Ok I get it, Microsoft isn't doing well in Japan!

It's Sunday night, this weeks podcast is in the bag and just needs editing by Steve.  I was just thinking of whether this 'summer of Arcade' has made anyone even remotely interested?  Surely, this is just filling up the gaps for all the good games ready for grandparents to buy their 13 year olds 18+ games for Christmas.

For us over here in Japan, there are no Microsoft adverts and almost no xbox 360 advertising, I may have seen a few during the Halo campaign but otherwise it might as well be dead air, and who can blame them?

All I have seen since this generation of consoles started is a weekly report from every gaming news website about how shit Microsoft is doing in Japan.  WHY DOES IT MATTER!?!?  So the question is why don't they do better? 

Well, Japan is not Microsoft's main target as they primarily make FPS games and most Japanese people don't like FPS games because they make them feel sick.  Japanese people also have loyalty to their country when it concerns goods. Japanese people will swear that Japanese Bananas, Mangos and Fish are the best in the world.  Maybe they are or not, it’s just the way of thinking.  Let's be honest here, Sony has a reputation for making good stuff and Nintendo have been around since the age of dawn making games, and neither of their systems ever break down.  Hell, I could jump on my DS and it would still work.  So do we think that the 360, with all the reliability problems, really will sell in Japan?  Fuck, no!  Though with recent price dropping over here may just get a lot of people interested in the system.

Microsoft has said from day one that they have a plan for Japan, and I believe they are doing it.  I don't think they want to assault Japan with stuff and get negative press.  I think that they are slowly moving into a strong market which they know that they can't beat easily, and I also believe they are slowly changing the trends of the ways games are played in Japan.  They are pushing FPSs and they are just quietly showing Japanese people that there are other things away from the typical Japanese role playing games.  They won't win this round, but I bet they will do a lot of business in the next generation.

What do you think?