Microsoft and Epic games are preparing to officially launch a localized version of Gears Of War 2 across Japan.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Edge late in October that the game wouldn't be released in the country "indefinitely", just hours before Microsoft hurriedly retracted its statement and claimed there was no announcement to be made. Now the game appears set for an official launch some time in 2009, according to a Dengeki report.
Details barely go beyond the announcement that the game will launch; no specific date, prices or SKU variations were announced, and Microsoft's Japan arm didn't clarify whether any of the game's content would be edited.
The original Gears of War was one of the first titles to crack the Japanese software charts during a time when the 360 console was selling at its slowest. The game sold 33,212 copies in Japan in its first week and entered the software charts at number seven. Epic recently announced that the game's successor had sold over 3 million copies internationally.
Japan's official launch of Gears 2 won't mark the first time the title has arrived on the shelves of the nation's retailers; wholesale volumes of import copies were shipped shortly after the game launched.
WE care not a lot, but Microsoft seem determined to make an impact in Japan.
The original Gears 1 was considered a hit considering the Jap's aversion to action Western titles, so the follow-up with localisation, and to be fair is a fantastic title, is hoped to build on the originals momentum!
I thought they already had it. I get put into games of horde with people from japan all the time. Some of them are good players, but the is no communication. Pretty important for this game.
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