Japan gets 1 SKU premium XBox 360 at $350

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Microsoft's predictably avoiding a dual SKU launch in the land of the rising sun. Japan will receive one version of Xbox 360 loaded with the removable 20GB HD, wireless controller, an media remote control, an headset, an ethernet cable, batteries and a component HD-AV cable.
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http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3143730

I know why there doing it but still, how lame is that? This should have been done world wide but I guess they have to get the Japanese to buy it by making it seem as if there shafting us. :mad:
 
Isaacav2 said:
Elaborate on that please :)
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MS has no choice this round but to entice as many Japanese consumers by any means necessary. I am suprised they aren't selling the system fo $249 US just to attract customers. Do you really think MS wants to sell it for less? Of course not but right now two things are a given in Japan:

1.PS3 will sell like crazy
2.PS3 will sell like crazy

If MS doesn't entice the Japanese consumer much more so than XBOX1 they will lose developer support overseas and the US won't ever see games like MGS4, DMC3, FFXII, etc. For whatever reason people like those games and will likely buy a PS3 here in the US just for them. MS has to get Japanese consumers now and in bulk and this is a good strategy.

In esssence better Japanese sales will only lend itself to a wider selection of games for everyone.
 
Microsoft is a lot smarter than most people give them credit for.

They might not be innovative, but they sure as possess the ability to learn quickly when it comes to business.
 
Yes Microsoft is real smart :rolleyes: They should pull their heads out of their asses and just sell every console with the hard drive.
 
Genocidal[v2] said:
Yes Microsoft is real smart :rolleyes: They should pull their heads out of their asses and just sell every console with the hard drive.
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They do not expect people like us to buy the core system. They expect the non-hardcore gamers to buy the core system. And then once those people realize their mistake they expect them to spend another 250$ buying all the peripherals making their system equal to the core system :)
 
Genocidal[v2] said:
Yes Microsoft is real smart :rolleyes: They should pull their heads out of their asses and just sell every console with the hard drive.
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Why? They know they can get away with the shit they're pulling in the United States.

If I owned a business and knew that I could take advantage of consumer ignorance, I'd do it too. The Japanese aren't as easy to sell to as an American company, therefore they have to find a middle-ground and make the purchase process less confusing.
 
I'm not sure the Hard drive is going to amound to much for the XBOX 360.
Since it's an optional component, developers wanting to attract the largest audience will code for the most compatibility, which would be xbox systems that don't have the hard drive.
Now, if Every xbox sold in Japan has a HD, then overseas developers will take the HD as a given and program with it in mind.
I want to see where the Xbox HD will go, either the way of the PS2 HD, where as an Optional feature it was under utilized, or if it will become necessary for Core system owners to buy an upgrade.
 
Microsoft will sell the Xbox console under cost in the US, so we should be thankful. It is the games where MS is making all the cash.
 
alhava said:
I'm not sure the Hard drive is going to amound to much for the XBOX 360.
Since it's an optional component, developers wanting to attract the largest audience will code for the most compatibility, which would be xbox systems that don't have the hard drive.
Now, if Every xbox sold in Japan has a HD, then overseas developers will take the HD as a given and program with it in mind.
I want to see where the Xbox HD will go, either the way of the PS2 HD, where as an Optional feature it was under utilized, or if it will become necessary for Core system owners to buy an upgrade.
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Try reading one of the 10,000 posts addressing this issue. Devs will utilize the HD if its available.. i think MS made a smart move because the people out there who will never go on xbox live or will never play old xbox games will get to buy the system cheaper and get that option to purchase the HD once they realize the benefits... and the system will only be $299 for them. I can tell you a number of people who never even knew the xbox had a HDD in the first place and bought memory cards for it when buying the system.
 
While I was a little upset about MS not including a HDD by default at first, I soon came to realize after reading a few Tech sights, that the HDD will not make a speed difference on the 360. It was barely used by any games on the the current Xbox in fact, with the exception of saving games.

However, I do feel that if they can do it in Japan, they can do it here too. I am not asking them to sell me one with the HDD for less money, but I would love to the see the HDD standard, even if it means paying a little extra than at first thought.

This will not be that big deal, especially since FFXI will REQUIRE a HDD for the X360, and games like the new Morrowind state that if you want the true game play value with a few extras, you will have to own a HDD.

The HDD will get used, because unlike the PS2, there is a version actually shipping with a HDD whereas the PS2 was never bundled with a HDD.

I am predicting that within two years or so, that most games will need a HDD in order to play. (assuming the Core system does not sale well, which I bet it won't)
 
Sh0t said:
Namco. Square.


Did the Xbox have any good rpgs?
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Fable?

Of course, this is coming from someone who hasn't really liked any game from Square since Einhander. Final Fantasy is about as exciting to me as meatloaf night.
 
kotor and fable were about it

jade empire will be named also, but i thought it was pure hype

being that the HD isnt standard across the board, dont count on 100% dev support if they can't depend on it being there. bad move by microsoft to release a non-standardized console.
 
So the Japanese, who didn't give a shit about the Xbox, are being "rewarded" with a cheaper 360 hdd. Bastards. MS needs to show some love to the people that made their first system a success. Fifty dollars isn't going to make anyone in Japan take notice, anyways; it'll just piss off their current fanbase.

All anger aside, I understand the business behind it and the potential benefits that will come in the form of Japanese developement if they can sell it in Japan. However, the Japanese studios aren't stupid and if something is selling like hotcakes in America, they, too, would benefit from making games for it. $50 per console doesn't mean anything to a company as huge as MS, no matter how many millions they sell, and they are bleeding money on hardware sales regardless. Bill Gates could comp a few billion with his personal checkbook. It sure does mean something to the average consumer, though.

Oh well, they know what their doing because, in the end, I am gonna buy it anyways....
 
Morrowind was a great RPG for xbox.. I had about 60+ hours into it... although it was really glitchy, it was one of my favorite games. A little hard to get into at first, but I couldn't put it down for 2 months.
 
KOTOR, KOTOR II, Fable... pretty good games, but not exactly what the Japanese want I guess. I loved those games though! I thought they were WAY more fun to play than any Final Fantasy game to date. But those Japanese love different styles of stories and gameplay than we do here in the West.

Which is fine with me. Let them keep those games, I won't buy another one.
 
[Fate]Doom said:
In esssence better Japanese sales will only lend itself to a wider selection of games for everyone.
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You didn't mention that the first Xbox didn't exactly win over alot of japanese game makers, what MS is trying to do here is get more JGMs to sign on with them to make games for the Xbox 2.
Did the Xbox have any good rpgs?
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The Xbox didn't exactly have alot of great games for it in general, that is if you weren't into sports related games it has a rather anemic library of games. If anything it seems that alot of the games had more glitches in it them the ones for my PS2 and GC (I love my GC).

I didn't much like KOTOR 1 or 2 and I'm not touching Fable or that "other one" either.

I've thought this whole non standardize Xbox thing was a terrible idea from the beginning it was brought up. You make it cheaper by gutting the console and confusing devs?! :confused:
 
CrimandEvil said:
You make it cheaper by gutting the console and confusing devs?! :confused:
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Console is exactly the same thing, nothing is stripped. The core just doesnt come with the HDD or the wireless controller, but the wireless receivers are built into the box.
 
Fable was a good RPG? That's news to me.

Xbox had KOTOR I & II.

I'll not speak of Morrowind.

Japanese studios aren't stupid and if something is selling like hotcakes in America, they, too, would benefit from making games for it. $50 per console doesn't mean anything to a company as huge as MS, no matter how many millions they sell, and they are bleeding money on hardware sales regardless. Bill Gates could comp a few billion
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That's not definite. Localization and overseas marketing drive up development costs and time considerably. Most (pretty much all) studios won't develop unless they can bring in a profit on their home turf. Why make a game that'll sell well only overseas when you could make a game that'll sell well at home (if not both home and overseas)?

Also, Bill Gates could afford to sell at a higher loss, yes, but if he were the type of person to rely on his personal funds to augment his company, he probably wouldn't be where he is today.
 
Let's see how many people bitching about the Japanese price drop still buy one.
 
MasterShredder said:
Console is exactly the same thing, nothing is stripped. The core just doesnt come with the HDD or the wireless controller, but the wireless receivers are built into the box.
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So it's the same but different?

The argument is that developers will be less inclined to develop with a hard drive in mind, which has been proven true in consoles past.
 
I can't really add on to the 2 posts made by [Fate]Doom
He hit all the nails square on the head.

The more japanese gamers who own the xb360 the more
inclined the japanese developers will program titles for it.
 
The cheaper the Xbox is in Japan the cheaper the PS3 may be pushed to go. And like Sony has already said it's going to be expensive... So either Sony will have to cut even more out of the PS3's specs, or Japanese gamers will have to save their money or go for the less exspensive Xbox 360. It's a great move by MS.
 
It doesn't bother me that much, Japan has typically had to pay higher prices than North America in the past, I guess it's something that Microsoft feels they need to do to get a greater foothold in Japan. Look on the bright side at least we don't get shafted as much as Europe does.
 
Guess what, Microsoft doesn't care about you, it's all $$$ to them bwahahaha. That said I wonder if it would be cheaper to import an X360 from Japan than to buy the full sytem here? They're saving $150 less so does it cost less than $150 to ship something like that from japan?
 
importing price depends on couple different things, but in the end I think you probably could get the Japanese XBOX360 cheaper.

Edit... That's basically what happened with the PSP, it was a lot cheaper importing, and on that note Sony does not like that kind off stuff so they filed a lawsuit against liksang.com which is based in Hong Kong and have been importing to anybody anywhere for quite a while. My favorite quote in this lawsuit is this, "Lik-Sang's sales are an unlawful interference with Sony's economic interests", stated Sony's legal correspondence.
 
tazzmissionx said:
importing price depends on couple different things, but in the end I think you probably could get the Japanese XBOX360 cheaper.
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Which is both kind of sad and kind of cool (that is if you know japanese ;) ).
 
It is important to remember that America is getting the new XBox 360 almost a month before the Japanese consumers have access to it (in Japan anyway). Who is to say that Microsoft will not drop the price about $50 across the board on or around December 10th in America to match the Japanese price. That way, they have already had a month to grab all the "die hard" gamers who want the latest and greatest the moment it is released while they have time to ramp up production and drop the price, right before Christmas, to entice all the moderate gamers or gamer's parents into buying it. :p
 
Basically the only games where you definitly need to know Japanese are RPG's and their numerous amount of dating sims, all others either mostly English or have enough English to where you maybe have to stumble thorugh things like menus and such and still be enjoyable.

edit... I have been buying imports on occasion since the first PS.
 
peacetilence said:
Guess what, Microsoft doesn't care about you, it's all $$$ to them bwahahaha. That said I wonder if it would be cheaper to import an X360 from Japan than to buy the full sytem here? They're saving $150 less so does it cost less than $150 to ship something like that from japan?
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First, they're region locked so you better also like importing games from now on. Second, $399 - $350 isn't $150.... so its not going to be worth importing. Third, xbox 360 will be released in the US first which is a welcomed change... then again, xbox came out here first too.
 
I thought the reason to get imported consoles is for
import titles and to brag to everyone who doesn't have it yet..

Not to wait a month to get a system that everyone in your country already has for 50 dollars cheaper (before import fees) that is most likely region locked.

Holy Monkey Balls!
 
I figure if a company is trying to get ahead in a market they can do whatever they want, I'm not going to stop them. I'm not getting either sony's or microsoft's, nintendo's is going to be fine for me, plus their bringing the old games to it, HORAY. I don't think that the price drop will change the sales anyhow. Japanese consumers typicaly buy the best reguarless of price unlike Americans who look for the best bang for the buck.
 
^^^

Not entirely true...the PSX is a good example. The Japanese will only go so far with their spending.
 
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