Over on Xbox.com's Japanese site, Microsoft issued an apology letter to potential Japanese 360 gamers admitting that console hardware is sold out in Japan and that they "deeply apologize for this inconvenience to our customers", hoping to replenish 360 console stock in the country as soon as possible. In other news, recently released JRPG Tales of Vesperia is 99.8% to "blame" for Japanese Xbox 360 sales and the subsequent lack of hardware in the country. Microsoft better send NAMCO-BANDAI a fruit basket or something.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-20-2008 @ 9:37AM
ice~ said...
so I guess ToV is good?? lol, I'm thonkin bout pickin it up this Tuesday when it comes out
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8-20-2008 @ 10:13AM
thisguyrighthere said...
I'm wondering the same thing. The demo didn't impress me but I like the genre as a whole.
8-20-2008 @ 11:25AM
Nieker said...
Blue Dragon sold out too... and man did that game stink.
8-20-2008 @ 11:51AM
Erik Stroud said...
ToV wasn't that good to me. But, as long as more people are buying the 360, thats good.
8-20-2008 @ 9:45AM
mattclarkie said...
Thankyou for linking to the letter, I was able to practice my Japanese.
It was very interesting especially when it said that Sony could suck on Master Chiefs helmet.
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8-20-2008 @ 9:46AM
Saeth said...
In before comment about selling out of launch consoles.
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8-20-2008 @ 10:15AM
The_Punisher said...
Wow, took them long enough to sell out of launch consoles. Maybe this will happen again when FF13 comes out.
(Haha, not really, i know it's not coming to 360 in japan, but after this i wonder why?).
=p
8-20-2008 @ 10:05AM
Fenix said...
I saw this on IGN, and I also saw that there is a new 360 d-pad redesign! FTW! So, MS DOES listen! :)
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/900/900487p1.html
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8-20-2008 @ 10:07AM
Jonah Falcon said...
All 30 Xbox 360s were sold out.
Just kidding. I kid because I love.
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8-20-2008 @ 10:15AM
LiqwidZero said...
I have to admit, I didn't even think this would happen.
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8-20-2008 @ 10:20AM
joeybeast said...
Wait, they are out of Arcade as well?
They never sold out of Arcades.
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8-20-2008 @ 10:36AM
LiqwidZero said...
My local Wal-mart is always sold out of core/arcade models.
8-20-2008 @ 10:35AM
Fenix said...
I just hope this trend continues with Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean and then what if all of a sudden they wake up and say "hey, Gears of War 2 IS kickass!" lol, that would be nice.
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8-20-2008 @ 10:44AM
Rell said...
And the shocking news just keeps coming.
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8-20-2008 @ 11:00AM
Eduardo Hoeller said...
Interesting... The only Tales game I've played for real was GC's Symphonia, I really liked it, but it was not a system seller in any way. I downloaded Vesperia demo but honestly JRPG's demos are never very exciting. Maybe I'll get to Vesperia someday, but right now, I'm too caught up into Lost Odyssey (yeah, I now I cound find time to devote to it...)
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8-20-2008 @ 11:23AM
XDragon said...
Thats impressive considering. I wouldn't expect this to continue outside of other future releases of exclusive JRPGs. MS sure sounds like they're learning their lessons! I hope Namco-Bandai gets more credit for this!
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8-20-2008 @ 11:28AM
Tamyu said...
This really just goes to show how very little Microsoft knows the Japanese market. Everyone and their dog in Japan predicted Vesperia would sell like crazy... But instead of pushing it or even readying more consoles (It was a given they`d sell a lot - preorders of the console+game pack were full within days of the preorder period starting), they just sat back.
No big commercials. No huge in-store displays.
Both things that were done for Halo and Bioshock - both games that don`t really appeal all that much to the Japanese market.
Come on Microsoft - take a look at the market!! It`s not hard to see what is going to sell! There was so much opportunity to market this and sell more - or even just have enough consoles available to retailers to cover the demand... But nope, a wasted chance.
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8-20-2008 @ 12:15PM
Hak said...
I'm pretty sure Squeenix haven't learn their lesson.....
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8-20-2008 @ 1:34PM
My cat said...
Japan likes them some RPGs. Who knew?
Obviously, Microsoft doesn't know (or care) about the Japanese market. Have they learned anything from this?
If they want money, and I know that they do, then hopefully the answer is yes.
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8-20-2008 @ 1:35PM
Gabriel said...
I'm pretty sure Square Enix is going to see from this event that XBOX 360 can attract JRPG players enough to release FFXIII on XBOX 360 in Japan. Official word has been changed on various occasions in the past so don't count out that possibility. Namco even has doubts that Tekken 6 will be PS3 exclusive, which would be a real shocker for fans of the series. We've gotten to a point where we can truly say, "Never say never," about anything and everything in the gaming industry. God bless.
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