Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 7:51 AM
Tue Nov 10
57 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us: tips@kotaku.com
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
Email | AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
Email | AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
Email | AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
04:17 AM
04:33 AM
@kitsuneconundrum: Nobody? #r4
04:40 AM
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
Excitebike crosses the finish line first this week, too.
11/09/09
Gimme a break.
In retrospect, though, Electroplankton feels like a cheap iPhone app. A really cool cheap iPhone app, but a cheap iPhone app just the same, so Electroplankton just feels right at home lending itself to this business model.
11/09/09
At least they're releasing a new WiiWare ExciteBike game...
And jeez, there's not really anything going on in VC anymore... #wiiware
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
The Virtual Console was a chance at recapturing the fans that left for greener pastures by flashing bits of nostalgic digital skin. Instead, they didn't even turn the red light on. They missed an easy layup with this one.
11/09/09
@mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta: There there, minty, there there.
At least we still have emulators to play with! ^_^ #wiiware
11/09/09
11/09/09
Also, yes a large library does equal a good library. The Wii has more quality retro games on it than does the PS3 or 360. And on an added note, the PS3 and 360 retro games (either Xbox originals or PS1 ports) have no new features adn are straight ports as well. #wiiware
11/09/09
They have plenty of awesome games on there. Get over it. They didn't kill your dog by not putting Terranigma on there, which you only know about and enjoy because you've already played it via emulator so I'm trying to figure out why you even care anyway. #wiiware
11/09/09
01:23 AM
Meanwhile, I get to play Wild Arms without any summons at all. That's quite a chunk of the battle system's fun. D:
Nintendo goes out of its way to ensure the experience is just the same, which does limit how many games come out so soon.
Oh, can't forget licensing issues with some games. #wiiware
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
Oh, you thought I meant...
Oh... #virtualconsole
11/09/09
11/09/09
Grow a sense of humor.
P.S.
I wasn't trying to justify it at all. Time to have your sarcasm detector recalibrated. #virtualconsole
11/09/09
06:21 AM
11/09/09
11/09/09
If they sell *half* as many copies as the PS3 version...than wouldn't it be better to say "The PS3 is doing better in Japan because their multi-platform titles sell twice as many copies as the 360 versions?" #xbox360
11/09/09
Compare the pic of the floor space that Sony has to the one of the meager 360 section. Then consider that there are 5 times as many PS3s than 360s sold in Japan. #xbox360
11/09/09
If by "recent popular 360 multiplat games" You mean one game: Bayonetta, then yes recent popular 360 multiplat releases sell nearly half. #xbox360
11/09/09
11/09/09
Ok, revise 1 game to 2. There still isn't a trend. Unless you want me to use this Blazblue example as proof that multiplat games are seeing higher sales on the PS3. #xbox360
11/09/09
11/09/09
"And yet recent popular 360 multiplat releases sell nearly half as many copies as the PS3 release at launch. That shows that in spite of all of the 360's disadvantages, the massive discrepancy in install base and the PS3's advantages in everything from technology to marketing and retail space, hardcore gamers are still choosing the 360 for more than just the few exclusives it gets here and there."
You named 2 games, I can name 100 that didn't follow this trend.
Ergo.... No trend. #xbox360
11/09/09
I'm talking about hardcore gamers. I'm not trying to say that the 360 is a mainstream console in Japan, or that the occasional console gamer who shows up for blockbusters like Biohazard chooses the 360 platform. My point is that there is still a niche for the 360 among hardcore gamers, and BlazBlue and Bayonetta's first week sales show that. #xbox360
11/09/09
11/09/09
01:07 AM
Seems to me that you're trying to say that 360 games selling poorly is a sign that it's doing well?
Or are you trying to say that, "360 games are only selling half as well as PS3 games, which is much better than only a quarter or a tenth?"
Either way, you're not doing a very good job of trying to portray a negative as a positive. #xbox360
06:26 AM
From the post: "...let's talk about a store that has just renovated its game section. Think of it as a reassessment of where the Xbox 360 is in Japan... the Xbox 360 aisle is near to the toilet."
The PS3 dominates in install base, yet a few recent multiplat releases for a console going literally and figuratively near the toilet still sold nearly half of what the PS3 version did (Bayonetta, BlazBlue). BlazBlue's first week numbers were around 23k on the 360 and 36k on the PS3.
When do we start viewing the 360 in Japan for what it is- a primarily hardcore only console- instead of ridiculing it for not meeting illogical, impossible standards? #xbox360
11/09/09
The Xbox teabagged the PS3 and has been put in Time Out. #xbox360
11/09/09
At this point, I think only Yamauchi's 80 something years of skill of dealing with the Japanese marketplace could save them. The irony would be great. #xbox360
11/09/09
Natal could really give them an interesting twist, but Sony also has their motion control device in the works. #xbox360
11/09/09
Yeah I'm overstating it a tad, but it is a noticeable factor at least. #xbox360
11/09/09
11/09/09
Blaming Japan's xenophobia is a good way of ignoring a failure on Microsoft's side. Japanese people have no problems buying foreign electronics--SoftBank went from being the third ranked cell phone company to the first ranked on the strength of iPhone sales alone, and both Sony and Nintendo are starting to see the iPhone as a threat to their mobile gaming market. And more people have iPods than have Sony's mp3 player--if xenophobia was this big, huge problem, Apple never would have gotten the foothold they have. Writing it off as just "xenophobia" means completely ignoring other major factors--bad advertising, not making a big deal out of exclusives, not pushing your strengths, bundles with games no one wants, image of being for FPS which people in Japan don't tend to like--that have a much, much, muuuuuuuuch bigger impact. #xbox360
11/09/09
11/09/09
They had all these exclusive RPGs--which are popular in Japan--and never bothered to do bundles, which probably would have increased their sales and helped them at least get a foot in the door. Now the "exclusives" they had are being ported (and improved/expanded) to the PS3, and so 360 "exclusives" are just not being taken seriously (jokes about the 360 versions being beta abound on Japanese forums).
If Microsoft really wanted to turn things around, I think maybe they could...but it would take a big shift in how they portray the 360 and its games, and how they push its features. At this point, they very well might need to wait for Natal and then do a complete reimaging--it can be their do-over. #xbox360
11/09/09
Yet, you can't ignore western (read: American) technologies taking longer to find a hold if they ever do in Japan. This has been seen--outside of gaming--countless times. Please don't use one example (Apple) as a counterpoint because it's one of the few good ones you will find. It's much easier to find examples of Western companies failing in Japan. Hell, there are Korean and Chinese companies, German companies, and British companies that have succeeded in Europe and the US but fail in Japan. This isn't a coincidence.
It's not all cultural differences (a part), bad marketing (a part), or xenophobia, but instead a unique blend of these things. Japan is a very different market from much of the rest of the first world.
Thanks for your comment though. I'm not being sarcastic. #xbox360
11/09/09
It just seems like a lot of people use the "xenophobia" excuse instead of actually looking at why some products don't do well in Japan--I use Apple as the counter example because they have done a good job, proving that xenophobia alone is not the big be-all, end-all a lot of people claim it is for why foreign companies don't do well. Foreign companies can do well if they try...it's just that they have to actually try, because yes, they are fighting an uphill battle, for many, many reasons (and probably why Apple has done well is because they're used to working from the underdog position--they don't tend to take sales for granted, and doing that is the kiss of death in almost any market). Saying it's xenophobia is too simplistic an answer, but one that a lot of people leap on and take as gospel truth as being the sole, defining reason.
So thank you as well, for recognizing that it really is a more complex issue than it looks like on the surface. #xbox360
11/09/09
11/09/09
11/09/09
Waaaay too much crap that only 1/1,000 people will care about. #xbox360
11/09/09
11/09/09
Publisher/dev gets none of the money from used sales, it all goes straight to the store, making console sales much bigger business for the retail store than new sales, which is why you see the sometimes outrageous offers you can get if you trade in your used games. They want those games, they're pure gold for them.
Add to that that if you look at most PC game shelves in such stores, the majority of titles are weird horse- and pet-titles for 5 year old girls, and there's never really any of the big titles in stock or advertised you have a depressing picture. But then, I never shop games in retail, the internet stores are so much cheaper.
Another factor is PC games require your staff to be better educated, as customers could have issues with their games and request assistance. Saying "blow on the disc and try again" doesn't really work for PC troubles. #xbox360
11/09/09