Xbox 360 Fanboy

"Well, that's not a bad display. There's the cables, controllers, faceplates... uh... where are the Xbox 360 hardware units?"

It looks like they're right behind the Faceplates.

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#1 ... "Oh, there they are. Hidden behind all that stuff. How silly of me for not noticing. "

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LAME... that is a sucky example. I see them at the bottom of the display.. the first time i looked at the pic..

Geez, Best Buy in my city has a more evasive location for the boxes.

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I used to be mad at the Japanesse, thinking, "how can they not love this glorious game machine?" But then the PS3 was announced for 600.00 US and I realized, hey, let them drown in their own avarice. Japan is no longer the gaming powerhouse it once was, and if they want to act superior to msft's offerings... well, the only thing they're doing is acting.

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I can't say the same for my local best buy. They have a pyramid of 360es in the center isle of the store, as you walk to their video game section, not far from the new movie table.

The pyramid appeared just a few weeks ago. Prior to then, you were lucky if you saw 3 or 4 xbox 360es at a time.

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I thought the indignity was putting it close to that bomb called the "PSX". That was a total failure. They have to release a lot of firmware updates to fix the dvd recording capabilities of that monster and still the people had a lot of problems with them.

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I don't know why microsoft is so stuck on Japan. They are taking over Europe and North America, which last time I checked was gigantor compared to japan. I just wished they sold the premiums here at 350 like they do there, cause I could use a spare for the bedroom.

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WOW, so this is the real reason behind the lack luster performance of the 360 in Japan, who would've tought.
I guess i was wrong when i tought the 360 didn't do well in japan because it's got no good japanese games comming out for it.

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Guys (and gals), what 'American' has actually sold well in Japan? Music? Fast food? They are not a very tolerant society, and those willing to 'consider' are probably being alienated. Speculation, maybe.

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9 yeah american stuff tends to "bomb" in japan... what? too soon?

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GhostDoggy: specious argument. See: iPod, Microsoft Windows (albeit a monopoly), intel chips, etc. American movies.

They'll buy American products if they're worth buying for them (see more Japanese games argument) or really good (except Windows then!).

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C.Grant, you have named some fantastic examples of what the Japanese consumers will buy. I commend you on the effort.

First, they have to buy Intel as their alternative is AMD. Don't see many of them buying into that. American movies? Considering Hollywood makes more movies than almost (Bullywood) any other country that makes it a probability acknowledgement.

Can't explain why they would buy the iPod ... oh, wait a minute what are the PMP sales information for the Japanese market? I have seen anything. Can you help here?

And how many prolific operating systems exist for the Intel processor that is stupid-consumer-friendly? That's not a success, but lack of competition.

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GD,

On the iPod:

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/344/C5263/

"iPods were lagging behind Japanese-made Sony players until July (2005). In that month, the iTunes Japan store was launched. In just four days they sold more than a million downloads. There are 20 regional iTunes stores, but none has hit a million sales that fast."

I'd call that fairly successful.

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The iPod is a phenomenon that I think even caught Apple by surprise. When you look at the alternatives, what do you have?

Apple had the right idea with a good interface (which, they're a software company afer all).

They had the right idea with design, which they've almost always done well. The iPod is now an icon, easily recognizable by just about anyone.

They had the right idea with their online music store, at a time with most people scoffed at the notion of paying for music.

They had the right idea to make it small and compact. Their original competitors were huge in comparision

They had the right idea to add a hard drive. And while others were also doing this, Apple had the advantage that theirs was the smallest.

If you look at Sony they severly stumbled in their efforts to produce a digital music player. They were hung up on MD. They were hung up on introducing a competing format to MP3, still the most popular format. They were hung up on copy protection. And did Sony ever introduce a hard drive music player? If they have, it's completely escaped my attention.

So yeah, I can totally understand why iPod has done well in Japan.

The nearest mainstream alternative is Creative. RIO used to be a contender. Then you have the "me-toos" and also rans.

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"I thought the indignity was putting it close to that bomb called the "PSX". That was a total failure. They have to release a lot of firmware updates to fix the dvd recording capabilities of that monster and still the people had a lot of problems with them."

Seriously...all this babble about hidden displays and the POS iPods. Putting even the original Xbox next to the PSX is blasphemy. The PSX started the whole PS "all-in-one" idea. It failed; I wonder how its successor will do?

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"If Xbox 360s aren't selling quite as fast as second-hand panties in Japan, it might be partially because retailers can't be bothered to throw up a decent in-store display."

You got this reversed, they are displayed this way because no one would buy it!

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