nothing new here but 360 doing very well in japan considering

Actually it means a lot, last gen MS sold 500k systems with a terrible attach rate meaning that the small userbase did nothing for them. This gen, not only are people buying the system, but a high attach rate means that people are enjoying it too. With the PS3 only three times ahead, developers will also consider the 360 userbase when making an HD game. As weve seen, RE5 did fantastic on both platforms, imagine the likes of Onimusha or Tekken now that both systems are standing at around 4-5 million?

So next gen, this small foothold will go a long way as those 360 owners will actually look forward to the next MS system. Also, if 360 sells around 1.5 million units, then theyll see their fortunes increase greatly, imagine them selling 30-60k units of a game regularly? With the systems power and ease of development, it could indeed be the next Sega Saturn, PC-E or Mega Drive of the region (only a MUCH smaller scale). Unfortunately, it might be too late before they do.

lol that 6666 number is awesome.

Yes but it becomes meaningless at each end of the scale.  With a small install base I can get very nice attach rates but it doesn't mean I'm winning anything.  360 is around 1M in Japan I guess.  That means only 100K units sold gets you 10% attach rate.  That's not better than having say 5M install base and 8% attach rate.

Similarly once the install base gets very large attach rate is going to seem to shrink.  GTA selling 17M on PS2 seems crazy, but with over 100M PS2s around it's attach rate wasn't anything amazing.

I'm not knocking the 360 in Japan, I'm impressed it's done so well.  But its very small improvements so far really compared to any sensible benchmarks, and it's been bought at a heck of a cost.

Last gen, the Xbox's Japanese support was basically Team Ninja alone. It had a solid launch, considering the circumstances - much better than the 360's launch. However, it pretty much died post-launch. The lack of software support was the cause of the low attach rates, as well as the cause of the horrible post-launch hardware sales.

In comparison, the 360 has had very impressive Japanese software support. That's driven both the superior attach rates and the improving year-over-year sales.

@Reasonable
While I agree with your attach rate poinst, I do think that the massive turnaround for MS consoles is quite an impressive feat.

Of course, people will say "it can be the cheapest of the three", but also the money MS has put into getting the JRPGs to their console in Japan is starting to pay dividends.

I am expecting that this momentum will (should) be lost when DQ and FFXIII hit.

Damage control so early? It's not Septerber yet.

would you define "Sony domination"? Is PS3 going to outsellf Wii after September? 2:1? 3:1?

I just want to have a reference when September comes.

It's a small improvement because they've gone from dead in the water to small, but steady toehold.  PS3 is pretty poor in Japan itself but as sold around 3 times as much in total.   Wii shows where they should be if they were selling strongly in the region (both now with the horrible dip and before hand).

I'm genuinely amazed the 360 has found a home in Japan, and its a great achievement with a ton of effort behind it.  But I feel too many 360 fans let the ratios blind them that when you've been selling horrible, when your console has effectively been dead in the water, even a modest improvement, from a ratio point of view, is going to look amazing.

The fact is the PS3 is hovering around 10K a week, which to me is a pretty weak performance vs previous benchmarks for the region, while the 360 is hovering around 5 to 6K a week, which is very low I'd say - great for 360 compared to where it was, but nonetheless very low.

Strategically its massive that 360 seems to have found this measure of success, empirically its still a very, very modest effort so far compared to other consoles in the region, and its clear that MS still have a long way to go if they are to ever have a console selling on a level with Nintendo/Sony consoles.

Also, you're assuming that next Xbox will maintain this pace while next Sony will remain flat - that's a pretty unfounded assumption, really.  Let's remember that PS3 still has exclusive FFXIII and GT5 to come in the region before the end of the gen, plus will be seeing many more jRPGs (finally).  Looking at current lineups and expected titles over next 12 months or so I think its very likely PS3 will move a fair bit ahead of 360 in Japan when the dust settles.

Now in the US on the other hand... that's where it switches.

Personally I find Others the most interesting region in a way because its so close between the two HD consoles - could go any way.  Japan seems sure to end up with large PS3 lead by the end of the gen over 360, US right now seems likely to go the other way.  But Others?  Who the heck knows.

You're bringing too much logic into this thread.