From me experience in Japan most hardcore gamers (of which the high proportion of the ps3's fan base in japan is) tend to buy almost all of there games with 2 weeks of its release. Hardcore gamers in Japan take release dates VERY seriously.

Anime aimed at a more otaku audience has the same problem.

Japan is a small market, but the majority of gamers have migrated onto the portable market, because of practicality. Also despite the myth, much like Western gamers, Japanese are drawn toward name brands.

It is the reason FF, DQ and now Monster Hunter all sell as well as they do. Along with license games, such as your One Piece, Bleach, Kamen Rider, etc, the only way to sell is to be one of the more popular niche.

PS3 is to the Wii what Saturn was to PlayStation in Japan. Strong and has games that cannot be missed but not (maybe never) mainstream.

So what your saying is that Sony is ruling via a reign of fear and threatening severe beatings to those who do not buy and use the PS3...

Segata Sanshiro >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kevin Butler

Man, it was very quick to go from

Why do PS3 games in Japan have poor legs?

to

Japanese people are all racist

what the fuck

More like Dreamcast was to the PS2. The Dreamcast has a lot of great exclusives. There were still a lot of developers eager to make games for it. SEGA just didn't sell enough systems quick enough to make a decent profit. I still have my Dreamcast. I may have to pull it out again one day.

No he's right in regards to Japan.  Saturn was strong secondary platform, with a hugely dedicated hardcore / enthusiast base.  It's big games sold around 300-600k (like PS3) and it only had one million seller (like PS3).  Dreamcast was basically a straight up failure in Japan, and there was actually a lot of upfront animosity for the platform from Sega fans who wanted the company to continue supporting their Saturns instead.

Actually, the Saturn top 10 doesn't look all that different from the PS3 top 10 sales wise (Enterbrain data plus shipment data for pre-fall '95 SS games)...

Sega Saturn

• 01 [SS] Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega) 1,417,034
• 02 [SS] Virtua Fighter (Sega) 800,000
• 03 [SS] Daytona USA (Sega) 570,000
• 04 [SS] Fighter's Megamix (Sega) 528,979
• 05 [SS] Sega Rally Championship (Sega) 521,492
• 06 [SS] Super Robot Taisen F Final (Banpresto) 514,089
• 07 [SS] Sakura Taisen 2: Kimi, Shinita Mou Koto Nakare (Sega) 509,445
• 08 [SS] Panzer Dragoon (Sega) 500,000
• 09 [SS] Virtua Cop (Sega) 470,108
• 10 [SS] Super Robot Taisen F (Banpresto) 464,168

PlayStation 3 

• 01 [PS3] Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix) 1,901,724
• 02 [PS3] Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami) 706,641
• 03 [PS3] Yakuza 4 (Sega) 553,651
• 04 [PS3] Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage (Koei Tecmo) 544,807
• 05 [PS3] Gran Turismo 5: The Real Driving Simulator (SCEI) 528,000
• 06 [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) 520,564
• 07 [PS3] Yakuza 3 (Sega) 509,306
• 08 [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 (Konami) 436,739
• 09 [PS3] Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds (SCEI) 410,052
• 10 [PS3] Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami) 405,653

...for comparison, here's Dreamcast's top 10...

Dreamcast

• 01 [DC] Sonic Adventure (Sega) 438,707
• 02 [DC] Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Capcom) 403,964
• 03 [DC] Seaman (Vivarium) 399,342
• 04 [DC] Sega Rally 2 (Sega) 374,885
• 05 [DC] Shenmue (Sega) 326,222
• 06 [DC] Virtua Fighter 3tb (Sega) 308,707
• 07 [DC] Sakura Taisen 3: Paris wa Moete Iruka (Sega) 304,135
• 08 [DC] Soulcalibur (Namco) 288,604
• 09 [DC] J-League Pro Soccer Club wo Tsukurou! (Sega) 274,620
• 10 [DC] Sakura Taisen 4: Koi Seyo Otome (Sega) 257,368