At the x360 launch in 2005, first party games where 50$ and third party games were 60$.

Eventually though, MS raised the price of their high priority games like halo 3 and GeoW.

Games are usually 60$ in the US now. Or less.

Give them away with each happy meal sold at micky D's :P

I'm not sure America was involved in WW1 in quite the way you imply, but certainly it helped in the second, even if it dragged its feet for a while until it saw it was in its own best interests as a country to assist.

As for re-building I'm also not sure about that - I really doubt America ploughed billions into rebuilding France, etc.

Also Europe doesn't hate all things Amercia, but right now a lot of Europeans feel that America (as a country) rushed headfirst into Iraq, etc. without enough care and thought.

None of this has squat to do with 360 though.  Many European countries still see PC as platform for men and consoles for kids.  This is changing over time, particularly in UK most teenagers now probably look to 360/PS3 rather than a PC but in Germany and others PC is actually the dominant platform for the kinds of games 360 is associated with.  In short, the 360 still carries the Xbox stigma of a poor man's PC.  The PS3 has other problems as the Wii has stolen the family/kids console of choice from Sony leaving the PS3 fighting for some customers with 360, slowly picking up others in slow waves with each major franchise release, or gaining customers who want it for BR as well as games.

But 360 is doing fine in Europe for what it is - if it wants to sell more it would actually do better with lower specs and a heck of a lot more casual/family titles.  Plus heaps more general brand recognition.

As for Japan - in truth any other company would have given up.  For example it pays for a SE exclusive and sees a sales spike of around 10K to 15K for a grand total of 25K console sales in the launch week, this is awful really from the console point of view vs the cost of the exclusive, and shows that, while the 360 has improved vs Xbox, compared to normal consoles sales in Japan its still dead - just still warm dead vs stone cold dead.

I honestly can't think what MS could do in Japan.  Right now they're probably glad Japan is seen as a little less important and many Japanese developers now want to do well in the West.  Without that shift I think the 360 would be facing a much tougher uphill battle, with far less willing support from Japanese developers like SE and Capcom.

Microsoft would have to become Japanese in order to get the sales that nintendo and sony enjoy. :/ others/japan don't like american made things it would seem

@OP: I don't know, but selling Ballmer to a soap factory should at least make Europeans and Japanese worry a little less

Doesnt 360 generally sell more in Europe than Ps3?

I think that Microsoft needs to realize that not everyone in Japan is an otaku that plays JRPGs. As more obscure those titles might be in the US, they're still pretty obscure in Japan as well. It's only the Otakus and the older men that want to experience nostalgia that will buy mech games, anime games, etc. If they only care about HARDWARE sales, they need to appeal to the casual gamers in Japan. They've totally dominated the US by targeting casual gamers (as in those who only buy Halo 3/COD 4, GTA IV, Rockband/Guitar Hero, +Sports games).

Take a look at the commercials for PS3 in Japan (it's even more interesting when you see the US commercials, and how they were targeting a more hardcore audience. I think they should really advertise to the casual market that the PS3 is the best blu ray player around, and that it's a two for one package):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UACcjTciEX8

Declare war.

Ps3 octtopus comercial was best of any console this gen imo.

Time and effort. There's no way to say "Hey look at this, now join us!"

Sony won Europe over back in the PSOne era because Nintendo basically didn't care. Sony actually focused on Europe a bit. Of course, then the Wii released, and...

Sony has the edge over 360 in Japan because:

1) It has a JRPG that the Japanese actually LIKE enough to buy two million copies first week [FF13] (the Wii does, as well).

2) It's Japanese.

3) It has fifteen years of history in Japan, compared to Microsoft's 8.

4) Games are still system sellers in Japan, and Sony has a hell of a lot of franchises popular in Japan, not all first party, but all exclusive: Final Fantasy (in Japan), Gran Turismo, Yakuza, Metal Gear Solid, etc. The 360 has some second rate SE JRPGs and Star Ocean.