So, I guess Nobuo Uematsu has completely lost his touch

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-10 01:19am

Goodbye, Last Great Hope for the 360 in Japan!

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-10 01:30am

That....is not...Uematsu. I refuse to believe it.

Looks like Nintendo's going to own Japan without any competition from anyone in the same price range. PS3 will only be bought by the hardcore because of the high price- lucky for Sony there's a lot of hardcore, so it'll probably sell, just like the PSP is selling but nowhere near as much as the DS.

The 360 is already practically dead in Japan...although the release of Blue Dragon did manage to push sales up...to 1/6th that of the PS2 this week.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2006-12-10 01:52am

Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-12-10 01:59am

Sounds like a DBZ opening credits song.

Maybe it's just the low-res video, but I can't see how those graphics are supposed to be "next-gen". Normally, I wouldn't complain about graphics, but this is the Xbox 360 we're talking about. Their marketing slogan involves the words "high-definition", for Chrissake.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-10 02:01am

MKSheppard wrote:Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.

Why is the assumption always made that Japanese won't buy the 360 because it's American?

I see the insane popularity of the iPod over there...

Looks more to me like the original XBox had very few games that appealed to the Japanese (and Japanese developers were wary to jump on board), being mostly FPS, sports and racing. And the Japanese are very brand-conscious. The XBox 360 has fallen in the same boat...they have more games the Japanese would like, and XBox 360 sales spiked on their release (Blue Dragon and DOA4) but they have been few and they probably remember the poor games selection (to them) of the first XBox.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-12-10 02:07am

It's more accurate to say that they buy what they like, which is clearly anathema to Shep. They should buy what everyone else does! How dare they have a distinct culture!

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-10 02:08am

DPDarkPrimus wrote: Maybe it's just the low-res video, but I can't see how those graphics are supposed to be "next-gen". Normally, I wouldn't complain about graphics, but this is the Xbox 360 we're talking about. Their marketing slogan involves the words "high-definition", for Chrissake.

I think it's probably a combination of the low res video and the deliberately simple art design of the game.

Although admittedly it doesn't look that much better than Pokemon Battle Revolution...

avatarxprime · Post by **avatarxprime** » 2006-12-10 02:32am

Good god! There is no way this can be Nobuo Uematsu. It's lies I say, lies! They must have had someone else do this particular piece for some odd reason. Yeah... that's it, it was someone else.

That being said, how is the music for the rest of the game and are there any other people cited as contributing to the music in the game?

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-10 03:01am

Spectacular vocals provided by Ian Gillam.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2006-12-10 08:38am

Wait, that's meant to be a next gen game?

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-12-10 11:15am

On a high res video, the game looks quite a bit better. Anything shrunk down that far will lose a lot of detail in the process.

It is, however, designed to faithfully resemble Akira Toriyama's art and animation style, which never carries that much detail anyway.

(Also, if you want more traditional Uematsu music, try the trailers page on the Blue Dragon website)

Post by **RogueIce** » 2006-12-10 12:47pm

You know, it's a video of an Xbox game, and what was the ad they ran before it?

PS3

So, yeah. It's like a trip to an 80s/early 90s rock song. Like something I would hear off GI Joe or something.

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2006-12-10 12:48pm

The main theme music to Super Smash Bros. Brawl was done by Nobuo Uematsu. (There's no mistaking it near the end where the overworld music from FF1 starts playing.)

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2006-12-10 01:23pm

MKSheppard wrote:Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.

No the games are either shit or uninteresting. Thats the reason I've not bought one.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2006-12-10 01:48pm

Vendetta wrote:On a high res video, the game looks quite a bit better. Anything shrunk down that far will lose a lot of detail in the process.

It is, however, designed to faithfully resemble Akira Toriyama's art and animation style, which never carries that much detail anyway.

(Also, if you want more traditional Uematsu music, try the trailers page on the Blue Dragon website)

The backgrounds are what really killed me--GAH! They're just standing out in the middle of nowhere, in a completely featureless landscape.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2006-12-10 02:56pm

Praxis wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.
Why is the assumption always made that Japanese won't buy the 360 because it's American?

I see the insane popularity of the iPod over there...

Looks more to me like the original XBox had very few games that appealed to the Japanese (and Japanese developers were wary to jump on board), being mostly FPS, sports and racing. And the Japanese are very brand-conscious. The XBox 360 has fallen in the same boat...they have more games the Japanese would like, and XBox 360 sales spiked on their release (Blue Dragon and DOA4) but they have been few and they probably remember the poor games selection (to them) of the first XBox.

The IPod sells well becos Japs like pretty and cute stuff. Sony as it is hasn't a competing product that matches the "Cuteness" of the IPod.

That aside, there is a fair bit of economic nationalism in Japan.

Sephirius · Post by **Sephirius** » 2006-12-10 04:33pm

Sharp-kun wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.
No the games are either shit or uninteresting. Thats the reason I've not bought one.

Gears of war is quite thoroughly awesome though.

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-10 04:51pm

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:The IPod sells well becos Japs like pretty and cute stuff. Sony as it is hasn't a competing product that matches the "Cuteness" of the IPod.

Time once again to repost the link to Vinnk's article about how other cute products like Coca-Cola and Starbucks also do well in Japan.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2006-12-10 05:44pm

Sharp-kun wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.
No the games are either shit or uninteresting. Thats the reason I've not bought one.

Considering all the video game systems save for the X-Box are Japanese in origin, Shep's argument is technically correct.

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2006-12-10 06:26pm

Vendetta wrote:It is, however, designed to faithfully resemble Akira Toriyama's art and animation style, which never carries that much detail anyway.

So was Dragon Quest VIII, and it looked a hell of a lot better than this.

GuppyShark · Post by **GuppyShark** » 2006-12-10 07:17pm

Sharp-kun wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.
No the games are either shit or uninteresting. Thats the reason I've not bought one.

Your Profile Location is "Glasgow, Scotland" not "Osaka, Japan." Why is your reason relevant?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-12-10 07:35pm

Speaking of Uematsu, does anybody recall that Internet rumour about two or three years ago that he died? I just happened to remember that a couple days back...

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-10 08:05pm

RogueIce wrote:You know, it's a video of an Xbox game, and what was the ad they ran before it?

PS3

So, yeah. It's like a trip to an 80s/early 90s rock song. Like something I would hear off GI Joe or something.

I got an XBox ad.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-10 08:12pm

Xisiqomelir wrote:
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:The IPod sells well becos Japs like pretty and cute stuff. Sony as it is hasn't a competing product that matches the "Cuteness" of the IPod.
Time once again to repost the link to Vinnk's article about how other cute products like Coca-Cola and Starbucks also do well in Japan.

Precisely! Bookmarked, thanks

Xisiqomelir · Post by **Xisiqomelir** » 2006-12-10 09:24pm

GuppyShark wrote:
Sharp-kun wrote:
MKSheppard wrote:Who cares about Japan? They only slavishly buy japanese systems there.
No the games are either shit or uninteresting. Thats the reason I've not bought one.
Your Profile Location is "Glasgow, Scotland" not "Osaka, Japan." Why is your reason relevant?

You don't think it feasible that the Japanese reasons closely approximate his reasons?