Noticias desde Taiwan, Xbox arrasando en Asia!! 850.000 consolas vendidas??

Ale, ya sabeis, a buscar un buen diccionario


TGS in Taiwan!

Much like Japan, Taiwan, the other big videogame place in Asia, organized the Taipei Game Show (TGS). This tradeshow took place nearly at the time as the AOU 03 Show, and, like its Japanese counterpart, showcased the principal big stars of videogaming. Even though this show doesn't generate as much interest (no new games were shown, only games already released in Europe, USA and Japan), the opening speech from Microsoft executives dit let through some interesting tidbits. This is becoming an habit, three months after launch (Xbox was launched on November 29 in Taiwan), MS refused to disclose anything relating to sales numbers, but only the number of consoles that were shipped to stores in Asia-Pacific countries: 850 000 consoles (includes Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, South Korea). Concerning the games, DOA XBV is selling like crazy, followed closely by Project Gotham Racing. Halo's third place can be explained because it was launched on the Taiwanese market on February 15th.

Games produced by Microsoft's studios were entirely localized but games from third parties are keeping the english language. Translation being what it is, for timing reasons, a third party game marketed in Japan or in the United States must arrive in Tawainese stores a few days later, or the competitor (Sony, in the present case) will release it on its console before they do, which explains this difference between third party games and in-house games. Sometimes a compromise is ideally reached, like Blinx, which keeps keeps its english voice overs, but has proper text translation. MS signed deals with many development studios (XPEC Ent. among other) to release games in those markets which have the content and also the "soul" to meet the expectations of gamers from these countries.

Also, concerning the launch of Xbox Live, while there is no set date yet, the service will be see the light of the day sometime this year. Broadband infrastructures are not very developped in Taiwan and the credit card payment method is also a problem. Concerning this subject, MS thinks that broadband expansion will explode this year and that 30 percent of Xbox owners will have access to a broadband connection before the end of the year. Concerning the payment method, MS will propose a system much like WebMoney (pre-paid card with a code) which should allow for secure financial transactions for game subscriptions and content. Concerning the structure of the Taiwanese market, it is favorable to the PC format, since 8 computers are sold for every 2 consoles. In this difficult environment, Xbox is targeting hopes of younger customers (mainly college students) which are not too familiar with PCs and prefer the simplicity of console entertainment. It's on this growing generation that MS is betting to reach its objectives. Lastly, the PlayStation 2 has been on the market for longer than the Xbox but it has a higher price of approx. 20 Euros and lacks a HD and 5.1 sound for games.

Extraido de los foros de IGN.COM