Japan Xbox 360 Price lowered!

Dragon1952 · Post by **Dragon1952** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:20 pm

Today it was announced that the Aracde version of the Japanese region Xbox 360 has been lowered to 19,800 yen or about $183 USD!

That makes investing in one for playing shooting games like Raiden Fighter Aces, Konami's Otomedius and Cave's new offerings much more attractive!

Momijitsuki · Post by **Momijitsuki** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:11 pm

Very nice! I hope I have a job by the time the Xbox 360 Cave shmups start being released. :o

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:24 pm

Best news ever! I was getting ready to order a jp X360 for ~$300, but it seems I'll have to pay less than 2/3 of that now!

moonblood · Post by **moonblood** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:27 pm

It was 'worth it' even before this IMO but yeah this is great news indeed

brokenhalo · Post by **brokenhalo** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:30 pm

playasia currently has the arcade sku listed at $329. as soon as the price drops i'm ordering.

gamingjustin · Post by **gamingjustin** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:31 pm

Very awesome. Definitely makes getting an import 360 feasible. Say, just out of curiosity, anyone know if there's going to be a price drop for other regions?

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:32 pm

Wow! Now that's a great price!!!!

Since I was already in the market for a jp/asian X360 I am very happy with this news.
Now if only PA would lower prices accordingly or GaijinPunch would offer to buy/ship those... (please GP!?! - slap some reasonable profit on them and help us out since PA won't be lowering prices accordingly because of stock I guess).

I want 1 now for sure!

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:24 pm

Wow. Great price point. Seeing as how all I want one for is the shooters, an Arcade unit would definitely fit the bill. Maybe they'll drop even more by the time I get around to actually buying one.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:56 am

Now Play-Asia have dropped theirs to $269.90, before shipping. Quite a nice profit they're getting per console.

It might even be cheaper to get one off Yahoo Japan through a deputy service.

rtw · Post by **rtw** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:23 am

Can the Japanese XBOX360 Arcade be used on a normal European SCART TV with RGB ?

rtw

I'm Alec · Post by **I'm Alec** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:54 pm

hmmm. maybe. does anyone know how the Otomedius plays with custom joystick and when it comes out? That would be the main reason I'm interested in a 360 again. Also all the cheap games at game stop, well cheaper than ps3 and the vga hooks.

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:06 pm

Does the arcade have any way to save game data without buying a hard drive, or would my Ketsui scores be erased every time I turned off the console?

spongdangly · Post by **spongdangly** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:12 pm

MR_Soren wrote:Does the arcade have any way to save game data without buying a hard drive, or would my Ketsui scores be erased every time I turned off the console?

Yes, you can save your data to the ridiculously overpriced $50 512MB Memory Unit.

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:26 pm

spongdangly wrote:
MR_Soren wrote:Does the arcade have any way to save game data without buying a hard drive, or would my Ketsui scores be erased every time I turned off the console?
Yes, you can save your data to the ridiculously overpriced $50 512MB Memory Unit.

*sigh* I think I'll use a pen and paper.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:06 pm

Used 20 GB hard drives are 60 bucks at Gamestop. But the arcade systems come with a 256 MB unit. Enough for a couple game saves I'm sure, especially once you take off all the games on it except Pac-Man CE (the good one.)

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:11 pm

How much do the scores actually weigh, on average?

MR_Soren · Post by **MR_Soren** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:12 pm

szycag wrote:Used 20 GB hard drives are 60 bucks at Gamestop. But the arcade systems come with a 256 MB unit. Enough for a couple game saves I'm sure, especially once you take off all the games on it except Pac-Man CE (the good one.)

That's good. I figure even 1MB should be enough to store the high score tables for many shmups.

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:43 pm

Don't underestimate the sloppiness embraced by Microsoft having a desire to sell more memory cards. >_>
1 MB is more enough to save at least one scoreboard complete with replays in encrypted form, but it sounds more like an utopia to me at this point.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:24 pm

It surprises me they keep the game selection with the arcade units the same in Japan. I mean no one likes Feeding Frenzy, and Boom Boom Rocket surely just seems like a cheaper slower dumber Pop'n music. It's probably easier to keep it the same worldwide, but they must know they need Bomberman Live or Lumines on there, something that will actually move these things.

MadSteelDarkness · Post by **MadSteelDarkness** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:22 pm

Can any of you US folks who've had Jp-region 360's tell me your customer service experiences? My current US system's already had three RRODs so far, so...

If I can be assured that I can get the three year warranty, and get my system back from servicing with its' region intact, I'll be all over this like the proverbial stink on the proverbial monkey.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:38 am

moozooh wrote:How much do the scores actually weigh, on average?

I had around 20 saves on my 64MB memory card, and it claimed there was 30MB left.

But more and more arcade games are choosing to save directly to the hard drive or attach themselves to your profile, which doesn't avoid hacking whatsoever and just makes it a pain if you want to use your stuff at someone else's house.

nem · Post by **nem** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:23 am

szycag wrote:especially once you take off all the games on it except Pac-Man CE (the good one.)

The arcade games come on a disc, so the whole the memory card can be used for game saves.

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:57 am

Elixir wrote:I had around 20 saves on my 64MB memory card, and it claimed there was 30MB left.

Oh, that's cool then. I suppose a 256MB shipped with the Arcade X360 should be enough for every decent shmup out there combined.

General Martok · Post by **General Martok** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:22 pm

Isn't there any way to buy one for the real price , without any ridiculous markups like play asia ? 19,800 yen + shipping and I'm in

rtw · Post by **rtw** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:38 pm

Anyone know if the XBOX Arcade Jp PSU can handle 240V ?

And can the interface be changed to English ?

rtw

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:41 pm

General Martok wrote:Isn't there any way to buy one for the real price , without any ridiculous markups like play asia ? 19,800 yen + shipping and I'm in :wink:

Yes, to have a very kind friend in Japan that can ship you a piece.

honorless · Post by **honorless** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 6:20 pm

...I was hoping that $270 at P-A was the "before" price...

MadSteelDarkness wrote:If I can be assured that I can get the three year warranty, and get my system back from servicing with its' region intact, I'll be all over this like the proverbial stink on the proverbial monkey.

Damned if I can find links now, but I've read in more than a few places that MS will service US owners with JP 360s.

This person had the worst luck of all the testimonials I remember. Knowing most tech support, it's probably just a matter of persistence. (i.e., Hang up, call back and hope for a rep who gives you the answer you want to hear this time.)

Still, getting a functioning US system is better than being in the UK or something where I'm pretty sure you'd just be SOL. At least you could hawk the thing on eBay to help pay for a replacement.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:51 pm

Yeah, I had a friend send hers into MS. I know that most of these units are headed to 1 out of 3 locations. Those 3 locations are sent units from around the world. So I knew if they actually had to replace the unit with another it was just a matter of picking one up from the right region stack.

The rep was dumb but they said they would add a note in the request. I had my friend put a note in the box also. I can firm that she most deffinately got a replacement japanese 360 back.

Daedalus · Post by **Daedalus** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:41 pm

Anyone know how the regions work for the 360?

In particular, I have a friend in Hong Kong right now. If I had him pick up a 360 and bring it back, can the HK 360 play Japanese region games?

honorless · Post by **honorless** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:07 pm

Daedalus wrote:I have a friend in Hong Kong right now. If I had him pick up a 360 and bring it back, can the HK 360 play Japanese region games?

Yeah. An Asian 360 is NTSC-J region coded.

But keep in mind that HK runs on 220V. IIRC, the 360 doesn't have a universal power supply so you'll need a step-up converter.
And the price drop's only been announced for Japan, so far.