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drifter13 · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 124 Location: Fujisawa

I'm a big gamer, and with a slew of hot 360 games coming out this fall, I wanna be able to play em. I was wondering how much an Xbox 360 costs in Japan (new or used) and how available it is, since the system has hardly been burning up the charts over there.

I was thinking about dragging my current box over, but my little bro plays it a lot. Also, I'm worried about the system dying, then I have to get it fixed and probably have to ship it back to Canada to get it done. Any info would be helpful, as my one major vice in life is gaming (an addiction I hope to feed well in Japan Wink

).

Willy_In_Japan · Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 329

Do you read Japanese?

I believe that all Xbox systems in Japan are in Japanese only, and do not play games from America.

I have been thinking of picking up either an Xbox, PS3 or Wii when I go to Canada at Xmas. I would pack a North American unit if you want to game in English.

Wintermute · Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 79

Most US games work fine on a Japanese system. The region locking thing is generally up to the publisher/developer of the game. I own an Japanese Xbox and every game I bought, except Halo and Outrun 2 (menus were in Japanese but it's racing game so knowing the language isn't necessary), were bilingual. It depends mainly on what language you set your dashboard to. My friend said that most of his 360 games do the same thing except for those developed in Japan (i.e. Blue Dragon).

drifter13 · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 124 Location: Fujisawa

Yawarakaijin · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 504 Location: Middle of Nagano

Ok here we go.

1. Xbox consoles give you the choice of which language to use inside your xbox so dont worry about the menus all being in japanese. You may need rudimentary japanese skill to find the settings/menus but you can change them all to English.

2. My japanese xbox plays mostly all the big new games out there as most of the big games are region free. There are some big english titles that are not region free however. Here is the great part though. Games from taiwan/s.e asia play on the japanese xbox and these games, for some reason, are usually in English. You may get stuck with a chinese manual but the game is no different than the north american version.

Oblivion, which is a huge title, is one such example. Japanese xbox, couldnt play the american title. Went to a shop in tokyo, they had the chinese version for me, could play it on my j console but the game was entirely in english.

That shops name is Mezzanja/ Messenger? It is just outside akihabara station and tons of foreingers go there. They can hook you up and answer all your questions.

Note on systems dying. I bought my system in japan. It died 8 months later. Had enough points on my sakuraya card and I didnt feel like heading into tokyo so i just used my points and got a free one. That one died 1 MONTH later. Really pissed me off. Now I dont play anymore and have nearly a thousand dollars in software acting as coasters. Crying or Very sad

drifter13 · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 124 Location: Fujisawa

Hoser · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 694 Location: Toronto, Canada

Get a PS3 instead. All games are region free and so far it's been solid as a rock. The games are still a bit sparse but they're coming.

Hoser · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 694 Location: Toronto, Canada

Oh and to answer your question, an Xbox 360 costs about 38,000 yen over here and there bucketloads and bucketloads of them because no Japanese would buy one.

drifter13 · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 124 Location: Fujisawa

Thanks for the info Hoser. I'm still holding out on the PS3 there's just nothin for me to play on it that really has my intrest, but I might get one down the road (Metal Gear 4 looks too hot to pass on Smile

). I think Microsoft Japan could use some buisness anyhow, I've seen pictures of thier lonely Xbox section in some Japanese stores. I'll pop buy and make thier year with a purchase Laughing

Khyron · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 291 Location: Tokyo Metro City

drifter13 · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 124 Location: Fujisawa

Yeah, i'm not buying unless I see they have the new Falcon chip in them, since it runs much cooler and therefore avoids red ringing more. I'm a big gamer, so owning two systems is not out of the question for me (like I said, it's my only vice, but man is it expensive Razz

). For the here and now though, being able to play Mass Effect, and to a lesser extent Halo 3, is just too much temptation to hold out. Besides, I always like being diffrent, and having an Xbox in Japan certainly places you in a unique minority Laughing

Willy_In_Japan · Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 329

So, what is the story?

Can I buy a PS3 in Japan and have the menus in English? And use American PS3 games in English?

How about the Wii?

drifter13 · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 124 Location: Fujisawa

Hoser · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 694 Location: Toronto, Canada

Wii you'll be playing only Japanese. If the PSP is any indication, as soon as you turn on your PS3 for the first time, it will give you an option to change the language.

MrChips · Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 9

If you go to www.play-asia.com you can order the asian versions of a lot of games and they're in English.