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Xbox 360 to be released in december in Japan (almost official)

B

Blimblim

The Inside Track
Not a press release, but it's as official a confirmation as we will ever get for the moment.

Original article :
http://www.mainichi-msn.co.jp/it/game/news/20050614org00m300022000c.html
Gamekult's news : http://www.gamekult.com/tout/actus/articles/A0000041807.html
GK's news translated :
Yoshihiro Maruyama, Xbox's General Manager in Japan said to the site Mainichi Interactive that Xbox 360 would be released in Japan during December. Microsoft's next console would be available for christmas time on the three major markets Europe, Japan and North America.
 
S

sly

Banned
So roughly three weeks after the NA release? Any news on the European release? I hope its in November.
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
They best hope they get it out a few weeks before FFXII. While in the US people might joke about PS2 sales hurting the 360 launch, in Japan if FFXII is out for $90 at the same time as 360, it will hurt MS bad. People don't have that much money and they'd rather blow it on FFXII and a PS2 if they don't have one or theirs broke.
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
I hope MS pulls this off... it would be a nice way to get the other hardware manufacturers to see how possible it is...
 
S

sol5377

Member
November 15 --> North America
November 24 --> Europe
December 2 --> Japan / Asia

Give or take a few days :) All territories will have nice launch lineups and good promotion.
 
S

sly

Banned
Thanks, that is good news. I'm thinking of importing a NA console instead because of NA/JPN RPGs that might not get released here.
 
F

Fowler

Member
I'm sorry but I still don't see a 2005 Europe launch happening. Europe has been screwed too many times for me to believe it!
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Fowler said:
I'm sorry but I still don't see a 2005 Europe launch happening. Europe has been screwed too many times for me to believe it!
Click to expand...

Mariah Carey says you gotta believe! ;)
 
N

newsguy

Member
Fowler said:
I'm sorry but I still don't see a 2005 Europe launch happening. Europe has been screwed too many times for me to believe it!
Click to expand...
still-believe.jpg
 
J

Jonnyram

Member
Bebpo said:
They best hope they get it out a few weeks before FFXII. While in the US people might joke about PS2 sales hurting the 360 launch, in Japan if FFXII is out for $90 at the same time as 360, it will hurt MS bad. People don't have that much money and they'd rather blow it on FFXII and a PS2 if they don't have one or theirs broke.
Click to expand...
FFXII would be nice on 12/12, but considering they're now saying 2005 fiscal year, I reckon it's gonna be out in 2006.
 
B

Bebpo

Banned
Jonnyram said:
FFXII would be nice on 12/12, but considering they're now saying 2005 fiscal year, I reckon it's gonna be out in 2006.
Click to expand...

I had a discussion with Duckroll early today about FFXII and it's release date. While they may release it in 2006, there are way too many positives $$$ wise for SE to let FFXII slip through the early Dec releases. At this point I'd bet they'd ship a rushed FFXII in Dec than a finished one in March.

Personally I'm about 80% certain it'll be in Dec or the final week of Nov.
 
B

Blimblim

The Inside Track
Pseudo judo said:
Any news on what Japanese games are confirmed for launch?
Click to expand...
Nothing has been officially announced yet. I expect these games to be out at launch or within a few weeks after launch :
- Enchant Arm
- Chrome Hounds
- Blue Dragon
- 99 nights
- FFXI beta
- Game Republic's game
- Dead Rising
A some other games I certainly missed or don't know about. These are mostly guesses.
 
P

Pseudo judo

Member
Blimblim said:
Nothing has been officially announced yet. I expect these games to be out at launch or within a few weeks after launch :
- Enchant Arm
- Chrome Hounds
- Blue Dragon
- 99 nights
- FFXI beta
- Game Republic's game
- Dead Rising
A some other games I certainly missed or don't know about. These are mostly guesses.
Click to expand...
I'd think DOA4 is on the list as well. What's MS policy on bringing these games over to the NA/european markets. Will we have to wait 6-12 months or does MS have some sort of process in place that could have these games regionalised much sooner?

I've missed Japanes games on Xbox and I wanted to know how long I'd have to wait before Blue Dragon and 99 Nights were in hand.

Thanks in advance. :)
 
D

Danj

Member
sol5377 said:
November 24 --> Europe
Click to expand...

That's November 24th 2006, right? :lol

On the other hand, if there's anybody who might have enough money and power to do a near-simultaneous release like this, it'd be Microsoft. It's never happened before though, not with consoles anyway (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).
 
M

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Danj said:
That's November 24th 2006, right? :lol

On the other hand, if there's anybody who might have enough money and power to do a near-simultaneous release like this, it'd be Microsoft. It's never happened before though, not with consoles anyway (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).
Click to expand...

well actually, if there was anybody with the power to do this, it'd be the company with CE experience in manufacturing and distributing electronics worldwide. I.e. Sony.

Of course, you have to care first.....
 
B

brocke

Banned
What happened to the whole "simultaneous release" thing? I guess simultaneous has a 1 month leaway factor built into the equation.
 
K

krypt0nian

Banned
brocke said:
What happened to the whole "simultaneous release" thing? I guess simultaneous has a 1 month leaway factor built into the equation.
Click to expand...

Compared to past launches this is simultaneous in the 3 regions they said it would be. Kinda like "launch window" still means "launch"
 
B

Blimblim

The Inside Track
Pseudo judo said:
I'd think DOA4 is on the list as well. What's MS policy on bringing these games over to the NA/european markets. Will we have to wait 6-12 months or does MS have some sort of process in place that could have these games regionalised much sooner?

I've missed Japanes games on Xbox and I wanted to know how long I'd have to wait before Blue Dragon and 99 Nights were in hand.

Thanks in advance. :)
Click to expand...
Well, last I heard (back in february) lots of the MGSJ 1st/2nd party titles were not planned for a Euro release. Lots of things could have changed since then of course.
 
P

Pseudo judo

Member
Blimblim said:
Well, last I heard (back in february) lots of the MGSJ 1st/2nd party titles were not planned for a Euro release. Lots of things could have changed since then of course.
Click to expand...
Eww...not good. What about NA, we'll be seeing the titles more quickly over here, yes?
 
B

Blimblim

The Inside Track
Pseudo judo said:
Eww...not good. What about NA, we'll be seeing the titles more quickly over here, yes?
Click to expand...
I'd expect the release plans to be about the same for NA and Europe, but that's just my guess.
I would not be totally surprised if a very japanese centric game like Blue Dragon took a lot of time to be localized and released outside Japan (if ever if the game stinks, and considering who's in charge of the dev it's quite possible). More "classic" games like 99 nights or Okamoto's action game will certainly be released much quicker.
 
P

Pseudo judo

Member
Blimblim said:
I'd expect the release plans to be about the same for NA and Europe, but that's just my guess.
I would not be totally surprised if a very japanese centric game like Blue Dragon took a lot of time to be localized and released outside Japan (if ever if the game stinks, and considering who's in charge of the dev it's quite possible). More "classic" games like 99 nights or Okamoto's action game will certainly be released much quicker.
Click to expand...

Bitter sweet I guess. :(
Oh well, Ill just have to get my fix with 99 Nights. Thanks for the 411 Blim Blim.
 
J

JoshuaJSlone

Member
DarienA said:
I hope MS pulls this off... it would be a nice way to get the other hardware manufacturers to see how possible it is...
Click to expand...
Well it helps a lot for it to be possible when demand is probably only really high in the US. Sony could never get away with, say, allocating a hundred thousand units for Japanese launch.
 
J

jimbo

Banned
"Well it helps a lot for it to be possible when demand is probably only really high in the US. Sony could never get away with, say, allocating a hundred thousand units for Japanese launch. "


I thought MS was doing ~500,000 in Japan. I think Sony did one million the first week with the PS2 when it launched in Japan. So I think Sony could do it with the PS3 as well, but they'd just have to start production a little earlier.

But the problem/question is this for Sony and Nintendo.......if you're not first on the market why WOULD you launch simultaneously? That would mean having stock you could be selling in one or two other markets already, but you're just waiting to manufacture enough for all three so you can launch in all territories. That's stupid. They would just be giving the other guy more time with the market to themselves.

So I think simultaenous launches like this only really work if you're the first guy out.

Of course the downside to not launching simultaneously is creating an even bigger time space between launching in one market and another. Becaue if demand is so high in a market you've launched, you're going to want to send all of your units out there where you know you can sell them right now, and it takes them even longer to bump up production for another launch somewhere else.

All in all I expect Xbox shortages a plenty. Glad I got mine preordered.
 
J

JoshuaJSlone

Member
jimbo said:
I thought MS was doing ~500,000 in Japan. I think Sony did one million the first week with the PS2 when it launched in Japan. So I think Sony could do it with the PS3 as well, but they'd just have to start production a little earlier.
Click to expand...
I was just pulling a number out of the air based on Xbox's low overall sales in Japan. Actually, looking at the console's total sales, I think about 2/3 is covered by North America. What I'm getting at is that if they've got enough units to launch in America, it would be the least extra trouble for Microsoft to try to launch in other territories near simultaneously. Nintendo is less NA-centric, and Sony is a lot less NA-centric.

But the problem/question is this for Sony and Nintendo.......if you're not first on the market why WOULD you launch simultaneously? That would mean having stock you could be selling in one or two other markets already, but you're just waiting to manufacture enough for all three so you can launch in all territories. That's stupid. They would just be giving the other guy more time with the market to themselves.
Click to expand...
Which is the exact same reason I think going for a worldwide launch at all is pretty stupid. It will always be the case that you could be launching slightly sooner in some of the territories.
 
G

golem

Member
ill be surprised if blue dragon and 99 make it for launch or near launch.. they dont really seem all that far along.
 
M

MrSingh

Member
Blimblim said:
I thought it was Namco Hometek? I could be wrong though.
Click to expand...

AFAIK it's Japan. And they haven't released info about the other titles yet. You know.. titles by the good teams...
 
E

Elios83

Member
I will believe the worldwide launch in 2005 when it actually happens.
It's not the first time someone promises this (and it's the second time from Microsoft).
 
D

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
Elios83 said:
I will believe the worldwide launch in 2005 when it actually happens.
It's not the first time someone promises this (and it's the second time from Microsoft).
Click to expand...

Yeah. First time was Halo 2.

They were pondering it for Xbox but never went through with it :p
 
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