I don't want to be pesimistic but I'm doubtful on this.  360 sales pattern really hasn't changed a bit since Kinect launched and still hasn't.  Kinect right now is selling to the small sub-set in Japan who already decided to invest in a 360.  It's not brining in anyone new yet at all judging by the trends.

As such, I'm less optimistic it's going to do anything but sell well within a closed set of existing owners.

Still a nice result, as it implies that core group is happy with 360 and MS in general and want to extend their experience, but not the breakout from the group that would have been more interesting.

At the moment I'd say, judging by sales of Kinect to 360, it's the US/UK where Kinect is really extending the base and attracting people in vs selling more to existing owners.

You never know of course - but I suspect upcoming games are going to be either Wii clones which I doubt will change things in Japan, or Western centric which I also doubt will change things much.

Of course, if we see the baseline 360 demand in Japan start to creep up we'll now it's having a better impact, but right now that just hasn't happened.

This has been the biggest surprise for me over the holidays. I can't believe how big Kinect is (relatively) in Japan.

I'm willing to bet that, had Kinect released in 2006, PS3 and 360 would be neck and neck in LTD sales in Japan right now.

I think one of the main problems with Kinect in Japan is they don't have a lot of room to play it. Japanese apartments are very small. Like half the size of normal American apartments. It'll be tough for them to play Kinect when you need about 6 ft square of space.

It's also will depend on how well they receive the games coming out for Kinect this year. The games will help to move more Kinects and XBox 360's.

Since Kinect hasn't really had an effect on 360 HW in Japan,no...just no.

I agree with you. XBox 360 and Kinect could have been released 2 years before the PS3 in Japan and the PS3 would have still caught it and outsold it pretty easily. Japan gamers already made it clear they don't like western games or game consoles. I'm sure at least 1/3 of the XBox 360 sold in Japan were probably bought by American or other foreign gamers who just happen to live in Japan.

lol. This.

Nah, I don't see it.  I really think - as I noted earlier in the thread - Kinect is selling well but to the existing install base.  Therefore I'm pretty sure if Kinect had released earlier it would actually have sold worse, as there would have been a smaller install base to appeal to.

There's just no sign of actual console sales picking up in any way as a result of Kinect in Japan, which means it's either selling to the existing base or PC hackers for the dubious uses already mentioned in the thread.

I still think all things considered Kinect is doing okay in Japan as at least it is selling, but it's really nothing to get excited about.  The LTD of 360 is still low all compared to other consoles, the LTD of Kinect in Japan is still very low compared to other territories.

The bottom line is I think the 360 peaked earlier in Japan with the timed exclusives and I don't think anything is going to reverse it's current state of selling steadily at a very low rate.

I agree with most of this, but I do think a spat of Japanese core games could give it a short term (1-2 month boost)

Didn't we see a similar uprising with PSP, and it started to do reallly well in Japan? Although it was never doing bad there in the first place.

NOTHING, will make 360 sell like a normal console there, I don't know anyone that expects that .. even lifetime FF franchise exclusives there wouldn't help it out past a few boosts around game releases.

It's currently the 18th best-selling 360 game in Japan but it could easily end up in 6th place.

Perhaps 1st place if it keeps having good legs.

Its someone molesting my avatar with kinect!!!!