Okami Designers Form Seed
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: CAPCOM, Corporate News,
Capcom’s Clover Studio has been responsible for some of that publisher’s most creative games; Clover’s Okami was extremely well-received by critics, but unfortunately, those excellent reviews did not translate into sales. Last year, Capcom announced that the studio would be dissolved. Now, the primary creative forces behind Clover, Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami, have formed a new independent studio called Seeds. No announcement has been made yet about either game titles or platforms supported, but the Game|Life blog has a translation of their introductory statement.
Read More 
| Seeds via Game|Life
Gallery: Okami Designers Form Seed
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Limited Edition Revenant Wings DS Announced
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo DS, Role Playing Games, Square Enix,
With a new release in the Final Fantasy franchise hitting the DS comes another limited edition DS bundle. When Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings launches for the DS in Japan on April 26th, a special limited edition package including a laser etched Nintendo DS and the game will be available, selling for 21840 Yen, about $180 US. So, Japan gets yet another limited quantity release of the DS tied to a highly anticipated release, while other territories have to deal with the small color selection available. Expect huge lines in Japan for this release; Revenant Wings may be even more popular than the Final Fantasy III and Nintendo DS combination.
Read More | Famitsu
Gallery: Limited Edition Revenant Wings DS Announced
Has Microsoft Turned The Corner In Japan?
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Xbox 360,
Microsoft has perennially struggled in Japan in the console market. The original Xbox did miserably in Japan and for the first year of its launch it seemed like the Xbox 360 was going to follow in its footsteps. However, the past few months have seen some fairly high profile titles hit the console along with some extremely aggressively priced hardware and software bundles. Gamasutra is reflecting on these releases to try and determine if Microsoft has indeed turned things around in that territory.
The site looks to the recent launch of Blue Dragon and its related hardware bundle as well as the release of Gears of War in Japan to try and find out where the truth lies. Blue Dragon was probably one of the strongest releases, but after the initial release spike, the game dropped off the sales charts fairly quickly. Similarly, Gears of War broke the top ten in sales for the week it was released, but very next week had the game dropping off the top 30 entirely. Reports in Japan had Microsoft badly undershipping the title, which would effectively kill sales, if true. But overall this seems to reflect on efforts by a company that still doesn’t really understand the culture, and this is quickly killing any temporary successes. Much of the feedback that Gamasutra received for their article seems to show a company that is badly out of sync with their target market, putting marketing money into badly conceived campaigns that fail to reach the consumer.
Read More | Gamasutra
Gallery: Has Microsoft Turned The Corner In Japan?
20 GB PS3s Get Discounted In Japan
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,
It looks like 20GB PS3s have gotten temporary price reductions from some Japanese retailers; Kotaku has pointed out a post on the Akiba blogs showing some retail chains in the country reducing the price of the 20GB model by 10,000 Yen, around $80. We know PS3 sales have hit somewhat of a lull recently, so stores may be aggressively reducing price to reduce stock levels. Continued price reductions can not be sustained without support from Sony; if sales continue to languish, Sony might have to reduce the price of the 20GB system even further.
Read More | Kotaku
Gallery: 20 GB PS3s Get Discounted In Japan
Japanese PS3 Shipments Hit 1 Million
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3,
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan today announced that PS3 shipments in Japan have reached 1 million consoles, according to a Reuters report. Sony’s initial targets were to have 2 million consoles shipped by the end of the year; with today’s announcement, it looks like while Sony made its shipment targets in the US, the company missed its goals in Japan by two weeks. The announcement comes after Japanese analyst Nomura Securities indicated that Sony might miss its worldwide shipping targets by as much as 25% due to lackluster sales. Actual PS3 demand is somewhat hard to gauge, and gamers will probably have to wait for January NPD sales numbers to know the truth. Certainly the initial demand surge has slowed and finding a console has become much easier. Gamestop is trying to drive sales through a $100 PS2 trade-in offer, but still offers expensive bundles online for pre-order only.
Read More | Reuters
Gallery: Japanese PS3 Shipments Hit 1 Million
Japanese Hardware, Software Markets Show Massive Growth
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360,
Japanese publisher Enterbrain has released the software and hardware sales totals for 2006. According to a report from Gamasutra, the publisher is claiming that Japanese video game hardware grew year over year 160%, while software sales grew 125%. The best selling hardware for the year was, of course, the Nintendo DS, moving over 7.5 million handhelds. Software sales charts were also dominated by the DS, which represented 8 of the top 10 titles of the year. Leading the list was Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The top non-DS title was Square’s Final Fantasy XII for the PS2. Wii Sports made the top 100 in the 21st position, but no title for the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 were represented on the list. Nintendo managed to completely dominate Japan this year, and so far there are no signs of this changing any time soon.
Read More | Gamasutra
Gallery: Japanese Hardware, Software Markets Show Massive Growth
Club Nintendo Japan Members Offered New Premiums
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Wii,
Club Nintendo members in Japan with enough points qualify for one of two limited time offer premiums that put the freebies in other territories to shame. Club members that have accumulated over 400 points can choose either a battery cover for their Wii remote customized with an image of their Mii or a limited edition DS game Tingle’s Balloon Fight. Either offering is much better than anything Nintendo of America has offered its site members; loud complaining or petitioning Nintendo might help, but such premiums are highly unlikely for the United States.
Read More | Club Nintendo Japan
Gallery: Club Nintendo Japan Members Offered New Premiums
Japan’s January Virtual Console Titles Announced
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Nintendo, Retro, Wii,
Nintendo of Japan has announced the latest batch of Virtual Console titles to be released in January, and it looks like US gamers will have more titles to envy. While the US has already seen the release of Alien Crush, there are a number of new titles that will hopefully make their way to other territories. NES titles like Ice Climbers, Kid Icarus and Zelda II: Link’s Adventure will be offered, along with Fire Emblem for the SNES and Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64. A couple of Genesis titles have been announced, including Gain Ground and a few more TurboGrafx-16 titles also round out the list. Siliconera has the fully translated list; while there is little hope for a Fire Emblem port, some of the other titles may yet be released in the US.
Read More | Siliconera
Gallery: Japan’s January Virtual Console Titles Announced
Japanese React To Dragon Quest XI Announcement
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo DS, Role Playing Games, Square Enix,
The announcement that the latest entry in the Dragon Quest series would not take place on a traditional console but instead the Nintendo DS shook up Japanese fans. Famitsu magazine has polled both magazine readers and retailers to get their opinions of the shift, and Insert Credit has a detailed summary of the overall reaction. In the Famitsu poll, 40.3% of readers asked were excited by the idea of having Dragon Quest XI on the handheld, but 46% had a negative opinion. Even more reacted negatively to the action-based battle changes in the RPG. Retailers were more on the positive side; this might be a reflection of the mainstream opinion, and not the hard core. Insert Credit also details the specific comments from magazine readers, and the span of opinions is interesting. Despite the negative reaction from fans, though, Dragon Quest XI is still likely to be a huge seller in Japan.
Read More | Insert Credit
Gallery: Japanese React To Dragon Quest XI Announcement
December 10 - 17 Media Create Numbers Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii,
The Media Create Japanese Software sales numbers for the week ending December 17th have been released and it looks like things have gone back to the status quo in Japan. The first seven spots in the top ten belong to Nintendo DS titles, with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl taking the top two spots. New Super Mario Brothers and the super-popular Love and Berry DS Collection appear on the list as well. The first non-DS title is Wild Arms 5 for the PS2 at the eighth spot. Two Wii titles round out the top ten: Wii Sports and Pokemon Battle Revolution. The week after the debut of Blue Dragon sees that title dropping completely off the top 30, which would appear to be a bad sign for Xbox 360 sales in Japan. Japanese hardware sales should be updated soon, so time will tell for Microsoft’s console.
Read More | eg Japan
Gallery: December 10 - 17 Media Create Numbers Online
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