Blue Dragon Pushing 360 Bundles in Japan

1up is reporting that Blue Dragon 360 bundle pre-orders are selling fast in Japan. Maybe, finally, Microsoft has a product that will get the Japanese market on its side. From the article: "According to one retailer, Microsoft is planning to produce 100,000 of the Blue Dragon hardware bundles, and 10% of these will be the limited set with all the cool Blue Dragon merchandise we mentioned. With all the Toriyama fans in Japan, it might not be surprising to hear that these 10,000 limited sets are being snapped up pretty quickly, but hey, we're talking about the Xbox 360 in Japan -- the machine has been struggling to sell more than a thousand units each week recently. At the end of the first day of pre-orders, most retailers are now sold out of the limited set."

Re:

[Broken scope]

Yes, but people are buying an MS product. That doesn't happen. Hell that right there is an improvement.

Different strokes

[Fozzyuw]

It's always interesting to see how different the gaming habits are in different countries/cultures.

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[wolfing]

Finally M$oft figured out that not everybody likes shooters! I just wished they realized that many years ago when I bought my Xbox. I played a total of hmm... 4 RPGs? And I love RPGs! In 4-5 years I had the Xbox I played 4 RPGs. I then bought a used PS2 earlier this year and I've already finished some 7 RPGs, with some 15 more still to play. I've played more hours in the 6 months since I got the PS2 than in the 4-5 years I used my Xbox. But I'll wait before buying an Xbox360 or PS3. I want to see how m

MS Vs Sony?

[Thansal]

Could this actualy let MS compeate with Sony in Japan?

I can't wait to see the actual sales numbers sometime next year for the next gen systems, things should be rather interesting then. (My vote is already cast on Wii, and will probably stay that way, however I still am interested)

Re:Nintendo MS Vs Sony.

[trdrstv]

So far this YEAR the X-Box 360 has been selling worse than the Gamecube in Japan. In calander 06 they sold about 75,000 units in that territory, and Gamecube sold around 76,000 - 78,000 (in Japan, in 2006). With only 100,000 PS3`s on launch day (for Japan), and low manufacturing yields, the DAY the Wii comes out in Japan, it will outsell either of them, likely both.

Looks like deep pockets counts for something

[ProppaT]

Here's hoping MS pulls this one off. As much as I dislike MS, at least they're grounded in reality unlike Sony these days. Maybe some (hopefully) good competition from MS might make Sony reconsider their attitude for a while. I'll always be a Nintendo fan at heart, but I'm also realistic. As sucessful as the Wii might be, I'll still want a 360 or PS3 to games that just aren't geared for that system.

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[drinkypoo]

It would be an outright disaster if Microsoft departed the market because that would leave us with Sony and Nintendo. The saying has kind of always gone that there's room for three players in the game console industry - First place, second place, and Nintendo. I don't want Sony to take two places! The only thing that might get Sony to change their act would be if they tanked and Microsoft picked up the slack, then had some press releases or conferences where they talked about how Sony abused their players e

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[Chosen Reject]

The saying has kind of always gone...

Always?! So like 10 years is always. Oh wait, Nintendo's only been third since the Xbox, which debuted in late 2001. And it wasn't third the whole time either. You have a very strange idea of what "always" means.

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[CastrTroy]

What he's saying, is that Nintendo will always be there, whether or not their first place or whatever, and then there's the other guys. Hopefully there's 2 other guys, because if there isn't well then the other guy gets complacent and doesn't make a good product. As far I'm concerned, all we need is Nintendo.

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[ProppaT]

Except for the fact that you can't destroy Nintendo. They're the number one game company in the world, selling more copies of games than any other company out there. People will always buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo first party games and Nintendo will always be sensible enough with their consoles to makes sure they, at very least, break even on production costs. I could give a crap about Sony. They're the Japanese equivalent to MS. No better, no worse.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Hay, it takes the astrotufers time to find out about these articles and get it circling around the office....

Oh wait, you weren't talking about all the "I 'hate Microsoft' but I LOVE THE XBOX360" posts were you?

X-Box 360 is teh suck!

[Channard]

Actually, I as a 360 owner, I'd have to say there there's one important area in which the X-Box beats the 360 hands down. Specifically, the X-Box was pretty damn bug free. Why? Because Microsoft had specifically stated that Live could not be used for updates. I never had a single X-Box game crash on me. 360 games, on the other hand. Ppfft. While I wouldn't give up Dead Rising, Just Cause or any other of my 360 games up, there have been several problems. Ignoring the red lights issue, several games such as '

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[KDR_11k]

Let me start by saying I don't like Microsoft, I HATE windows and IE7 is gay.

So you're saying Microsoft is covering the elusive male homosexual demographic which its opensource competition failed to claim?

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[x-vere]

Damn... and I was Modded flamebait.

Expect 360 sales to take off...

[the computer guy nex]

...not because the 360 has changed, but that reality has set in that PS3 will have fewer features for a higher price.

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[Traiklin]

well look at the great smaller name titles released here, chances are very high it was originally released in japan first to begin with.

take a game like Katamari Demacy for example. It was released in japan first and did pretty well there, well enough for namco to warrent translating it and releasing it in the US (which they had no plans to originally).

their selection of games vary's greatly from what we get in the US, so it's kind of hard to find that quirky great small name title there since there's

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[jdubois79]

Well, with the recent price drop in Japan, as well as the inclusion of HDMI in the "lite" version, that holds less and less true.
I was completely anti-PS3 until I saw their offering at the Tokyo Game Show this year. They really have their act together, and while it might not seem so in America or Slashdot (same thing for me, as I get all my news here), the reality is that Sony is probably going to dominate this round as well, with Nintendo getting a hefty 2nd place.

I know personal anecdotes are horrible for

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[DrXym]

America or Slashdot (same thing for me, as I get all my news here)

Slashdot is the absolute worst place to get your console news. Zonk simply doesn't accept any news which is negative about the Wii / Xbox or positive about the PS3.

Go to somewhere like Kotaku.com where you get unbiased (and unvarnished) news for all consoles. Every console and game gets their fair share of the kicks and praise as they deserve, based on the news, not the puerile whims of a fanboy with a grudge.

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[Nyall]

$400 xbox with 20 gigs + $99 wireless network adapter + $200 HD-DVD player = $700
a 60 gig PS3 will be $600.

Of course you have to care about these features and even if you do care about high def you're picking a side in blueray/HD-dvd format war.

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[DrXym]

Utter nonsense. The PS3 matches or outclasses the XBox 360 in most respects. Even when you compare the "basic" PS3 to the "premium" XBox 360 the $100 differential is easily justifiable.

Huh?

[Rev Jim (AKA Metal F]

That sucks. Where the @%^# is my $250 US Blue Dragon bundle?

Platinum Dragon

[GrayCalx]

I'm going to wait and pick up the Platinum Dragon Bundle Edition. You know, the one that comes with extra scenes, two pewter figures and Greedo shooting first.

Defining Success Downward

[DJ_Adequate]

From what I can figure out, Sony is still selling nearly 840,000 a month in Japan (judging from the last 3 months of data here:http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdatap s2_e.html) So selling out most of 10,000 units is really success only relative to the disaster sales have been so far. The headline seems to make this more of a success story than seems justified. From what I can tell, the next generation as a whole is taking off slowly; even in the US.

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[DJ_Adequate]

Arrgh, sorry, I mixed up the worldwide and Japanese numbers. Sonny is closer to 10,000 a month is Japan, which does make the 360's sales more impressive--although still not spectacular for a new platform.

Not strugling, but failin

[Taulin]

Just walk around any game store in Japan, in Akihabara in my case, and you will isles of every games system....but then you will find a couple 360, and if you are lucky XBox games. Same thing goes for XBox games. I personally think they are waiting for the other two systems to release before making a buying decision.