@rocketpig

Microsoft probably bought DMC4 to their system, and sony trusted them and didnt write a contract(idiots).

I wasn't arguing who paid for what on which system... I was arguing the poster's point about Japanese companies needing Japanese sales to succeed. It's just not true and Capcom has proven that over and over again. While some of their games sell decently in Japan, the bulk of their sales are the PAL and NA markets.

And I doubt MS paid anything for DMC... Capcom has been going multi-plat with all their games recently (excluding LP and DR, but there wasn't another decent-selling HD system out to put them on at the time). They've announced that virtually every major game will be 360/PS3 multi-plat this generation. Given the amount of money they spend making a game, their strong sales in western markets and the 360's strong position in said markets, it makes sense for everything to be 360/PS3.

Has MS published a projection for Xbox sales this (2007) holiday season?  The game line-up looks good for the US market.  Is 5 to 6 million consoles to high a number world wide (4M US)?  I haven't seen any projections for this holiday season, but last holiday season, MS had very good numbers.  Hanging onto the lead in America might be enough of a spoiler to wee on Nintendo's fad.

Really the only reason why Nintendo passed the Xbox 360 anyway is because the Wii ia strong in Japan. Wii strong in Japan, while Xbox 360 isn't. But the 360 is doing good in America and Other regions. Japan is only stopping the Xbox 360 to reach its worldwide goal.

 In terms of Wii-X360-PS3 sales, less than 1 out of every 5 are purchased in Japan.

And while MS might like to be first and have big sales in Nippon, as long as they are ahead of sony they are not going to start crying.  With Madden NFL already selling a million copies, Ballmer might even be getting jolly.

They don't need to be 1st or 2nd but they do need enough sales to garner more Japanese support. Hopefully after the holidays they will have sold enough for other companies to produce some titles for 2008.

Yes

the foresight of this poster is great he needs some bonus points somehow

LOL. Since Nov 06 Sony has made no headway into catching 360 at all. 5,5million behind at PS3 launch. 5.5million behind now. M$ has outsold Sony 3 weeks running in Japan. There will be more weeks before next May(TLR and Star OCEAN, also CRY ON should have an effect). As far as I can see M$ will definately come 2nd this gen. There is no evidence to support otherwise.