Microsoft: Xbox 360 250 Gig HDD in Japan in March

[Greg Tito]

Microsoft: Xbox 360 250 Gig HDD in Japan in March

Microsoft has said that they will begin selling a 250 gigabyte hard disk drive addon to the Xbox 360 in Japan, starting on March 11th.

The drive is priced at 15,540 yen, which converts to approximately $170, and it is the first time that Microsoft will be selling the large capacity drive as a standalone product. Previously, the only way to get 250 gigabytes of storage on your Xbox 360 was to buy it bundled with a game, such as the Modern Warfare 2 bundle [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94749-Modern-Warfare-2s-Limited-Edition-360-Bundle-Does-It-Big]. There is no word from Microsft on whether the 250gb drive will be available for purchase in other regions.

According to the translated announcement [http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.xbox.com/ja-JP/press/release/20100201.htm&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8'], Microsoft is releasing two other products in Japan on March 11th: a black wireless 360 controller packed with 4 arcade titles (Geometry Wars 2, Lumines Live, Bomberman Live and Pac-Man: Championship Edition) and Microsoft's wireless N adapter, which was released in North America back in November.

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/01/250gb-xbox-360-hdd-headed-to-japan-in-march/]

Permalink

 

[Lost In The Void]

So Let me get this straight. An American Company is selling an awesomely large hardrive...but only in Japan, can someone figure this out for me, because this doesn't make sense at all.

 

[Nincompoop]

Hmm. I'm impartial. Don't have a 360, and I don't think I would need that much space. Would be slightly different with a PS3, since I could store blu-ray movies, but still. Besides, I have an external 500GB HDD.

Addendum; If PSN would start making every game available for download, I would definitely consider upgrading.

 

[Simalacrum]

Blimey, isn't $170 rather a lot of money?

 

[Ironic]

Huh. A bigger HDD... that would have been impressive maybe 4 years ago?

I wish Microsoft would accept disc-format defeat, suck it up and start releasing and developing Blue-Ray games and disc-players. It can fit more on a disc, which means bigger games, higher quality rendering, which means more satisfied customers, which means levelling the playing field when hardcore Sony fans say "PS3 HAZ BLUERAY IM OBSESSIVE ABOUT WHATEVER A COMPANY RELEASES BECAUSE I PROJECT MY FEELINGS OF LOYALTY ONTO A BUSINESS".

THAT would be article worthy.

[sup]please note I am not a fanboy, i'd have a PS3 if the home interface was better and it had the games catalogue of 360, and vice versa[/sup]

 

[Mana Fiend]

I still need to upgrade my puny 20GB harddrive. Got it when I picked up a broken pre-owned 360. Swiped it and took back the console, got a new one.

Other than that, I can only think of a 250 GB coming in handy if you play a LOT of arcade titles, or if you install a ton of games at once...

 

[fozzy360]

Wait...why does Japan get a bigger hard drive before North America, when the 360 sells horrendously there when compared to here?

Well, that's some grade A bullshit.

 

[Teh_Doomage]

M$ should just make it possible to use any hard drive and sell us the empty shells so it can be connected to the 360.

For that $170, I could buy 2 1tb drives.

 

[PhantomCritic]

I see no benefit of an American company selling just to Japan, especially seeing how the 360 is selling terribly there and all. To be honest, I'm not suprised about the price tag of $170, Microsoft always knew how to rip people off good.

 

[MetaKnight19]

Blimey, isn't $170 rather a lot of money?

Thats exactly what I thought. Come to think of it, I've nearly filled up my 250GB HDD. I got some serious sorting-out to do

 

[GonzoGamer]

They're going to need it if Sony ever starts forcing third part devs to fill up the BRdiscs.
I guess that's a big IF.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

So Let me get this straight. An American Company is selling an awesomely large hardrive...but only in Japan, can someone figure this out for me, because this doesn't make sense at all.

Apparently making any type of sense is illegal.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go play my 400GB PS3.
*smiles smugly*

Okay enough being a tit. Really Microsoft needs to wake up about this. The 360 sells worse there than it does in America.
Oh well...

 

[Lost In The Void]

So Let me get this straight. An American Company is selling an awesomely large hardrive...but only in Japan, can someone figure this out for me, because this doesn't make sense at all.

Apparently making any type of sense is illegal.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go play my 400GB PS3.
*smiles smugly*

Okay enough being a tit. Really Microsoft needs to wake up about this. The 360 sells worse there than it does in America.
Oh well...

Hey now I have one of those PS3s as well, but I just bought a 120 gig for my 360 and then they drop this, and then say its only in Japan; what was Microsoft's marketing division thinking?

 

[Simalacrum]

So Let me get this straight. An American Company is selling an awesomely large hardrive...but only in Japan, can someone figure this out for me, because this doesn't make sense at all.

Apparently making any type of sense is illegal.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go play my 400GB PS3.
*smiles smugly*

Okay enough being a tit. Really Microsoft needs to wake up about this. The 360 sells worse there than it does in America.
Oh well...

Hey now I have one of those PS3s as well, but I just bought a 120 gig for my 360 and then they drop this, and then say its only in Japan; what was Microsoft's marketing division thinking?

Maybe its to encourage the Japanese market to grow...? I dunno, it does seem like an odd thing for Microsoft to do...

They'll probably bring it West at one point or another, mind you... its just wierd that they didn't do so in the first place.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

I wish Microsoft would accept disc-format defeat, suck it up and start releasing and developing Blue-Ray games and disc-players. It can fit more on a disc, which means bigger games, higher quality rendering, which means more satisfied customers,

I think financially it'd make more sense to include this in the next gen.
The blu ray add on would need to serious hardware to convert that info into gaming data for a machine designed to read from DVD.
( this isn't from a fanboy POV. I have both machines. I also know the reason PS3 games are all on bluray, even the multi platform ones that fit on the 360's DVD, is that the machine is built to read data from a bluray)

OT:
Wouldn't be nice if we could just fit our own HDD?

 

[CyberKnight]

Maybe its to encourage the Japanese market to grow...? I dunno, it does seem like an odd thing for Microsoft to do...

They'll probably bring it West at one point or another, mind you... its just wierd that they didn't do so in the first place.

I wonder if there's not some "market research" that shows that a regional exclusive accessory helps to spur interest in that regional market. If that's true, then it makes sense -- release this in a region that the Xbox isn't doing well precisely for the reason that it's not doing well there -- so it may help move some units in Japan, where it's sorely needed.

Once it's gone through a sales cycle or two and the effect wears off, then they will likely release their overpriced moneygrabbing price-gouging accessory in the rest of the world.

(I love my 360, but the mark-up on the accessories really ticks me off. Can you tell?)

 

[TimeLord]

Can someone please explain to me how the 360 was released before the PS3 and only now it's getting a HDD to match a stock PS3?

EDIT: Bar the MW2 special edition thingy of course

 

[Nouw]

Wait...why does Japan get a bigger hard drive before North America, when the 360 sells horrendously there when compared to here?

Well, that's some grade A bullshit.

Because the xbox360 doesn't sell as well there so they're hoping to increase sales in Japan. Thats why.

OT: I have 120 gigs HDD so I don't really care. 250 gigs? Thats a lot.

 

[fozzy360]

Wait...why does Japan get a bigger hard drive before North America, when the 360 sells horrendously there when compared to here?

Well, that's some grade A bullshit.

Because the xbox360 doesn't sell as well there so they're hoping to increase sales in Japan. Thats why.

OT: I have 120 gigs HDD so I don't really care. 250 gigs? Thats a lot.

But they should at least sell 'em in North America at the same time. To me, its just makes more sense to sell them in several regions instead of just one. Besides, I download a lot of DLC and XBLA games, so that's something I'd like see stateside.

 

[Jared]

So Let me get this straight. An American Company is selling an awesomely large hardrive...but only in Japan, can someone figure this out for me, because this doesn't make sense at all.

All the logic in the world cant figure this one out...