I thought I could apply for the title of Angriest Xbox Hater, but apparently I am not quite there yet.

 While my tiny little pockets of rage are confined to my apartment, conversations, and a few blogs, Kotaku found a much more formidable contender for the AXH title.

 Apparently, it is the nation of Japan.

 Kotaku has now had three articles on why the Japanese are slow to embrace Microsoft.

Article One - Japan Hates Xbox

In an E307 interview with Famitsu, former Xbox honcho Peter Moore said, “Why doesn’t the Xbox 360 sell in Japan? I want to ask you.” Well! Japanese internet forum 2channel weighed in with its opinion.

Keep in mind: 2chan posters should NOT be taken as a representation of all of Japan. There are something like 120 million people in Japan. They come in all shapes and sizes and do not, I repeat, do not all have the same opinion. What’s more, some of the 2chan commenters are down right stupid. If only I could ban a big chunk of them! Still, their opinion is interesting and should shed some light on something — at least what some people over at 2chan think of the Xbox 360.

While 2chan is a small segment of the overall population, I found a lot of the comments to be pretty true (obviously disregarding the more xenophobic ones).

[Side note - isn't it a little ironic to have a Kotaku writer talking about moronic commenters? Their boards aren't exactly the epitome of intelligent conversation.  Then again, most gaming boards aren't...]

 The comments - as translated by Kotaku - are:

“MS doesn’t have any ’sense.’”

“The Xbox 360 is expensive, big and noisy.”

“Japan already has Nintendo and Sony. Don’t need to buy the Xbox.”

“The core audience is for foreigners in their thirties. In Japan, there are many female and children gamers. That’s the reason.”

“If there’s an RPG that equals FF or DQ it should do well, right?”

“HD (lol)
do! do! do! (lol

“I don’t even know what games it has. Weren’t the TV commercials unsatisfying?”

“Foreigners are satisfied only with killing. Japanese are not that stupid.”

“Japan is ‘moe’ and erotic games.”

“Microsoft doesn’t any original games for Japanese. Nintendo has Mario, etc. Sony has Hot Shots Golf. Microsoft????”

“Instead of saying the Xbox is bad, it’s important to note that Sony and Nintendo are too established. There isn’t much room for them to enter.”

“It’s because the advertising strategy of Microsoft Japan is dumb.”

“Even though I want to buy an Xbox 360 more than the PS3, I am going to hold off until the console breakdowns decrease.”

“Put out more demos.”

“For me, it ended at do! do! do!” (do! do! do! was Microsoft’s Japan TV campaign with pop group Tokio.)

“Overseas Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwoBxjchWUM
Japanese Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKEsPzYFWA
That’s not very good.”

“Because it sounds as loud as a microwave oven?”

“Its image is Western games and boob volleyball. With that, how are you supposed to buy it?”

“Since the console is not region free, it’s hard to think of the Xbox 360’s true enjoyment. If your English is okay, it’s actually pretty interesting.”

“It stinks like the Sega Saturn stinks.”

“I got it! Sell it packaged with Vista!!”

I thought that was the end of it, but a few days later I spotted:

 Article Two - Japan Still Hates XBox

This post focused more on Microsoft’s attempts to woo a mostly unresponsive Japanese market, along with a photograph of a full shelf of X-box 360s surrounded by promotional material. A bored clerk looks out into the distance, probably wishing he was selling Wiis or PS3s.

 Kotaku writes:

Microsoft is a glutton for Japanese punishment. Think the company is going to give up? Not in this life, brother! Shane Kim, Microsoft corporate vice prez., says they will continue push on in Japan, a region that has been less than ethusiastic about the Xbox 360. According to Kim:

I still am a believer in our ability to do well in Japan. We’re not going to win in Japan. We know that. That was never our goal, this generation, to win in Japan. We can win this generation without winning Japan. But we can do well in Japan. Now that’s going to take a long time.

My eyebrows raised at that one. It is so typically Microsoft: throw money at a problem until it goes away.  And apparently, I am not the only one who thinks so.  Brian Ashcraft comments:

 And if Microsoft doesn’t do well in Japan in the next generation, there’s always the next next generation and the next next next generation. Sit tight, they’ll browbeat Japan sooner or later. It’s just a matter of time and money. Microsoft’s got loads of both.

Finally, Japan takes the fight to scientific new heights in the lastest installment:

 Article Three - Japan is just not that into you. Move on, MS.

 Kotaku writes:

 Face it: the Xbox 360 isn’t quite up to snuff. The design is flawed, leading to an abnormal number of machines konking out. Since Microsoft won’t reveal the details of what exactly is causing the problems, Japanese news source Nikkei had a thermal design expert analyze the 360’s heat radiation system. Two Xbox 360’s were used for the investigation: one purchased in 2005, and the other that was repaired in May 2007. Their findings?

• The temperature gap with room temp was 22 degrees C. “When designing consumer products, it is common to seek a temperature gap of around 10 degrees C between exhaust and room temperatures,” the thermal design expert said. “The 22 degrees C is quite a large gap…”
• The cooling fan was half of desktop PCs — apparently to reduce noise.
• The expert pointed out, “The heat sink on the graphics LSI is so small, I wonder if it can really cool down the board.” The reason for this? Apparently, Microsoft had to downsized graphics LSI heat sink so that the DVD drive could be placed above it.
• In five minutes after booting up a game, the graphic LSI heat sink temp rose to 70 degrees C. In 15 minutes, the temperature for the microprocessor heat sink stabilized at 58 degrees, but the graphics LSI heat sink reached 80 degrees C. If the room temperature was high (like 35 degrees C), the heat sink could possibly hit 100 degrees C. What’s more, if the vents were clogged with dust, the temperature could also increase.
• The console repaired in May 2007 did not have a new heat sink placed in it.
This is bad design. Really, really bad.

 Oh great and merciful gaming gods, what will it take before Microsoft understands that gaming isn’t about hardware stats or graphics, or how much money you can burn through?

This week, I was deeply saddened to read about a vicious attack on a gaming website that caters to homosexual gamers.

 Joystiq reports:

 After a series of hate speech incidents and forum postings to GayGamer.net, the site was taken offline by a set of denial of service attacks. Flynn DeMarco, the site’s owner, said things started going wrong toward the end of last week until the site’s host, GoDaddy.com, finally took the site offline until the attacks could be stopped. They are currently attempting to get back online and hope to be finished by Monday.

A couple minutes in an Xbox Live Halo multiplayer session should give anyone an idea of why safe havens like GayGamer.net exist (along with Gaymer.org and Gamers.Experimentations.org), but for someone to go out of their way to attack the site is extreme. In the year since its existence, the news site and forum has given voice to issues that were previously rarely discussed. We share in Kotaku’s sentiment, where DeMarco is weekend editor, that “it’s sad to see that even in the virtual worlds of gaming and game coverage people decide that the only way they can express themselves is by attacking others.” GayGamer has sought to bring demographic inclusion into the industry and we hope to hear their voice back in the cacophony of these internets soon.

Luckily, GayGamer.net was back up and functional within a day, complete with an excellent post entitled What Comic Books Taught Me About Hatred:

Comics taught me a lot about how to deal with life. In some respects more than classical authors such as: Ovid, Boethius, Plato, Homer and Danielle Steel. I learned how to use misdirection and a spiffy pair of glasses to hide my True Identity™. I learned how to fall properly into radioactive goo so as to not get cancer and only get spiffy powers. I learned that from tragedy, with dedication, perseverance and tight spandex that I can teach my enemies to fear me.

Many of you know that our site has been down because of an attack. Which sucks, because I had a lot to write about Quakecon. But it gave me time to reflect on why these things happen and how I am supposed to react to it.

The most important lesson I learned from comics though relates to hatred. I learned that any group that is sufficiently different is a target for ignorance. Skin color, sexuality, mutant abilities, whatever the cause, if you are different, you will be hated. You see, gay people tend to love superheroes because we get it. We know what is like to hide your True Identity™. The need to blend in, the protection of banality. But it is a lie. We are different, and we’re hated because of it.

I also learned, largely due to Stan Lee, that the responsibility for dealing with hatred directed at me is in my hands. I could rant and rage and take matters into my own hands, like Magneto. In truth that probably could accomplish some good. Or, I could choose to be like Charles Xavier and the X-Men. I could choose to love and defend those people that hate me. This really isn’t altruism, in my opinion, it is about what I allow to consume me. I choose love over hatred.

I have no idea if they will catch whomever did this. In many respects I don’t care. But I can promise you this, if anyone anywhere hates me for what I am, my response is simple. Let’s go have coffee and talk. Explain to me where you’re coming from, and I will attempt to do the same. Its okay to disagree, and we’ll probably not change each others minds. But I will not react to hatred with more hatred, only love and coffee.

Amen to that.

 I suppose what disturbs me most about all this is what is says about the gaming community.  Masked from the eyes of society by internet anonymity, many people in the gaming community spew all types of hatred toward anyone that dares to challenge the current status quo - and even the specialized enclaves carved out to foster such conversations are at risk of flamers, trolls, and horrific attacks like the ones that felled GayGamer.net.

 In order for gaming to move forward and become a cultural force, I feel like we as gamers have to be more willing to confront the blantant cruelty and the lack of civility that has become a hallmark of our community.

Is there a such thing as gaming on a budget? With the record breaking prices on consoles, the litany of games released every year, and the amount spent per game, building gaming into a normal budget is difficult enough.

However, as gaming software gets more sophisticated, it seems like prices per game will begin trending up as well.

Matt Matthews from Next Generation analyzes the issue:

Now, 20-odd months on from the Xbox 360’s launch and half a year into the PlayStation 3’s life, we ask how the $60 game experiment is going. Are consumers buying those higher priced games?

We’ve analyzed prices of the top selling games for the past three years, with a special focus on the last 12 months, to get an idea of whether those more expensive games are selling well.

Our conclusions are as follows…

1. Prior to 2007, the average prices for the top 20 games was around $40-$43.
2. During the first half of 2007, prices for the top 20 games has been around $46-$49, without including Guitar Hero II. With Guitar Hero II, included prices are measurably above $50.
3. As the Xbox 360 library expands, it will claim more and more high-priced games in the top 20 list.
4. As Wii games replace PlayStation 2 games in the charts, it will keep the floor of console game prices right at $50.
5. The last two points will together force the average price of top selling games well above $50 in the near future.
6. The only downward pressure on average game prices is coming from the Nintendo DS.

So are consumers buying those $60 games? Yes, they are, and at an increasing pace. Here’s the detailed evidence…

I highly recommend reading the rest of the articles for the in-depth analysis of price trends.

Personally, I’ve become accustomed to dropping $60 on titles that I enjoy - the gameplay value per hour, especially on RPGs, makes it worth it for me.

Plus, thrifty gamers always have Ebay, Blockbuster, and Gamefly.