Microsoft Corp is delaying until Feb. 22 next year the sale of its Xbox game console in Japan -- the home turf of powerful rivals Sony Corp and Nintendo Co -- from the initial plan for a worldwide launch in the fall.
Hirohisa Ohura, managing director of Microsoft's Japan unit, said yesterday the decision was to concentrate efforts first at home, where the console is set to hit stores Nov. 8 at US$299.
Microsoft had said the console will start selling about the same time worldwide. The European sales date has also been set back until next year.
PHOTO: AFP
Ohura acknowledged it hurt that Xbox will be missing the Christmas shopping season in Japan but said the delay won't hurt sales in the long run.
``We want to succeed first in the United Sates and ride on that wave in Japan,'' he said. He said a price for Japan will be announced later but did not say when that would be.
Shoreen Maghame, a spokeswoman for Microsoft, denied any technical problems were behind the Japan delay, saying the decision was more about the ``allocation of resources.'' The amount of initial shipment in Japan was not yet decided, she said.
There has been some speculation that Xbox has run into technical problems. Earlier this month, analysts at Thomas Weisel Partners reported that the motherboard, the main computer part of the Xbox being designed by Intel Corp, has a design flaw.
Microsoft denied the report and said it was on time to ship 600,000 to 800,000 machines for November in the US.
The Xbox, Microsoft's first game machine, will be competing head-to-head against products from Japanese rivals with far more experience in game machines -- Sony PlayStation2 and GameCube from Nintendo Co.
The software giant, based in Redmond, Washington, has been promoting the Xbox's built-in hard disk, which it says allows for better graphics and more sophisticated games. It is adapting the Xbox remote control to a smaller size, similar to the ones already out here by Japanese makers. PlayStation2, which has a built-in DVD player, has already sold 15 million worldwide since going on sale last year.
The machine's head start is a plus in attracting outside game design companies that want to place their stake with a machine with the biggest market potential.
GameCube will hit Japanese stores Sept. 14 and US stores Nov. 18. The initial US sales date was Nov. 5, but Nintendo announced the two-week delay last week.
PlayStation2 sells for US$299 in the US and for ?35,000 (US$290) in Japan. Game Cube sells for US$199.95 in the US and ?25,000 (US$207) in Japan.
Yesterday, Microsoft showed some of the games in the works exclusively for the Xbox from Japanese game makers, such as Namco, Capcom Co and Sega Corp, although many of the games were different versions of those for PlayStation2 and the now defunct Sega Dreamcast machine.
Officials said the realistic imagery showed off the machine's prowess, such as reflections of light on metal and hundreds of trees in the background of a fighting game. Xbox offers superfast Net access, and online games are expected to be a major attraction of the machine, once broadband links take off in Japan, allowing for quicker transmission of games.
Ohura said at least one online game was in the works for the Japanese market. The date when people in Japan will be able to play the online games will be announced at a later date, he said.
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