Opinions anyone?  This is probably the understatement of the year, but the Japanese market seems to pull in only a fraction of the hardware sales that other parts of the world produce.  This is really surprising to me--it goes without saying that the Wii sells well, the 360 has proven that it will stand its ground against the competition, and we are finally having a legitimate "year of the PS3", so why aren't sales in general stronger in Japan?  They're not even buying that many Wiis!

The whole situation is leading me to believe that Japan is not a major player in the sales war anymore, and that troubles me.  I want Japanese influence to remain in video games and I want developers to cater to that audience so that I can play those games too.  I can see why they're not buying as many Wiis anymore, and it goes without saying that they're not going to buy that many 360s either.  What really surprises me is the lack of PS3 sales.  Even I am finding myself turning more and more of my gaming time over to the PS3 these days---the game library is now irresistable and if you don't want to play some of those PS3 exclusives that are coming out, you're simply in denial.

So what's going on in Japan?  Have they lost interest in gaming?