Whether Sony likes it or not, the next generation of video gaming has arrived with the XBOX 360. The XBOX 360 officialy launched in the United States last Nov 22 and what a week it was.
It was a week marred with exceedingly high demand, shortages, eBay price gauging, harrowing reports of system defects fueled by some fanboy trolls, sarcastic media and so much more. But is it stopping the XBOX 360? Not at all! In fact the demand appears to be greater than what it used to be given some negative publicity that the console has been receiving.
But going back to the original question, is the Philippines ready for Next-Gen?
For the majority of the Filipinos, my answer is no. I’ll be honest, much of the Philippine gaming market thrives on cheap pre-paid schemes as popularized by localized Korean MMORPGs and the ever-so-popular piracy problem that has been plaguing the country ever since the dawn of gaming.
A local game store in Greenhills, when asked when they would be stocking the XBOX 360, the default answer is next year. How can that be considering it’s the best time to sell these mean machines on the onset of the most popular spending season, Christmas? The most obvious answer will be due to the actual console shortages in the United States. Personally, I feel that most retailers won’t bother carrying the console if doesn’t have a mod-chip and have pirated games since majority of Filipino game retailers only carry pirated software. Of course, most retailers are still stuck trying to sell their overstocked PSPs to the point that ‘installing PSP games on your memory chip’ has been the new lucrative business to many game shops.
If those reasons are true it’s disappointing to a small group of people who are very much interested in the console. But then there is an oddity in the Philippine gaming market that manages to survive by carrying only original games and unmodified systems, despite the overwhelming competition of pirated games.
And just 4 days after the North American launch, the first batch of XBOX 360 titles, fresh from Mexico, has arrived in the Philippines!
The store carried nearly all of the XBOX 360 launch games. But please note, as of writing most of the games are already out-of-stock and has been purchased by overzealous gamers such as myself and scytherage.
This store has guaranteed those who are interested that they will be getting the console sometime soon. Of course, supplies will be severely limited but to the early adopters like me, we are certainly ready to purchase the console. Of course, it helps that I saved money for this thing ever since it was announced in E3.
So is the Philippines ready for the Next-Gen?
Many will still be stuck playing on their modded consoles or hoping that the PS3 will come here and sell for something less than P10,000 (of course to some people that may still be expensive). But for those who are lucky and those who have truly waited…THE NEXT GENERATION OF CONSOLE GAMING SHALL COME TO THIS COUNTRY PRETTY SOON! Hopefully before Christmas, as it serves as the best gift to gamers!
