Xbox 360 Beats PlayStation to Japan Stores

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will get the jump on Sony this Saturday by introducing the next-generation Xbox 360 in its rival's backyard, but winning over Japan's notoriously finicky video game fans will be an uphill battle for the American interloper.

Microsoft is still smarting from the failure of its original Xbox in Japan, the world's second-biggest video game market after the United States and a realm long dominated by Sony Corp. (SNE)'s PlayStation. This time it's determined to break into the stronghold.

Part of its strategy is beating Sony to stores. While the Japanese electronics giant is working on a new PlayStation 3, it won't go on sale until next year. Microsoft hopes the Xbox 360's earlier release will convert hard-core gamers who can't wait that long.

Xbox 360 debuted last month in the United States to winding lines of wide-eyed fans, store-aisle brawls to snag machines and top billing on Christmas wish lists. The Japan launch begins with a countdown party at 6:45 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district.

Microsoft has big expectations this time," said Eiji Maeda, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research. "They should do much better than with the first Xbox, and PlayStation stands a the chance of losing market share."

Since the first Xbox went on sale three years ago, Microsoft has sold 21.9 million machines globally - but only 1.8 million in Asia, including Japan. By contrast, Sony has sold 91 million PlayStation 2 consoles in the last five years, 21 million of them in Asia.

PlayStation accounts for about 80 percent of the Japanese market game console, Xbox around 5 percent.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft hasn't set an Xbox 360 sales goal in Japan. But Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said last month while visiting Tokyo he is "100 percent" sure the new model will outsell its predecessor

Worldwide, the company is aiming to ship between 2.75 million and 3 million machines within 90 days of the U.S. launch.

Given Xbox's paltry market share in Japan, there's only room to grow. That means big money in a hardware and software market worth up to 600 billion yen, or $4.96 billion, according to Maeda.

The Xbox 360 will sell for 37,900 yen in Japan, or about $313, less than the $399.99 charged in the U.S. It costs 399.99 euros in Europe, where it was released on Dec. 2.

It will be available Feb. 24 in South Korea and March 2 in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

Part of the problem with the first Xbox in Japan was the lack of role-playing fantasy games, which are favored here over the shoot-'em-up arcade-style games that proved big Xbox hits in the United States.

Microsoft has made a point this time of signing on designers popular here to make games exclusive for Xbox 360, such as "Final Fantasy XI." Microsoft is planning to release 10 titles in December and has 100 in development.

"We had missteps that we wont repeat," said Asako Miyata, an Xbox spokeswoman in Tokyo. She added that the new streamlined, off-white console was designed partly by Japanese teams to appeal to Japanese tastes.

Japanese were also turned off by the first Xbox's tendency to scratch disks, a problem that didn't affect the game's performance but was viewed as a symptom of shoddy craftsmanship.

It is unclear how they might react to reported problems in the Xbox 360 that cause it to crash in the middle of games.

Molly O'Donnell, a U.S.-based spokeswoman for Microsoft's Xbox division, has acknowledged there are a few reports of consoles not working perfectly, but said that's "what you would expect with a consumer electronics instrument of this complexity."

At the console's heart is a 3.2 gigahertz IBM-designed PowerPC microprocessor with three cores - or tiny computing engines - that run simultaneously. The unit has 512 megabytes of memory, eight times more than the original Xbox.

Tokyo-based Sony has not yet announced a price or a date for the release for the PlayStation 3, but its machine will be powered by a new computer chip called "cell" that Sony says will also drive digital electronics products in the works.

The PlayStation 3 will also use the next generation video format called Blu-ray Disk.

Nintendo Co., which makes Super Mario video games and GameBoy Advance handheld machines, will also face off against its bigger competitors with its new Revolution machine sometime in 2006.

Nintendo's fate looms as a bad precedent for Sony. It was once the top player with its Family Computer, or Famicom, in the 1980s. Its GameCube now trails PlayStation 2 and Xbox with worldwide sales of about 18.8 million

XBOX 360 GAMES: the Good, Bad and the Ugly

If you've scored an Xbox 360, some actual games are going to be the next logical purchase - unless you auctioned it off for thousands of dollars on eBay.

We've worn our fingers to the bone the past few weeks (just for you) playing through the 18 titles available when the system launched. While the offering is diverse, many of the games are merely visually tweaked versions from the older consoles. Worse, Xbox 360 games can cost a whopping $60 - roughly $10 more than online shopping games for older systems.

Here's our take, from best to worst.

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"Call of Duty 2" (Rated T, $59.99). Emotional and intense, this World War II epic is the best first-person shooter available so far. In a recurring theme, it costs $10 more than the PC version for no good reason other than it comes in an Xbox 360 lime-green plastic case. But it's an impressive display of the Xbox 360's power: it ran smoother on the $400 console than it did on my $2,500 gaming PC.

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"Condemned: Criminal Origins" (Rated M, $59.99) This unique, thrilling action title shows the true power of Xbox 360 with some incredible, groundbreaking graphics. As FBI investigator Agent Thomas, you spend most of your time cautiously creeping through dank, abandoned subway terminals and other unsavory buildings filled with urban decay and murderous sociopaths who like to lunge at you from dark corners.

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"Kameo: Elements of Power" (Rated T, $49.99). Kid-friendly and graphically rich, this is the platformer Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) should have packaged with every new system. Instead, you get to pay $49.99 for this short but fun action game starring heroine Kameo. She has the nifty ability to transform into dozens of nasty monsters, handy for battling monsters and overcoming obstacles.

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"Perfect Dark Zero" (Rated M, $49.99 for "regular edition," $59.99 for "limited collector's edition"). This futuristic shooter stars gadget savvy secret agent Joanna Dark in a rather confusing tale of corporate espionage. Don't buy this for the solo mode - online multiplayer combat with a cool arsenal of weaponry is what makes this game fun.

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"Project Gotham Racing 3" (Rated E, $49.99); "Need For Speed Most Wanted" (Rated T, $59.99); "Ridge Racer 6" (Rated E, $59.99). This trio has some of the best-looking sports cars available for any video-game system, with a slight edge going to the photorealism of "Project Gotham Racing 3.""Need For Speed Most Wanted" has a hackneyed story but uses a cool mix of computer graphics and full-motion video actors. "Ridge Racer 6" will appeal to those seeking a less-than-realistic arcade-game approach to high-speed pursuits.

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"Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie" (Rated T, $59.99). A long-winded title for a good but short game based on director Peter Jackson's new film remake. Films have a sordid history of translating into horrible video games, but this one manages to break the mold and even lets you play as Kong, though not nearly enough.

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"NBA 2006" (Rated E, $59.99); "NBA Live 06" (Rated E, $59.99). By now you've heard about the gee-whiz special effects on Xbox 360 basketball games, like realistic sweat and characters who look like the real thing. "NBA Live 06" looks a bit better, but gameplay is what matters most in a sports title. By that measure, "NBA 2K6" is the champ while "NBA Live 06" is the last-place loser.

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"Madden NFL 06" (Rated E, $59.99). Visually, it's as if you're controlling a real NFL game on the television screen. But don't let the dazzling graphics fool you: "Madden NFL 06" sacrifices many features found in versions for older-generation consoles, yet costs more.

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"Quake 4" (Rated M, $59.99). The creators of the monster-infested "Doom" games offer a similar blood-soaked, first-person shooter. "Quake 4" looks great, of course, but there's nothing new here.

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"Amped 3" (Rated E, $59.99). "Amped 3" presents snowboarding as a cutting-edge lifestyle instead of a mere sport. The sensation of sliding down steep, powdery slopes is convincing. I just wish the controls weren't so, um, flaky.

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"Tony Hawk's American Wasteland" (Rated T, $59.99). This latest game from skateboarding's superstar looks a bit better on the Xbox 360 than it does on older systems. Otherwise, it's the same game, just costlier. Are you seeing a pattern here yet?

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"NHL 2K6" (Rated E 10+, $59.99). Another pre-existing sports franchise gets a glossy Xbox 360 makeover and not much else. The version for older consoles is only $19.99 and there's nothing here to justify the $40 price hike.

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"Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06" (Rated E, $59.99). Great looks again collide with sub-par gameplay. The gorgeous, shimmering water hazards don't make up for the fact that there are only six courses available.

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"Gun" (Rated M, $59.99). If you own an older system, there's really no reason to buy this Western-themed take on "Grand Theft Auto" for the Xbox 360. Beyond some exciting horseback action, "Gun" isn't much fun.

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"FIFA Soccer 06 Road to the 2006 FIFA World Cup" (Rated E, $59.99). A pretty but disappointing and overpriced game that has rush job written all over it.

By Matt Slagle