The 360 - Online, Japan, HD-DVD

Lots of tidbits about Microsoft's next-gen console floating around this week. On Monday, the company revealed that almost 60% of 360 owners are now using Xbox Live. GameDaily discusses what is making their setup so dang popular. Major Nelson's Sunday podcast included a lot of details on the 360's approach to HD-DVD. HD Beat has the rundown on what was said, including the inevitable Sony smack-talk. Finally, Gamasutra has a feature on the 360's position in Japan. A group of analysts debate whether or not the system even needs Japan in order to be a success. From this last article: "I don't think that American gamers are enamored [with] Japanese product because it comes from Japan; rather, I think Americans like good games, regardless of the country of origin. Microsoft doesn't need Japanese development to succeed in the U.S.; it needs good games, period."

MS Needs Japanese Developers for Japan not the US

[twistedsymphony]

Yeah americans do like good games as opposed to games from a particular country. But you'd be foolish to think that a game developer familiarity with their countrymen's likes and dislikes doesn't help sell games in that country. US games developers are generally more in tune to the US game market, and Japanese Game developers are generally more in tune with the Japanese game market. Microsoft might not need Japanese developers to sell more consoles in the US but it's pretty clear that they'll need them to sell more consoles in... Japan.

Japan-love

[Rob T Firefly]

"I don't think that American gamers are enamored [with] Japanese product because it comes from Japan;

When was the last US-based Anime convention this guy went to? You could engrave the katakana for "Super Happy Fun Watermelon Millard Fillmore" on a bologna sandwich, leave it out on the dealers floor, and someone will buy it for $50.

Just wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

So looking at the last page worth of stories on games.slashdot.org, I see:

1. Lots of XBox 360 news this week. Microsoft boasts high adoption rates for their online games. Microsoft's marketing blogger has news about Microsoft's HD-DVD strategy. Microsoft doesn't need Japan anyway, Japan are poopyheads.
   
2. Awesome new PC game coming.
   
3. Super Nintendo game coming out fifteen years ago
   
4. ZOMG PS3 SUX PS3 SUX
   
5. Microsoft's Peter Molyneux making awesome new game for the XBox 360
   
6. Microsoft's Vista team making awesome new gaming technology
   
7. PC gaming peripheral available soon.
   
8. Playstation 3 going into production. Look how slow their production is.

XBox XBox XBox XBox

It's interesting how of the three big consoles plus the PC, apparently the XBox 360 and PC are the only ones with upcoming games. At least that's all I hear about on Slashdot. The Wii mostly only gets stories posted here when there are big news events, and the PS3 always only gets a story when something embrassing happens or an analyst thinks they're going to fail. The DS and PSP apparently don't exist at all, we occasionally get a DS-related article but usually we only hear about handheld video games on slashdot when Microsoft is planning on releasing a handheld system which may or may not be a game system. Is it really the case that nobody is submitting stories about tidbits related to upcoming Wii, PS2, PS3, DS or PSP games? Obviously the news about the unreleased systems is slower, but I watch other news sites and I see lots of little bits of information about the PS3 and Wii at least as interesting as "Here's an interview about Fable 2, a long-ago announced game".

Actually, never mind that. Can we just get it over with already and rename games.slashdot.org to xbox360.slashdot.org?

Re:Just wow.

[X-treme-LLama]

Perhaps, the 360 and PC get more posts because they actually exist in the hands of consumers. I'm sure the upcoming console from (insert favorite console mfg. here) will get more play when people actually are actually holding one in their disfigured-from-years-of-controler-gameplay hands.

On an unrelated note, what in (deity of choice)'s name is a FUD?

Precluded Success?

[MeanderingMind]

From TFA:

"I don't think that this is [Microsoft's] fault. They have tried as hard as they can to succeed, but cultural bias has precluded success."

Now, I'm not saying that it's easy to make a name for yourself in the Japanese market. However, it's hardly impossible. One need only look at the success of Disney and the iPod in Japan to see that foreign companies can do well. It takes more than "trying hard", it takes trying right. If a brick wall only 3 feet across were laid in Microsoft's path, they'd bang their head into it until it crumbled rather than walk around it like sanity dictates. Microsoft may have touched on things they need to do to capture the hearts of Japanese gamers, but they certainly haven't shown they understand well what they should be doing.

The unfortunate truth these analysts dance around is the long term problems Microsoft faces if they can't make inroads into Japan. If Nintendo and Sony are allowed to repeatedly capture the Japanese market with no contest but each other, they will both have an unchallenged supply of resources to combat Microsoft with on American and European soil. If Microsoft can only fight on the defensive their only hope is for the Japanese market to dry up, leaving Nintendo and Sony without their reserves. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Nintendo has done a decent job of revitalizing the Japanese market. With both Sony and Nintendo having records of previous US market dominance, Microsoft NEEDS to be able to take a significant portion of Japanese marketshare or they will eventually lose by attrition.