Today the boys in Redmond announced they will be taking their black box to 26 countries including the home of their biggest rival, the Sony PlayStation 4. Historically speaking Microsoft’s gaming consoles have never done well in the land of the rising sun (The Wii U overtook the Xbox 360 in overall units sold in Nintendo’s home country in spite of the Xbox 360 being released roughly 7 years prior) but they are hoping their new and improved box will finally grab the attention of the Japanese and 25 other countries that never gave much love to the predecessor of the X1. Maybe the recent release of the critically acclaimed first person shooter Titanfall will garner Microsoft some sales in these markets (as Halo did before it), but only time will tell if Japan will warm up to even more humanoid robots in their lives or if any of the future Xbox one exclusive titles will make them competitive in these tough markets.The full list includes: Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UAE.
Also, Xbox Live’s own Major Nelson announced that Microsoft is detailing a future system update they’ve been working on with select Xbox Live members for feedback and to work out the bugs before they bring the April update live. Some of the tweaks will include Kinect movement and voice improvements, improved GameDVR video quality, a game save status bar, and the much requested ability to see when your friends and favorites sign into Xbox live as well as the ability to check your friends most popular apps.
