It better for Sony's sake Hanafuda. I mean its really said that the 360 still has sold more total software in Japan. Sienar, the VF4 outsold VF5 by 200,000 units. The series isn't in enough of a popularity decline to bomb like it has on PS3 thus far.

Well, Blue Dragon was supposed to be the game that finally broke the 360 in Japan, but it didn't, and the system is still dead here. People have to remember that although Virtua Fighter is almost a household name in Japan, and it is still huge in the arcades, it is still a rather fringe series when looking at the big picture. Most fighting games are... Not that it makes much difference, but I'm confident that VF5 will sell more than 160,000 (Blue Dragon's total to date) in Japan. Let's also not forget that Blue Dragon had a large scale PR campaign (Lawson tie ins, paying off Famitsu etc etc) too, and a really long time in development. There are already rumours that Mistwalker may dump the 360 if the game doesn't sell well in the US (which I doubt it will). Kind of getting a little off topic here, but none of the upcoming JPN 360 releases are going to do any business.

Hanafuda, if Enchanted Arms can sell 119,000 copies in the US when it only sold 24,000 in Japan. I am sure Blue Dragon, which will have a considerable MS ad campaign behind it, will sell quite well in the US. Especially considering that Blue Dragon won't suffer from the hatchet job reviewers gave Enchanted Arms. I mean Enchanted Arms is no classic but it is hardly the crapfest reviewers made it out to be. The battle system alone was worth the price of admission.

Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. Mistwalker themselves don't seem to be overly confident..

the 360's titles definately don't look that thrilling. But You know what, the 360 actually isn't doing too bad in Japan compared to it's predecessor. Sure, it's still 50,000 units behind in sales as the first X-box was this many weeks into its release, but it also had a terrible launch, and was over 170,000 behind it's predecessor 47 weeks in. The system has shown more momentum in the last few months than the first one ever did post launch. Also, the system has moved 50,000 more units of software than the X1 did at this point in the game as well. Now, these are still crappy numbers, but it shows that despite a craptacular launch, the 360 is on track to best it's predecessor in Japan.

50,000 units of VF5...I'd guess it sells around 120k. It only raised PS3 sales to 28k. 112k a month at that rate...1.3 million for a year at that rate. I'd call that 1.3 the bare minimum Sony sells in Japan this year. Probably closer to two to three million... Any guesses on how well Gundam will sell or Fire Emblem Wii will sell?