Japan

Japan headlines

• Mario Kart VR is coming to Japanese arcade VR Zone Shinjuku, reminding us again how cool Japanese arcades are

  VR Zone, an arcade in Shinjuku, Tokyo – where arcades are bigger and better than the arcades of any other country you could name – look set the receive a VR version of Mario Kart.

• Katsura Hashino, director of Persona 5, has passed the franchise 'to his successors'

  We’ve known for a while that Katsura Hashino was working on something new, but a thank you posted to his Western fans confirms that he’s leaving Persona to his successors in the process.

• Switch sales in Japan outpace PS4’s during similar four week launch period

  During its first four weeks on the market in Japan, Nintendo’s Switch console has sold better than PlayStation 4 in the same respective launch period.

• Pokemon GO is preventing suicides at infamous Japanese cliffs

  The Japanese cliffs which see dozens of tragic deaths each year are experiencing improvements thanks to Pokemon GO.

• Dragon Quest 10 is the latest confirmed NX game

  We haven’t seen official confirmation of what the Nintendo NX is yet, but we’ve got an increasingly long list of the games that will be available on it.

• Nintendo launches 'recommended software' 3DS XL promotion in Japan

  Nintendo of Japan has launched a new promotion that packages in a ‘recommended’ game download when customers buy a new 3DS XL. The first recommended titles are Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Level 5’s Yo-kai Watch.

• Playstation 4 to launch in Japan on February 22nd 2014: games, details here

  The Playstation 4 is set to launch next year in Japan, signalling a shift in Sony’s regional priorities. Sony announced that the delay compared to the western release was to ensure that western titles were all localised prior to the console’s release.

• Japanese PS3 Super Slim advert knows where you live

  Sony has taken a novel approach to promoting its Super Slim PS3 in Japan. Wait a minute. That’s just a normal advert right? Wrong!

• Dragon Quest X sells 420,000 copies in first week

  Dragon Quest X, the first MMO entry to the popular RPG series has shifted 420,00 copies in its first week on sale in Japan, Famitsu reports.

• Assassin's Creed III confirmed for Japan

  Ubisoft have formally announced Assassin’s Creed III for Japan, confirming that a localized version of the title will arrive in the country some time this year.

• Kojima argues that Japan is acting locally instead of thinking globally

  A lot has been said recently about the impending doom facing the Japanese game industry. Now, Hideo Kojima has weighed in on the matter.

• Vita not sold out in Japan, some users report problems

  Vague sales reports are coming in from the front lines of Vita’s Japanese launch, and while apparently things are going fairly well, they’re not going quite as well as Sony could have hoped. The Vita has not sold out according to Japanese retailers, but memory cards have.

• Uncharted: Golden Abyss most anticipated Vita title according to Famitsu readers

  According to a poll conducted by Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is the most anticipated PS Vita game.

• Itagaki chalks up Japanese game dev woes to lack of action, "social skills"

  If there are two things former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki knows, they’re action and talking. And hey, it just so happens that he thinks most Japanese developers are miserable at both.

• PlayStation Store officially returns in Japan

  Our incredibly large Japanese reader base will be thrilled to hear that their magical portal to the PlayStation Store has finally re-opened.

• Xbox 360 sells just 6,000 units in Japan

  The Xbox 360’s troubles in Japan are obviously still continuing as Microsoft managed to sell just 6,000 units in all of Japan from May 16 to June 12.

• The Last Story gets Wii Bundle and Special Edition

  Nintendo’s announced a special Wii bundle and limited edition for The Last Story in Japan.

• Inafune tears into Japanese game dev business, calls it a "communist state"

  Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune may have gotten the hell out of Capcom so fast that his office chair’s still spinning, but that doesn’t mean there’s not time for one last parting jab. Actually, make that six or seven parting jabs. And then maybe a baseball bat to the face.

• Nintendo pegs Metroid: The Other M for for "summer 2010" release in Japan

  What are your plans for the summer? Road trip? A little R&R at the beach? Some time with the family? Well, your plans pale in comparison to Samus’. She’s going to hunt aliens. In Japan.