This combined with tales of Vesperia could spell big trouble for the PS3.

smbu - If your around the retailers again, you should ask how well the X360 has been selling since the price drop to get a solid number on sales.

Looking at current trents, it seems that the 360 will be outselling the PS3 in Japan by March 2009.    They're both selling like a hundred units a day or some shit.

Nah.

I believe M$ JRPG/S-E strategy, along with the price drop will surprise many. When Tales released M$ stated 360 would not return to full stock in Japan until September, and they knew the price drop was coming. 360 has been largely out of stock, and with a price drop coming there has been no reason to buy it.

I really think Sony needs to worry about M$ in Japan. As of today it's half the price of the PS3 and has the biggest selection of RPG's and the casual games that might sell in Japan are coming ("Lips" & "You're In the Movies", etc). If M$ gets ahead of Sony in Japan they will have given themselves new hope of coming in second this gen, leaving only the European market to Sony.

Anything could happen, but Sony could be in trouble in their own backyard, and that's never a good thing.

Great news for the 360!! I would love to hear more news about how it is selling in Japan. This does cause trouble for PS3 because every 360 sold is another potential non sale for the PS3. In Japan the HD sales are pretty low. Every system sold counts and MS who is fighting a monstrous uphill battle is trying hard to get a foot hole there. (much harder then other companies) This shows it is working… For how long? I don’t know… but this does help pave the way for the 720.

I agree. Microsoft is really trying to build up a real userbase in Japan, while Sony announces new West-friendly games. Its like Japan & the rest of Asia don't matter anymore (maybe this is why the X360 is doing great in Taiwan, HK and SK?).

It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft markets Lips in Japan.

You have to admit that Japan has been rather unfriendly towards consoles this gen. This is the reason sony may not be heavily focused on marketing the ps3 in Japan. Even the wii is selling like ass in Japan compared to the west.

M$ can build a real userbase in JP but with JP's current indifference to console gaming, I'm not sure if it's entirely worth it. It seems more worthwhile for M$ to just launch a handheld to compete with DS and focus on marketing that in Japan.

X360 is doing great in Taiwan, HK and SK primarily because of software piracy. This doesn't really help M$ because as you know, software is where the $$$ is at lol

Where are you guys getting this info that Lips will be released in Japan? I haven't found any info on it...or You're in the movies Japan release date for that matter....

Lips is made by iNiS - the creators of Ouedan/Elite Beat Agents. They are a Japanese company, and it's very hard for me to think that the game wouldn't be released there.

Although Japan is indeed favoring handheld gaming more than console gaming, console sales aren't that bad. 2007 saw hardware levels at 5.97 million units between the Wii, PS3, PS2, X360, and Gamecube. In 2002 (a similar year), console sales were at 6.32 million units between the PS2, PS1, GC, Xbox and Dreamcast - only down by 5%. So it's not as bad as you think. 

Also, if you look at MGC profiles for SK, Taiwanese, and HK Xbox 360 owners, quite a few of them own legal copies of Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and other major J-centric games. I've argued that many of these games are undertracked by VGC, due to the compelling information that asiatic markets for the X360 are significant. You can argue pirated software (which there is), but those areas do move quite a bit of legal stuff too.