Importing Xbox 360 for SHMUPS

[Flak Beard]

I'm actually considering getting an import 360 at this point. Thing is, I don't have the cash at the moment but I could possibly sell my bass amp. It's been a great while since I used it, and I could get about $500 - $600 for it.

[RackGaki]

If you get that much for it, you could pick up a few games for it as well.

[Japhei]

Got Shikigami No Shiro 3 and Raiden Fighters ACES and must say it is totally worth it for those 2 games alone. Cannot wait till Raiden 4 arrives I am super pumped!

[shallowgamer]

Well, there's a guy on ebay who's letting a bunch of Japanese 360s trickle in, one at a time. And they're using a 3rd party to list them. Looks like a pallet fell off the boat.

PRO: this is a great way to save on shipping. They end at around 300 bucks plus 14 to ship.
CON: it's the 20gb model, I'm assuming no HDMI hookup. May even be launch units?

[Japhei]

Well, there's a guy on ebay who's letting a bunch of Japanese 360s trickle in, one at a time. And they're using a 3rd party to list them. Looks like a pallet fell off the boat.

PRO: this is a great way to save on shipping. They end at around 300 bucks plus 14 to ship.
CON: it's the 20gb model, I'm assuming no HDMI hookup. May even be launch units?

My Japanese 360 is a launch unit and has got a ton of play. Not every Xbox 360 is prone to the RROD but I will be eating my words whenever it happens to me LMAO

[shallowgamer]

Folks,

Just checked NCSX.com's website. The arcade console is listed at $289. The good news is that the overseas shipping is absorbed in that price- They're only charging 12 bucks on top of that to ship to the midwest. Considerable savings over Play-asia's 269+shipping.

It's currently listed as "restock 3-5 days", so a little patience may save you some dough.

[Japhei]

Folks,

Just checked NCSX.com's website. The arcade console is listed at $289. The good news is that the overseas shipping is absorbed in that price- They're only charging 12 bucks on top of that to ship to the midwest. Considerable savings over Play-asia's 269+shipping.

It's currently listed as "restock 3-5 days", so a little patience may save you some dough.

Not bad. There is a guy on the shmups forum selling them for less Premium versions.

[RackGaki]

Well, there's a guy on ebay who's letting a bunch of Japanese 360s trickle in, one at a time. And they're using a 3rd party to list them. Looks like a pallet fell off the boat.

PRO: this is a great way to save on shipping. They end at around 300 bucks plus 14 to ship.
CON: it's the 20gb model, I'm assuming no HDMI hookup. May even be launch units?

They must have fell off the boat, because I don't see how he made money on premium consoles. Between Papal's cuts, eBay's cut, and isoldit's cut, he would be left with less than $200 on the one I bought. I'm assuming it doesn't have HDMI, either, but a man can hope.

Mostly, I'm just enthusiastic to buy a Japanese 360 that doesn't cost me $70.00 and a month to ship. Thankfully, isoldit listed this auction at a horrible time, and I paid less than the last one (though two other last-minute bidders jacked up the price a little). Internet hearsay told me that Japanese units have a lower failure rate than launch U.S. 360's, on account of MS not being able to afford to mess up in Japan again. Sounds logical, but I'm hopeful it will work fine.

I will be certain to let everyone know my impressions of this console after it arrives.

[shallowgamer]

Here's a thread from IGN which reports that UFO interactive is bringing Raiden 4 to the states. It's from well over a year ago, so who knows.. They're the ones bringing ultimate shooting collection over, so it could happen..


http://boards.ign.com/raiden/b7051/138381611/p1/

[RackGaki]

Just got my Japanese Xbox 360 in.

It's from Japan alright - the box is covered in Japanese and it says, "For Japan Only" on the back. No Chinese on it, so it's not Asian. Hooray!

Open it up, look at the back. Hmmm.... no HDMI port. Look at the MFG date... November 12.... 2005. Crap.

Now, to actually get a NTSC/J region game, or throw in some region-locked games to make sure they don't work in the meantime.

Any chance Japanese consoles had a lower failure rate? My NTSC/U 360 has frozen on me today... twice. Playing Civilization in 480p, of all things. Copypasta, but it works.