Japan Gaming Guide

Sony are starting to make some headway in terms of hardware sales. The PS3 sold 47,183 units in October compared to 110,415 Wiis and 18,717 Xbox 360s. The Wii is still outselling the PS3, but it is much cheaper, and the gap is narrowing. We’re still waiting for an absolute must-have exclusive PS3 game, but surely that’s only a matter of time, and when it arrives the PS3 should get another surge of interest.

[Read]

We heard about a Final Fantasy XI event in Osaka, yesterday and headed down there to get a few pictures. The event was much bigger than we were expecting, and was a massive sellout, so we couldn’t get tickets. The queue outside was pretty colossal, and what we could see of the show floor looked completely packed. After Super Mario Galaxy’s muted reception we were pleased to see that gamers can still turn out in force when needed. This shows just how popular Final Fantasy is in Japan, the queue was hundreds of people long. It was a pretty mixed group of people too.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first two episodes of the Blue Dragon Anime are coming to Xbox live in Japan. The episodes will be free to download between November 15th and January 1st.

The downloads coincide with today’s budget release of the game. Later this month you’ll also be abe to get your hands on the latest DVD in the anime series.

[Read]

Super Mario Galaxy went on sale today in Japan. We went along to Osaka’s Yodobashi camera store to get our copy. hoping there might be some kind of promotional stuff going on, but although there were a couple of Galaxy displays, Ace Combat 6 seemed to be getting more attention from the public.

A quick non-scientific survey of the people in our queue showed 4 people buying Ace Combat 6 for Xbox 360, and only us and the guy behind us buying Super Mario Galaxy. We were pretty surprised by that. It could be that it was lunchtime on a weekday, so there were more salaryman types than usual about. It could even be that the local planespotting group came along together, but we were pretty surprised by it, and will be interested to see the sales figures for the games when they come out next week.

We’ll also be posting some more on Mario Galaxy if we can tear ourselves away long enough.

There is perhaps no better use for that Y100 coin you have cluttering up your pocket than the gashapon pod. These things are everywhere in Japan, they’re found around shops of all kinds. They branded cheap stuff based on whatever happens to be popular with the kids at the time. It’s mostly kids that use them, although aging video game bloggers are sometimes seen guiltily dropping coins in when no-one is around. The stuff you get out of them is chosen from a range at random. At Chimptron central we have a lovely Bomberman DS stylus, and a Princess Peach mini case. There’s been a recent trend for putting the pods is salaryman friendly locations too. We love them and will continue to waste our money on them as long as we can afford to eat.

[Read]

Wii owners in Japan will be able to browse the TV listings from next spring, via a new Wii Channel. The G-Guide system was just announced by Nintendo, who want to give people a reason to switch the Wii on every day, regardless of whether or not they are playing games.

Another new development is the facility to buy stuff for your friends on the shopping channel. We don’t have the details on this yet, but we think it means you’ll be able to purchase Virtual Console titles and send them to your friends as gifts. How popular this one will be, we don’t know – but could they be planning to expand the shopping channel to include more than games?

[Read, via the Tanooki]

Read the rest of this entry »

The long awaited DS TV tuner is finally on the way. The peripharal is coming out on November 20 for a mere Y6800. The DS is very popular on Japanese trains, and the arial is pretty spiky looking. We wonder how long it will be before a commuter loses an eye on the way to work.

You’ll be able to use the touch screen to switch channels, adjust the volume etc.

[Read, via Gaming Today]

Castlevania Dracula X is due out tomorrow in North America, with other versions following in November. Famitsu just posted a load of information about the new game. It’s a PSP remake of an old Japan only PC-Engine title with upgraded graphics and a load of extras thrown in – including a port of Symphony of the Night. However the remake turns out – and it’s looking very good – Symphony of the Night is worth a purchase by itself, so this package is nothing short of a pulsing jugular vein of temptation if you ask us.

The wireless co-op mode looks pretty cool as well – you can team up with a friend to take on the bosses. There are also a lot of goodies available on Konami’s site including an original soundtrack CD and a wrist strap.

[Read]

Bungie won themselves a few Japanese achievement points this week as Halo 3 took the top spot in Japan’s weekly sales chart. That’s good news to Microsoft, who saw a jump in Xbox 360 sales as well.

Here’s the top 5 selling games:

[Read]

So you made it to Japan, but it’s a big place. Where to go? What to do? You could spend your time visiting tourist spots and visiting cultural sites, but hey, you’re a gamer. You want more than that. You want to see the beating heart of Japan’s game culture with your own two eyes. Here’s our guide:

Akihabara

The gamers’ Mecca has diversified in recent years, it’s no longer the exclusive preserve of Otaku, but this is still the place to come to find huge arcades, buy retro rarities and oggle cosplayers. Akihabara has more game shops than the average city – walking its streets is nothing short of a gamers paradise. You’ll also find robots, maid cafes and many other quirky wonders hidden in its streets.

Kyoto – Nintendo

The serious gaming pilgrim will want to head to the outskirts of Kyoto to find the headquarters of Nintendo. So much of gaming’s history was created inside this building that you’ll probably want to gaze in awe for several minutes before trying and failing to get let in. For the ultimate in gaming kudos you’ll want to stage a 24 hour vigil outside wearing a Mario costume and refusing to leave until you get Miyamoto san’s autograph. Please send us the pictures if you do this.

Osaka Super Potato

Den Den Town is Osaka’s equivalent of Akihabara. It’s a whole load of electronic and gaming stores all in one place. It’s not as big or as diverse as it’s Tokyo twin but if there was an award for the best individual game store in Japan, it would probably go to Osaka Super Potato. The place is chock full of retro goodies – consoles of yesteryear are piled high on the shelves; games fill the walls like books in some medieval wizard’s library. And the sound – oh the sound! Classic gaming jingles will assail your ears from every direction. Don’t forget your credit card either – you’re sure to find something to tempt you among the stores many gaming rarities.

While you’re in the area, try to check out Retro TV Game revival, which carries a lot of older retro titles, as well as lots of signed games and memorabilia.

Tokyo Game Show

This one pretty much goes without saying – that’s why you’re here, right? Despite Nintendo’s absence, this is still the place to go to see Japanese game culture in all it’s full-on glory. The latest and greatest from nearly all of Japan’s finest game creators will be on show here. There’ll be more games than you can shake a stick at, and some of the most creative cosplayers around will be strutting their stuff.

JJ Club 100

These places are all over Japan and are completely and utterly fantastic. Luckily there isn’t one to close to us here at JGG, because if there was, we’d probably be in it at least, ooh 9 hours a day. Imagine 6 floors of entertainment. Bowling alleys, pool tables, table tennis, DVDs. Sound good? Now add an entire floor of arcade machines on free play, and another floor of private booths with the latest game consoles and a library of games to choose from. $4 an hour. We’d live there if they’d let us.

Yodobashi Camera

Akihabara and Den Den Town are great for those quirky titles and rarities. Yodobashi Camera is the other end of the scale. They’re superstores with huge game sections. If you see pictures in the gaming press lots of Japanese people queuing for the latest console release, this is usually where they’re taken. If you want a one stop gaming fix then here is the place to get it. All the current releases will be here, along with a huge selection of peripherals, gaming literature and gaming odds & ends.

Japan Gaming Guide

Yes, we’re here, if you know where to find us. But seriously, stay away from our bins.