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in the US/EU the xbox, GC, ps2 are livingroom simple consoles.. stuff for gamers.. most gamers are computer freaks or ppl who have a normal job and love killing their friends online at the end of the day.. but it's not a huge priority in their lives.. the average gamer is more into PC games too.. and in japan.. they don't have a huge amount of good PC games in japanese.. they are allways late.. patches are slow.. drivers are not as easy to come by.. etc etc.. i know some japs and they say they rather run an english windows version than the jap version.. but at the same time it causes trouble with online and other types of japanese servicess.. so they say it's tricky and easier to buy a console for gaming..
in japan.. consoles are culture.. same as anime.. anime and nintendo have become a part of ppl's lives.. they are that much more fanatic about games than we are.. there's zelda books.. real books.. written in japanese.. that alot of ppl liked over there.. i dun think they've been translated and these things are years old.. they have cartoons and mags about game chars.. megaman is huge over there.. so is mario pokemon link zelda street fighter.. etc..
huge diference.. and yes they do outsell both UK/US at times (over time.. never over day)..
they have had alot of game selling records over there.. and i predict that maybe 1 of the biggest records to be broken again by the big N is gonna be Zelda in japan.. but that also depends on how many copies they release..
also.. afaik.. those numbers are abit inacurate.. you can't really put them all in a pie-chart and say each one has this and that much percentage.. a big reason you can't do that is because not all are being bought with the same conditions.. and also because not all have the same audience.. especially xbox.. ps2 has a wide audience.. so does GC.. but the xbox is waiting for rare to do sumthing imho..
now if all 3 consoles would be under the same conditions.. i would say the battle was still going.. but as it looks right now.. the only battle i see is between the GC and the PS2.. coz you can't really call: 4-5 games(halo being one of them and splinter cell another.. prolly the best games on that machine) plus a new controller + an xbox.. really count as "selling".. coz what your doing then is giving machines away..
now alot of ppl who have all 3 machines are also complaining about how stupid it is.. that MS made such a powerfull machine (it is in fact the most powerfull of the 3).. and how they've bragd so much about it.. and now the machine comming out with games that show terrible framerates..