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PlayStation (Games) XBox (Games) Entertainment Games

Xbox Japan Boss Explains New Price Cuts 37

Posted by simoniker from the it's-like-this dept.
Thanks to 1UP for their article covering Japanese Xbox boss Yoshihiro Maruyama's comments regarding yesterday's significant Xbox price drop in Japan. Maruyama explained that the price cut wasn't a reaction to Sony's Japanese PS2 price drop: "This discount was in the works for the end-of-year shopping season before SCE's announcement. The timing was on our own terms, and we aren't simply following the leader here." He also tried to explain why the Japanese videogame market is shrinking, suggesting: "You see companies in the U.S. using a multiplatform strategy, developing games for several consoles at once, with Electronic Arts leading the way. However, Japan concentrates all its development on the top platform alone, so it's easy to run into dead ends."
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Xbox Japan Boss Explains New Price Cuts More

Xbox Japan Boss Explains New Price Cuts

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  • Has anyone else heard anything about the PS2 price cut? I recall there were rumors of it going to $100. If that happened, and Microsoft followed, I would definitely buy an XBox - maybe two.
    • I would rather go for the PS2 then. Or maybe i'd go for the XBox and set up a nice linux cluster.
      • I've already got a PS2 you insensitive clod!

        But yeah, my personal console priorities are PS2 then Gamecube then XBox. Of course, if I had to buy one console today - I don't know if it would be a PS2 or an XBox. I originally bought the PS2 because of GTA - now that's available for XBox. I do really enjoy Madden online so that gives a nod to the PS2. I haven't checked out Sega's and MS's football offerings so I don't know if that's a critical issue for me.

        All of this is moot since I already have a PS2.

        • Re:Price Cuts (Score:2, Informative)

          by drewmca ( 611245 )
          If you haven't tried them, Sega's sports titles are defintely worth a go. the football game is probably the best I've ever played. Sure, you can't change the price of hotdogs like you can in Madden. But the gameplay is dead on, the presentation is fantastic with its espn trappings, and the online play is nice. It's on both xbox and ps2 and probably worth at least a rent.

  • FP (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by Kethinov ( 636034 )

    "You see companies in the U.S. using a multiplatform strategy, developing games for several consoles at once, with Electronic Arts leading the way. However, Japan concentrates all its development on the top platform alone, so it's easy to run into dead ends."

    The US has the right idea (kinda). Give people platform freedom and more people will buy your product. Restrict them to a single platform and they will boycott your product. I won't be buying FFX, for example, until I can rip the DVD and use an emulat

    • Re:FP (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "The US has the right idea (kinda). Give people platform freedom and more people will buy your product. Restrict them to a single platform and they will boycott your product."

      I don't think there is a boycott mentality in the mindset of most American consumers. If that were the case, Microsoft wouldn't have that many Xbox customers, based on their shenanigans and poor track record of product quality in other industries. American consumers have poor long-term memory.

      "I won't be buying FFX, for example, un

      • Your point of view is in the serious minority - the "I don't buy things that do what they are supposed to do, so please meet my unreasonable demands before I consider your product" minority.

        Minority, yes. Unreasonable demands, no. The desire to play a game on a computer so that I can better control my gaming enviornment isn't much different than my desire to use Linux to better control my desktop enviornment. Keep in mind that my point of view in regards to gaming platform freedom is just as much in the m

    • Re:FP (Score:2)

      by edwdig ( 47888 )
      Give people platform freedom and more people will buy your product. Restrict them to a single platform and they will boycott your product.

      The US has only kinda gotten that point. Yes, a lot of titles are made for all 3 consoles. But from the start, most ports to the GameCube were done very half assed - worse graphics and load times than the PS2 version, despite having significantly better hardware. On top of that, the GameCube version is commonly released later than the others. Then the publishers wonder

  • Not really... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bagels ( 676159 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @08:13PM (#7459414)
    It goes without saying that the top console in Japan right now is the PS2. But hardly all of the development goes solely towards the PS2 - Nintendo's gotten a fair number of exclusive titles for its system (primarily from Capcom), and will be getting some more in the future (FF: Crystal Chronicles, anyone?). Sega has made some good GCN exclusive games (Billy Hatcher, the Sonic series, Super Monkey Ball), too. So what's Microsoft's excuse now?

    • Re:Not really... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Babbster ( 107076 )
      I think you missed the crux of his point, which is that non-Japanese developers/publishers tend to put out each game on multiple platforms. This means that Splinter Cell, for example, saw sales on all three platforms because anyone with a game console could buy it. On the other hand, Super Monkey Ball hasn't sold even one copy to non-GC owners (ignoring portable releases) despite the fact that it could probably make a nice chunk of change with a PS2 port.

      Of course, while this perception is indeed factua

      • More than the other three consoles, Xbox has the most to gain from multiplatform releases since, besides the political issue of online capability (see EA and others), multiplatform releases can look and play better on the Xbox due to its superior hardware.

        I'll give you the look part, most of the time. I'll say the sound better part is there, even though you didn't mention it. But play better? I would say that is false. Most multi-platform games are designed with the PS2 in mind, and the PS2's control

        • 1. My use of the word "can" was quite deliberate.
          2. The PS2 and Xbox controllers have an identical number of buttons.
          3. I could easily argue that better looks and better sounds can do more to enhance playing games than the controller. If it were purely based on the controller, people wouldn't go so gaga over Gamecube games with its bizarre (compared to the other two) controller (which I personally hate and suffer through only because GC has some great games and I'm too lazy/cheap to buy an adaptor - a
        • I fail to believe that 9 out of 10 multiplatform games require heavy use of all four triggers on the PS2 in an action environment (no strategy or slower-paced games, since the Xbox controller has plenty of buttons for something like that). How many games truly need quick reflex-orientated button movements to the same degree as Tony Hawk? Maybe fighting games, maybe some sports games. Not 9 out of 10 multiplatform games, though!

          And I disagree about Tony Hawk regardless. The better D-pad on the Xbox controll

          • Re:Not really... (Score:3, Informative)

            by HalfFlat ( 121672 )

            I can't believe games like Ikaruga or Soul Calibur II are ported to the GC... (And the fact that SCII on GC outsold the other versions shows that play control simply isn't that important to many gamers.)

            A percentage of people who take SCII seriously, play it with a joystick. In this circumstance, the default GC controller isn't important.

            Don't know how large this percentage is, but it's certainly large enough to make it economically feasible for Hori to make a GC-specific SCII arcade stick.

            For peopl

            • Don't know how large this percentage is, but it's certainly large enough to make it economically feasible for Hori to make a GC-specific SCII arcade stick.

              On a similar note, I finally found the SC2-branded arcade stick that was mentioned here on slashdot shortly before SC2 was released ( http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/08/14 / 040208&mode=thread&tid=127&tid=186&tid=211&tid=212 &tid=213 ). The particular GameStop I was in said that they had only received the one stick t

          • Re:Not really... (Score:1, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward
            "Agree with the GC controller problem though. A lot of games would be ridiculously hard to port for control reasons alone - the horrendous d-pad alone is enough to kill the play control of so many games."

            Agreed here as well. The original GameBoy and all Nintendo consoles from the NES to the N64 had controllers with d-pads of the perfect size, shape, and construction quality. But the GameCube controller and all GameBoys starting with GameBoy Pocket all have pads that are too small for comfortable and effe
          • Maybe fighting games, maybe some sports games. Not 9 out of 10 multiplatform games, though!

            Sports, racing, and fighting games tend to be the largets percentage of multi-platform games, you know.

            The better D-pad on the Xbox controller

            You're joking, right? The Xbox D-pad sucks, especially on that monstrous controller (though the Controller-S has a better D-pad than the original). The GC D-pad is only in the bad category because it is too small for most games; but both the PS2 and GC D-pads are far m

        • Not necessarily true on the design platform comment. Splinter cell was the first mp game designed for xbox first, but there are others and there will be many more to come. One premier title that comes to mind is Starcraft:Ghost. I'll agree that the tony hawk games are designed with the ps2 in mind first, and a lot of EA's games. But beyond that, a lot of other major 3rd party developers are designing on xbox first. Ubisoft is one example, as you've already indicated. From what I understand, it's easier to p
    • Capcom has released some cool exclusives for Xbox (Steel Battallion). So has Sega (JSRF, SegaGT, Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead 3, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Shenmue II in the US, etc.). So has Konami. So has From Software (Otogi), Atlus (Shin Megami Tensei NINE, though did that maybe go multiplatform eventually?) and Tecmo (do they support the GC at all? I don't think so, but I could very well be wrong.), etc.

      So what's your point? Both GC and Xbox receive a fair number of exclusives from various companies in Jap
      • The point is exactly that! In Japan, there is a tendency to have exclusives, as opposed to multiplatform releases. That's the whole argument! Since most companies here (uh, I should clarify: Here=Japan) release for only 1 platform, it's a cinch to figure out which platform gets all the games: the PS2. If there were more multiplatform games, XBox in Japan would have more than the pitiful 120 games it currently has. For reference, the US XBox has 322 games. While most of those American games (Tony Hawk,
  • Why isn't that gold tone PS2 case available in North America??? Even better, put out a special edition platinum tone case.
    • Even better, stop investing money in paint and color marketing and spend that money on game development.
      • Jesus - you're right! I bet Sony is wasting tons and tons of money on paint testing! Think about how many great games that money could be put into to have even more clip scenes!! Honestly, Sony wants to keep their hardware sales up until the PS3 launches as momentum is a big deal in the video game industry - selling new editions of the case is an easy and cheap way to get some increased sales - especially in Japan where this type of business practice has worked in the past. Good job having no understanding

  • For the unbias... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MMaestro ( 585010 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @11:55PM (#7461097)
    For those who could care less about the Xbox vs PS2 vs GC war, heres a basic summary of why they cut the price.

    CHRISTMAS SALES. Anyone in retail knows what I'm talking about. The only one I don't see doing a price cut is GC and thats because they're already cheap and they're using the free game trick.

    • ????????? I repeat: ????????? Japan, a culture without a tradition of giving Christmas gifts, decided to lower its prices for Christmas sales?!?! Why not Halloween sales, or 4th of July sales? They would make about as much sense.
      • Japan doesn't celebrate Christmas, actually it's a normal working day over there, but children do receive significant money gifts on New Year's Day which presumedly Microsoft is targeting with this price drop.

        Another gift-giving holiday in Japan is O-bon week. Perhaps if the X-Box keeps its lacklustre performance up, a further slight decrease in price may be what they might choose.
        • Yes, but O-bon is mainly observed by companies and middle-aged folk, and gifts generally consist of beer, ham, detergent, melons, and the like. I certainly can't imagine anyone giving a console for O-bon or Chugen.

          However, on review, though kids don't get enough money for Christmas even to buy a console, Otoshidama (New Year's gift money) might be something to target. Especially with the way otoshidama are getting bigger lately.

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