Xbox 360 outsells Sony PS3 in Japan

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The video game console sales numbers for Japan in September are in. The underdog Xbox 360 actually beat the Sony PS3 in its home country.
This is the first time Microsoft beat Sony in Japan. According to numbers of Enterbrain Microsoft sold 53,547 Xbox 360 consoles and Sony sold only 33,071 PS3 consoles in the September time frame.

Nintendo is still on easy street having sold 109,548 Wii consoles last month in Japan. Read more

Posted on Fri, 3 Oct 2008 07:19:49 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nintendo launching new DS in Japan

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd said on Thursday it would launch its new DS handheld game console on November 1 in Japan for 18,900 yen ($179).
The new DS model will have camera and audio functions, the company said.
It will be slimmer and have a bigger display than the current model, Nintendo said.

Nintendo sells the current DS model for 16,800 yen.
Read more

Posted on Thu, 2 Oct 2008 04:42:42 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Zihotch Retro Phone Watch is craziest Japanese Watch ever

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Our Wristwatch news site Wrist Dreams reports about a crazy watch from Japan. The Zihotch Retro Phone Watch features a working retro phone dial as the face. You have to actually dial a number to get the time told via the speaker integrated in the watch.

There is no time display to be found on this watch. When you dial 117 the watch answers in Japanese and tells the current time. Read more

Posted on Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:30:55 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony PSP PSP-3000 launches in Japan next Month

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Sony already announced the new PSP-3000 for Europe and the United States in August at the Leipzig Games Convention. Today Sony announced the PSP-3000 launch details for Japan.
In Japan Sony will offer the PSP-3000 in piano black, pearl white and mystic silver for 19,800 yen (~$183) starting October 16th. SCEJ will also release PSP Value Pack for the Japanese market at a RRP of 24,800 yen (including tax), comprising a new PSP system (Piano Black, Pearl White or Mystic Silver), a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark2), an original PSP pouch, a hand strap and a cloth to meet users’ various purposes in using the PSP systems such as playing games, watching movies, listening to music and downloading content through the network.
Read more

Posted on Tue, 2 Sep 2008 02:29:48 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony to launch new PSP on Oct 16th in Japan

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 TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp's game unit said on Tuesday it would launch the latest model of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld machine on October 16 in Japan to better compete with Nintendo Co Ltd's market-leading DS.
The new PSP will sell for 19,800 yen ($182), the same price as the current PSP model, which compares with 16,800 yen for the DS.
Read more

Posted on Tue, 2 Sep 2008 02:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Microsoft to slash Xbox 360 price in Japan

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp will slash the price of its Xbox 360 game console in Japan by about 30 percent, below Nintendo Co's Wii and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 in a bid to boost market share, the Nikkei business daily said on Monday.
Microsoft has been struggling to stir up demand for its Xbox 360 in Japan.
Read more

Posted on Mon, 1 Sep 2008 12:58:56 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony PSP becomes a Fonero in Japan

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Sony partners with the Japanese subsidiary of Fon. Fon is the largest WiFi community in the world. It's members (Foneros) share some of there home Internet connection and get free access to the Community’s FON Spots worldwide.
In Japan PSP owners can now easily join Fon starting today. Fon has about 44,000 Wi-fi spots in downtown Tokyo alone. Read more

Posted on Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:27:20 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Xbox 360 beats PS3 in Japan

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 beat Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 in Japan weekly sales for the first time two weeks ago, riding robust demand for a recent Xbox 360 title produced by Namco Bandai Holdings , a magazine publisher said.
Read more

Posted on Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Xbox 360 beats PS3 in Japan because of Tales of Vesperia

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Xbox 360 sales have been rather low since the launch in Japan. In the week ending August 10th Microsoft sold a surprising 24,962 units and outsold the Sony PS3 (9,673) by far.
The reason seems to be the release of Bandai’s Tales of Vesperia that sold over 100,000 copies in the first week according to Media Create.

Like in the United States the Wii is still on top of the Xbox 360 and PS3, but both handheld gaming systems sold more than the Wii in that week. Read more

Posted on Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:42:34 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Softbank dramatically cuts monthly Fees for iPhone 3G in Japan

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Softbank reduces the monthly fees for the iPhone 3G in Japan. Softbank says that they want to reach a broader customer base with the new much lower rates.
The new monthly fee is 2,990 yen (~$27). It was 7,280 yen (~$67) before, which means Softbank cut the price by over 50%. The price-cut stems mostly from a reduced price of the data flat rate. Read more

Posted on Tue, 5 Aug 2008 03:43:21 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Space Invaders Worldwar Pits USA Against Japan

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To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Space Invaders an online battle between the US and Japan is brewing in a new game called Space Invaders Worldwar. The game is very different from what you may have played on your Atari back in the day.

Rather than a triangle, you move left and right across the bottom of the screen, the new online version of the game has invaders flying at you from different locations around the screen. You use the mouse to place a crosshair on the invaders and blow them up. The goal is to reach a specific amount of kills in 30 seconds to progress. Read more

Posted on Fri, 1 Aug 2008 08:44:33 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Sony PSP outsells Nintendo DS in Japan

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According to the sales analysis of Enterbrain the Sony PSP outsold the Nintendo DS last month.

Sony sold 256,765 PSP consoles and Nintendo sold 217,639 units.
This is not the first time the PSP has outsold the Nintendo DS. Sony said in July that they already sold 10 million PSP consoles in Japan alone. Read more

Posted on Fri, 1 Aug 2008 05:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nintendo Wii outsells PS3 3-to-1 in Japan in July

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii video game console outsold Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 by more than 3-to-1 in Japan in July, a game magazine publisher said.
Read more

Posted on Fri, 1 Aug 2008 02:55:29 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nintendo sues 5 Japan Firms over Game Equipment

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Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd said on Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit against five Japanese firms for importing and selling equipment that enables illegal game programs to be played on Nintendo's popular DS portable video game player.
Read more

Posted on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:36:25 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Japan Firms to work out next-gen car Battery Norms

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp , Nissan Motor Co , Matsushita Electric Industrial Co and other Japanese companies will work together to set up common standards for lithium-ion batteries being developed to power next-generation cars, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.
Read more

Posted on Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:32:43 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony sold 10 million Sony PSP Consoles in Japan

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Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced that the cumulative sell-in units of PSP handheld entertainment system (PSP-1000 and 2000 series) reached a total of 10 million units in Japan as of July 15, 2008.

The Sony PSP was launched in Japan on December 12th 2004 in Japan. The slim and light PSP (PSP-2000) made its debut on September 20th 2007 and in the first half of 2008(according to Enterbrain), it has become the best selling system in the game console market in Japan. Read more

Posted on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:25:46 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony Playstation Home Site available in Japan

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The last thing we reported about the Sony Playstation Home 3D world was that the open beta for Playstation Home is to start this fall.

I just stumbled over a website Sony has setup for Playstation Home in Japan. I am not sure how long the site has been online, but it has lots of screenshots and explains on a high level Playstation Home and its main components. Read more

Posted on Mon, 7 Jul 2008 04:43:28 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

PSP hotter than Wii in Japan

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According to the latest sales numbers of video game consoles in Japan the Sony PSP outsells the Nintendo Wii. Of course it is not a fair comparison as the PSP is a portable console and the Wii is a home console, but the Wii outsells the PSP in the U.S. by a huge margin.

According to the Enterbrain sales data the PSP sold 274,131 units in June and the Wii sold 235,990 units. The PSP also outsold the Nintendo DS. Read more

Posted on Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:47:16 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony PS3 gains on Nintendo Wii Sales in Japan

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The Sony PS3 console sales are getting closer to the still leading Wii console according to June sales numbers in Japan

Enterbrain reports that Nintendo sold 235,990 Wii consoles in the five weeks ended June 29th, while sales of the Sony PS3 reached 139,494 units.

The Xbox 360 does not count in the Japanese console race in Japan with only 10,964 consoles. Read more

Posted on Thu, 3 Jul 2008 06:46:53 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Japanese Students schooled with Nintendo

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By Dan Sloan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo is banned everywhere but the classroom at Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school in Japan as the ubiquitous DS consoles become the latest tool in English instruction.
Read more

Posted on Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:34:32 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nokia plays catch up in Japan

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Nokia Corp will add public wireless LAN access to its handsets in Japan in a bid to keep pace with smaller Japanese rivals that already provide such network connections.
Read more

Posted on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr