News from Microsoft’s Xbox 360 RPG Premiere 2008 show a large and aggressive lineup of upcoming JRPGs for the system:

Tales of Vesperia (Namco/Bandai) - 8/7/08 (Japan)
Star Ocean 4 (SquareEnix/Tri-Ace) - 2009
Infinite Undiscovery (SquareEnix/Tri-Ace) - 9/2/08 (US), 9/5/08 (Europe), 9/11 (Japan/Asia)
The Last Remnant (SquareEnix) - Winter 2008

Once thought to be a PS3 exclusive, Star Ocean 4’s inclusion in the list likely came as a surprise to any in attendance, and more out of sorts was the announcement that The Last Remnant would only be released on the Xbox 360 in 2008, with the PS3 version sometime after. Initially, Last Remnant was to be released simultaneously on the PS3 and X360, but what could be at play here is the tougher learning curve and longer development cycle for PS3 development coupled with SquareEnix’s desire to make rapid and substantial inroads into the Western gaming market. Though Infinite Undiscovery is the only confirmed Xbox 360 exclusive (the rest are currently assumed to be multiplatform), the fact that the Xbox 360 is seeing such a large number of JRPG releases in such rapid succession in a country where the system’s install base barely registers on the charts appears, at first glance, to be contradictory. However, this pattern seems to support a sentiment that many Japanese developers have been hinting at for quite some time: Japan’s gaming market just isn’t as relevant as once was, and the West is where their future economic success lies. With the Xbox 360’s well-established presence in the US, it appears that stateside JRPG fans that own the prolific white box will have plenty to be excited about in the coming months.

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2 Comments »

1. 
   Devin de Gruyl
   June 10, 2008 at 10:32 am

   Star Ocean and Tales of… on the 360?

   Put one more in the 360’s column for me… though I still think the Wii’s the console for me.

   [Reply]
2. 
   Shawn M.
   June 10, 2008 at 6:06 pm

   I am seriously excited about this. The 360 is sorely lacking in quality RPG’s (playing through Mass Effect again, and I’ve got Lost Odyssey on deck). Though it would’ve been nice to see Final Fantasy land on the ‘box, I’ll gladly take these and eventually play the hell out of them.

   [Reply]

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