Of course the most casual always wins, but that doesn't mean that japan is as casual as jenny makes it out to be. There is a great number of hardcore too. The thing is all of those consoles you mentioned also have another thing in common. All of them have games that the japanese are interested in. Now you could argue all you want but the wii obviously is the most japanese centric console. Also I don't really see  smg almost hitting 1 million in japan bad. It could reach that goal eventually since it has incredible legs.

I don't agree with you.

Sony has been targeting Japan, and as hard (if not harder) than everywhere else. They have the cheapest PS3, more models/colours, more bundles, more games - and yes - a HEAP of "mega" games for the Japan market.

"...There hasn't been one big game on the system that the japanese would like, and it seems to be focused too much on the west..."

 - Prologue, MGS4, Everybodys Golf, DMC4, Tekken, VF, DragonBall Z, Winning Eleven, Yakuza, Winning Eleven, Disgaea3, Armored Core, Gundam (several), etc...

(so don't say the PS3 hasn't had "one big game on the system", because that is clearly a fallacy)

The problem Sony has, is that just about everything they have thrown at the market hasn't taken hold.

...

Almost all of the recent "mega" selling titles in Japan, represent some form of "new gaming experience". That and handhelds.

Its not like the old PS2 games that have been released on the Wii do well - they haven't, they have done terribly. The same applies to many PS3 games.

The only way Sony will win Japan with the PS3, is to bring out some truly innovative (and "casual?") gaming experiences that haven't been possible to date.

I was talking about sony specifically and not third parties.  The only big games you mentioned that are sony's are Everybody's Golf and GT5p(not a full game). Also alot of those games weren't big in japan on the ps2 examples being armored core,tekken, and Devil May Cry(both tekken 5, and DMC3 only sold about 300k in japan ). We've seem some support from 3rd parties, but not too much from sony. Oh and you listed Winning Eleven twice. ALso you see more games such as Uncharted, R@C, REsistance, Heavenly Swords, Etc from sony than the two that target japan.

slim and cheaper ps3 ftw

Sony has never been a big software developer. The big games from the last generation (i.e. PS2) were almost exclusively non-Sony published titles.

As far as I know, Sony only have TWO franchises that sold (really) well in Japan:

 - Gran Turismo (GT5 Prologue is out) - (GT4 did 1.1m in Japan)

 - Everybody's Golf - (EG3 did 1.4m in Japan)

http://vgchartz.com/games/index.php?name=&console=PS2&developer=&publisher=300&genre=&keyword=&order=Hits

God of War doesn't sell, R&C doesn't (didn't) sell, The Getaway doesn't sell (etc) - in Japan.

...

So in a way, I agree with you - Sony needs to develop their own (in-house) innovative titles for the PS3 (Japan and all). It will be really interesting to see how LittleBigPlanet sells in Japan...

i don't see much chances for a big improvement of ms  in japan, max they could reach would probably be the niveau of ps3 sales (which in the pre MGS weeks was below 10k too). But i also think that sony won't increase their sales much in the next time in japan.
Sony has to spend some money on japan as their home contry but i personally would not spend too much.
I think that spending the money on europe (especially continental europe) could be much more profitable. The euro is at a very high standing atm, which probably also helps sony cause ps3 40gb still sells for about 370€ (about 580$ with current exchange rates).
The only european area where xbox regualry wins against ps3 is britain, but the british pound also lost value compared to the euro in the last 2 years so ms would probably be more happy with higher sales in the euro zone and will probably target that next.

YES, i really think they should, since the wii has it's own audience, and xbox 360 is nearly non-existent. They should target the hardcore audience, heavy advertise, and make all american companys look bad

yes it is their worstmarke with the ps3.