202 Xbox consoles were sold in Japan last week. That's preposterous. It's even more absurd when you consider that 103,000 DS systems jumped from the shelves of Japan's game stores during the same seven-day period. A relatively puny handheld is outselling Microsoft's behemoth by about 102,798 units a week. It's no surprise, however, as Microsoft's first console has been marginalized in Japan ever since its inauspicious launch. In Japan the format has been a huge, ugly failure.

In the next campaign of console wars, Microsoft is determined to show a prettier face and sell considerably more units of hardware. If MS stands any chance of convincing the Japanese en masse to buy into the 360, it will have to make the most of next month's Tokyo Game Show and the estimated three-month gap between the 360's December debut and PS3's arrival in spring of next year.

Capitalizing is a capital idea. Already Microsoft Japan has trumpeted its roster of home-grown developers: Mizuguchi-san, father of Rez and Sega Rally, is onboard; stalwart J-devcos Namco, Konami and KOEI are keen to do business on 360; and so too are the creators of Final Fantasy and Resident Evil.


As far as I can see, though, Xbox 360 has no decent chance -- by which I mean 1% chance -- of outperforming the PS3 in Japan's next-generation console market. I would be baffled if the 360 manages to outgun the Revolution, for that matter. The reason for this unbridled pessimism? Simple: Microsoft is not a Japanese company.

I speak to Japanese friends about my hometown in England, which is famous for its car manufacturing industry, and inevitably the vaguely comparable township of Toyota enters conversation. My friends can reel off the names of that company's presidents. They also know who formed NEC, Sony, Kawazaki, Nissan, and most other famous Japanese firms. But I don't know who was ever at the helm of Jaguar. The West has developed a taste for the exotic, readily buying into Sony and Nintendo® products, but Japan is fiercely proud of its own.

What was the last Western games format to succeed here in Japan? Answer: it's a trick question. American and European console manufacturers -- and, while we're here, game developers -- have never won a single showdown with Japanese companies in Japan. And in the foreseeable future, nothing will change.