Xbox Live Video Marketplace opening in Japan next year

by Griffin McElroy on Dec 6th 2008 4:00PM

As evidenced by our weekly sales charts, the Xbox 360 is finally making some (see: any) headway in Japan, strengthened by a recent salvo of Square-Enix releases on the system. As such, Microsoft finally has the customer base to justify exporting a feature that Americans have been enjoying for over two years now -- the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.

According to Famitsu, the Video Marketplace will be landing on Japanese 360s sometime next year, bringing with it a new slew of Japanese films and anime. Simmer down, Naruto-ites -- said content will be region-locked, leaving you to make due with your unsophisticated American programming. Unfortunately, the service's Japanese release date is fairly vague -- is an anticipated quarter too much to ask for a launch window? Come on, Microsoft. Help a ?? out.

Source

Tags: anime, japan, video-marketplace, Xbox-360, xbox-live

Reader Comments (36)

Microsoft hasn't dropped the Xbox 360 in Japan yet?

epic fail :(

u know where you can learn more about japan and the xbox 360? the joystiq podcast. listen to the greatest podcast ladies and gentlemen! its the coolest thing you could ever watch.

its every friday, and listen to the last one! well have to study some more for case studies for clinical microbiology.

comment above fails of course, but you will become enlightened in the world of video games by listening to the joystiq podcast!

then join the facebook. JPAG.
amazing stuff.

@ jajaes

wow. all you ever say is "epic fail" and "delaystation 3 is teh suxx0rs." mind adding some phrases to your vocab? kthxbai!

Ummm... You talk about the US and Jap, is it available in the UK? I'm considering getting a XB360 soon as it is the only console I don't own, yet and I would definitely use that feature. Also, any recommendations on which model to get without going for the most expensive one, or is the Elite really worth it? (I'm not even sure how many SKUs are there. I'm sure about 3. Any more?)

The video marketplace is available in the UK, but we of course don't get Netflix.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/18/holidaze-2008-xbox-360-sku-chart-revisited/

i'd say dont buy that P/O/S but if you must....... that chart should help.

get ready to spend CASH!!!

I say go for the Pro. The 60 GB hard drive should suffice, and it has an HDMI port and comes with a wireless controller. If money's a factor, that's the one.

The chart states that the 60 Pro does not include HDMI. Is that true or is that a misprint and Jerk Face (charming name) is right?

It doesn't come with the cables but you can get those for cheap online, if that's what you're asking.

All 60GB Xbox 360s have a HDMI port, then you can get a HDMI cable for about £3/$5 online (possibly instore too). Also don't fall for the 'better quality' HDMI cable scam, so long as the cable works, it will be just as good as any more expensive one.

Fuck Naruto! That's all my little cousins talk about. I've read it and wathced the show, it's overrated, it's overhyped, it's just stupid. I'll stick with GOOD anime/mangas thank you.

...well I no longer understand people's fascination with animes/mangas anymore so what you just said is sad to me.

anime fans are, in this respect, worse than gamers, because anything that goes mainstream is immediately invalidated in their eyes

Naruto is fine, as are Bleach and One Piece (especially the latter)

dude, calm down. There are more anime out there, you don't have to like Naruto. Some anime don't appeal to me, Naruto is one of them. So what if Naruto is overrated, we need it so anime will keep it's popular culture in the US. Don't become a hater, you'll just be like Jack Thompson hating on video game. There's too many JT wannabes on Youtube when it come to anime hating. Anyway, anime has the right to be shown here. So what if there are fan of anime, that doesn't mean they are all weird, so saying that is like saying all video game are weird also. So chill out about Naruto, they don't appeal to most people including me and I don't hate on it.

Naruto is the Halo of anime.
(as in it's hated for being so popular)

i recommend soul eater its a great newer anime only 20 something episodes in.

Although i find One Piece to be awesome if they got rid of the goofiness it would be a great anime (could be said of most anime's though)

How about fricking canada?!

your a idiot. canada has the marketplace

Wow, 2 grammatic failures in 3 words. *thumbs up*

Canada hardly has the video marketplace. It has no TV content whatsoever, and has a pretty limited selection of movies with no Netflix. Microsoft may call it a video marketplace, but if you walked into a real video store and were faced with that collection, you'd think they were having a going out of business sale.

Canada DOES have the Video Marketplace.

I'd say it's more like Video Marketplace's retarded cousin. There ain't a whole lot in there I find interesting, and it's at crappy pricing.

And the uk get very little choice !

I think the video features are supposed to justify a purchase to a wider audience Microsoft, not the other way around! Build it and they will come etc.

Japanese Gamertag here I come!

I really don't understand M$ here, we all know they're money hungry monstrosities and they can't see that western 360 users would love to have some foreign content to buy and watch.

Look at the RE5 demo. Its not that hard to make a JAP account. Region free it and more money M$!

The problem is, it isn't their content to sell where ever. The content owners give Microsoft permission to sell their shows/movies in a country and only that country unless their contract says otherwise.

I really hope an Australian launch of movies and tv shows isn't too far away either. Right now our only real option for on-demand downloads is iTunes.

It won't ever happen I think sadly =(
Plus they'd have to invest in local servers... That or their current ones are crap (downloads are always so damn slow don't ya reckon?)

you do realize "kyoudai" which are the characters they used tends to just mean siblings rather than a direct translation to brother.

Wake me up when they give a crap about anything besides the States. I'm sick and tired of Microsoft overlooking Canada on everything. Zune, Video MarketPlace, Netflix or similar services, we're always shunned.

Errr, your arguement would be a lot less stronger if you didn't mention Canada...If we are talking levels of shunning, Canada is fairly low compared to the rest of the world when it comes to Microsoft...

ok, but when they put so little effort into the Canadian video marketplace, then you know the Japanese one will be just as lame.

Until Microsoft begins showing effort online towards any non US country, I say "who gives a fuck?"

To be fair, this has to do with movie liscening, which is far more complicated outside of the US, it's not really something you can blame on MS.

The US Cartoon Network site allows you to watch the shows online, but not outside the US because of the different distribution laws. So you can imagine how difficult it is for things like movies.

That being said, I think we have a decent enough selection in the UK, and I'm sure Canada must be pretty similar. Having Netflix would make it so much better though.

I'm still waiting for the Video Markedplace here in Norway. But since we are a so small country, I thing I have to wait for ever.

So many mario fans on an xbox 360 post

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Xbox Live Video Marketplace opening in Japan next year

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