In Japan the handheld is king. Week after week PSP and DS battle it out at the top to the hardware charts. Recently of course sales of both have been rejuvenated by the PSP-3000 and the DSi with many buying
Japan’s Handheld Market
Japan’s Home Console Market
Since the mid-nineties the worldwide console market has stabilised. Where there used to be numerous platforms vying for attention, with battle lines drawn between regions, resent years have seen the market consolidate with only three platforms fighting for our money
Podcast 7 – 31/10/2008
Happy 20th Birthday Mega Drive. This week is a celebration of Sega’s golden years and they numerous iterations, additions to and licensing of the Mega Drive. We also turn our eyes to the last few weeks bigger news stories from
The Japanese Game Market
Japan’s games are famously ethnocentric. Any one of my generation with an interest in games will remember the dream of importing one of these curios. The shear number of these games is bewildering. The used game market is so vast
Xbox in Japan
It hasn’t escaped anyone’s attention that over the last five weeks in Japan the 360 has been outselling PS3. After failure to penetrate Japan since the Xbox launched in 2002 suddenly they are gaining momentum. Three factors are allowing Microsoft
Tokyo Game Show – Coz-play.
Coz-play has become synonymous with Japanese gaming culture. At TGS this was represented by what I lovingly nick-named ‘coz-play avenue’. The effort coz-players put into their outfits was incredible. They even arrived out of costume and then changed at the
Tokyo Game Show – Booths Babes.
Booth babes are a staple of TGS. Every company had a dozens of young ladies dressed in a variety of skimpy outfits to entice gamers into join their booth. Some were beautiful, some had tops that were undersized (to spectacular
Tokyo Game Show – The Floor.
Having lived in Japan for four years my view of the world has changed. Many things that visitors may find bizarre are common place to me. Not so at TGS. Imagine the Tokyo subway at rush hour, where thousands of
Pre – Tokyo Game Show, 2008 (TGS)
Before I even get to TGS I have seen most of what there is to see. There will be no surprises. I know that my fantasy of Deadrising 2 has not materialized. Even Madworld is not there due to classification