You sure you got this from Forbes? Because it's surprisingly cogent.
One little quibble. While being Japanese might give Sony and Nintendo a geographic advantage, I think it gives them a larger political disadvantage. China has a territorial dispute with Japan, and it isn't afraid to tap a vast well of Chinese anti-Japan sentiment to advance its agenda. A Japanese game console could face widespread boycotts, even rioting and destruction:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_China_anti-Japanese_demonstrations
"During the protests against Japan, there have been calls of boycotts of Japanese goods in addition to the destruction of several existing Japanese products.[80][81] Many Japanese businesses and factories in China were shuttered in reaction to the protests.[82] Since 16 September, most Chinese group tours to Japan were cancelled,[83][84] which has dealt a great blow to the Japanese tourism industry since the earthquake and tsunami disaster in March 2011.[85] The Japanese car manufacturing industry has suffered a loss of $250 million between 15–21 September due to the production of about 14,000 cars being suspended.[86] The Guardian predicted a global slowdown of economy due to the protests.[87]"
"The worst part about these reviews is they are [subjective]--and their scores often depend on how drunk you got the media at a Street Fighter event." — Mona Hamilton, Capcom Senior VP of Marketing
*Image indefinitely borrowed from BrainBoxLtd without his consent.
