XBox 360 Rally

It goes without saying that the Japanese love their RPGs. Hell, they love them so much that they, to date, have made over twenty sequels to a supposed “Final” Fantasy (that counts sequels, spin-offs, etc.). For a console that is struggling as bad as the Xbox 360 is in Japan, it would be a no-brainer that RPGs such as Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata would only help the console’s cause. Especially since we’re not getting Metal Gear Solid 4 (sorry kiddies, we’re not gettin’ it — get over it.).

So when news that The Elder Scrolls IV: Onlivion was making it’s way to Japan, suffice to say it was destined to be a hit — and a hit it was, selling over 35,000 copies in it’s first day of release in the land of the rising sun.

Considering the sheer volume of cries, pleas, online petitions and downright threats (I assume there were threats) calling for Oblivion to come to Japan, it should come as no surprise that people want to play this epic RPG. Just look at what Bethesda did with Oblivion. They redubbed the entire opening cinematic in Japanese, and went about translating (albeit into subtitles) every line of dialogue, as well as every book, scroll and poster throughout all of Cyrrodiil.

In the end, Oblivion doesn’t fix Microsoft’s woes in Japan. But, with quality, popular RPG titles like Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata already on the market, as well as upcoming games like The Last Remnant, and Lost Odyssey, this could be a major stepping stone in making the Xbox a viable brand in Japan.

[360-gamer]

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It looks like Peter Moore got out while the gettin’ was good, as Microsoft announced yesterday that their fiscal fourth quarter sales figures show a 60% drop in sales for the Xbox 360. In the earnings statement for the past quarter, Microsoft said it shipped 700,000 units during the period. This time in 2006, they shipped 1.8 Million units.

All Xbox operations are handled within Microsoft’s EDD (Entertainment and Devices Division), which, due to a $1.06 Billion charge against it’s earnings that is expected from extending the Xbox 360 warranty to three years, has raised the Department’s Operating Loss 183%, to $1.20 Billion.

In 2006, the EDD lost $423 Million.

This news just adds to the growing pile of God awful news coming out of the Microsoft camp these past few weeks. In addition to the $1+ Billion loss from the warranty extension, and the sudden departure of Peter Moore, Microsoft has also been slapped with two seperate class-action lawsuits claiming that the Xbox 360’s design flaws irrepairably damage discs. A claim Microsoft adamently denies.

Even while the EDD is losing money hand over fist, Microsoft was still able to turn a $3 Billion profit in the fourth quarter, while their revenue increased by 13%, to $13.4 Billion. So overall, it doesn’t look like Microsoft is in a whole heap of trouble.

[Information Week]

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Yeah, I never thought this day would come, but alas, the Playstation 3 this past week outsold the Xbox 360 in the United States. Of course, the PS3 and 360 were still fighting over second place, because you people are still gullible enough to buy the gimmick machine–er, I mean, Wii.

Here’s how the sales figures boiled down last week: Upon news of the PS3 price drop, Sony was able to sell 41,005 units, while Microsoft was only able to push 35,084 out the door. Even if Sony and Microsoft combined their resources, they still would have been 305 units short of Nintendo’s Wii, which sold a staggering 76,394.

Could this success last for Sony? …doubt it. As soon as those 60GB systems are all gone, and it’s all 80GB consoles, I expect things to return to normal.

Here I am, coming to you LIVE from my couch! Here I am, ladies and gentlemen, ready to pass along the latest news from Microsoft on to YOU, the reader! …because apparently you don’t realize it’s on G4… or 1UP.com… or Gamespot… or Lord knows where else… EITHER WAY, let’s DO IT! Watch the Conference HERE!

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Back in April, sales of HD-DVD Players topped 100,000. That’s just stand-alone HD-DVD Players, and doesn’t include the Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on, or HD-DVD drives for PCs. All the same, 100,000 units if fairly impressive for a format that has to face stiff opposition from Blu-Ray in the few homes that actually have HD Support.

In a recent article from cNet UK, Microsoft has stated that they have shipped over 155,000 units to the United States. Taken straight from the cNet article:

There were also some surprising stats given. Microsoft was reluctant to tell us how many HD DVD drives for the Xbox 360 it has sold worldwide, but it did tell us that in the US it has shifted 155,000 of them. This is apparently the biggest-selling accessory Microsoft has ever sold for the 360…

Now, I’m not sure that it’s the biggest accessory the Xbox 360 has ever had — I would imagine spare controllers, or those damned faceplates would rank pretty high. But all the same, it seems that HD-DVD isn’t doing as badly as some would make out. True, Blu-Ray hardware sales are higher (due in part to the PS3), but it seems that HD-DVD owners are buying more HD-DVD movies:

…What was more surprising is that people buying HD DVD players, on the whole, bought more discs than people buying Blu-ray players. So even though Blu-ray has sold more hardware, including the PlayStation 3, the owners are only buying an average of one disc to play on them. On HD DVD this number is an average of four discs.

Hmm. Guess people are seeing the light that is HD.

[c|net UK]

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As far as the price drop, gaming news site CVG speculates that this could happen by this Christmas, with David Hufford, a director of Xbox product management stating “We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really 199 bucks”, noting that Wii’s $250 price tag makes a “strong value proposition”.
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Without question the Xbox 360 is a popular machine down in Australia and New Zealand. In just over a year, the console has sold well over 1 million units, and set a record for the market by selling over 1 million units in just over 14 months.

GFK Australia’s Daniel Morse had this to say:

Hitting the one million mark in a mere 14 months means Xbox 360 has reached the milestone faster than any previous console, and is currently outperforming other next generation consoles in terms of software sales. Titles such as “Gears of War”, “Saints Row” and “Call of Duty 2”, the top three selling Xbox 360 games, have played major roles in the success of the platform.

It just goes to show that the worldwide choice for the home console is the Xbox 360. …except in Japan. I think they just plain don’t like Bill Gates, or something.

You can read HERE some of the other interesting notes from the press release Microsoft issued regarding the one million mark.

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Remember, this is not coming from the mouths of Take-Two themselves, however, the analyst looking at the situation brings about some good points. While analyzing Take-Two as a whole, he specifically mentions the biggest (hyped) title coming this year (at the least on the 360):

“We believe that it is possible that the company will choose to ‘throw in the towel’ on (Fiscal Year):07 by shifting the release date for Grand Theft Auto IV by a few weeks, increasing the losses incurred this year and improving the company’s prospects for FY:08,” Pachter explained. “We believe that a two-week delay would provide a reasonable gap between the launch of Halo 3 and the launch of GTA IV, and would actually help sales of both games. In addition, a delay of the ‘normal’ SKU for GTA IV by two or three weeks could allow Take-Two to maximize revenues from the $89.99 Collector’s Edition of the game by shipping that SKU on October 17, and to increase overall profitability.”

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The people in the know “are expecting the game to contribute about $170 million in revenue for the quarter, with more than 4.2 million copies shipped into the retail channel. That’s nearly one copy for every three Xbox 360s in the world, going by the analysts’ projections of an installed user base of 13.2 million by September.”

As much fun as I have playing the Halo 3 beta, I don’t know if I necessarily agree that it will bring the Xbox division of Microsoft into finally making profits….. but… I will not deny the combination of Halo, but really Halo 2, was a literal system seller with the Xbox. Looking down the road till the end of the year for all three systems, I see.. maybe Super Mario Galaxy…and that is about it, to be the competition. Xbox definitely seems to be the best system in my eyes, now lets just all hope the end of this year ensures everyone else feels the same.

(Please also hope that just because everyone and their mother will own Halo 3, that more people start reporting cheaters, every time you report a cheater, an angel gets its wings)

[source]

Sales and operating income were up at Osaka, Japan-based Capcom for the full year thanks in part to Dead Rising and Lost Planet, but net income declined overall.- next-gen.biz

The company said that one major reason for the drop in net income was that Capcom reviewed the valuation reserve for deferred tax assets.

Capcom said that its strategy for Western expansion is on track, noting the North American and European success of Dead Rising and Lost Planet, both of which have sold over 1 million units.

[see the full figures at the source]

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Looks like the Japanese community is warming up to the Xbox 360 more and more. We all knew how when Blue Dragon came out, it basically became a system seller. When playing “Lost Planet,” I always find rooms filled with those from the land of the rising sun. Now looking over to Amazon.co.jp, you can see on the Top Sellers list, it has hit the number 3 spot. Not too shabby for a game not coming out till June and with both PS3 and Wii lacking in games, at least in the near future (I stop counting all the times they give big announcements on upcoming games, only to have the dates pushed back over and over). Of course the 360 as we all know isn’t the big thing in Japan, or a little thing, but this is positive news and their user base can only continue to grow (and that of course can help branch off into more developers working on our baby).

[Note: if you are into RPG's at all, I think its time to make a silver account and give Eternal Sonata a try yourself, then start saving your pennies for when we get a release date in the states)

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Major Nelson posted the list of the top selling movies and TV shows from the Xbox Live Video Marketplace over the past week, and after looking at this list, all I can say is… if you downloaded the new Dukes of Hazard movie, you’re part of the problem.

Here is the Video Market place activity for the past week.

Movies
1 The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (Unrated)
2 Rest Stop (HD)
3 The Departed (HD)
4 Beerfest (HD)
5 Employee of the Month (HD)
6 Jackass Number Two
7 Crank (HD)
8 Poison Ivy 2
9 Babel (HD)
10 Saw III (HD)

TV
1 South Park (HD)
2 Enterprise (HD)
3 Comedy Central Stand Up
4 Robot Chicken
5 Jericho (HD)
6 Fights (HD)
7 RENO 911!
8 Bullrun
9 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (HD)
10 Chappelle’s Show: Uncensored

Seriously, y’all should be ashamed.

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