Microsoft in Japan is always a wildcard. Who knows if the company will make a big push in Japan this year or scale things back to focus on North America and Europe where its exclusives tend to actually sell. Oh, sure, every once and a while Microsoft releases something (Blue Dragon) in Japan that moves a boat load of consoles, but what will it be this year?

Halo 3: ODST will be getting a worldwide release this week. Will Microsoft try to pimp Halo in Japan again or is it time to let it go? I'm guessing that the game will probably be playable on the show floor, but don't expect a massive showing. Beyond that, there aren't any major exclusives that I can think of that would do big business in Japan. Splinter Cell: Conviction probably doesn't stack up against Metal Gear Solid there... just a hunch.

Forza 3 is set to release at the end of October and could be a good bit of counter-programming to Sony's inevitable push for Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5. You know, the full version. I can tell you what I think will be a big no show... Final Fantasy XIII running on an Xbox 360. Recall, the game will only be released on the PS3 in Japan.

Who knows, though? As I said, MS is a wildcard in Japan. If they decide to take this year seriously we could see a major exclusive announcement that Japanese gamers will be excited about or at least another established PlayStation franchise going multiplatform.

Either way, this could be a good opportunity for Microsoft to show off a bit of Project Natal in the land that birthed the Wii. Will it impress a Japanese audience, though?

What do you want to see from Microsoft in Japan this year?

In Japan? Natal (Japanese love that type of stuff) or a third party JRPG. Aside from that? Pack women's underwear with each console.

I hope MS announce something big;..like we bought that dev team.....If they announce some Exclusive games from 3Dparty's people (like me) will wait for the PS3 version of that game;

for MS to get anywhere on japan i would think theyd have to buy out one of the big developers and take everything exclusive, which i would not put passed MS at all. And if they do it lets hope they dont go the way of Rare.

For MS to succed in Japan I'd think they'd need some proxy names. Because more and more people are being annoyed by MS greed and money grabbing plus it's not a local company like Nintendo or Sony.

1. They need and Asian proxy name
2.They need to build some 1st pary companies instead of paying people like Namco then losing the exclusives.
3.They need to ask Japan what it wants
4. They need to realease smaller 360's with Japanese friendly designs

This blog lacks any worthwhile content.

Well what I want to see is another LO styled game from Mistwalker, and that is about it

They could try to buy Mistwalker.

I don't know if they'll have a surprise or not, honestly. Maybe that game made by Tomonobu Itagaki would see the light of day or something?

I don't care for Japanese centric games, so I hope we see more of Natal.