to the PS.
this article reeks of bullshit...
So does you and your mom. How the fuck are you still in denial thinking that the xbox 360 would worth anything? Who the hell would buy a used 360? Dumb fucks.
win, and totally agree lol freaking microsoft
There is an awesome japanese action game for the first-gen Xbox. It is "Metal Wolf Chaos" from "From Software", one of the hidden gems.
Most 360-owning Japanese would only sell the system off to trade up to a newer and more reliable model. Japanese don't buy a system like the 360 on a whim. They buy a 360 because they know they want one. And since no one wants to buy a used 360 (for obvious reasons), these game shops end up with a surplus of old, unreliable systems they can't sell. Since their storage space is limited, they have no choice but to discourage any more trade-ins by offering so little for them.
I wouldn't be surprised if most of the 360 hate posted on 2ch and the like originates from the workers and owners of these shops. It wouldn't make much sense otherwise since there's no such thing as an Xbox fanboy in Japan, so why else would they waste their time in attacking a group that doesn't exist and a console with such tiny marketshare unless it was somehow personal? Something like 99% of 360 owners in Japan also own a PS3, so there's only Nintendo fanboys, Sony fanboys, and multiconsole owners.
Microsoft isn't going to ditch Japan. They've sold quite a few more 360's there in 2009 than they did in 2008. The 360 is still selling like 5,000 units a week on average, despite not having any major releases for weeks or months at a time. The average weekly sales have stabilized at that amount ever since the release of ToV. Before ToV, the 360 had been selling at something like 2,500 a week or less on average since it launched there. Demand for the system is still there (for brand new ones), and it's growing.
And "youge" have little to nothing to do with it. In Japan, 99% of "youge" sell far better on the PS3 than on the 360. The only reasons a Japanese person would want a 360 is for the shoot'em ups, dating sims/visual novels, and other exclusives (and games that multiplat games that just run/look way better on the 360, like Bayonetta). The 360 is the de-facto current-gen console for the former two groups. The cheap price of the console is a factor too.
epic fail computer gaming beats all
Strangly $5 turns the Failbox into a sort of want from do not want.
マジかよ糞箱売ってくる
~ “We’re buying Core 360s for ¥500… A lot of places won’t buy them at all, you see.”
~ “We’ll buy Arcades for ¥3000… Elites sell for more.”
...Huh?
This shop will buy core systems for ¥500.. but buy arcades and elites for ¥3000+? The shop admits they have new 360 they can't sell, so why the flip do they even want used ones too? It's weird that the cost of the HDD pumps up the price because that's the only reason I can figure to the dramatic difference btw all those systems.
Again though.. Why?!
Wow. How far the mighty have fallen (in japan anyway).
Business-wise, the Japanese gaming market is rumored to have been shrinking anyway, MS should just try their best in Japan but not worry too much about it. Pretty soon Japan will be a tertiary market behind the USA and Europe anyway. Japanese companies will start moving towards designing games for foreign markets too.
Japan's has been behind the US and Europe for years, and it has been falling further behind.
I know what I'm getting this weekend!
Time to import and mod!
I like my 360 (not as good exclusives as the PS3, but multiplatform games are generally better on the 360), but man, did Microsoft ever drop the ball with that Red Ring of Death problem. Just a few days ago, I had to send it in a second time for repairs. Meanwhile, my Sega Master System is still chugging along just fine.
Anyways, speaking from a neutral point of view, Microsoft shouldn't bother pushing the 360 any more in Japan. Even with exclusives like Idolmaster and Dream Club, it never seemed to grab the Japanese gaming public like it did in North America and to a lesser extent in Europe (though even there PS3 sales have recently surpassed 360 sales).
And now 360 owners are crying about it.
see and judge in this link :D
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n%3A15783231%2Cn%3A15783281&bbn=15783231&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914088&rnid=15783231 [http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n:15783231,n:15783281&bbn=15783231&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914088&rnid=15783231]
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n:15782591,n:15782641&bbn=15782591&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914287&rnid=15782591 [http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n:15782591,n:15782641&bbn=15782591&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914287&rnid=15782591]
"ROD YLOD ROD YLOD ROD YLOD ROD YLOD ROD YLOD ROD YLOD"
(@_@)\
... I'm sorry, but I don't get your point.
If I revert the selection of "adventure" games to encompass all games of both systems, I get that Japanese 360 owners are very interested (or something, I can't read the sorting criteria) in End of Eternity, Stein;Gate and Dragon Rising, while PS3 owners piss themselves all over the place for Final Fantasy XIII, Ar Tonelico 3 and "non-beta" Star Ocean 4.
I want one, SERIOUSLY.
At least this is a lot times better than the VirtualBoy (no, not the GBA emulator).
I liked the VirtualBoy. I only had two games for it though, Mario Clash and 3D Tetris, but they were fun. I especially liked the puzzle mode in 3D Tetris.
It's actually VisualboyAdvance
I like how people rate me down(maidNiac) even though I'm right, more proof the rating system is broken.
this way, if it RROD, you only spent $5!
so many illiterates thinking they can get a $5 xbox...
they are BUYING them that low, not selling. now their selling price will no doubt be cheaper than normal, but definitely not $5...
the fact that they are buying them at that price, really does show it's value in the market though...
it's probably a combination of hardware troubles, very strict genre of titles and all the bad word of mouth
if a lot of them are buying at that price that means there are at least some sellers as well
lol where do you get your sources?
sony fanboys are the worst. i hope you know this doesn't stop MS from dominating over the PS3 in the US. ps3 will die before the xbox360 does.
Hhahahaha, I somehow doubt that... you are not taking into account the 360's most coveted, exclusive feature!
RRoD... 360's suck so bad that they try to take their own life every time they get a chance.
It's all the PS3 fanboys argue about. Fine, there you have it.
360 sucks because:
RROD
PS3 sucks because:
Loading.
Lack of games.
Installation.
Comes out with games years old from the 360 and puts a new price tag on it, Sony fanboys buy it. LOL
But... who cares about the US?
but losing a country still sucks
and the PS3 is doing just fine in the US, EU and JP markets now
HAHAHAHAHA ALL ABOARD THE MS FAIL TRAIN!!!!!
500Yen? You can't get a BigMac menu for that... I guess Japanese aren't that stupid, that's why it won't sell.
Seeing MS fails just makes me happy !
FPS on CONSOLE is fucking retarded, I don't blame them at all.
Most of them are fine when you get used to them which doesn't take that long.
Another weeabo faboy faggotry filled piece of propaganda. Microsoft will leave Japan? Sure, while you suck my testicles.
anybody here wants to suck this gay guys balls?
HO HO HO HO!!!!
Arent you trying to be a smart one and trying to troll us.
OF course they wont leave Japanese, only takes a second to think of it.
Thought @21:54 should of known better than feed this poor person.
dirty...
500???? I'll take 100 PLS! And then sell them to 3rd world countries and make a fortune!
GAYBOX FAIL SUCK YOUR OWN DICK GAY BOX FANS !
The essence of a sony fanboy.
the essence of a sony fanboy who hates gay cause deep in his soul he knows he is a gay too but he refuse to admit it
I'd like to think gay people have better taste and a little more brains than mindless sony fanboys.
5 bucks!?
FUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Who wants to go with me to Japan?
lol that wouldn't make sense, buying an expensive ticket for a 5 dollar console. Then again it's a trip to JAPAN.
This has awesome written all over it.
If you pay a little more attention to the article, you'll notice that 360's are bought for ~$5/unit, not sold. Just FYI.
I'm talking about buying them off the dudes for five bucks though. Maybe a bit higher. Just stand outside a place that takes them and offer to buy one off the person selling it. Seeing how most shops really don't look like they're taking them, I don't think they care all that much.
And if possible we can sell them to American stores for credit. Probably not though.
Lol I want one, Where can I get one?
Well, what do you think? I'm going to Tokyo for a conference in mid February...do you guys think I should pick one up? If it's only around 40 or 50, might be worth it to bring back, I think....but I'm no expert. Opinions people!
Cool....I don't think that the customs will ding me for too much, and it's based on purchase value anyway. I think I'll do it; if the system is that cheap, then the games probably are too, so time to go nuts! (plus, since the conference is paid for, it's not like I'm budgeting for travel :)
yes! for 40 or 50 US dollars you should get one!
Keep in mind that the 360 is region locked. So you'll only be able to play Japanese games. So if you do decide to get one, you also need to buy some Idolm@ster games to go with it.
Most NTSC games are region free anyways, so you'll still be able to play a lot of native US games.
what about Customs taxes?
Japan-US has trade agreements so import taxes are low if any at all. At least things like a 360 won't have any taxes. So far the most expensive thing I've had shipped over ($500) was customs free, so I'd expect anything less will be free too.
The problem with xbox isn't only that it has a high failure rate, or that the games aren't 100% focused on the Japanese market. The problem lies with it not being a Japanese brand. Same with the iPhone, as many didn't want anything to do with it since "it's not Japanese".
i disagree/w first statement. it was doing fine in alot of countries, but it seems their underhanded tactics are costing them. i just wish they weren't responsible for windows, because i like windows, but hate xbox.
Well, the iPhone (+ iPod Touch) is doing pretty well now in Japan.
See here for more info: http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2009/12/the-iphone-is-doing-great-in-japan.html
The trouble here is that no-one wants the shit vanilla version. Really, who would want the half version?
Holy fuck!
INTERNET ARGUMENT!
The iPhone doesn't have many of the features the Japanese take for granted, and add in the fact that phones in Japan are rarely sold seperately, but are released as special editions from the various service providers.
Japan didn't embrace the I-phone because their phones were already good. Americans on the other hand flocked to their local AT&T to buy the cool new gadget, and have those early bills to prove it.
even with all that said, they really didn't try that hard to appeal to Japanese players, just like the original XBOX
There are more RPG's on the Xbox 360 than the PS3 for the longest time so they did try at first, but clearly they need to fire their marketing team in Japan :P because they failed big time.
Anyway they seem to be doing fine without that market share regardless
Im Japanese.
I think Xbox 360 failed in Japan because Its not Japanese brand. (Japans game market has expanded by Japanese games. So Japanese people prejudice against foreign game products and want to buy domestic products.)
However, iPhones are selling well more than Japans mobile phone, though Japans mobile phone market had expanded by Japanese brands.
Japan has some isolation markets and xenophobic sides.
However, I think some US people who based on the racial discriminative view assume that Japanese never buy foreign products.
I love both USs and Japans cultures. So Im very sad that some US people provoke Japanese to anger and look down. (and Japanese trolls are shit too.)
WE LOVE JAPAN! WE LOVE JAPAN! WE LOVE JAPAN!
@20:26
However you think we are a majority we aren't
and don't back up with some bullshit saying that we all use Sony products and they all come from Japan etc etc. Most products are made in China nowadays.
Besides the Japanese have some views on US Technology like us to them keep in mind they are a minority much like us in the western world.
I somehow don't think your japanese. Not that it matters.
God, you morons are so quick to play the race/xenophobe card nowadays...
If that's the case, then what the hell was the deal with the iPod's success over in Japan anyways? You do realize that nobody, not even people in the United States wants an iPhone nowadays, right?
Its failure has more to do with how the Xbox brand has been marketed since it it had been conceived. The the Xbox brand is predominately associated with first-person shooting games, which obviously aren't anywhere near as popular in Japan compared to turn-based/strategy RPGs, visual novels and puzzle games. Most people in Japan don't look at an Xbox and say "Xbox? A system made by an American company? Pass." Otherwise, they would've never bought that $2000 computer with an American operating system made by the same fucking company back at home. When they look at the Xbox brand, they say "Xbox? That system with all those mindless shooters? Pass." Don't you get it? Most Japanese don't like FPS games--Regardless of the actual lineup, you really expect them to be interested in a brand name that's known for being conceived with FPS games in mind?
You can't really garner much interest in your system outside of a small niche if your brand has a huge reputation for being firmly associated with something that your target audience isn't interested in. If its failure were just on the basis that "it's not Japanese", then series like GTA would have never sold well in Japan at all.
Sure people in the US don't want an IPhone yet there are over 10 million IPhone users and I personally know about 40 people that have it and more of them telling me that they are getting it. I tell them not to due to the cost of the plan, I tell to get a Palm or a Droid phone,In New York city there are so many IPhone users that the have effectivly broken the network, so your logic kind of fails a little bit.
Well, personally saying on the iPhone matter. It's relatively simple.
I've got a laptop, the hell do I need a downgraded PC-in-a-phone with a higher cost then my regular cellphone/MP3?
I totally agree, some people are like that, but I have faith in the japanese community that they're not moronic/idiotic enough to not like it just because it's not "japanese." There are plenty of other better reasons to not like the xbox (like paying for xbox live every month, high failure rates, no blueray drive, etc) for them to go down the tubes.
However, there might be the consideration that the xbox 360 doesn't have a tendency to support as many anime based games as the PS3 either. That doesn't mean they're not all like that, but look at how many games were anime-based on the PS2 compared to the xbox. A lot of people who play games in japan like anime, but i don't think it's got anything to do with the machine itself not being japanese.
"You do realize that nobody, not even people in the United States wants an iPhone nowadays, right? "
News to me. Source?
No smart carrier will sell the darn things.
For the same reason most mobile providers shy away from it by now in Germany.
The App-Store is run by apple, meaning apple makes the money off of it, not whatever company is selling it.
Well, in my line of work I get to use next to any phone, Japanese, American, iPhone, whatever. Use iPhone and Sharp myself. It would be also good that the majority of Japanese use NTT DoCoMo carrier with its content pool (forgot the right name, in Eastern Europe they called it i-Mode) assigned to a separate button. Very popular among younger generation. (Just like Apple with their Appstore, but nationwide, and dominating the market)
Apple makes money from the apps, carriers/providers make money from the data transfer used to download the apps- this is extremely profitable as data transfer costs them next to nothing... But I believe Apple even gets a percentage of the monthly plan cost in their pockets too, otherwise they will not allow that carrier to sell iPhone plans at all. All carriers in Australia have the iPhone but 3Mobile (a former employer of mine) was the last to get it because they did not want to sacrifice profits to Apple - then they realised they were losing customers in droves so they caved late last year. The iPhone is VERY popular here... but surely there are heaps cooler options in Japan..
the fact that ATT is still the sole carrier of the iPhone
once verizon gets its grubby little hands on it the thing will sell like crazy
his ass
This comes from an actual survey where Japanese people have been interviewed about their views on the iPhone. Along with things like "It has a bad camera", one of the more frequent reasons were about the fact that they do want to use a Japanese cellphone, and not something imported.
"You do realize that nobody, not even people in the United States wants an iPhone nowadays, right?"
I don't know what people you're talking about, but from what I see, more and more people are buying the iPhone.
Anyway, I was merely using this as an example. The 360 has failed in Japan. But it's not solely because of the RRoD.
Where are you guys getting your information?
Yes, it's true that a lot of US consumers are actually over the iPhone and are moving onto newer alternatives, such as phones with Droid OS. But this mentality is typically in the more coastal regions, like California and New York.
Being tech and fashion forward's common in these places, but the rest of the US (which is the majority), not so much. They'll still believe iPhones are at the top, and not even consider other alternatives.
But as for the iPhone not being popular in Japan? No, actually... the iPhone was REALLY trendy. Many people wanted it, even despite Japan having other phones of better technology BECAUSE it was trendy (and because it was touch-screen). But again, these are only in the urban areas where it really matters. When H&M and Forever 21, the line went on for several city blocks. Why? Because it's trendy and foreign, despite having cheaper/cuter clothing shops all around the city.
The majority of smartphones in japan are iphones. However, the usage of smartphones themselves in japan is fairly low.
iPhone and iPod are both shit, that's all.
So is XBOX with its lovely RRoD.
So why buy them when you have something much better?
I was stationed in Japan near the beginning of 2000 to 05 and did indeed notice that most used closed cells.
Another thing about them is that most liked the tactile feel of buttons separated from the screen so that they could have a bigger canvas to work on. Every teenage girl I saw had a cell open while they typed away at speeds beyond what I've seen in America too. I did see a cell that had a clear cover and was also a touch screen, but it wasn't an iphone.
reasons why Japanese people don't want an iPhone:
No infared
3G is considered slow
Softbank is shit
Better phones available from different carriers
No place to put cell strap
Exposed screen (Japanese people have this weird phobia of electronics with exposed screens)
@anon 22:40
*Rim-shot*
Ummm... what? How the screens in Japanese touch cellphones look like, then? I'm certainly curious.
Wtf who wants infrared? Why use outdated technology when the japanese have something better? I'm pretty sure most of japans low-range mobiles are better than most american mid-range mobiles.
There is nothing special about anything apple, it's all in the brand name, remember how sony used to be a respected brand name?
Hmm, I agree that the FPS games are a definite factor for the Japanese, but I don't necessarily think that saying they want to buy Japanese means they're racist, or rather, I don't quite believe that that's what flaskis was going for. To use some tangentially-related examples lot of Americans believe in "buying American" or being against outsourcing not because they hate other countries, but because they want to support their economy or truly think their manufacturing process is safer, higher-quality, etc. But to use a better example, it could be just this: the Japanese may want a Japanese product because they feel that it was created with their market in mind and therefore addresses their needs. This makes exact sense with your argument-- that the Japanese don't prefer the American console that carries mostly games that Americans prefer.
The problem lies with Xbox 360 being a big piece of trash...
Trash My ass. I've yet to see an xbox 360 catch fire like PS3 and the Wii have in actuality. I'm not a fanboy by far. I want all three systems because each have games only for each system. But in all seriousness the 360 is more advanced then any other games system on the market. People prefer to get games that are made for the 360 because generally they are made better and overall look better.
Metal Gear Solid filled the bluray because of the pirdeful as fuck Japanese goin "OH BUT I DON"T WANNA COMPRESS MY BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS, EVEN IF YOU NEED A SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE ON A 100" 1080p TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE".
It's all about price and reliability. Xbox 360 was cheap to begin with so most people have games in their library that're xbox 360 only.
However now that the PS3 is cheaper, some people are more willing to buy a stable system that has graphics that are ATLEAST just as good(f not perhaps better) than the Xbox 360, and not worry about having to buy a new one every 6 months because it blew up.
Other people couldn't be bothered and just keep on rebuying it. It's got nothing to do with how great the xbox is, it's got everything to do with how much money is already invested in the game counsel via game libraries.
Blu-ray will never catch onto PC games, DVD's are so dirt cheap, I don't think any dev's care about fitting all the data on one disc when the game gets installed and you never need to use the disc again until next install or insert to play(DRM).
As for consoles, having too switch RE4 disc for gamecube never bothered me once, as it was only once you were 2/3 threw the game, and also the extras.
The only time I would be bothered by disc switching if it required multiple switches. For example you travel from area 1 - area 2 and switch disc, but you need to travel back to area 1 for an upgrade or something so you need to switch back to disc 1, that would piss me off.
MGS4 was over 50GB until they took some things out
"This is certainly something interesting. The disc has a massive 50GB capacity. Then the voiceovers have already been lessened, freeing up more space. We can only imagine the things that will be jam packed in the game. Hours and hours of hi-definition sound? Or wait, what about HD cutscenes of the game?"
Considering what it looks like(haven't played), I think they just got lazy with compression.
FMV's take up crap loads of space as well.
@00:19
WoW has craptacular graphics and no FMVs(if I'm not mistaken)
It's not a very good example, just saying.
I still agree with the rest of what you said.
"I love when people use the blu-ray = best graphics arguement, so they decided to not compress the graphics as much because they have more space, when will people read some facts." I love it when people misspell "argument" ... makes you seem very credible.
So...
any of these arguments reputable?
bullshit, sure ported games may look better on the 360 because they were made with a sourcecode more compatible with the 360 but ps3 exclusives are far better looking than 360's because the ps3's processor and use of the blu-ray disc allows it to be so. blu-ray discs contain 25GB of space, a dual layer contains 50GB of space but a DVD-9 which the X360 utilizes can only max out at 9GB of space so from a technical standpoint, yes ps3 exclusives are superior but cross-platform games, for the most part, look better on the 360. the keyword here being "better looking." as for the content of the games themselves, it depends on taste i guess, 360 has mass effect, ps3 has demon's souls, it's all about taste.
quit masking your 360 fanboyism in a cluster of words when you don't have the info to back up your shit
@22:10
Name a game that really has used all 50GB of space.
NONE not even WOW has exceeded this making your argument quite mute. Nice try PS3 fanboi please try and flame more with more facts backing this up
NAME a GAME THAT USES ALL 50GB of SPACE IN A BLU RAY DISC
More space != Better Games
More space == More Dev's being lazy about using compression
I love when people use the blu-ray = best graphics arguement, so they decided to not compress the graphics as much because they have more space, when will people read some facts.
I wouldn't mind one considering how poor Bayonetta (extreme example)on the PS3 is compared to its 360 counterpart.
blame Sega they wont release a patch 4 the ps3 version -.-
I've played both version and don't know what's wrong with everyone but the PS3 version is very much playable. Sure there are some minor faults but it's nothing game breaking.
you know what?
my ps2 is still working, and i bought it when it was coming out...
So why should i not trust a sony product?
psx AND ps2 are still 100% working.
As well as my psp...
So dont gimme the "blame sony" crap please.
And also Mr 12:35:
you forgot to mention the extremely good warranty even if screws up with RROD they will send by post pre-paid all you have to do is give them a call and they will do it for you not to mention the nice Service Microsoft will give to you and the readily information at hand, they at least admit they stuffed up and willing to fix it.
On the other hand Sony are the opposite no hardware that has been given bought by Sony will be replaced without drawing blood out of a stone or when a rocking horse shits. Also if you break it the faults on you no matter if it should be resistant to extremely short falls, customer service will try and pin the blame on you.
Keep in mind Eastern people are quite different from Western people. Western people will kick up a fuss and crack shits if something goes wrong whereas Eastern they tend to keep it in and blame the fault on themselves, which they should know better.... damn my eastern side time to time :S
I agree, of course there weren't any claim for PS3 compared with X BOX's "nice claim" propaganda.. coz Sony's hardwares are so tough, the customers never have to make claim at all!! ^_^
Plus, Sony has a great reputation over there, not just because of their products, but because of their other stuff like music, etc.
It seems like they weigh those two companies. Microsoft with their bad hardware or Sony with their good one... and its other things.
I guess their gaming preferences do play a role too, but I dunno to what extent.
@ Flaskis: It lies with the 360's high failure rate, poor hardware, and typically bad brand association (like giving up on the original Xbox after only 4 years - which has to be one of the shortest console cycles in history). I don't think you should look for why the 360 did poorly in the East, but rather look at why it did well in the west. The *ONLY* reason the 360 sold as well as it did in the west is for 1 simple reason: People here worship the almighty dollar.
There really wasn't a lot of reason to pick up a 360 @ launch in 2005 when the PS2 was still going strong and was a much cheaper console. But when 2006 hit and gamers saw the Wii would be last year's model with a control gimmick and the PS3 was going to be 500 smackers at minimum, people just said, "might as well get a 360!".
Despite it's 54% failure rate, it's overheating issues, the fact that it eats your games, no blue-ray, old hardware, and the fact that it was only cheap because MS stripped the console down so they could charge you ridiculous fees for everything else ($100 for a Hard Drive, $50 just to play your games online, $120 for a WiFi connector, $50 for cables, etc etc).
But hey, who cares about all that, right?! CUZ IT'S CHEAP! The 360 is an absolutely atrocious console overall. However, it *did* get ahead of the game early on and because of that secured some nice exclusives from developers focused on the western market (Valve, BioWare). That's the only redeeming quality it has: a solid lineup of exclusives.
You say the Japanese are Xenophobic and hate western products, yet our movies are hugely popular over there. So are our movies and TV shows. Guess what? Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Grand Theft Auto 4 all sold really well over there too!
They're not Xenophobic. They just don't buy shitty hardware because it's cheap.
err...if you have done your research, you would find out that iphone is the best selling phone in japan...
Yeah, it was.. for a week when the 3GS was released.
please check this link and you judge :D
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n%3A15783231%2Cn%3A15783281&bbn=15783231&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914088&rnid=15783231 [http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n:15783231,n:15783281&bbn=15783231&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914088&rnid=15783231]
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n%3A15782591%2Cn%3A15782641&bbn=15782591&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914287&rnid=15782591 [http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_8?rh=n:15782591,n:15782641&bbn=15782591&ie=UTF8&qid=1263914287&rnid=15782591]
True...part of the reason it hasn't been a top seller is because it's not Japanese. And they don't have the games, obviously, that the market wants.
Having said that, the sourcing on this 'story' is weak. Considering the fact that the accompanying photo is actually in the 'news story' I'd like to see a less biased report.
Sankaku: It's a sony!
No Sanksku is just a troll.
a troll is fine too... as long as you've got a +3 broadsword to slay the beast
You've come to the wrong place for articles without bias.