And, no, I don’t mean Idolm@ster.
Being an expat in Japan who does not have great Japanese skills can be limiting. Especially when it comes to gaming. Lots of great titles come out here that never make it to the US, but the language barrier is high. Still, I do what I can and play as much as I can. With the advent of region-free gaming – big thanks DS, PSP, PS3 and moderate thanks Xbox 360 – it’s easy enough to get my game on in English. I have the Japanese version of all those systems, and the 360 is the only source of frustration.
When it launched a fair bit of the titles were region locked. With the small install base in Japan, only the biggest names came out over here, and even then, some of the had all the English stripped out. (I’m looking at you NFS: Most Wanted!) The local version of PD:0 and Ridge Racer 6 had full English menus and gameplay, which was nice.
Over time, I’ve learned to make do with what I could get here, both local versions and the US imports. The real treats come in the Asian territory releases, though. These are NTSC-J, and will run on Asian and Japanese systems – which are not the same thing. These releases come from Hong Kong and are usually the US version of the game with Chinese subtitles and an English/Chinese manual.
They also cost less than their Japanese counterparts.
Generally only about $10 less, but still, when Play-Asia will give free shipping to Japan, it’s worth ordering online.
But what about this has to do with finally having a great reason to own a J-360?
How about Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for $9.90!
Brand new copy, free shipping and it’ll only run on NTSC-J consoles.
My copy just arrived today! ^.^
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