Bach Dismisses Analysts – Bullish About 360 in Japan

"Can this be true? And why does nobody ever point out that much of the Japanese public’s dislike of Xbox stems from xenophobia? It’s not like it’s not the case; the Japanese are famously xenophobic. Strange…"

What disgusting and blatant scapegoating. I have always regarded those who call Spong a 'tabloid' as morons but today I fully agree. To lable the Japanese apathy towards the XBOX as xenophobia is disgusting, ignorant, and f**kwitted.

Had the Japanese as a general consumer public been xenophobic why are they Starbucks' strongest market? Do the trendy and young of Tokyo lap up their overpriced goop and make the Shibuya main location its most profitable because they are xenophobic?

Are the japanese loyal to Euro designer brands with such ferocity that every single attempt at homegrown variations of the same have utterly bombed because they are f**king xenophobic?

Xenophonic? Are you Spong lads suddenly gone f**kwit? Were the Japanese xenophobic how the F**K did they actually allow an EA-made genocide simulation a chart-topper whewrein you kill your own forefathers? Xenophobia? Anything but.

The constant lavishing of Famitsu of f**kwittedly high scores on all games EA and Americana - borne of xenophobia? The chart-topping sales of the same? Xenophobia?

The XBOX's lack of games, simple ports with English intact and no Japanese, size, f**kwit marketing, piss-poor devco relations, irrelevant-to-market games, these have nothing to do with the black box bombing, yes? The heritage of US consoles always being s**t in Japan neither, yes?

What a s**t article. Talk about f**kwit journalism.

The Japanese lap up foreign s**t as long as it is good s**t. They aren't going to kiss your Gaijin ass nor your Gaijin product's ass just because it is f**king Gaijin.

If there are gamers out there fraught with xenophobia it's your fellow Britons and Yanks on XBOX LiVE on EA and UbiSoft genocide simulations spouting the most disgusting and ignorant prejudice, racism and plain hate than one ever sees from the f**king buying habits of the Japanese.

I assume you morons are now going to claim that the Japanese failure of the Atari Jaguar was also the direct cause of xenophobia?

Erm, what's in the launch line up to excite the Japanese? Dead or alive and Project Gotham? I have a feeling of deja-vu.

Fantasic post and absolutely spot on.

The X-Box 360 will tank in Japan simply because it is a s**te product in a land where there are plenty of products of greater worth.

Being a brit and a long time gamer, I had no interest in the original X-Box and have the same level of enthusiasm for the X-Box 360. Is that because I am xenophobic?

It may be, I also think that Ford cars are s**te and that American fast food companies are trying to kill us all slowly.

But in all honesty, I tend to think that the Japanese apathy toward the 360 is somewhat similar to my own, and that is that there is no compelling reason to buy the machine.

My current platform of choice is the SP. It plays plenty of games, provides me with challenges when I need them and fits in my pocket.

The 360 is going to be another machine hosting PC ports and stupid, dumbed down, first person shooters.

And don't get me started on the Media Centre idea. Jesus, if I wanted that I would have bought one already. I want a games machine. One that I can take to a mates house and play drunken multiplayer games on. I have no desire to sit in my place, chatting to 'friends' elsewhere in the world whilst playing against them in Perfect Dark.

God, Japanese are xenophobic? haha it has to be the dumbest thing I ever read on Spong. Utter s**t.

Fear of change/alien cultures seems ingrained into the masses of countries with a smaller mixed population. Japan's population in 99% "native". Walk down a street in Tokyo and it has nowhere near the melting-pot of races that London or New York holds.

I think all cultures are inheritantly xenephobic, not just japanese; however, that doesn't mean all indiviuals are.

it i not that the japanese are xenophobic they just love everything Sony and Nintendo and very much donnot like FPS games, although I dont see why they dont like Elder Scroles IV which is a big system seller because its and RPG that never ends but i guess they dont like that stuff they would rather buy a harvesting sim, dog raising sim, and a living sim. Now that you think of it those japanese love those sim games.

they liek starbucks cause it isnt a threat to a preexisting japanese coffe maker... they liek ipods for the same reason... as for designers... it was that logn ago that japane was not at all the place it is today... during its sudden leap in technology and industry the youth where intrigued by the attire else where as there wherent any designers in japan... the xbox... is a threat to 2 of their most cherished things... sony and nintendo... M$ doesnt just have to be good.. they have to be fantastic over there in order to get the japanese to commit the heracy (sp?) that is buying a product from a "threatening to their national treasures" company.

i do feel its a bit of nationalism that causes the "extreme" failure over there... i know people who do whatever they can to buy things that say made in the USA... but peopel here are alot more easily swayed than the japanese are.

________

Don't be f**kwit you spelling-challenged f**kwit- were it xenophoba that rpevented JP gamers from embracing Gates' box, explain the success of even the s**ttiest American games on the PS2 in Japan? Famitsu laps the s**t up so quickly it's pathetic.

Naouruki i believe you were talking to me and I would have to say you are the dumbest person i think i have ever seen psot on this forum.

First off you keep saying f**kwit which isnt even a word you ass and you said I was spelling challenged.

Secondly just because someone bought a crappy game made by an American developer doesnt mean they will support an American console which is competion to clearly Japanese console dominated market and the crappy game game in which you were refering to is for the JP made game console PS2 so that makes you a complete idiot.

Oh and did i mention your an IDIOT.

Guys, chill please.



I have to agree with this. I hate playing Live games where I have to talk to people in the lobby, not like Halo 2 where you're straight in there, but have to wait for people to turn up. There are a large number of retards that have adopted the system that constantly questioning my sexual orientation and racial heritage.

However, about xenophobia. I can't speak for Japan, but whilst I feel most British people will buy whatever they want regardless of country of origin, people still buy Rovers because they're British.

Someone has taken a lot of crack here. And needs to calm the hell down.

The Japanese are very insular and indeed xenophobic. They have this weird thing for America - baseball? - but in the main they are very proud of their history and heritage and are very much against losing ground to the "Westerners". It's not a bad thing - it's a very common thing, national pride, and something America's the biggest follower of - but you cannot deny it is there. The Japanese do tend to pick out a lot of their own products; they have a lot to choose from, and if other countries could they would too. The Japs and Americans, however, are famed for it, and you should just deal with it.

And please, drop the language. You can't complain about Live - the greatest proof of the Internet F**kwad Theory that anonymity+audience+freedom of speech= utter assholishness - and then make a tirade like you have multiple times. And never, EVER pick on people for their spelling on the net. For one, this site has no spellcheck. And two, the amount of people on the internet who suffer from dyslexia or another similar problem is immense, and this (the internet) is the only place it shows. Bullying people to prove your point only proves one thing: you are beneath attention and/or decent conversation.

Live... Live is a funhouse. That sort of stuff happens on Counterstrike, Quake 2 and 3, et al on PC. You expect any less on Live? I've found it to be 60/40 most days. You have to pick your games; Forza is quite civilised, Mechassault is too, in fact the older games are because frankly it's usually the players who are there because they just got the game and/or know it's what everyone plays that spoil it. Halo 2 suffers because frankly it's what everybody plays. Counterstrike suffers due to infamy.

I personally hope 360 does well in Japan; not because I'm a big MS fanboy, but because it would shake things up a little. Maybe a few more eccentric titles would make it to 360, and I would really like that. I'll be buying one, because I love the look of games like Prey and Gears of War. No PS2 game has drawn me in since, well, Kingdom Hearts, and so the PS3 has no draw to me. The Rev is my second console, chiefly for a certain downloadable content feature... oh, and Zelda.

I think you hit the nail on the head Lupos. I think it's a case of japan is trying to brush off its possible xenophobic past as time passes and there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe we should be using another word than that x one.

However xenophobia is not the cause of Xbox failure in japan, just MS failure to understand japanese tastes in games and japanese apathy.

The japanese apathy exists because of Nintendo, for it was Nintendo that breathed life into a dead industry and thus created many japanese jobs as the market exploded. Be you an employee of Sega, Nintendo or whoever, your job exists because Nintendo took a chance and gave us the Famicom and console gaming would never be here today without it.

Having breathed new life into the games industry it would obviously be very hard for the japanese to see the industry throne return to american (an already rich enough nation) hands, when it was the americans who nearly killed it altogther, leaving it on the roadside to die. Also don't forget japan has also had a recession within the last couple of years. Against all the media flooded from america it's nice that japanese can also push anime, manga and games to the rest of the world.

In a way I can see where the japanese are coming from because if MS cornered the console market, while having claimed the PC market already, the industry would not evolve in the same way it currently does and would be less fun. To be honest that is a day I hope never comes, and if it means the japanese favouring Sony or Nintendo product for the games they wanna play then so be it.

America are a super power of the world. When they control everything, that is a very dark day for the world of gaming.

Lastly, be careful Spong and choose your words carefully in future as not to offend. Thanks.

there is absolutely 0 hype in japan about x360...and u garbage box 360 fanboys...x360 wouldnt even come close to ps3 in USA what made u think tht it would succeed in japan....given what americans did to hiroshima ,....they have a reason for hatred....and u garbage box fanboys must remember there are no homeless in japan...japanese have a higher purchasing power than americans....why would people buy x360 when it is 1/4 as powerful as ps3...by all means x360 would do even worse than xbox..it would do much worse in europe as well...clearly sony would kill ms this time

control everything?????they have 7 trillion dollars in debt...some saudis and kuwaitis are rich enough to
buy us multiple times....control pc market....really but sony kills thgem

did you hear the news that IBM is bringing back OS/2 and ps3 would support multiple platforms...this time sony would take over the pc market as well..all companies including intel,ms and amd would simply be decimated

it somestimes puzzles me to as why people must argue like 4th graders on the internet, assuming you aren't a 4th grader... yu dont win many friends by ridiculing simple lazy spelling errors, or using a poor vocabulary... respect breeds respect...

and now that im done with that, being a canadian, i mostly watch from the outside, really we dont have a population to sway the market in any direction, its not us who determines what does well and what doesnt. but what i can say is that pride is big, nationalism is hug, heck, its one of the factors that started WWI... i can guarantee that if for some reason there was a console developed by a canadian company, it would topple sales here in canada, and do very poorly everywhere else... hockey and beer here, pride is important...

the japanese like their homegrown stuff, why go across the road for your weed when you can pick it up from the basement... and besides, you know what your gettin in the basement, its yours, you like it just that way... why risk it on something you dont know, and possibly not like.

Well clearly you are a playstation fanboy, so why does that make you better than the rest of them? There are no hard facts on the ps3, or the xbox360 for that matter, when it comes to what it can output. So all these figures you hear poping up in articles are theoretical bullshit. Each manufacturer wants their console to be the best because at the end of the day, that's what sell consoles. Although, it should be about the games. Who cares if looks great, if it's not fun to play, then what's the point?

Sony are the king at putting a good spin on their console. Going back to Dreamcast days, when they told people not to buy it; "Our console will be so much better". In my opinion this just wasn't the case. They were on about the same level. Infact 1st person shooters looked better on the Dreamcast. At E3 they showed Killzone. Clearly this is something that never could be achieved for at least another generation. It would take years to develop a game that complex. This left Microsoft stunned, since they were showing what there console actually could do, and of course it didn't look nearly as good.

To say that Japan has no homeless, is simply wrong. Maybe 20 years ago you would have been correct, but currently they have around 30,000. Japan is only just getting out of a large economic crisis.