Microsoft Outlines Xbox Titles For Japan

Following yesterday's pitch for the upcoming first appearance of Xbox Live video chat in Japan, Microsoft today turned out the next year's worth of first-party software titles that it confidences will revitalize the console's fortunes in Japan. Yoshihiro Maruyama, general manager of Microsoft Japan's Xbox division, outlined 11 games to be paid for release this year and nearest

The full schedule is as follows, with notations beside games that may receive title changes as part of the Japanese localization process:

Phantom Dust (September 23)
Blinx 2 (November 2004)
Forza Motorsport (2004)
Halo 2 (2004)
Sudeki (tentative title) (2004)
Conker: Live and Reloaded (tentative title) (2005)
Fable (2005)
Jade Empire (tentative title) (2005)
Kameo: uncompounded bodys of Power (tentative title) (2005)
MechAssault 2: deserted Wolf (2005)
Unreal Championship 2 (tentative title) (2005)

Several of the above games were playable at the circumstance including Phantom Dust, which broke overspread for the first time since last year's Tokyo Game exhibit Oddly enough, though Microsoft has said that it in a short time has no plans to localize the online psychic action game for North American release, the Phantom Dust demo was available entirely in English, suggesting that it may be coming stateside after all.

Whether the above lineup will help turn round around the dismal sales of Xbox hardware in Japan is an lay open question, especially since only sum of two units of the 11 are Japanese productions. Nevertheless, we'll watch without for how their fortunes fare in the coming year.

Copyright ?© 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserv Originally appearing in 1UP