Ever notice something about Xbox LIVE? The people that are on it, they're mostly Americans. That's not necessarily a bad thing, is it? Of course not. So there's no need to get all bent out of shape when Europe Xbox exec Chris Lewis "the lion's share" of Xbox Live users are Americans. What's percentage of Xbox LIVE users are European? Says Lewis:

We don't normally break out the European element of our Live membership. I mean, I know what it is, but I don't want to get rapped on the knuckles by being too explicit with you. I will say to you as a percentage of that overall total, it's just less than a quarter. And I'll tell you also that a large part of that is in the UK, partly because of the language aspect, the fact is you need, on a community service like Live, enough people of a similar language orientation to get a community so that it starts to really blow out... Up until fairly recently we just haven't had enough on the service for non-English-speaking folks.

Cut Xbox LIVE and it bleeds, red, white, and blue. It really does. Honest.

Europe Makes Up "Less Than A Quarter" [CVG]

We're excited about Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. The game seems like a fun arcade cross-over. Sure, there will be Western arcades that import the game, but will it get an official release outside Japan? Capcom USA is looking into it. No doubt the American licensing issues for the Tatsunoko Productions characters is sticky. Capcom USA's Christian Svensson points out:

We haven't discussed any home console plans for the title yet, so platform discussions are a bit premature. All that's been anounced is arcade... There are a lot of licensing issues around the title given that those properties are held by different companies across the West and they vary by territory greatly. It was created as a Japan-only project but we're investigating.

That's sure nice of Capcom.

Quick Question on Capcom vs. Tatsunoko [Capcom via Siliconera]

Illustrator Ken Taya is a second generation Japanese-American. Currently, he's working at Bungie as an environmental artist. He cut his teeth at Nintendo Software Technology in Redmond, translating and working as a 3D artist. So what's the difference in working for a US and a Japanese company?

I do feel that attitude of management differs greatly between the two cultures, however. When working under Japanese management, I was much more spoon fed and there seemed to be a lot of hand holding. Under American supervision I was given much more freedom to make my own mistakes and learn from them...

Not sure which is better or worse, but the fact that both exist is fascinating.
Taya Interview [PingMag via Jean Snow]