20°

This Week in Japan

A Blue Dragon faceplate (pictured inside) is just the latest Microsoft Japanese gambit, as we try to discover what went wrong with the original Japan-busters Ninety Nine Nights and PGR3 and whether or not Gears of War will play in Tokyo....

Xbox 360 is simultaneously the underdog in Japan, and backed by nearly infinite billions of dollars. So what's been going ion this week? First and foremost, it has been revealed that the Blue Dragon Xbox 360 pack will include a fancy "Blue Dragon" faceplate.

It was announced a few weeks ago that a demo disc of Lost Odyssey will be included in every issue of Famitsu published on October 20th. The demo is said to offer players a taste of the first hour of the game, drawing them in with amazing cinematics and introducing them to the main characters.

Just today, it was announced that the demo disc will also be included as part of the Xbox 360 Core System Anniversary Pack along with Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ninety-Nine Nights...

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next-gen.biz
eques judicii6412d ago

This starts out as a good article on the 360's chances in japan and then seems to quickly jump on every negative it can. It even goes so far as to ask why microsoft didn't change the main character in GoW for the japanese audience (ya.. and why didn't they just shoot cliffyb??) The seemed like a moderately good read, and he seems like he really wants blue dragon and lost odyssey to succeed, but not too much. In fact, he simply wants them to push other game developers in the right direction...

I also didn't understand that he only mentioned western games when he talked about the Z-rating... Dead Rising (completely japanese developed) got a z-rating and still sells.

240°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv7220h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle7h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18814h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio4h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Cacabunga6h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff21836h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga5h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan50m ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

purple1019h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos9h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

XBManiac8h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple1017h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic6h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein18h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno15h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k414h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson13h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu14h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson13h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

70°

5 Of The Best Narrative Twists In Video Games

GL compiles a list of some of the most mind-blowing video game narrative twists in recent memory, from The Last of Us to Outer Wilds

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gameluster.com
Rebel_Scum18h ago

With articles like these cant you tag the games mentioned so that we can know ahead of time if there’s a spoiler to avoid?

Not clicking on your article otherwise.