Japan Finally Gives 360 Some Love

This is one of the very few times I've seen good news come out of Japan for the Xbox 360. After glowing reviews from Famitsu, Gears of War has sold out across the entire country. Microsoft is scrambling to restock the store shelves. Reports from Japan indicate the game has received lots of attention, with flocks of people gathering around the demo.

I find this funny because the tradition is that western-developed games in particular never score high with the gaming public in Japan. First-person shooting games especially are almost nonexistent as it is so commonly the cause of motion sickness and Japanese gamers just usually aren't interested. Gears is a third-person shooter but it has the familiar swinging camera associated with most FPS'.

I wonder if the noise surrounding the game coming from the US had any influence on the unexpected success of Gears. To date it has already sold 3 million copies. Microsoft has had a hard time with both the 360 and the original Xbox in Japan, but Gears of War has received countless Game of the Year awards already.

I'll place my bet on the graphics. I can't name many other games that best the graphics of Gears of War, especially on a console level. Epic did a fine job with this game, and it looks like it's the first example of a typical western game with not-so-typical market penetration.