Consoles: Buying American--A Consideration for You?

[Vocenoctum]

There are basically 2 big titles for the PS3 right now from Sony, Resistance and Motorstorm, neither of which are particularly Japanese. In fact, that's probably why the PS3 is such a flop in Japan, it doesn't seem to have any software that the Japanese like. Indeed, Sony actually doesn't have a lot of Japanese developer support any more, period, Capcom is mostly working on the 360 these days, and even Namco moved the Ace Combat series there.

I'd say "it doesn't seem to have any software...".
Right now, there's really not enough there to make a judgement, but judging by PS2 vs XBox, and I don't see why the trends would vary a whole lot, I'm better off with XBox than Sony.

OTOH, look at Nintendo. They've sort of embraced their Japanese-ness with the Wii (and DS), almost stereotypically, and have made a huge success of it, both in Japan and the US.
So I really don't think it's a factor for most people.

I could probably name 2 title for the Wii, so I don't really care much about their success, truth be told. I have a DS, and rarely find anything that catchs my eye. That said, since I don't buy many games at all, I'm not a die-hard fan of anything.

I think the Wii definetly has the hype behind it, and it being Japanese wouldn't stop me from purchasing it, but there's no games that jump out for me.

 

[Arnwyn]

So, what are your thoughts? Should the home nation of a company play any role in your decision to buy a game console?

Absolutely not.

(which is why it's unfortunate that the 'buy local' attitude in the console business does exist in Japan to a pretty strong degree).

I don't believe this for a second - it seems more like a poor excuse to try to explain why some people simply don't like a particular style of game. And indeed, it looks far more like style of game as opposed to 'buy local' is what motivates Japanese buyers. No surprise there, either. (The Xbox already made a name for itself with its first iteration as having completely non-Japanese-style-friendly games on it - buyers aren't stupid. They'll shy away until there's proof that a console has games that they prefer (and they did - when Blue Dragon came out, 360 sales materially spiked in Japan; and the PS3 isn't doing as well compared to how the PS2 did because of - again - the games).

 

[jaerdaph]

In cases where the better product isn't the American product, it isn't the American workers' fault, it's the fault of corporate management.

 

[drothgery]

I don't believe this for a second - it seems more like a poor excuse to try to explain why some people simply don't like a particular style of game. And indeed, it looks far more like style of game as opposed to 'buy local' is what motivates Japanese buyers. No surprise there, either. (The Xbox already made a name for itself with its first iteration as having completely non-Japanese-style-friendly games on it - buyers aren't stupid. They'll shy away until there's proof that a console has games that they prefer (and they did - when Blue Dragon came out, 360 sales materially spiked in Japan; and the PS3 isn't doing as well compared to how the PS2 did because of - again - the games).

I've always had a hard time buying any explanation for the original Xbox's failure in Japan that doesn't take into account nativism -- not just of customers, but of developers. Why wasn't a single first-tier Japanese RPG ever made for the Xbox, when MS was throwing money around like water to anyone that would even try? Why did they basically have to found their own new studio to get one made for the 360? Why did Square and Sega reject buyout offers from Microsoft? And really, a lack of top-notch Japanese RPGs shouldn't have been a system-killer in Japan, when there were lots of excellent games in most other genres -- including some of them the kind of great, quirky stuff Japanese gamers are supposed to love (most notably Sega's Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta) -- and when multiplatform games almost inevitably looked the best on the Xbox.

 

[TheYeti1775]

I didn't vote in the poll, as it varies greatly on what I'm buying.

I will base most of it on Quality of Item first. If it is the same or negible, then I will get the Made in USA brand.
A pleasure item like the PS3 or the 360, it really doesn't come into play for me. If I'm buying a new axe, it would.

I'll use a hardware store analogy, to get to the one I go to I pass a Home Depot and an Ace Hardare. It is a decent size store with good selection, but the staff there is unsurpassed for knowledge and I've never had a bad purchase there. A few things are a bit higher in price but I've found that cost worth it to me.
Kmart sells Craftsman now, buy the same item there as you do at Sears and compare the two. You will see two different sets in quality.
The same thing happens at Walmart as well. Just compare blue jeans of the same brand. Look at the stitching you'll be suprised at what you see.
The Kmart and the Walmart items I just mentioned are all Made in the USA, so that label doesn't equate to quality right away anymore like it used to.

You can apply this to buy your books online or at the mom & pop store down the road. Is the M&P worth the $5 over the total cost including shipping from Amazon? per item? And thats before any local taxes.

You just have to find what is best for you and yours. Saying you want to keep your taxes local is all well and good, but we are overtaxed as it is. When the Boston Tea Party happened it was over a 3% Tax. The majority of Americans are currently paying 28-35% in taxes nowadays. Sounds like time for tea.

 

[Relique du Madde]

There are three factors that decides whether or not I would buy a game system:
1) Quality
2) Price.
3) There being alot of games on the system that I want to play.


Unfortunately, so far, P3 fails on catagory 2 and 3. 360 and Wii fails on catagory 3. However, if the P3 wasn't insanely over priced (as a result of its blue ray dvd), I probably would buy it due to its backwards compatability.

 

[-SIN-]

BUT the PS3 is undeniably better value for your money. Buying it JUST for it's blueray player alone is a bargain - in the UK, blue ray players go for about double what a PS3 costs.

It's been designed as more of a media centre than pure console.

All I can say for the xbox 360 - it's made by Microsoft, THE computer software kings. Yet it doesn't handle a mouse - apart from Final Fantasy, nor can it support MICROSOFT internet explorer? So, how does that work?

 

[Relique du Madde]

BUT the PS3 is undeniably better value for your money. Buying it JUST for it's blueray player alone is a bargain - in the UK, blue ray players go for about double what a PS3 costs.

It's been designed as more of a media centre than pure console.

True its a bargen when you consider the addition of blue ray, but $600 dollars is still alittle steep if you don't expect to buy/use blue ray anytime soon. Now, if I actually was expecting to use the blue ray player often I would purchase it.

All I can say for the xbox 360 - it's made by Microsoft, THE computer software kings. Yet it doesn't handle a mouse - apart from Final Fantasy, nor can it support MICROSOFT internet explorer? So, how does that work?

Even so, I don't think it was truely ment to be a system with on-line compatabilities. If anything those were just elements that someone decided to tack on later in the dev cycle. If Microsoft truly wanted it to act like a computer/web browser and be a viable alternative to the desktop/laptop, the 360 would be one. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Microsoft is light years behind Apple in that regards (since we all know that apple could build a game consule with true internet capabilities if they tried.).

 

[Vocenoctum]

BUT the PS3 is undeniably better value for your money. Buying it JUST for it's blueray player alone is a bargain - in the UK, blue ray players go for about double what a PS3 costs.

The failure there is that the buyers choices are restricted to Uber Model or nothing. I don't need, nor want a BluRay, but if I want a PS3 I'm required to pay for it.

It's been designed as more of a media centre than pure console.

Which makes it too expensive for someone looking for a Console.

All I can say for the xbox 360 - it's made by Microsoft, THE computer software kings. Yet it doesn't handle a mouse - apart from Final Fantasy, nor can it support MICROSOFT internet explorer? So, how does that work?

It has a pair of USB ports, so if the game supported a mouse, the system would, along with the keyboard.

The lack of a web-browser was most likely to insulate one market (PC/Windows) from another (XBox) so as not to detract one from the other. I don't have a Wii or PS3, but I use my computer for web-browsing, so the decision doesn't mean much to me.

Adding features I don't want to justify charging me more than I want to pay doesn't sync with my purchasing desires. The 360 Elite is a good example, I don't need the new HD or HDMI, so it's not a consideration for me. Luckily, there are other options from MS for me.

 

[Banshee16]

It's kind of an odd saying with some of those industries....weird to say buy "American", when the American car companies use tonnes of foreign parts....and the "imports" tend to be built with American parts...

That's the word I have from an engineer who actually worked in Detroit, at least.

In any case, where a console is made doesn't really make a difference anyways....I picked based on which one had the games and franchises that I want games from.

Banshee