So the 360s sales are horrid in Japan and will most likely never recover. I live in NA as I’m sure most of the members of this site do. I’ve seen many, many sales posts relating to Wii passing 360s sales numbers. Well of course they are they sell a ridiculous amount of wiis in Japan. But does that matter? I’m going to say nope. =) The only thing 360 needs from Japan in my opinion is developer support. Capcom, Namco, etc are producing great games for the 360. Of those 90% of sold out side Japan.

So it may not be possible for the 360 to take the lead in a ‘world wide’ sales but to me its not a big deal. I’m very pleased with my 360 so far. =)

Thoughts?

If PS3 continues growth in NA and EU, than yes it does. If PS3 doesn't, than I see 360 and PS3 coexisting nicely.

(EDIT: It's never going to "get" Japan.)

MS will have to pay for "3rd party support" of japanese companies, if their games don't sell in Japan.
That's as simple as that. Japanese companies just can't make games for everyone but the japanese market, unless they want to die. And I bet they don't want to die.
No, the foreign market (for japanese companies) is not enough to support them.

As far as ww sales go, they really need Japan if they want to get anywhere. If you look at the charts, Wii is catching up in NA, so it's only a matter of time before they fall behind the Wii in all areas, not just WW sales. As an American company, I personally want the 360 to thrive in Japan. It's almost like they're doggin us.

Yeah, they can't pull off 1st or maybe even 2nd by the end of the generation without Japan. Japan is very important because there are a lot of devs there, and like a previous poster said Microsoft has to front the cash to get significant developer support, or in particular exclusive support.

yea they do, Japan is very very important not just because of the sales but for this reason: Japan is quicker to join the new generation, and not only that but one console dominates once it takes the lead. This is so important because it's not like America where 3 consoles can sell well, in Japan if you are not #1 then you have a huge handicap right from the start. Since they adopt so early it's hard for the other markets to counter-act that, whether people like it or not the sales in Japan actually have a huge effect on the sales in the west.

No console has ever won Japan and lost the console war, the markets have a significant effect on each other. When the PSX started dominated in the west over the saturn that was the main reason why the saturn fell apart in Japan. It happened so quickly that they were both at about 4.2 million sold at one point, and PSX ended up with 19 million and Saturn ended up with 5.7 million.

As time goes on the global markets become more and more intertwined. Tastes are widening and more games are being released in all markets instead of just being made for 1 or 2.

What's interesting is that this COULD [not saying it WILL] be the generation where Japan's pre-emenince is finally eclipsed. IF Microsoft plays their cards right, is willing to eat another price cut SOON, and goes gangbusters in NA and others, we could have the HD console leader with nothing but a sniff in Japan.

Right now, PS3 is like a staggered heavyweight fighter. If MS could land one or two crushing blows, Sony would go down, no matter the Japan sales. Unfortunately, MS's footwork is lousy [RROD], and they just seem to want to clinch and hug [keeping with their own high price]. Slowly, Sony is getting its wind back, and if MS doesn't stop coasting, resting on the points its accumulated in the early rounds, Sony could very well scrape their way back into a split desicion victory.

the bottom line is if you get japan right from the start, it's gonna be nearly impossible for anyone to take it from you. Since Japan basically decides first, it has a heavy weight on what happens the rest of the console war. America and Europe can much more easily change their mind on what console they want.

they can pull off second but they will never make first without all major regions behind them.

However, it's looking more and more like a race for second place, so it might not matter too much.

Depends on what you mean, I wouldn't say PS3 is doing very well in Japan either.  If PS3 had the sales the Wii is having now in Japan then it would be nearly impossible for the 360 to pass it worldwide.  Before HGS PS3 was outselling 360 by like 5k in Japan, now it is more like 20k but it's still not extremely significant.