ssj12 said:
your point? the Wii is cheaper then the PS2 was when it was launched in Japan. The Wii is covering for all major console purchases in japan while the PSP and DS is still eating up most of the gaming market. mentioning the PS2 at this point is pointless. |
The Gamecube was also cheaper than the PS2 when it launched in Japan.
On Topic:
People will say Japan doesn't matter any time they don't support the individuals perceived view of gaming. If a certain game flops in Japan, Japan suddenly doesn't matter. If a certain genre is struggling in Japan, Japan suddenly is out of touch with things.
In all fairness the stagnation of gaming last generation probably killed gaming for many Japanese. Don't get me wrong, last gen was one of my favorite, my all time favorite games, but from remember, the games and genres we Westerners thought made last gen one of the best were by and large unpopular or unsuccessful in japan. What genres do matter to the Japanese though suffered though last gen, we saw a stark decline in the RPG genre and while some great RPGs came out last gen, remember that last gen was Final Fantasy's fall from grace and the bulk of many other RPG and RPG-genres were less than iconic and many borderline shovelware. Traditional games like Sonic, Mario, Zelda, Starfox or Donkey Kong simply didn't live up to expectations and cast doubt on the franchises' once thought invincible. Last gen was also the death of Sega as a console contendor and its replacement was the contemptable American Xbox. Nintendo fell even further into decline with the Gamecube and the PS2, the percieved future of gaming at the time, was little more than a platform of necessity to many japanese gamers as oppossed to the bastion of gaming it was seen as in the West. All the classic franchises and all the classic genres the Japanese knew and loved let them down last gen. And then for everything they had banked on Sony to have been dashed with the PS3 and PSP, its not hard to see why they've become dissallusioned with gaming.
At this same time though last generation we saw the true emergence of the handheld market as more than just novelty in gaming, expanding not only handheld playing field as it was previously known but capitalizing on the lost glory of the golden days of gaming (NES, SNES, Genesis, etc) which the Japanese so yearned for.
I am a bit worried by Mario's numbers, but honestly it somehow doesn't surprise me, something about Super Mario Galaxy doesn't seem like magic to me. I played it at Gamestop, it was okay, I'll be getting it, but I'm afraid we won't see it be as big a smash hit as many had hoped. Much to the glee of Wii haters I'm sure, but that's all part of the game here, fans spinning the facts to their favor.
