Nippon Line 10/11

10 Nov 2008 at 10:22:09 by Jake Kawaguchi

Welcome back to the Nippon Line, an express route direct to the main platform of Japan’s bustling games industry. New arrivals for discussion this week include a special report on the resurgence of Sony’s PS3 and a quick look forward to a silly new Xbox shooter.


PS3 on the up

I was beginning to wonder whether Japan would ever take to HD gaming. Microsoft’s Xbox 360, in spite of a few recent flourishes, remains a very mediocre performer in this part of the world. And Sony – a Japanese company, no less – has struggled to shift just a couple of million PS3s in Japan since the machine’s launch here exactly two years ago. By contrast, Nintendo’s 480p-max Wii has found its way into seven million Japanese homes since debuting here a few weeks after the PS3, in December of 2006.

So what’s all this I’m hearing about change? Yes, the PS3 is back! Admittedly it could only be a momentary appearance above the ocean of Wii, and Sony’s machine might well start sinking again as of next week, but for now the PS3 is certifiably ALIVE in Japan. The proof is in these numbers: last week, 39,587 people here bought PS3s. Only 23,123 bought Wiis, and the PS2 (6,714 units) outsold the Xbox 360 (6,119) by a few-hundred machines to consign Microsoft’s machine back to its natural position in the dingy basement of Japan’s games market. Probably, this is how Sony’s execs dreamt things would turn out before Nintendo’s ‘gimmicky’ Wii became a phenomenon.

The question is, why is PS3 back on top and will it stay there? (Which, really, is two questions – but hey, I’m no mathematician.) The answer to the “Why?” bit is dead simple: Grand Theft Auto IV and Little Big Planet. Both games were released in Japan ten days ago and their influence on console buyers’ decisions has been remarkably clear: the PS3 version of GTA IV is at the top of the charts with 132,676 copies sold during its first week on sale here, while Little Big Planet is in a respectable third place with 51,705 sales over the same short period.

As for the question of whether the PS3 is likely to continue performing this well in Japan, it depends entirely on the format hosting big new games every week. This week, Way Of The Samurai 3, Derby Time Online (horse racing – oh yeah!) and Resistance 2 could do the trick; next week, Motorstorm 2 and Mercenaries 2 might do moderately well; the week after that, there’s Winning Eleven 2009, which in spite of being a bit crap inevitably will sell in great volumes.

At last, then, there are plenty of notable new PS3 games due in Japan imminently – but for much of 2008, weeks, even months, would pass in Japan without any new PS3 games of sufficient local appeal to break into the Top Ten. That is beginning to change, and the Japanese public is starting to respond. The important thing for Sony is that it keeps the PS3 afloat until Christmas. If it can do that, the one-two knockout blow of Gundam Musou 2 (released in Japan on December 18th) and White Knight Chronicles (out in Japan on December 25th) will see the format accelerating into 2009 ahead of its rivals. Who knows – HD gaming might be about to take off in Japan.


Otomedius Gorgeous!

I’ve been looking forward to this bizarre and potentially brilliant Xbox 360 game called Otomedius Gorgeous! ever since Konami unveiled it to the largely indifferent videogame press (the fools!) little over a year ago. It’s a 2D shooter in style, but executed with polygonal models in the foreground and a mocked-up 3D background for good measure – as you can see in the screenshots here.

Otomedius G (as its friends know it) was originally down for a September release in Japan, but it was delayed – presumably because the developer wanted a bit more time to cram extra penguin characters into the code, and quite rightly so – and it will now be charming Japan’s 360 loyalists as of next Thursday.

Otome means ‘virgin’ or ‘maiden’ in reference to pure young women, and the game features plenty of imaginatively designed maiden pilots. But penguins – yes, penguins – outnumber the girls. There are so many penguin enemies here – some are wearing bandanas, others are piloting UFOs and rebuilding the pyramids of Egypt, but all are mean-looking penguins. (And with that, Incgamers’ entire readership disappeared…)

I think there has to be space in the market for this type of game, because Otomedius Gorgeous! is frankly a ludicrous proposition, even for a Japanese shmup (although perhaps not quite so ludicrous as Muchi Muchi Pork). There are too many straight-faced macho games… now witness the rise of the plump penguin massive from Japan!



Wii Music hits a dud note

There’s still every chance it will recover and begin to perform at a higher tempo, but for now the Japanese launch of Wii Music can be described as being slightly off-key: it’s slipped outside of the Top Ten already and has only moved around 150,000 copies since it debuted in first place three weeks ago. I really can’t see it emulating the success of Wii Fit (which has sold something like three million copies in Japan alone), nor that of the similarly successful Wii Sports and Wii Play.

Maybe it’s the doddery-looking TV ads or just the lack of a special ‘instrument controller’. Or maybe the Japanese just prefer keeping fit to staying in tune. Any which way you look at it, it’s going to take a sneaky reprise for Wii Music to even go platinum.


Tip for the week: Wii Music to prove me wrong.

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