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Comment by: ROMaster2 (May 05, 2009 01:45)

Not very much of a supporter of the PS3, but I'm not surprised.

Comment by: KillerBug (May 05, 2009 03:01)

It's suprising the wII ever outsold the PS3...I would not pay $5 for the wII unless I was sure I could sell it on eBay for more.

Comment by: dab0ne (May 05, 2009 03:12)

Well eventually the system that no one has bought in the past will outsell the system that everyone already has. There are a few things you have to consider as to why this may have happened.

1. If basically everyone in Japan has a wii why would they buy another one? Its time to get a different system; the PS3 for instance.

2. Is the PS3 a junk system? No of course not, its just more expensive, which is a major contributing factor to why more wii units were sold to begin with.

3. So if you have a wii, why would you need a PS3? The same reason I have a PS3. Because, although revolutionary in its own right, the wii has very few games that are fun to play. The PS3, however, has several very fun online games like:

Call of Duty 4
Team Fortress(orange box)
Fight Night Round 3
GTA IV
Kill Zone 2
Little Big Planet
Resident Evil 5

As well as 1 player titles like:

BioShock
Assassins Creed
God of War III (coming soon)

Just to name a few, I'm sure there are several I'm missing.

In conclusion I am basically saying that the people who bought a Wii are now looking for a system they will actually want to play. I unhooked my wii 2 months ago to take it to a friends house and haven't hooked it up since. Strictly PS3 for me. Oh and I almost forgot to mention the little tid-bit about blu-ray. If you have kids and dont want to pay for a baby sitter, get a wii; but if you actually like to play games... GET A PLAYSTATION 3!!!!

Comment by: c.trigger (May 05, 2009 07:08)

Originally posted by dab0ne:

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.. If you have kids and dont want to pay for a baby sitter, get a wii; but if you actually like to play games... GET A PLAYSTATION 3!!!!

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yeah with parenting like that you won't have to think about little Timmy until you paying his bail

Comment by: KillerBug (May 05, 2009 08:01)

I guess wIIgolf makes a better babysitter than GTAIV...

Comment by: nonoitall (May 05, 2009 11:01)

Originally posted by dab0ne:

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If you have kids and dont want to pay for a baby sitter, get a wii; but if you actually like to play games... GET A PLAYSTATION 3!!!!

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Believe it or not, there are a few people out there (adults, no less) who enjoy game series like Zelda, Super Smash Bros. and Mario. ;-) (Ironically enough, plenty of the "mature" games out there feature some pretty immature themes that are more likely to attract kids and teens than anyone else.)

On topic though, I imagine your first point is the big reason that the PS3 is outselling the Wii in Japan. Wii's are probably about as common as DVD players over there by now. :-D

Comment by: ZeusAV (May 05, 2009 12:03)

I think it's pretty silly to say that "everyone in Japan has a Wii" when it's only standing at 9 million units sold. The PS2 sold 25 million in Japan and continues to sell.

The major factor in the PS3 outselling the Wii for 2 months is the software lineups. In the past couple of months the PS3 has received Yakuza 3, Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, Killzone 2, and the FFXIII demo (and a few other titles). While the Wii has received Mario & Luigi 3 and a port of Monster Hunter G last week.

Nintendo needs a new Wii Sports-like game really soon to stop this momentum.

Comment by: kikzm33z (May 05, 2009 12:26)

It's safe to say that PS3 has games that are a sequel to the PS2 games.

Also Biohazard 5 is incredibly popular over in Japan.
I have no idea why the 360 has crap sales over there though.

Comment by: inagasake (May 05, 2009 15:49)

In Japan, fads are very big and my guess is the Wii was like a fad over there and now it's starting to lose its steam. It's not that PS3 is doing amazing over there. The problem is that people are sick of the Wii over there. It's the handhelds (DSi/DS Lite and PSP) that are selling really big right now. Home consoles are losing out. I don't think the PS3 will catch up to Wii in all-time sales at this rate when DS and PSP are eating a huge chunk of the market. Dragon Quest X is also going to give the Wii a huge spike for awhile in Japan.

And yeah it surprises me that the 360 is probably not doing any better than the Xbox in Japan. The Xbox apparently did around 2 million in all of Asia. Japan is a huge gaming market so they probably make up a majority of that 2 million and the Xbox only had a lifespan of like 4 years. The 360 is half a year from their fourth year but yet they only recently sold 1 million in Japan. Considering how much effort MS put into securing Japanese titles for the console (many of them exclusive or 1-year exclusive), you'd think the Japanese would give the 360 more of a chance. But Wii has Dragon Quest X and in Japan, Final Fantasy XIII is exclusive to PS3. Not having those titles is a big blow to MS. Star Ocean and Tales are no where near as big as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in Japan.

Comment by: CJ007 (May 05, 2009 16:18)

Originally posted by inagasake:

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Final Fantasy XIII is exclusive to PS3.

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I think FFXIII is not exclusive to PS3 anymore. It will release on PS3 first and eventually will be ported to XBOX360 in the future. Of course the game on the PS3 will only require one Blu-Ray disc and the X360 will require more than one(my guess, 4 discs probably).

Comment by: Morreale (May 05, 2009 17:29)

Final Fantasy Versus is exclusive to the PS3 though...

Comment by: ZeusAV (May 05, 2009 18:22)

Quote:

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Originally posted by inagasake:

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Final Fantasy XIII is exclusive to PS3.

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I think FFXIII is not exclusive to PS3 anymore. It will release on PS3 first and eventually will be ported to XBOX360 in the future. Of course the game on the PS3 will only require one Blu-Ray disc and the X360 will require more than one(my guess, 4 discs probably).

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I think he was referring to Japan. FFXIII is exclusive to the PS3 in Japan and it will be on both the PS3 and 360 in Europe and North America.

Comment by: inagasake (May 05, 2009 23:26)

I said, "in Japan, Final Fantasy XIII is exclusive to PS3", which is actually true. For whatever reason, Square is not bothering to release the 360 one in Japan. Methinks that Sony money hatted Square (like MS money hatted Square Enix to release 360 exclusives) to not release the 360 version in Japan? There's no reason aside from that to not release a Japanese 360 version. It's not like it would take much more extra work besides copy and pasting Japanese text from the PS3 version into the 360 version considering that Square Enix includes Japanese voices in their North American/PAL releases.

Comment by: Morreale (May 06, 2009 00:32)

Methinks that there isn't enough 360 consoles in Japan to make it worth producing for...

Comment by: inagasake (May 06, 2009 15:34)

How are there not enough 360 consoles to justify the minimal production cost of making a Japanese 360 version? All Square would have to do is input the original Japanese text into the North American/PAL 360 version that they are working on. Since Square will probably includes the Japanese voices in their North American/PAL 360 release anyway. Star Ocean apparently didn't have them but I think the Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery did no? Biohazard (Resident Evil) 5's 360 version sold 100,000+ in Japan. That proves that a 360 Japanese game can still sell reasonably in Japan when there is a competing PS3 version. If Square sold that many copies of FFXIII in Japan, they'd more than make up for the minimal production costs. And I believe Final Fantasy is a bigger name than Biohazard in Japan so Square would get even more than 100,000 for the 360 version.

I wouldn't be surprised if SONY money hatted for Japanese exclusivity. Because there is no rational reason to not expand your profits as a game publisher.

Comment by: kikzm33z (May 07, 2009 17:07)

I think that it's pretty predictable that FF13 Versus will outsell FF13 over in Japan - actually, overall sales of Versus would be higher than FF13.

Comment by: KillerBug (May 08, 2009 05:16)

One thing we are forgetting...Nintendo and Sony are both from Japan, while Microsoft is from the USA. It only makes sence that people would choose Nintendo and Sony over the Xbox360. How many cars do you think Chevy & Ford sell in Japan?

Comment by: inagasake (May 08, 2009 15:35)

I think nationalist preference on part of Japanese gamers could have something to do with the failure of the 360 in Japan considering how many Japanese titles have been released on the 360 exclusively or timed exclusive. The Japanese do buy foreign products (iPod, McDonalds, Starbucks, Louis Vuitton, Microsoft Windows, Krispy Kreme) but they won't buy an American console no matter how many Japanese titles you release on it. Though maybe if MS had secure timed exclusivity with a mainstream established third-party franchise like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy, they'd be able to get somewhere there. Like I said, Star Ocean and Tales are just not mainstream enough to be "killer app" level in Japan. And the other exclusives and timed exclusives were new IPs (Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery, Lost Odyssey, Last Remnant, Enchanted Arms, Trusty Bell, Dead Rising). Star Ocean 3 did 550,000 in Japan on a console that has the greatest install base of all-time. That's nothing compared to Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy figures in Japan.