The Xbox 360 Lounge was a venue in
Aoyama,
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, close to the upscale
Omotesandō, Tokyo, shopping area. It was opened on November 1, 2005, to boost
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
awareness in Japan, several weeks before the Xbox 360 release on November 22, 2005.
The lounge was composed of three main areas: a event space equipped with five large display screens, an area containing Xbox 360 game kiosks, and a 70-seat café. It was open daily from November 1, 2005, to February 12, 2006.
Opening night
Microsoft gathered Japanese celebrities from inside and outside the gaming industry on opening night. Big-name game creators like Keiji Inafune (
Capcom
is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
), Yuji Naka (
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
), Hideo Kojima (
Konami
, commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
), Yoichi Okamoto (
Game Republic) and Hiromichi Tanaka (
Square Enix
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...
) took the stage first and gave brief statements about the Xbox 360. Naka stated "I hope the industry is spurred by the appearance of the Xbox 360," with Kojima simply stating "I've been waiting!"
Many of the stars are big in Japan, but unknown in America: Hitomi Nagasawa, Ishikawa Asami, Kazuhi Sakuraba (the Pride fighter), Otoha (future Gaming Life in Japan young idol). Olympic swimmer
Kosuke Kitajima
is a Japanese retired breaststroke swimmer. He won gold medals at the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and the 2008 Summer Olympics – becoming the first and only swimmer to sweep the breaststroke events at ...
, when clued in on the fact that there are not any swimming games, pointed out that it is hard to make such a game because you can't see the swimmer's face. Many of these stars, including track and field star
Dai Tamesue, had designed a face plate.
References
{{Xbox 360
Lounge
Lounge may refer to:
Architecture
* Lounge, the living room of a dwelling
* Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby
* Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar
* Airport lounge or train lounge (e.g., Amtrak's Acela Lounge), a premium ...
2005 establishments in Japan