Two weeks after it was released in the US, the Nintendo Wii came out in Japan, and consoles flew off the shelves. First-hand reports I heard from Akihabara (the major electronics district of Tokyo) and Shinjuku (another big shopping area) said that you could hardly walk down the sidewalk anywhere near an electronics store.
Japanese people love video games and, although Play Station 3 and XBox 360 have sold well in Japan, without a doubt the most popular is the Nintendo Wii. You couldn't escape the ads for Wii anywhere last year, and it was all Japanese video gamers were talking about. So, why do Japanese people love the Nintendo Wii so much?
For one thing, Nintendo has always outsold other game systems in Japan. A survey found that Nintendo's games usually contained subject matter that was interesting to Japanese gamers. They said that Nintendo's games appealed to all ages and tastes.
The interactive features of the Nintendo Wii are popular. The Nintendo Wii uses remote sensing technology, which means that you can play a golf game and actually take a swing. Naturally, this appeals to many non-gamers as well as gamers. Surveys have shown that more women and older adults, demographic groups that don't go for video games in a big way, get a big kick out of the Wii's interactive features.
There was tons of advertising and promotion. You couldn't go anywhere near an electronics store in Japan at the end of last year without seeing a guy dressed like a giant remote controller, or kids of all ages crammed around a demo Wii console. The Wii was just everywhere last year, much more so than the others were. With that big of a push, it has to be popular.
One of the strengths of the Wii is its sports games. Recently, sports games have become more and more popular in Japan, and they have begun to outsell traditionally popular adventure games like Legend Of Zelda. The Wii offers good quality, realistic baseball, tennis and golf games, among others. For Japanese gamers, these are a great next-step-up from the sports games of yesterday.
Then again, maybe the popularity of the Wii in Japan is due to the wacky pictures in its safety manual. The Wii has been stirring up headlines because of Wiimote-related accidents, and the Japanese safety manual covers everything. It's full of comically rendered pictures of housewives smacking their husbands in their faces with controllers, Wiimotes stuck halfway down kids' throats, and people injuring themselves in all kinds of outlandish ways. Do an internet search yourself and see if you can find some pictures!
While the Wii is undoubtedly the most popular new game console in Japan, the PS3 is a close second. Some sources on the web say that the PS3 actually sells better, but it's hard to say for sure. Definitely, the new interactive features are a draw for Japanese people, who are always looking for something new to enhance their gaming experience.
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