Halo 2 triumphant Stateside as incredible Japanese apathy bites

X-BOX owners have only one big and exclusive game choice this winter: Halo 2, no more. But this strategies work, puting all the money in a big proyect and it's publicity campaing produce a big BOOM for the X-Box console, althou in my opinion, its a selfish position not givinig to videogamers more options.

Could I ask what you say about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Mechassault 2, or Kameo? Those are three games that are all exclusive and are coming out within what is considered the winter season. I could go deeper still and find Forza, Unreal Championship 2, Oddworld: Stranger's Rath. Do I need to go any deeper. No, and the point is that Xbox owners do have more then one big exclusive game to choose from.

Don't mind him, he meant one GOOD exclusive. (j/k)
Well, i sure as hell am curious for Halo 2, but since i don't own an xbox, i won't be playing it. And i don't plan on buying one for this game. 95% of xbox games don't really appeal to me and a lot of those that do are multiplatform, or at least out on PC. Exceptions come from the likes of Sega of course. Luckily i already own a Dreamcast and have Jet Grind Radio. I have one friend with an xbox, but he doesn't like Halo. XD I guess I'll play it if it ever comes out for PC.

Well, i'll be busy anyway this month: finish Pikmin 2, get paper Mario 2, Tales of Symphonia, Metroid Prime Echoes... I'll be busy

Wasn't Kameo the one that was recently delayed indefinitely? Going to be hard to be a Winter release when it no longer has a release date at all, unless you mean Winter 2005/6.

Xbox is a success because it's in it's home town, the big ol US of A. Halo 2 is reflectng that there and also because of the first brill game.

Lack of success in japan is MS own fault, they assume they'd be great their beacuse they are MS. What they failed to see is that the japanese taste in games are different to their own mostly PC based FPS tastes. It screams of lack of repect for a different culture mindset to expect Xbox and Halo 2 to fly of the shelves. Market research is handy in this area. Cancelling the likes of True Fantasy etc didn't help thing either, when those are the types of games Xbox needs to shift (not false pretenders like Sudeki) desperately.

I believe there might also be some anti-american feelings there because of the current Iraq biz. Remember a japanese guy did die there recently. Ask yourself if you'd buy a gung ho game like Halo 2 with what's going on and yank airbases still in japan when they aren't wanted anymore? I could be wrong, and perhaps they just don't like Hugebox and MS much. Or maybe they are saving their cash for PSP and DS etc.

You know what, SCREW JAPAN (Secretly loves them so, so much) . I mean come on, if they are soo close minded to feel that they won't buy a system because it was made in the US they need help. Everyone else in the world is buying there stupid merchandise like, Yu-Gi-Oh, Tamagotchis, Pokemon, and Beyblade. I mean they should at least try our stuff. The World is open to there weirdness (even though it took a little while) why can't they just do the same. I am not saying for they system to sell 1 billion systems but at least sell better than the PSone. If they would buy more systems they would get more content that is aimed towards them.

If they refuse to change well everyone should just not buy any electronics from Japan because were stuck up like they are. See how fast they will change there minds.

In short, Microsoft can live without Japan.

But from what I hear they are not happy and the Xenon will have Square-Enix support and be way smaller than the XBOX to appeal to Japan.

In closing, HALO 2 ROCKS! woohoo! yeah!

I totally agree. As a gamer in Japan, the only memorable exclusive that I can recall (and that grabs me when I walk into any store) is the Halo 2. There's only one other "good" game that is coming out on the Xbox that is exclusive and that is Sega's Spikeout Battle Street. Or so I hope. I flip through the gaming mags and all the killer games on Xbox are still multi-platform, and having Sega port this game to the PS2 would be a no-brainer.

Personally, even though I own an Xbox, I'm waiting for the PC version.

I didn't think it was, I might be wrong but I was still seeing a January release date. I don't know if those are true any more and I'm sorry if it was wrong. I was talking about Winter 04/05 and I hope thats what he was talking about since he was talking about Halo 2, and frankly I've got a whole bunch of other games that I want besides Halo 2 on my other systems.

I agree with you that they should give our stuff a chance, but japan is conformist and loyal to it's own perhpas to much. I love japanese games etc too, but I know that not everything from there is brilliant. Igave Pcs a chance and I love em now, I changed after LAN parties and my gaming is better for it.

Possibly the only thing that could change them is the S Koreans and perhaps the chinese, because they have embraced console and pc gaming. I'm sure once Halo 2 and Half Life 2 come out in Sth Korea they'll be all over them like vultures on a cadaver.

Japan will get used to our games for one reason i think, because they want to learn english and most japanese games don't have english dialogue or subtitles. Games expose them to this so they can learn in their own time.

Each to their own anyway.

I think there were too many mistakes made in Japan early on for it to be rectified now..

But either way claudioalex, if I were your English teacher I'd give you a firm spanking across the buttocks young man!

Hello and welcome! :-)

You must be crazy! Japan is were its all about, a mass load of games come from over there that we need to be thankfull for.Big giants like CAPCOM, KONAMI, sQUARE-ENIX, SEGA, NAMCO are based there, If it aint for the Japs, we would'nt see daylight of such brill games that these developers bring out. Japan is the heart of the gaming universe and always will be.

X-Box need to fix up more like! They can start by actually making things that wont take up the entire living room floor!

in regards to screwing japan:

i almost agree, i love japanese games, because that is all i ever played my whole life. think about it, good video games didnt really come from the US, sure we mostly started it(atari, coleco), but it was nintendo and sega that made gaming what it is(inckuding making the best game on the atari systems, i.e. donkey kong). i cant even hear the word video game with out the image of mario popong in my head.

that said, i dont see that many japaneese games that excit me like they used to. While i understand the draw of Square/Enix games i personaly have never liked them. i was much more intrigued with the promise of fable (even thought it basically fell flat) and knights of the old repblic (one of the best RPGs ever, made by canadians!). and namco? soul calibur was incredible but i honestly preffer to play sc1 to sc2 and tekken just seems like more and more of the same (not that any better fighters have come out but fighting games arent what they used to be either, in the mid 90's fighting games where king, not so much anymore). Capcom still puts out some great things here and there (viewtifull joe for one) but untill i see if the new RE game is any good i really couldnt care for that series any more... it hasnt really progressed much except grphically since the PS1 editions(stupdi stoping to turn, i should be able to aim my gun with the other stick, the only reason i ever get scared playign that game is cause im paranoid i wont be able to turn aroudn and shoot the things behind me fast enough, and no the quick turn option doesnt do it for me). Devil may cry was a really good game (no ninja gaiden mind you, which is xbox exclusive) but the sequle was mostly a let down. and nintendo... what has been there biggest games? mario did well but not fantastic... but its zelda and metroid that rule the roost these days, and if im not crazy, one of those games was made in texas! and knowing a couple of serious ninto fanboys i can tell you from my experience most of them prefer metroid. The idea that the most popular game on a nintendo system was made in texas is just rediculous.

I also think the Coments about china and korea are dead on, the xbox is doing incredibly well in the us and europe and australia and will most likely do damn good in china and s. korea when the new one comes out... japan is missing out, not us.
after all how many peopl have died as a direct

effect of playing to many video games?
1, a s. korean... playing an FPS, counter strike to be exact.

MS doesnt need them and neither do i... i will probaly buy whatever nintndo puts out next and keep it sittign next to my xenon so when im done playing halo3 and ninja gaiden 2 and whatever bioware comes out with(and maybe perfect dark if rare can ever make a decent game agian), i can take a nice relax break and play some mario party 9 or mario golf 5 or mario tennis 11, and some zelda, i do love zelda.

the days of atari are long gone, the english speaking world has done more for the evolution of video games in recent years than japan has and it doesnt show signs of slowing. take a look at the top sellign games at any given time and see how many are from japan vs. america(or any other western country for that matter)

GTA ring a bell?

even sony is buttering its bread with good old american violence. There was little doubt that the ps2 woudl rule this round of consoles, but IMO the reason they are doing it by such a large margin is for 2 reason,
A)japan is stuborn and stupid (only stupid cause they are so stubborn, not a racist remark)
B) Grand Theft Auto

oh and 1 more thing... half life2, anything with tom clancy written on it, EA games(the largest developer int he world) and blizzard.

thats a pretty hefty list next to konami capcom and square.

there is my 52 cents... go buy yourself a coke
________

"screw Japan..." this comes from a empire(sorry Country), that votes for war to solve it's problems, but has problems with Band of Brothers TV show, in case any-one phones to complain about the violence dipicted therein. The Yanks will believe any thing they are told. Yanks need war, except when they need the Brits to get them outa S**t

Microsoft = corporate games for money
Japan = games as an art form first, then money

consoles' are closed platforms......

Correction to my last post....

The film is Saving Private Ryan...

check out the story ..."www.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4005693.stm"