Yodobashi Camera has a megastore in electronics haven Akihabara with an Xbox 360 kiosk inside their video game department. My Game News Flash examined the display over the year with a tongue firmly in cheek report.
In March 2009, a boot for Disaster Report 3, a PSP game from Irem, was put right in front of it.
Wow, look at that crowd in September! What are all of those people doing there?
Ah, downloading Dragon Quest IX data from a DS Station.
Here’s the display in October, used to promote Halo 3: ODST… with a broken screen.
Later in October, the Xbox 360 area was pushed into a corner… behind books.
A crowd showed up in November, but not to watch Dragon Ball: Raging Burst trailers. All of those kids are participating in a Beyblade tournament.
Now, in December the Xbox 360 booth has been replaced with a New Super Mario Bros. Wii display. Ouch.
The “report” is told jokingly, but it still has a point. Retailers in Japan don’t give the Xbox 360 much exposure. This is a change of pace from a few years ago when games like Lost Odyssey, Ace Combat 6 and Tales of Vesperia were on the market. Promotional materials used to advertise those games and the Xbox 360 were prominently positioned in places that weren’t occluded by Disaster Report 3.
Published: Dec 8, 2009 11:49 am