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Sony and Microsoft prepare lovely special edition consoles for upcoming titles.
Continuing the recent Japanese trend of releasing a special edition console for every single game of note, Sony and Microsoft have today announced limited bundles for upcoming third party titles Yakuza 3 and Star Ocean: The Last Hope.
Yakuza 3's, dropping on February 26, sports a slick silver rendition of protagonist Kazuma Kiryu's dragon tattoo printed on a Ceramic White console, and will retail for ¥45980 ($487) -- a ¥1980 savings over buying the game and console separately.
Fans of Star Ocean will have to make do with nothing more than a faceplate and limited edition music CD upon The Last Hope's February 19 release, but will receive a respectable discount in return -- their Xbox 360 Arcade bundle will cost a scant ¥24800 ($263), ¥3900 below buying separately.
Will these high-profile, high-value bundles help Japan's dismal HD adoption rate? Sony and Sega seem to hope so -- the companies are producing a full 100,000 Yakuza 3 consoles, double the amount made for Metal Gear Solid 4. Production numbers aren't available for the Star Ocean Xbox 360, but one has to imagine they won't be very high: That ¥3900 ($41) discount on Square Enix's game is almost certainly being financed by Microsoft.
