Japanese 360 - The Jack Of All Trades?

[Bleeders]

It was a given that bar maybe a couple of titles, literally, there was sweet FA for the original XBox in Japan. Certainly nothing to suggest it'd be any different for the 360. However, so far it seems, you need two hands to count the Japanese software coming out over there for the 360 at the moment with Senko no Ronde, Bullet Witch, Shutokou Battle X, Project Sylpheed, Blue Dragon, Enchant Arms, Idolmaster et cetra. leading the way forward for the 360 in Japan.

On the face of things, it probably won't make a blind bit of difference to the 360's plight in the East, but MS seem to have something stuck in their craw that's seen them go out and buy up conversions of the popular Japanese arcade titles over there (Idolmaster and Senko no Ronde) surely it'd be more cost effective in the long run to pick up an Asian 360 given PA's cheap prices for new titles (Saints Row, Gears of War can be had for less than ?24) not to mention the region-free nature of some PAL titles and to a lesser extent, US ones (Dead Rising anyone?). Obviously, there will be the odd exceptions and of course, an importers nightmare of a faulty machine, but quite frankly you run that risk with anything you import.

It was plain as day at launch going for a PAL 360, now the way things have panned out, would it have been worth sticking to the forum namesake and going NTSC?

[muse hunter]

i don't know are games such as oblivion region free? it would be a shame as you could miss out on some great games if you go with a jap 360 and its not like the 360 is affordable enough for someone to think about buying both western and eastern versions. I'd get a pal one and wait till a decent way to play imports on the system is discovered

[Bleeders]

Oblivion is region-free mate. There is the Asian version, which is english language available too!

I agree that the system is hardly the most affordable to have two of em' but on the face of it, well, IMO it seems to be the best solution to enjoy the broader catalogue of 360 games.

[fatbatch]

I've been very pleased with my Asian 360, even more so now with being able to play a translated Enchant Arms before the US/EU release. Most English language versions have come out with, or just after, the US release and any Japan first games can obviously be played immediately.

[Geezer]

I intend to pick up a JPN 360 shortly to go with my PAL one and may actually get rid of the PAL one altogether. All my remaining titles are region free anyway and virtually all the big US/Euro titles come out in Asia in english language anyway. The only one I can think of that hasn't made it to NTSC/J territories is Table Tennis.

From what I've read, a JPN console is a better proposition than an Asian one. Some JPN games won't work on an Asian console, but all Asian ones will work on a JPN console. i.e.only a JPN console can play all NTSC/J encoded games.

Now to scrape some money together....

[arcnas]

I did go with the sites namesake NTSC and bought a US 360 , i would never buy PAL, and thank god its finally going pay off with Dead Rising

[Bleeders]

I've got both a PAL and Japanese machine now with the latter being funded by a mass exodus of my PS2 collection.

The Japanese 360 can be had from YesAsia for ?269 delivered these days, no customs or any of that bollocks either.

Fun times.

[mackemansj1]

I agree i bought my jp 360 as it was uber cheap on ebay i mean cheap. It was bought really just for to be used as a media center extender, but playasia have seen to it that my jp machine gets more of a workout than my pal unit. I couldnt be more happy, i would be gutted to be missing out on titles and having to wait along time for them to hit uk if ever.

[eastyy]

well i plan to get a japanese x360 for senko no ronde.....i just need to scrape the money together

[Bleeders]

The release of Senko no Ronde was the straw that broke the camels back for me tbh... I'm a complete shmup whore, but hearing about this inventive shmup-cum-fighter was enough to convince me to pick up a Japanese machine off the forums.

[themanwithapc]

I was thinking the same thing, with the more recent releases (Senko no Ronde
mainly). Had me tempted to pick up an Asian/Japanese 360 but I just can't spare the money.

Until the 360 hardware revisions have taken place with any HDMI bs and more stable/reliable units, I'll wait it out. By then we'll also know if indeed this is all the Japanese goodness the machine has to offer (and indeed if it's any good)

[eastyy]

Well for me from what i have seen senko no ronde is a killer app its not for everyone but its what i like

[Salsa Party Animal]

I am happy with my PAL XBOX 360 but apart from expensive games there is no major disappointment apart from 2K games region coding policy.

I will import a PS3 when the time is right.

[AdamJW]

Well for me from what i have seen senko no ronde is a killer app its not for everyone but its what i like

Something similar for me because Super robot Taisen is planned for the 360 in Japan and that to me is console shifter for certain Japanese gamers and is the only reason I may get a 360 in the first place, but many devoted SRT people just won't bother to buy a console for one game.

It'll be the killer app for some though and its what I like, so its on the cards for me at some stage, and like I said the only reason I have for buying a Japanese 360, but it may be a multi region/format when it comes out in the end anyway.

[Kubrick]

Another Japanese owner here. I've had it about a month now.

Senko no Ronde and other potentially JP-only games was definitely a big reason why I got one, but the single biggest deciding factor was the cost - the console set me back considerably less than what a UK Core system goes for, and even once I had got myself 4 games and a UK power supply, I had still spent less than the RRP of a PAL Premium system.

The whole region-free thing and the availability of cheap, English language games from Asia totally sealed the deal. At just over ?20 a pop, I feel I can take more risks and pick up some games I'm unsure about - Tomb Raider, for example. I lost interest in that series years ago so there's no ****ing way I would've paid ?40-50 for it.

Traditionally I prefer Japanese games, so I never really got into the original XBOX much (despite buying one 3 times...). I was thinking the 360 would also be a bit of a short-term investment once I had played the games that interested me, but I must say I've been very impressed with it and it's looking like a definite keeper. I've probably spent more hours on the 360 in one month than I did on all my other consoles during the previous 6.