Ok, so as we know Japanese gamers have a bias against buying any western made games regardless of their quality. I really cannot think an exception to the rule off hand. Even things like baseball which is popular in Japan does not sell well if it is Western produced.

Ok, so MS thinks the reason is because the stuff the west creates just does not appeal to Japanese gamers. So as MS does what they do best, they buy up as many Japanese oriented games as they can, and they also make sure they are the first next gen system on the market. What has this amounted to, About 200k more sales in 1 less year. I have no idea if MS thinks it was worth the price or not.

Ok, so now this is where I believe they have hurt the Japanese market in general- They were wrong in the assumtion that it was JUST the games.. it is them. There seems to be a major portion of the Japanese gaming population who will refuse until death to purchase a foriegn console. So this is where we are now- We have the 360 which has pretty much all the core Japanese oriented game up to this time but no one wants to buy it, then we have the Wii which has the casual side of the market (and Smash fans) all sown up, but the "real" gamers, the ones who buy all the games still own PS2s. Then you have the PS3 which does not have nearly enough japanese oriented games to warrant a purchase for it price. So imo we can give MS a big round of ovation for screwing up the entire Japanese Market with their failed market penetration tactics.... well, it was not a complete failure... they did sell 200k more consoles AND, they really f'd up their competition in Sony.

Now that aside, I do think regardless the market would be down over the past just based on demographic changes, but not the 50% down it is. And please do not say recession... we know how much negative affect they have on gaming .

How do they solve this? I think they are on the right track with the DQX announcement. They need to consolidate on to one console, which is what they have done every generation. The PS3, besides being undercut by MS, sealed their own fate when they left they base and tried to focus on the west(very Sega esque). Nintendo focused on the home land, then pushed there product on the west (we are just easier to push around I guess... lol).

I think DQX and the Train of Jgames that will follow it in Japan should help resurect(revive) it from what MS and a few other factors have done to it.... and maybe SMG and TP can rise with it... lol.

This is just too crazy to even respond. Seriously man, don't go Crazzy on us.

it is not crazzy. all of the japanese games are on the western console, is that a good sumation for you.

Maybe those japanese people should buy the console which has teh games... :D

You mention the real reason right in your post. The PS3 f'ed up. The 360 is too marginal a player to affect the market the way you suggest. It's Sony inability to sell the PS3 combined with the Wii's weak ability at selling third party titles the way the PS2 did.

To me, saying MS is the reason the Japanese market is down is akin to saying McCain lost the election because of Ron Paul.

 no this is not about why sony lost. it more about about why the market has not gone to the 7th gen in mass yet.

Yes the PS3 is f'd up. It does not help the MS took all the games that would have helped move the console there.

I think the Wii going to the core gamers there is the only hope to bring back all those core gamers.

If "they" "refuse until death to purchase a foriegn console." then I don't care if they're missing out. The ones who have no bias will go out and pick up a 360 and enjoy all the JRPG's!

You're such a hypocrit, I made a post the other day about sony with NO hate whatsoever and you label me a hater, would it be wrong for me to labal YOU an M$ hater right now?

They certainly refused until death to buy Ipods....oh wait.

Well, the OP has a point. The Japanese refuses to buy anything gaming related coming from the west. It's like one of their national pride. I'm sure that for each game released on 360, if that game woud have been released on either the Wii or Ps3, we would have seen a far larger boost than we've seen.

 No you called me a sony fanboy(i am by no means a sony fanboy), different than a MS hater. Also I do not hate MS, I prefer PCs, Zunes, and such. I have always hated the way the xbox division has chosen to market the xbox line (also for the same reason I hate apple's marketing, with there patronizing commercials). The original just made me laugh... "if we put a big X on it and tell people its way cooler people will buy ours more than theres...." sadly that does work on the 13-17 year old age group....

I said this was a theory, but I believe it is true. It makes sense, just step outside of your fanboy foxhole and take a look around. Since when do Japanese en masse migrate to western gaming??? Gaming is like part of their culture over there... at least that is what Kyohei told me (my Japanese roomate in college). Ok, now look at the Wii and PS3 what on the Wii and PS3 would appeal to the core gaming culture in Japan on them.... not much. They have no reason to buy PSWii and dont want a 360.... therefor... tadaa.. Sucky gaming enviroment over there.

I will be proven right when the Wii turns it all around when it begins get loads of AAA Japanese content.