Microsoft's Miscalculation: Delusional Weenies

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"The Japanese market is the most important key for the Xbox's global
strategy. Microsoft is committing fully to its success in Japan,"
Yoshihiro Maruyama, general manager of the Xbox Division in Japan, told
a press conference.

"We will continue to make as much effort as we can to make the Xbox 360
successful in Japan," he said.


http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/ne [...] gyNews&...

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This, despite absolutely no evidence that any American video game
console can succeed in such a nationalistic (and strange) gaming
market. The Japanese are obsessed with odd, dull, and pornographic
games. They don't like Star Wars, they don't like FPS, and they have no
interest in our sports titles. In spite of this common sense, Microsoft
is not only going out of their way to cater to them by producing games
they think the Japanese will dig, but they've altered actual hardware.
Now, the controller will be made for hobbit-sized hands -- slightly
smaller than even the S-Controller.

Game salesman, and even individuals in the industry that I've
contacted, all agreed that Microsoft's second effort in Japan will also
fail. The question is, why doesn't Microsoft get it?

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"The question is, why doesn't Microsoft get it? "

imho, ms corp has gotten too big, too much $, to many stakeholders...
it is a declining entity...doomed...in the long run...ms corp has
already
seen its finest days.....

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KillzoneBigNuts2 wrote:
> aether wrote:
>
>
>>"The Japanese market is the most important key for the Xbox's global
>>strategy. Microsoft is committing fully to its success in Japan,"
>>Yoshihiro Maruyama, general manager of the Xbox Division in Japan, told
>>a press conference.
>>
>>"We will continue to make as much effort as we can to make the Xbox 360
>>successful in Japan," he said.
>>
>>
>>http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&...
>>
>>-------
>>
>>This, despite absolutely no evidence that any American video game
>>console can succeed in such a nationalistic (and strange) gaming
>>market. The Japanese are obsessed with odd, dull, and pornographic
>>games. They don't like Star Wars, they don't like FPS, and they have no
>>interest in our sports titles. In spite of this common sense, Microsoft
>>is not only going out of their way to cater to them by producing games
>>they think the Japanese will dig, but they've altered actual hardware.
>>Now, the controller will be made for hobbit-sized hands -- slightly
>>smaller than even the S-Controller.
>>
>>Game salesman, and even individuals in the industry that I've
>>contacted, all agreed that Microsoft's second effort in Japan will also
>>fail. The question is, why doesn't Microsoft get it?
>>
>
>
>
> The only thing saving Xbox360 this time is the idiots that actually
> believed in the first Xbox and those same idiots will buy the Xbox360.
> Why don't they "get it"?
>
> I got it back when MS announced the pile of garbage claiming it was for
> hardcore gamers. What they didn't realize is PS owners are the hardcore
> gamers becuase that is where all the games are.
>
> I'm glad to MS fail, it just means better games for the rest of us
> non-idiots with good taste in games.

I've seen better logic in Spanish Inquisition documentaries

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Excellent post, Quaoar. You nailed down *why* Microsoft simply refuses
to grasp what's right in front of them. It's so plain to see, but
they're seemingly blind to it.

Japan will not buy the Xbox 360. The Japanese are different gamers, by
and large. I think the focus should've been Europe, which is a bigger
market anyway. European gamers *do* prefer the same games as the
American gamer. They like FPS, at least some of our sports titles
(soccer, basketball, and hockey), and they also are big Star Wars fans.

Well, you have to admire their spirit -- even if it's misdirected.

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KillzoneBigNuts2 wrote:

> I'm glad to MS fail, it just means better games for the rest of us
> non-idiots with good taste in games.

And yet the Xbox outsold a console that cost 1/3 less and was made by one of
the oldest and most respected names in video gaming.

Sony sheep wish it was a one-console world. The rest of us are glad that
competition creates innovation and better quality games.

-Z-

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~^ beancounter ~^ <richbonilla@yahoo.com> wrote:
> very interesting...it is one hell of a thing
> to watch, a big, succuesful organization
> "implode"......over the years....

Only if you're not part of said formerly big, sucessful organization...

If you ARE part of the company, then it's horribly soul-crushing. And the
longer you stay, the harder it is to leave. Both because the lure of
being paid a full salary to literally stare at your navel becomes more and
more irristiable, and in the meantime, the rest of the industry continues
to move on...without you.

I've been part of two such companies and consider myself lucky to have
escaped as quickly as I have.

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true.....aren't there a lot of ms corp folks
on this board, why don't we juat ask
one of them?

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> Doug Jacobs wrote:
>> Mattinglyfan <nyyankees@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>> > But MS hired Japanese developers to develop games specifically for
>> > that version of the 360 so they will have those weird and stupid
>> > games that will never be sold over here.
>>
>> So, we're going to see Katamari Damashii 360?
>>
>> Yeah, that was a weird and stupid game that didn't sell well over
>> here...
>
> Case in point for strange games.
>
> Katmari Damacy wouldn't be made for the 360, would it?
>
>

I just hope the rumored DS version sees the light of day one day.

How much did I enjoy KD? This much:
http://home.comcast.net/~6521ordnu [...] amacy.html

A game like that is just what Microsoft WANTS the Japanese Developers to
make for the Japanese gamers. It is just that the chances of the games
Microsoft is 'hiring' these developers for, coming stateside will be as
near to zero as you can get.

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~^ beancounter ~^ <richbonilla@yahoo.com> wrote:
> true.....aren't there a lot of ms corp folks
> on this board, why don't we juat ask
> one of them?

There are? Well, it wouldn't surprise me if there were MS folks lurking
here, but I doubt they'd ever post.

Besides, I doubt the corporate types would have much to say. They've
drunk too much of the corporate koolaid.

The general gist is that MS needs the number 2 videgame purchasing country in the world to get on board in order for their global plans to succeed.

I am an american, and feel for the European Gamers out there, as I feel you all have been getting the shaft as far back as the NES days, but the facts are plain.

The japanese buy games in droves, and if you can provide them the experience they want they will switch consoles in a heart beat.

The Sony playstation could not compete with the Sega Saturn, until Square and Enix announced they were exclusively developing on the playstation. They were both demolished by the N64, until the japanese public realized that Mario 64 was all they were going to get for a while.

At this point, I feel that MS should have sent less consoles to japanese market and more to the euro market, only because they do not have any software out on the 360 for the japanese market, not because they will not buy it. Every big name launch title was delayed in Japan, and that killed the launch.

WIth the exclusives they lined up, and the support they seem to be getting from the rest of the japanese community, I do believe the 360 will succeed there.