Calling Sidez and/or Cigs Re: Xbox Imports

[Adrian]

LittleEric~ I can't speak Japanese for toffee but I can read it fairly well. I'm a bit rusty right now but that will soon change. 95% of my playing time is given over to arcade games so language is not an issue.

Ammadeau~ That list just represents the must buys for me, there are many more games that interest me. I really don't know much about Thousand Island, I've not seen the trailer yet but Famitsu Xbox had a nice 2 page spread on the game last month. That's the thing, if you're going to only buy Japanese games you may as well just buy a Japanese system and have done with it. It's pointless tempting fate then worrying whether or not a certain game will get a domestic release or if the localisation will be ok. Judging by your DC collection, you're no stranger to this and the Jpn Xbox will really suit your tastes as a direct successor to the Jpn DC. I think Orta is out in september in Japan so you have the summer to sell your USA Xbox and get a Jpn system :P

Clash_Master~ Grand Heat is English not American. I don't like having a mish mash of regions in my collection nor do I like chipping my machines so only owning a few games (of my 60 odd Dreamcast games, not one of them is of western origin) that are not of Japanese origin in NTSC-J format is fine. I agree though that non-Japanese games are getting better with Korean (Pump it Up, Strident, Shining Lore) and English (Colin McRae 3, Burnout, Prisoner of War) developers producing some really interesting games. America has HALO and errr...

[AaronChance]

http://forums.teamxbox.com/showthrea...hreadid=110347

Links for a bunch of Xbox trailers of games coming out in Japan (though I don't think all are Japanese). Need latest divx for them. The trailer for Thousand Islands is short, but very sweet to me. The idea of building your own island fortress has a lot of appeal for me.

I wasn't going to buy any new systems partly because of this territory nonsense. Then JSRF came out and I had to have it, and at the time I naively believed that any Xbox game I would want would be released in the US soon after the Japanese one. Now its:

1. Games that won't hit US at all (Bistro Cupid)
2. Games that the Japanese version is superior (DOA3)
3. Games that come to Japan long before US release (most of them)

Probably going to sell my current Xbox for whatever I can get for it and buy a pre-modded one since they're not that much more than a straight Japanese one.

Are there any online places that sell modded Xboxs besides NCS? Since they only sell the limited ed modded for some reason I've already spent enough money on this mess.

[EThugg]

Why not mod it yourself? There's a 1 wire chip coming soon (X-ecuter).

[Tracer]

What about Morrowind? Come on, at least give the yankees 2 games there Personally, while that list of Japanese games looks very good a good number of American/Euro produced games are the reason I hang on tightly to Xbox. I've played LOTs of Japanese games, but Halo, Amped and Morrowind are the 3 I've played the most (oh.. well, JSRF is up there too).

Oh well. Diffent strokes I guess... I wonder what it is Blizzard is cooking up for Xbox.. unless that's a completely unsubstantiated rumor.

ºTracer

[Tracer]

Originally posted by EThugg
Why not mod it yourself? There's a 1 wire chip coming soon (X-ecuter).

That's fucking super! Thanks for the heads-up.

ºTracer

[AaronChance]

Heh, I was going to mention Morrowind even though I play it on a PC. Wish that a Japanese release of that were possible just to see what sort of reaction it would get. Translating 6 novels worth of text though is not a job I'd wish on anyone.

Amped is great, but I think every time I play takes another year off my life. The neighbors are complaining about the noise too. Not playing the music too loud, the fact that I'm screaming off the top of my head most of the time I play it. Frustrating is one thing, but geez...

While I like US titles in general, for the Xbox they're lacking in amount and in quality at the moment. Yes, I think Mechassault will rock, but after seeing the new trailer of Tekki, I know which I would choose if I could only have one.

A one-wire Xbox chip? Sounds almost too good to be true, but I'll hope its true nonetheless.

PS. Just played the PC demo of Shikigami. Must have the full game soon.

[Tracer]

That's true... the GREAT American support hasn't shown up just yet. But Blizzard, Bioware, Ion Storm, Id and a few others have games in the works which should be great. As a side not, I was thinking about my favorite games right now and all of them are American (one Canadian) and all of the development studios names begin with "B". Bungie, Bethesda, Bioware and Blizzard. Seriously, I don't play anything else but those right now. I'm buying a retail copy of Neverwinter Nights for online co-op tomorrow.

Not to derail the topic though - the Japanese support is better than anyone could hope for and the support from the west is coming where it counts moreorless, with some all-time great throwing in their efforts. A Japanese Xbox wouldn't be terrible IMO, I just feel that you would be limiting yourself... many great western games won't be heading to Japan/Japanese Xboxes. Morrowind is a fanatastic example. In this case, I think the Japanese would do best to import thiers from America. Just my opinion though. The amount of exclusively Japanese games on Xbox are and probably will remain slim.

ºTracer

PS: Did anyone know that Bethesda made IHRA Drag Racing for PSX and will be making another for PS2? And what is this Morrowind Adventures for PS2 I'm seeing?

PPS: Big Blue Box will likely join the ranks of the, to be perfectly sappy, "Killer B's"

[Adrian]

OK I have watched the Thousand Island trailer (courtesy of JAPJAC) now and it looks alright if a bit too PC-like if you get me.

I honestly don't see anything American made that is coming out for Xbox that appeals to me beyond the new Need For Speed game which will probably come out on Jpn Xbox anyway as EA seem keen to release all their games in Japan (mixed blessing). Europe makes much better games than America IMO.

I will get by with Japanese support alone, it's much better than the Gamecube's 3rd party range. With 3 systems, I don't think I will miss not being able to play American games. Way too many Japanese games that I want and western games are never arcadey enough for me. If you have a decent PC and merely a casual interest in western games then an Xbox capable of playing American games is not necessary IMO.

"A Japanese Xbox wouldn't be terrible IMO, I just feel that you would be limiting yourself"

I think you're limiting yourself with an American Xbox... well no you aren't because you obviously like PC-centric games. Just like i'm not limiting myself with a Japanese Xbox.

[kabuki]

EThugg, keep us updated on that one-wire mod chip.
I need some JPN-Xbox lovin' !!
- Kabuki

[EThugg]

I shall sir, I shall...