Famitsu scores Nintey Nine Nights

[Sascha-AMN]

According to unconfirmed rumblings across various message boards, Famitsu scored Ninety Nine Nights an impressive 37/40 - 10/9/9/9. Ill update with confirmation if it turns out to be the case.

Personally, Ive long graduated past the idea that Famitsu was particularly difficult in scoring games - they may have been once, but certainly not since the 32bit genre when I actually started to pay attention to them. That said, they are Japanese reviewers with distinctly Japanese tastes, and the Japanese public seems to respect their opinion - perhaps the game will help sell some Xbox 360s in the land of the rising sun, (or the land of the dying 360, whatever you wanna call it).

[makeitvab]

Wow, those are a bit too high for the type of game it is IMO.

Might be worth looking into, the hands-on featured on this site made it seem fun.

Agreed on the whole "legend" of hard-to-get scores from Famitsu, seems if anything they score to generously.

Alex~Vab

[Quel'Dorei]

^ Thats BS, a game shouldn't be prevented from getting a high score because of the genre its in. thats complete BS.

I'm gonna get this one when it finds it ways overseas.

[JValone]

Pefect 40/40s are not generous from Famitsu. Anyone you claims that is not actually paying attention, they've only handed out a perfect score 7 or so time. High scores, it's possible, but I still rank Famitus over these poorly made North American mags that hand out at least one perfect score every holiday season.

It will be interesting if this game did really score that, it must be good. It won't sell 360s in Japan though, you don't buy a console for one game. MS fans, and MS themsevles, do not get that fact. If you have three Japanese-centrid titles, you are still not going to sellin Japan. You need a wide variety of exclusive games appealing to that market not one or two.

Oh, and Cairo, I agree with the genre score-tilting being BS. However it happens everywhere, EGM b-tches constantly about games that aren't all dark and gritty and can score them down for nitpicky things due to this. It's a sad fact, the industry hasn't grown to the point where we can appreciate games for what they are rather then what we wish they were like.

Edited for truth.

[Sascha-AMN]

/\

I called it the 'land of the dying 360' not 'the land of the dying sun'.

[Vinny-AMN]

And "Land of the Dying Sun"? Come on Sascha, you're above that. That's borderline blamebait right there, you just want a fight with that one.

Joshua, I believe Sascha said "Land of the Dying 360". You misreading his comments have now caused a racial arguement to break out that could possibly be worse than the 1998 Viral Outbreak in Racoon City. I hope you are prepared to deal with this...

[makeitvab]

All I meant by that is games like this and Dynasty Warriors, while fun, don't really offer much in gameplay department and are pretty repetitive.

I too shall check this game out as I have played most of these type games. Devil kings, dynasty warriors, kingdom under fire, etc. While fun they are nowhere near the calibur of Oblivion, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, and so forth.

Also, I didn't claim Famitsu gave out perfects, everyone acts like they give out scores of like 5 and 6 to games. In all actuality they score stuff the same, if not nicer then most publications.

Sorry if this post is hard to read, just got done working out and my head's swimming.

Alex~Vab

Edit: speaking of "Wishing" how games should be... Resident Evil 4 anyone? "I'd like resident evil if the camera was different, gameplay was easier and more linear, stopped on the story they were working on, took away zombies..." Yay for selling out!

[JValone]

My bad Sascha, I removed the paragraph on your no-comment. Once again, my bad.

[Shawn]

I can see why you'd be a little turned off by the genre, but maybe they implement something totally amazing with the typical beat em up strategy genre

[XboxEvolved]

ver these poorly made North American mags that hand out at least one perfect score every holiday season.

Yet EGM only hands one out every 2-3 years.

[cubeenigma]

UCK YEAH this is the 360 title Japan has been waiting for!

This will sell...i know it!

[Quel'Dorei]

UCK YEAH this is the 360 title Japan has been waiting for!

This will sell...i know it!

Its obviously a great game, but I think 360 could have 30 AA titles out right now and the japanese wouldn't buy it.

[JValone]

But the 360 doesn't have 30 AAA titles, heck it will probably take at least 4 years to reach that number when you don't include sports titles. The problem is the 360 needs a lineup of AAA, and AA titles that appeal to the eastern market and they dont have that. Halo doesn't appeal to both markets the way Mario or Gran Tourismo does, and when you put the brunt of your resources behind western-styled games you're going to see strong sales in the west. Seriously, some of you guys act like the Japanese are racist or nationalist or some garbage like that. Other American products do just great in Japan, because they change their approach to fit the market.

If MS made strictly dating sims, horse-racing titles, virtual pet sims, and eastern RPGs with Halo 1 and 2 for the west would you all still buy one? Probably not.

[Xavier]

I called it the 'land of the dying 360'
How wonderfully witty. But more to the point, it's TRUE! :)

-X

[Quel'Dorei]

But the 360 doesn't have 30 AAA titles, heck it will probably take at least 4 years to reach that number when you don't include sports titles. The problem is the 360 needs a lineup of AAA, and AA titles that appeal to the eastern market and they dont have that. Halo doesn't appeal to both markets the way Mario or Gran Tourismo does, and when you put the brunt of your resources behind western-styled games you're going to see strong sales in the west. Seriously, some of you guys act like the Japanese are racist or nationalist or some garbage like that. Other American products do just great in Japan, because they change their approach to fit the market.

If MS made strictly dating sims, horse-racing titles, virtual pet sims, and eastern RPGs with Halo 1 and 2 for the west would you all still buy one? Probably not.

I didn't say 360 had 30 AAA titles, I said it could have and the japanese wouldn't care. Say its racist, say it isn't. Its probably true. Xbox recieved second place even by a million without the asian markets. Yes, to truly dominate they will need them.


Just as you can say 360 would take 4 years to get 30 AAA titles the same could be said for sony and nintendo. Nintendos franchises aren't AAA, specific games in the past were, and yes sony's console recieves a lot of support, but rarely are they AAA. I'm assuming AAA mean (9.0 + ) because a 9.0 game is damn good.

[Notedog]

Why do people always say that about Famitsu? I've seen SOOO many games get extremely high scores.

[Darc Requiem]

I didn't say 360 had 30 AAA titles, I said it could have and the japanese wouldn't care. Say its racist, say it isn't. Its probably true. Xbox recieved second place even by a million without the asian markets. Yes, to truly dominate they will need them.


Just as you can say 360 would take 4 years to get 30 AAA titles the same could be said for sony and nintendo. Nintendos franchises aren't AAA, specific games in the past were, and yes sony's console recieves a lot of support, but rarely are they AAA. I'm assuming AAA mean (9.0 + ) because a 9.0 game is damn good.

Cairo stop making excuses for the mistakes of MS. They botched the launch. You need Eastern style RPGs to sell in Japan. They knew this and yet they still had none available at Japanese launch. Hell did the original X-box have ANY eastern style RPGs at all? The N64 was soundly beaten in Japan by th PS1 and it had every type of Japanese title except Eastern RPGs and Nintendo's name. The Cube performed similary because it only had a few (i.e Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos). What would happen to a console in the US if it featured no sports titles and no FPS games? It would bomb. Just like a system in Japan with NO RPGs.

[Quel'Dorei]

Cairo stop making excuses for the mistakes of MS. They botched the launch. You need Eastern style RPGs to sell in Japan. They knew this and yet they still had none available at Japanese launch. Hell did the original X-box have ANY eastern style RPGs at all? The N64 was soundly beaten in Japan by th PS1 and it had every type of Japanese title except Eastern RPGs and Nintendo's name. The Cube performed similary because it only had a few (i.e Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos). What would happen to a console in the US if it featured no sports titles and no FPS games? It would bomb. Just like a system in Japan with NO RPGs.


I'll be watching you now to see if you make excuses for anyone. I don't see how you think I'm making excuses, but theres some key differences between japan and over here. Here, people play anything, traditional rpgs untraditional, fps's quirky games, over there they force themselves to play one thing. So I think its fair for me to say what i said without being accused of defending microsoft. Microsoft doesn;t make the games, developers do.

[JValone]

Meh, my 30 AAA comment was strictly just contemplating how long it would even take for a console to get 30 AAA titles. Heck, I cant think of 30 AAAs for any of the consoles I have ever had except perhaps the SNES. I didnt say Nintendo or Sony had 30, will ever have 30, or have franchises that could help them potentially reach 30. The number was theoretical, my comment was theoretical, don't act like either was literal. You have a habit of jumping on "But Nintendo doesn't have this either..." tangents with little provocation, I'm one of the most moderate Nintendo fans hear you can save your energy for the hardcore fanboys.

"over there they force themselves to play one thing" that might be one of the most ignorant statements I've ever read on gaming in Japan. The Japanese probably wonder why the hell we yanks can play boring-to-tears Halo for hours at a time online, heck I wonder that on occasion and I'm from around here. We don't force ourselves to do anything, if the game is fun we play it. If the game isn't fun, which the vast majority of Microsoft's lineup is not to the Japanese market taste, then we do not support it with our dollars. It's quite simple, no racism, nationalism, or other reading between the lines is neccesary.

Microsoft's lineup is incredibly skewed towards the western markets, they intentionally appeal to the testosterone, and it works well (though not as well as Sony's approach). Nintendo on the other hand neglects these "mature" titles and they likewise do not see the success that Microsoft does in North America and most of Europe. The key difference is Nintendo has a legacy with Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc. that western gamers grew up with and still hold dear. These titles are enough to see respectable sales for Nintendo consoles in the western territories. Microsoft has no legacy, they haven't been around long enough, and no franchises to leverage in Japan even for a respectable 3rd place finish. Sony is the only hardware company of the 3 to own Japan (thanks to FF, Dragon Warrior), and western territories (thanks to GTA, Madden, and marketing).

As a person who enjoys Nintendo titles a great deal I don't call America racist for the way it has neglected the GC, on the contrary I realize it was because of the way Nintendo did not respond to western gamer's need for the oh-so-important "mature" titles. I'm sure there are Microsoft fans in Japan, someone is buying those 360s on launch day, and they would most likely agree the reason no one there enjoys their fave console is because it doesn't fit the needs of a Japanese gamer. Any other reason is a crutch, MS doesn't need crutches to explain away the eastern markets they need solutions to widen the appeal of their software lineup.

[Quel'Dorei]

I'm just say the japanese are missing out on great games, simply because they are "western".

[Sascha-AMN]

Meh, personally I do believe the Japanese are at least moderately nationalist - hence the reason why many non-Japanese have to release products under different, Japanese names/entities in order for them to sell. Nothing changes other than the name, and sales pick up. The only real exceptions, like Mcdonald's or the ipod, are when there arent that many viable Japanese alternatives - how many Japanese fast-food joints are there? How many mp3 players hold a candle to the ipod in terms of ease of use, image, and whatnot?

But then take a look at say, the HDTV market - how many LG or Samsung TVs do you think sell there? The answer is not many, despite the fact that they are in many cases higher quality than those produced by Mitsubishi and Sony. You can see the same thing in the automotive industry - any time there is a Japanese product of some merit in the market, the Japanese will pick that product over any non-japanese competition regardless of whether or not the non-japanese product is better quality, lower priced, or has more features.

[JValone]

I'm just say the japanese are missing out on great games, simply because they are "western".

And my point is that western gamers miss out on a lot of games because they are "eastern". Don't act as if the western market gives strange Japanese ideas a fair chance, heck no it doesnt. But hey, that's how capitalism works, you find the right product for the right demand and you put it out. No one's wrong for liking/disliking anything, but you have to meet the demand to sell in multiple territories. Sony does, Microsoft doesn't, Nintendo doesn't but lucks out with leverage on franchise nostalgia.

Meh, personally I do believe the Japanese are at least moderately nationalist - hence the reason why many non-Japanese have to release products under different, Japanese names/entities in order for them to sell. Nothing changes other than the name, and sales pick up. The only real exceptions, like Mcdonald's or the ipod, are when there arent that many viable Japanese alternatives - how many Japanese fast-food joints are there? How many mp3 players hold a candle to the ipod in terms of ease of use, image, and whatnot?

But then take a look at say, the HDTV market - how many LG or Samsung TVs do you think sell there? The answer is not many, despite the fact that they are in many cases higher quality than those produced by Mitsubishi and Sony. You can see the same thing in the automotive industry - any time there is a Japanese product of some merit in the market, the Japanese will pick that product over any non-japanese competition regardless of whether or not the non-japanese product is better quality, lower priced, or has more features.

If the Japanese companies released products in a foreign language I doubt they would sell here either. Every country has nationalism, but if you deliver a superior product (iPod was a good example) that is easy to use and does its job for the consumer then he consumer buys it regardless of where the "made in" label says. The Xbox and the Xbox 360 are not above and beyond what the Japanese expect from a console, they are under and below it. Few eastern RPGs, few quirky titles, etc. the 360 does not deliver the product. The 360 is not doing its job in Japan because Microsoft's games don't stir any interest in the market.

If the problem is that the Japanese pick national products over international ones (which happens everywhere) unless the foreign choice is far superior, then the solution is quite simple. Be superior. Be so much better you can't help but buy it or be missing out on something compelling. The 360 is not compelling to the eastern market, therein lies the problem.

[Xavier]

Meh, personally I do believe the Japanese are at least moderately nationalist...
"Moderately"? That's an understatement. Try HIGHLY. You're talking about a country that for almost 100 years (1633-1720) closed its borders and was in a state of isolation to all outside influences (barring limited trading with China and the Netherlands).

The Japanese are an extremely proud race. Hell, that's basically what their ENTIRE history is based on with Bushido, family honor & obligations, etc. The sense of national pride in Japanese society is strong; I daresay probably even stronger than America's.

-X

[John35]

^DEFINITELY stronger than America's.

[Xavier]

Yes, I imagine so.

Also, I need to make a correction: the Japanese were isolated for far longer. 1720 is when they lifted the ban on Western literature. It wasn't until the 19th century that Japan really opened themselves up to other nations such as America and Europe starting in 1853-'54; and even at that they did so with hesitance. So you're talking over 200 years of isolationism.

-X

[Quel'Dorei]

And my point is that western gamers miss out on a lot of games because they are "eastern". Don't act as if the western market gives strange Japanese ideas a fair chance, heck no it doesnt. But hey, that's how capitalism works, you find the right product for the right demand and you put it out. No one's wrong for liking/disliking anything, but you have to meet the demand to sell in multiple territories. Sony does, Microsoft doesn't, Nintendo doesn't but lucks out with leverage on franchise nostalgia.





Yes westerners do miss out, but not NEARLY as much as the Japanese do. Don't even go there, because we know there are WAY more westerners that play Japanese games than Japanese that play wastern games.

[makeitvab]

It appears alot of you are people that get too easily offended for other people/races when there's nothing wrong with what's being said.

Cairo isn't making some horribly ignorant racist remark, simply stating a truth.

In America, Japanese culture is pretty big.

Whether it be games, anime, getting their letters inked on your skin, the fact we have a lot of big fads that "started popular in japan"...etc.

Alex~Vab

[JValone]

Meh, I'm not offended by the remarks but I don't like it when people make excuses. And that's exactly how to describe the Microsoft's (and some of their fans) stance on Japan: lame excuses. If the 360 had a strong library of titles that eastern gamers could potentially enjoy, and it still sold badly, then we could talk about nationalism and everything else. As is, they don't, and they aren't making more then a marginal push to get a scant few. So it's all academic, "Japan hates the Xbox" comments can't be accurately judged until Microsoft decides to cater to the Japanese.

Yet when the grand total of, what, five (maybe that many?) Japanese-centric titles arrive and the 360 doesn't tear it up in sales we'll just hear "well they tried, and the Japanese just hate Americans and western culture. What a shame, those narrow-minded people." That's what I don't like, if you don't make a strong effort you won't get strong results. You don't need any excuses beyond that.

[Sascha-AMN]

True, if MS had more games that appealed to the Japanese, it would be doing better. Here's a question for you though - if the PlayStation 3 launched with exactly the same launch lineup, would it have sold more? If so, then there is obviously more to this equation than simply offering a superior product or game library - there's obviously some brand loyalty and Nationalism to go along with it.

That said, I still say, leave Japan alone and ship more units to the west. When more Japanese developers inevitably make games to profit off the far larger and more consumption-driven Western market, and a solid library of Japanese titles builds up, THEN offer the console to Japan. I dont mind saying the Japanese have crappy, ass-backward tastes in games though, anymore so than I would mind a Japanese person hypothetically saying 'Sascha Lichtenstein doesnt know the first thing about what makes a good game.' My opinion, his or her opinion - neither is really wrong. People in the western market do it all the time to defend their console of choice from fans of the competition, saying things such as 'Nintendo would be doing better if only American gamers didnt only care about violence." or 'Mainstream gamers are idiots.' etc. Exact same situation.

Anyway, there's an incredibly humorous thread on this subject on the IGN Boards (http://boards.ign.com/xbox_360_general_board/b8266/114242583/p1/?67). You dont need a membership to read it. My favorite quote is "Needs more dog walking and school girl rape", obviously regarding what the Xbox 360 needs to sell more. LOL, so very very partially true.

[Darc Requiem]

Sascha your point on whether the PS3 sell well with a poor lineup is moot. Why? Not nationalism but your first point....brand loyalty. Sony is the market leader right now, they are going to sell well out the gate regardless. The PS2 sold well in Japan and the US at launch and they didn't have much worth playing at the time. The same thing occurred with Nintendo and the N64 it sold extremely well at launch in Japan and the US because Nintendo was the market leader at the time.

Software ultimately determines sales. The Saturn was soundly beating the PS1 in Japan until FF7 was released. Sony managed to get their hands on the two biggest RPG developers and it allowed them to overcome the two to one Saturn to PS1 sales margin. Nintendo on the other hand slowly began to lose steam with the N64. Its name recognition and market leader status only carried them for about 18 months. So while I agree with you when it comes to the importance of brand loyalty, I disagree with you about the Nationalism. That point cannot be made at this time IMO. When a Western company launches a console in Japan with top notch Japanese software and it bombs, I will agree with you :D