Posted Oct 3rd 2008 11:45AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
According to Gamesindustry.biz, the Xbox 360 has again outsold the Playstation 3 in the not so 360-friendly lands of Japan. And when all calculated, the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 for the entire month of September! Huzzah!
The fourth week of September saw 360 Japanese sales reaching 11,291 units while the PS3 was only able to sell 8,275 units. As a result, the monthly totals saw the 360 selling a whopping (hey, it's whopping for Microsoft) 54,793 while Sony moved about 31,798 PS3s.
We're sure the "hell has frozen over" gig is getting old, but we dunno what else to compare this to. Maybe pigs flying? Yeah, that works. You heard it hear first, pigs can officially fly and the Xbox 360 outsold the Playstation 3 in Japan for the month of September.
According to weekly sales figures from Media Create in Japan, Microsoft has beat Sony on its home turf for the second week in a row. Reduced to nearly half of its console sales last week Microsoft was still able to inch out the PlayStation 3 in the Land of the Rising Sun. Of course, Nintendo's DS and Wii one-two-combo remained at the top with Sony's PSP landing comfortably in third. Sales figures, according to Media Create for last week look like this:
Nintendo DS - 61,242
Wii - 29,921
PSP - 28,674
Xbox 360 - 13,777
PlayStation 3 - 8,156
PlayStation 2 - 7,720
On the software side, the Xbox 360 exclusive Infinite Undiscovery fell to #13 in its second-ish week of release with timed-exclusive Tales of Vesperia down to #28. Along with the two recently released titles the Xbox 360 received a price drop that is assumed to be a huge factor in the figures. Or Japanese gamers now love the Xbox. Yeah, that has to be it.
With Japanese Xbox 360 sales recently reinvigorated, even outselling the Wii -- or coming damned close, depending on who you believe -- Microsoft is keen to keep up the momentum. Speaking to Edge, Xbox Japan head Takashi Sensui noted the sales boost, saying "[Microsoft needs] to make the strengthening of our RPG lineup a priority." In addition Sensui said that Microsoft is working to keep 360 supplies up in the region, no doubt referring to Japan's retailers exhausting the country's entire supply of 360 consoles following the debut of Tales of Vesperia. The next goal for Microsoft is to break the 1 million unit mark, a goal it's close to reaching with recent sales estimates hovering at nearly 720,000. Sensui is hopeful about the 360's prospects, saying "we believe that Japanese consumers will see what we have to offer and agree that is is the best option available."
With some big name RPGs on the way -- such as Star Ocean: The Last Hope (above) -- and the Tokyo Game Show taking place next month, we're sure we'll be getting an earful of Microsoft's strategy for Japan in the coming weeks.
Quick. Someone call the caterer, the petting zoo and the guys behind the three hundred and sixty pounds of confetti we ordered for the party to celebrate Xbox 360's win in Japan. VideoGamer.com is reporting new sales data from MediaCreate that contradicts figures released by Famitsu publisher Enterbrain which claimed the Xbox 360 had outsold the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii in the Land of the Rising Sun.
MediaCreate have released figures which now put the Xbox 360 about 1,500 units behind the Nintendo Wii with 28,188 units sold versus Nintendo's 29,686. While numbers for the PlayStation 3 were not detailed it was verified that the Xbox 360 outsold Sony's console in the period of September 8 to 14.
Uh oh. Was that the doorbell? Quick, turn off the lights! Maybe the delivery guys will leave and take the life-sized J. Allard funnel cake with them.
According to data provided by Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, the Xbox 360 has outsold the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii in Japan for the week ending September 14. At a pre-TGS event Microsoft announced the price of the Xbox 360 would be reduced in Japan on September 11, coupled with the release of the Square-Enix exclusive RPG Infinite Undiscovery, the Xbox 360 has landed on the top of the console charts. The sales breakdown from Enterbrain looks like this:
Xbox 360: 28,681 units
Wii: 27,057 units
PlayStation 3: 8,050 units
Speaking of Infinite Undiscovery, the tri-Ace developed RPG has found success in Japan selling 86,708 units in its first week of release. Recently, Microsoft has seen moderate success with exclusive titles in the region including a sales-spike in August when the Namco Bandai timed-exclusive Tales of Vesperia released -- which led to the Xbox 360 console selling out in the country.
After witnessing the oddness that was record breaking Japanese console sales thanks to Tales of Vesperia's release and the subsequent 360 sellout in all of Japan, we actually had a glimmer of hope that the 360 would finally get a foothold in the Japanese market. But, depressingly enough, the record console sales were just that, an oddity. Console sales this past week sorta flat-lined back to their low numbers from the astonishing 25,000 console sales to a sad 7,258, making the 360 Japan's least purchased console last week. It's entirely possible the weak sales are due to the console shortages, but we aren't getting our hopes up. Japan still and will forever hates the 360 ... it's the truth.
Well, well, well, look what odd Xbox 360 console sales news we have here. Xbox 360 hardware is completely sold out ... in Japan ... yes, Japan ... how WEIRD!
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.
It takes a special kind of game to crack the Top Ten in Japan ... if that game is for the Xbox 360, that is. Luckily for Microsoft a special kind of game recently hit the market in the Far East that has exploded in popularity. Tales of Vesperia, part of the classic Tales series, cracked the Top Ten titles sold for the week ending August 10 in Japan at number four. Could this spell a significant change for Microsoft's efforts in the Land of the Rising Run?
Ha! Good one. No, seriously. This will sell a few more units before people remember they don't care about the Xbox 360 ... you know, until another RPG exclusive drops in their lap. At 108,000 units sold in its debut week, Tales of Vesperia is the fastest selling title in the history of the Xbox 360.
Go! Go! Go! That's pretty much all you'll need to know for this Japanese trailer for Bionic Commando: Rearmed, courtesy of our pals at Gamer Tag Radio. Combining a metric-ton of footage from the upcoming XBLA title and wacky karaoke elements that are a known fondness to our gaming brothers and sisters in the Far East, this trailer is wrapped up in awesome. While it doesn't show you anything you haven't already seen from the game, it does get us even more excited to swing around when the game hits the Arcade on August 13. Head over to GTR to check out the trailer.
Microsoft needs help in Japan. OK, let's not mince words here -- they need a bona fide miracle. While sales are sluggish (that's called an understatement), Microsoft continues to approach the Eastern market with an assortment of games that appeal to the majority of their tastes. In response, the region sometimes sees a spike in sales but overall the Xbox 360 rarely sells more than a few thousand units per week (and this is an overstatement).
Enter Team Gamerscore Blog. Attempting to communicate directly with the Japanese gamer, the team at GSB have created a a video that hopes to entice gamers into the Xbox 360 camp. How? With personality, that's how!
We know some of the of comments to this video will be negative for the attempt but trying this approach to the market couldn't hurt right? Microsoft is essentially a faceless corporation in the East and putting some nice people in front of a camera talking about games could help remove the negative stigma the system has in the region. Or you know, maybe it won't.
As one of the exclusive RPGs to hit the 360 this fall and one of the few 360 games by Square-Enix, Tales of Vesperia is solidly part of the 360's fall lineup. It's just that many won't really care about it when it comes. Live blogs from the Microsoft RPG event in Shibuya report that the JPRG will be hitting Japan August 7 and in North America and Europe before that month is out. Also mentioned is the fact that a demo will be released for the game before this month is out. Unfortunately, no specific region for the demo was cited, and given the region specific release of demos lately, it'll likely be Japan only. Well readers, do you think you (or rather the 360's demographic at large) can find room in your hearts for a JPRG this fall? Or will Fable 2 eclipse it entirely?
Struggling as they are in Japan, Microsoft has pulled another move in a desperate attempt to gain (or perhaps simply lose no more) ground. The Premium 360 there had previously been priced at 34,800 yen, and on March the 6th Microsoft will launch the Arcade to the tune 27,800 yen, which is (one would think not coincidentally) much closer to the Wii's Japan price of 25,000 yen. With this new price effecting only the Arcade SKU it's difficult to see how this could gain Microsoft anything at all, as with the sale of Arcade units the consumer is still not receiving the entire experience (Live, HDD required content, etc) and may not end up being a loyal customer. Just how hard is Microsoft willing to push in Japan? Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon have already released and that didn't change much at all, so what will it take? Will this price drop do anything to sales? Readers, is Japan a lost cause for the 360?
Posted Feb 4th 2008 12:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Seen as the bastard child of the Xbox 360 console SKUs, the Xbox 360 Arcade and its 256MB memory card are officially making their way to Japan's retail stores.
The new Arcade bundle will retail for 27,800 Yen (roughly $260 US) and be nearly identical to the United States' Arcade bundle including an HDMI port, wireless controller, 256MB memory card and five XBLA games. It wasn't made clear of Japan's Xbox 360 Core bundle will be going the way of the U.S.'s (see: no more Core), but we're thinking that isn't the highest priority right now. Priority number one is to get anyone in Japan to buy an Xbox 360 at any price. And even though we don't think the Xbox 360 Arcade is going to be the 360's savior in Japan, it's a step in the right direction to make the product a bit cheaper. And that's good ... right?
Posted Nov 27th 2007 2:30PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Coming straight out of a Microsoft Japan held press conference are new details about what features will be included in the December 4th Fall Update. All the information is in Japanese (and we forgot our Japanese translator at home), but thanks to Engadget Japan's own Ittousai we've got all the goods. And yes, there's more to the Fall Update than just Xbox Originals and Friends of Friends. Click through to the break to get learnified ...
We agree with out kinfolk at Joystiq that it's probably time to start packing some supplies and head for your nearest bomb shelter. Why? Because the Xbox 360 outsold the Playstation 3 in Japan last week. We'll just give you a moment to let that soak in.
Got it?
Good. Yes, the impossible has happened, but it's not quite as grandiose as one might think. The Xbox 360 managed to sell 17,673 units compared to the Playstation 3's 17,434, a mere 239 units apart. Still, in a country dominated by Sony and Nintendo, it's bound to be a momentous occasion for Microsoft, especially given that the week prior saw only 3,718 360s sold. The reason for the nearly 500% increase was the release of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, which landed at number two in Japanese software sales (Super Mario Galaxy was number one). So, the message for Microsoft in Japan is clear: start making more games about jets!
According to Gamesindustry.biz, the Xbox 360 has again outsold the Playstation 3 in the not so 360-friendly lands of Japan. And when all calculated, the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 for the entire month of September! Huzzah!
After witnessing the oddness that was record breaking Japanese console sales thanks to 
Seen as the bastard child of the Xbox 360 console SKUs, the Xbox 360 Arcade and its 256MB memory card are officially making their way to Japan's retail stores.
