Print

[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox 360 Launches in Japan-- Posted by XanTium on December 9 20:38 EST
Around this time the sun should be rising in Tokyo, Japan. Saturday, December 10th marks the launch of Xbox 360, the day Microsoft makes its second go at the market that's ignored them the past four years (still a 5% share according to BBC).
I noticed that both big Asian 'import stores', Lik-Sang and Play-Asia, received their Japanese Xbox 360 stock and still have them in stock at time of writing.
If you consider buying this (at ~440usd they are cheaper than on ebay) you should know:
* It'll play only NTSC/J and not-region-coded games (play-asia reports that the 4 Japanese games they could test so far are all region coded, but 7 of the US games are NOT region coded)
* It's 110V (same as US, but 220V countries (Europe,...) will need a stepdown adapter with at least 250~300 Watts power output according to lik-sang)
* There's no exchange warranty service

There's no core/premium choice in Japan, only the 'Commemoration Pack' selling for 37,900yen (today that's ~314usd or ~266eur) without taxes. It's basicly the same as the Premium pack in US/EU, but cheaper, with a Final Fantasy XI beta demo disc (playable) and the video cable is a d-terminal high-definition cable.

(IMG:http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/japan/xbox360-illus3.jpg)
More Images at lik-sang.com

There's some news about the launch already on tmcnet.com:

The world's largest software maker held a commemorative event in Tokyo's Shibuya district on Saturday morning.
About 200 people gathered and joined in a 10-second countdown to 7 a.m., the time of the product launch, and cheered when an image of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates popped up at zero on displays set up at the venue of the event.

The Xbox Team Blog also has a story and images of the launch in Japan:

When Maruyama-san took the stage inside the TSUTAYA Q Front retail store, it was to the sound of a hundred eager gamers chanting his name. When Peter Moore took the stage shortly after, it was to the chant of his name, and resounding applause. When he uttered the words "Xbox San Roku Maru" ("Xbox three sixty" in Japanese) the crowd roared. The first consumer in line took the stage, and told his story of how he came to the store late last night to get his number indicating his place in line, and since his office was so close by, he simply stayed there for the evening, coming to stand in line at 4am in the morning to insure his purchase. By 5am, after the train lines opened up for the day, the line stretched alongside the building and around the corner into the next block, enthusiastic gamers huddled against the cold and eying the Starbucks shop standing mocking and empty before them (7am is FAR too late for any coffee shop, especially a Starbucks, to open its doors, no matter what country you're in).

(IMG:http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/japan/img_0728_s.jpg) (IMG:http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/xbox360/japan/img_0765_s.jpg)

Read More: Xbox Team Blog.

Some news on Reuters about what they expect:

"Pre-orders on the Internet look solid, but I don't think the retail stores will sell out of Xbox 360s in the first day," said Takeshi Tajima, an analyst at BNP Paribas in Tokyo.

"Serious game fans will likely rush to buy them, but I think most people are going to wait and see," said Tajima, who added that "Dead or Alive 4," a 3-D fighting game that was supposed to be the hot new game for Xbox 360 in Japan, has been delayed until after the launch -- removing a key reason for fans to rush to buy the console.

The guys over at 1up.com have an interesting interview with Peter Moore, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President and Xbox Worldwide Marketing and Publishing:

* 1UP: This is Japan, and we're coming off of Xbox 1 in Japan which everybody knows was not the biggest success. And obviously you guys are trying to turn that around in Japan. Having big titles at launch, coming out of the gate with a bang, I'd think would be important here.
* Moore: Yeah, I mean, you would like Dead or Alive 4 not to be a couple of weeks after launch. But one thing I will never do, and Itagaki-san would never let me do, is rush a title out to meet launch that he's not happy with. It's non-negotiable, with either he or I. So we made the determination a few weeks ago, look, we've got to get this title where it needs to be, a couple of weeks isn't going to kill anybody, a year from now, everybody will have forgotten that it was two weeks after launch.
Ninety Nine Nights is a deeper title than we ever dreamt from an immersive point of view, and it's going to take time to finish. I think it shows our confidence that we don't feel we need to pack everything in, cut corners, cut features, get 20 games at launch, regardless of quality, that's not what we're about. This is really a marathon that we're committed to for many years. And having the games at the right quality, rather than forcing them into a launch period, is far more important.
We're looking at a long-term strategy of not only Ninety Nine Nights, but then think Blue Dragon, and then think Lost Odyssey--I mean, the fact that we're very comfortable being a year away from Sakaguchi-san's titles coming to market, still being very cool with that, knowing long-term what we're going to do to get behind this platform is indicative of our commitment to this market.

* 1UP: One more question. If you could have one dream Japanese game on the Xbox 360 - this is a serious question - any game from an existing franchise that you don't already have from Japan, what would it be?
* Moore: I'm trying to think what we DON'T already have... Mario. (Everyone laughs)

Read the full interview on 1up.com.

[prankfurter]

I really really hope Japan does better this round... I am sure they will i mean how could it do worse than the xbox 1...

i hope with all the japanesse devolper support in the long run they gain some serious ground

[MN-Mod-Man]

While not entirely a deal breaker if not successful, I also hope for much more support from the other side of the pond    not only does this garner more support from very good albeit quirky Japanese devlopers, it keeps the other Major devlopers on their toes so to speak to continue to put out QUALITY GAMES right now if no one challenges SONY amongst others I fear we'd all be stuck playing sub-standard PS3 Crap!... just a thought.

[jdsun1]

Any clue as to what games are not region coded and thus playable on the xbox in japan? It says there are 7, but does not list which ones.

[Inuyasha152]

I to hope the Xbox360 does well in Japan. It kinda sucks that they dont have to choose between the premium and the core consoles, and that the premium there is so cheap and we had to pay the $399.99 price tag. But in this situation I can understand them trying to win over all of the Sony lovers. Honestly in my opinion, I think there shouldn't have been a core system at all, you have to go out and buy a $40.00 dollar memory card, why not just spend $60.00 more for a 20gb hard drive and be able to have so much more space and even have backwards compatability?!?! I think MS should have just sold the Xbox360 for around $349.99 all around, including the hard drive etc. but that's just me, and I still love my Xbox360  

[melongstrike]

My buddy said he would get me an xbox from Japan but doesn't want to pay for it. And I don't blame him.

I have the money for the system here in the US at Game Stop... I don't know if they would give me my money back... I am probably missing at least 1 receipt anyway.

Is it possible to do a store credit from the Us to Japan i so I can have him pay for it and ship it overnight or the fastest mode from Japan to the states on Monday morning.

Merely rambling but also curious.

[MicroMods]

QUOTE(melongstrike @ Dec 9 2005, 10:49 PM)

My buddy said he would get me an xbox from Japan but doesn't want to pay for it. And I don't blame him.

I have the money for the system here in the US at Game Stop... I don't know if they would give me my money back... I am probably missing at least 1 receipt anyway.

Is it possible to do a store credit from the Us to Japan i so I can have him pay for it and ship it overnight or the fastest mode from Japan to the states on Monday morning.

Merely rambling but also curious.

what???

[melongstrike]

Sorry My mind has been fried for the past week (I graduate from college Saturday at 10am) so I haven't been making much sense of anything lately but...


I have a preorder for the xbox here in the states @Game stop. I was wondering pretty much if there is a gamestop in Japan where I can have the store here issue a store credit to one overseas.

If that was possible I would have my buddy use that store credit and purchase the 360 for me.

I don't think there will be a shortage there.

Anywho I have to prepare and clean the condo and shit, shower and shave. I have company and fam coming to see me walk across the stage.

This post has been edited by melongstrike: Dec 10 2005, 06:27 AM

[Antioch]

Well, I went to that Tsutaya a few hours after the 7am "party" and there was no one. It looked like it always does every day. I went to the second floor (game section) and looked around and there were only 3 people looking at the xbox "area" (2 of which were foreigners). The display was very sad indeed. There was a monitor showing Project Gotham Racing, a 360 console with 2 controllers was also set up - except there were NO playable demos, just video clips. Very upsetting. The was 1 small shelf which had a stack of games on it, and xbox360 boxes. There seemed to be little interest at that tsutaya other than the first 100 hard-core fans.

However, walk up the street a few meters and there was a display out front of Bic Camera advertising the 360, and you could even buy a console right there without having to go back into the store (which was crowded with people buying OTHER electronics). However, I did see 1 Japanese kid buying a 360 and a wireless LAN adaptor - along with countless console boxes sitting in the back.

But of course, all of this is what everyone expected, right? I went to the store this morning thinking I would have to force myself to NOT buy the 360, but after looking at the launch line up I found myself not neeting restraint - I totally lost interest. Well, I'll probably buy the console later this month after DoA4 comes out. But, since I dont have a TV, only a laptop, I need to find a VGA input PCMCIA card or something...

Anyways, I was surprised at how big the 360 is. Because the powersupply is outside of the case I expected a substantial reduction is size, but it was more or less the same as the original xbox. Buuut, people did say that before, it was just the first time I had had a chance to see a 360 in person.

But, maybe I will wait to buy a 360 until units with COOL, non-overheating PSUs ship. Also, the disc scratching is a bitch I don't want to deal with either.  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[MrPhunkee]

Disc scratching.. Only Happens with fools.. U don't put ur pc upside down when ur burning a dvd, would ya? Geez.

[ste3l3]

my opinion is that xbox held off giving us enough 360s in order to raise japan's curiousity. if i was in japan i would consider buying 360 just to see what the fuss was about --

[ZildjianKX]

QUOTE(Antioch @ Dec 9 2005, 09:52 PM)

But, since I dont have a TV, only a laptop, I need to find a VGA input PCMCIA card or something...

That got me curious, I was looking for a PCMCIA adapter with a VGA input since I don't think any laptop comes with a built in VGA input... I don't think the adapter exists.

I did find a USB 2.0 VGA input adapter, but it is incredibly expensive ~$400 USD and very bulky.

If you find anything, let me know... preferably something that supports at least 1280x720.

[MaulerX]

Check this out: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6141063.html
Not bad.

I know it's only one location but I can already see the X360 doing much better than the original Xbox
did in Japan.

[babanoosh]

QUOTE(ste3l3 @ Dec 10 2005, 01:35 AM)

my opinion is that xbox held off giving us enough 360s in order to raise japan's curiousity. if i was in japan i would consider buying 360 just to see what the fuss was about --

Yet after reading the news, it appears not too many are really biting though.  Kind of funny really... MS shits on N. America 360 launch... Japans shits on 360 Asian Launch... it's kind of cyclical isn't it...

It must really piss MS off to see other Western technologies so easily embraced and successful (say iPod) over there yet  mainstream will likely end up not touching this machine with a 10 foot pole. People were already skeptical. Now top that off with all the negative publicity on the news and casual consumers everywhere spouting recall, recall, recall and that's a recipe for a sales disaster. Maybe the numbers will be a little better then the xbox but that ain't saying much, expecially considering all the additional money spent in marketing this time around; that ROI ain't looking pretty.

By the time MS gets their chip yields up to par, PS3 will be right around the corner and already selling in Japan. Kind of exciting I wonder what Redmond will offer to counter the PS3 N. American launch.

To James Allard: Divert your Japan manufacturing lines to the U.S. cuz it ain't gonna happen

[frobnitzz]

So Japan don't really want them, yet m$ send loads out there when there biggest fanbases' in US and UK are still waiting...

Thanks m$.