Trusty Bell (Eternal Sonata in NA) 

Will this finally help the 360 sell some units in Japan?

Will Blue Dragon and Trusty Bell be enough to help the 360 become accepted on the Japanese market?

Or will it need the help of Lost Odyssey?

Or do you think that MS is hopeless in Japan and that they should pack it up and go home.

Pack it up and go home. If Blue Dragon can't sell more than 140,000 then what will? Btw, does anyone know how involved that FF creator was with the last several FF games? Just curious. I believe I remember that FF12 went a new direction after he left which explains why there was 5 years inbetween 10 and 12 (the last 2 non-sequel, non-MMO main FFs). Just curious how much he was involved with 7, 8, 9, and/or 10.  I know Lost Odyssey is his project as well.

While this game does seem like it'd be appealing to the japanese market, I'm not really sure if it's ground-breaking enough to really move any consoles over there. I mean it appears to be a good game, but if it was on another system besides the xbox which is known for lacking games like this would it be getting attention really? I guess from the view of Microsoft it's worth a shot, and can't hurt sales, so why not? 

I know I personally will probably be buying this one though. 

yea your right.

O WAIT... THIS JUST IN.. 6 xbox's have been sold in Japan since the new deal was released. I can hear MS poping the champain, as 6 is twice as many as they have sold since launch. I guess the deal worked... Sorta.

Microsoft's got no prayer, but they might as well keep chipping away at it until they figure it out.

Its just a question of volume and momentum no *single* title will ever ensure the success of a platform in any country - you always need volume - lots of follow up titles to keep the momentum running.

The PS3 will (slowly) suffer the same fate, until it gets some backup support in terms of software. 

It's a very good deal and smart move.

Lets remember something: At this time last year, MS was selling 1,200 units to 2,000 units every week. Now the are moving 2,900-4,000 units every week. MS had the best Christmas ever thanks to Blue Dragon and Lost Planet. Did they save the system? No, of course not. But for comparison, they did more than almost any other game in history to atleast help out a system.

The BD Bundle helped move around 50,000 Xbox 360s. A small number compared to what the Wii moves every month, but for MS that was nearly 10% of the entire Xbox's original lifetime sales in just a few weeks....This doesn't include the sales in November (a major increase) or January.

Look at my lil avatar for proof. The 360 is about 40,000 units ahead of the 360 at this point and time last year. Last year was MS's best year in Japan. Does that matter to Sony or Nintendo? No, but it matters to Microsoft. The 360 could see a 200% increase in h/w sales. MS thinks its a good proposition to do what they are to get to that point.

IMO, Trusty Bell pack *could* let the 360 see an actual week or two above the PS3. I anticipate Trusty Bell to do 75k to 110k lifetime sales in Japan. The pack could allow for 30,000 h/w sold or more. Again, not much to the Wii giant, but again, it'll allow the 360 to have a "stellar" year compared to any other year. Heck, between TB and Lost Odyssey, the 360 has an outside shot of selling MORE units this year than the Xbox did in it's ENTIRE LIFE. By the end of this year, the 360 will already of beat the Xbox's total sales in just 2 years. That's pretty good. It's not like MS having succuess in Japan means anything to Sony or Nintendo, but to MS, it allows a 3rd front to atleast garner some J-Dev support that they so rarely have now.

Again, one who doubts that a good JRPG title, or any J-game whatsever can move software only need look at Rumble Roses, N3, Dead Rising, DOAX2, Lost Planet, Blue Dragon, Enchant Arms, and DOA 4. All of these systems boosted sales by quite a bit. Alot compared to the PS3/Wii? No, but to MS they know that it's helping out a bit each time. Why? Every h/w unit the Trusty Bell pack sells will garner about 2 other s/w titles bought in the near future from those purchases. This will help out the other games coming out near the same time.

I would like to agree with mrstickball, if microsoft can pull 1 million systems sold in Japan for this gen, they have won some ground. They just need to keep the bundles coming.

And notice this, if that bundle can sell 20k xbox360 bundles for one week, it can actuly sell more than the PS3 that week. Bundles will also ensure that the 3-5k week average will be kept there. This game, BD and Lost Odyssey might actuly keep xbox360 a floot for some time in Japan.

i also agree with mrstickball. the main thing is that MS has a long term plan and games like that tend to establish the xbox(s) in japanese minds. The first one was "yo i'm here, look at me". the second is "see, i can do games as well as the other 2" , so that the 3rd one can be "come in, you know me, i'm like family".

If MS sells 1 million x360, i think they have a good chance to be more than a sparring partner in the future generation. 

A lot of developers point out how the advertizing isn't gaining enough interest. That really needs to be remedied for the 360.