Japan will keeping warming up to the 360 since there are other big JRPGs coming out for the 360 i.e.Infinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant, Star Ocean:The Last Hope

Imagaine if the 360 hardware was above 20,000 for 2 weeks.......yeah I know guys, but imagine. The japanese have got IU in 1 month as well and then TLR 2 months after that. And 3 months after that is SO4. Thats a pretty good run of top drawer JRPG's sll exclusive to 360 in Japan. Momentum could pick up to above 10,000 a week by SO4 regularly.

I think the worst thing about all of this is that people are going to get false hopes that MS will do better in Japan when in reality your only setting yourself up for disappointment. Yes its a start to leading 360 in a more positive direction with the Japanese crowd, but don't be lead to believe that it's the 360's savior.

What we need to realize is that this is a step in the right direction for MS in catering to the Japanese market. No matter how much I disagree with their tactics in doing that, it still gives a more positive outlook. Start creeping up and little milestones such as getting a weekly average of 10k. When this starts to happen then speculation of these things can fly.

Anyways I hope the game opens to good sales because obviously it deserves it. 360 fans in Japan need something like this.

*not trolling simply putting perspective on the situation... of course people nowadays think everything is trolling*

The GTAIV line I stood in on launch night was wrapping around the building.  I had pre-ordered mine, so I didn't really need to be in line that night, but I wanted to check out the scene and hang out with some fellow gamers for awhile (my wife and one year old son are not very fun to talk to about games) but I was scared of reports of the game selling out and I could just imagine walking in to pick up my pre-order the next day to find out that it had been sold out from under me.  And sure enough, by the next night, it was very hard to find a copy of the game in the Chicago area.

It's been around 32 degrees here in Nippon every day and 100% humidity. That is why in the photo people look pissed off and tired.

I don't get people who "disagree" with their tactics.  They are fighting a war for second place with Sony.  They have the money to fight this war, and they have a good install base to back them up.  What do you expect them to do, lay down and let Sony trample them in Japan?  They had the money to secure some JRPGs and make them exclusive to the 360, so they did it, and it WILL move hardware.  No one title will single handedly save them in Japan, but several put together could. 

Microsoft could have gone the wimpy route in Japan.  Sometimes in business, a company will take a very passive route if they're being defeated in a certain market.  They usually just put their product in that market so they have some sort of presence and can maybe steal a small slice of the market share and maybe annoy their competition a bit at the same time.

Microsoft is NOT taking that route.  They are using their resources to make sure that Japan knows that they have not only a viable console, but also a superior platform for JRPGs.  And it seems like it's working, at least a little bit.  There are long lines for this game in Japan, and there are people walking out of stores with new 360s as well. 

And trust me, the vast majority of developers do not want to see Sony as the only player in town.  Not this generation.  It may have been ok in the hey day of the PS2, but the PS3 ain't the PS2.  There are other consoles on the market that are both more popular and have a bigger install base thus far.  In other words, developers make more money to consider ALL THREE platforms when making a game.  Of course there have to be exclusives in order to sway the market one way or another, but once that happens, the main thing for developers is to pull in more money.

It's simply a personal thing.  Where larger companies simply throw away millions(sometimes billions in MS's case to enter the gaming market... 26 billion by the way just for research and development of the Xbox and 360 not including the 5 billion in losses) just to push the smaller less capable companies out of business.  They can throw away all this money to make more competitive prices, make more acquisitions, and get more brand appeal because profits is not something they ahve to worry about when entering. 

It's an unfair advantage and usually their ultimate goal is simply to drive a single competitor out of the market such that they are hurt in other competing markets.  That's why I find it so awesome that this generation the Wii is coming out on top.  I mean the smallest company of the bunch shows up 2 companies that wasted billions for nothing. 

But that's why I disagree with a tactic.  It's low and shallow in my opinion because it's not the brighter side of the competition.  It doesn't help the customer out.  All it shows is a larger corporation throwing away millions or billions of dollars simply for the prize of destroying another competitor's business.  THAT'S WHY I DON'T APPROVE.  But you take whatever makes you happy. 

However on the other side of these things I hope the 360 does better in the Japanese market because its not a bad a console.  And the reasonings for their dislike of the 360 or rather MS(probably similar to mine) I think shouldn't be spoiled by that.  360 is a great gaming console with good games and I'd like to see them enjoy it just as much as I do.  Which is why I hope Vesperia helps out the title.

*waits for PS3 fanboy spin*

You can't possibly believe that MS thinks they will put Sony or Nintendo out of business.  Love or hate MS, they are not idiots.  If they were, they would not have gotten to be the company that they are.  MS simply wants to sell a lot of consoles and make money.  Of course they'd love to "win" the console war, but as long as they continue to be profitable with the 360, they'll be happy with that.  Just like Sony and Nintendo.  If you think any of those three companies are in business for any other reason, you're just simply wrong. 

Don't forget, in this particular situation, Sony is the reigning juggernaut.  Their PS2 console will always be considered a legendary machine and it won the last gen by a landslide.  The fact that the 360 has gained a lot of the market this gen is enough to establish MS as a real player in the video game industry.  Mission accomplished for them.  The only reason they take so much flack is because they're MS.  When Nintendo dominated the market and drove everyone else out with the NES, SNES, and Gameboy, they didn't take near as much heat.

You didn't read much of what I said. Sounds like you simply found a part of it and flew with it haha. Not put them out of business but take them down a notch. Drop them in market share for probably ultimately buying them out haha. And if not that keeping them from competing with them in other markets. There's a reason MS backed HD-DVD haha.

I'm not saying MS wouldn't like to win the console wars or make profits... but I think that would only be a bonus to their current agendas for this market. Goes along with why they are so focused on the PS3 and why so lenient with the Wii while possibly even trying to make "friends" with Ninty. Go figure.