^ MGS4 is a beast!

A sexy, perfect, amazing beast.

Microsoft can improve the situation in Japan. Plenty of western brands are successful in Japan so it's not like MS is destined to be doomed forever. The problem is they aren't smart about how they go about things over there. MS really shot themselves in the foot with these so-called "exclusive" deals for jrpgs. Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata and Enchanted Arms all have had PS3 ports with exclusive content after starting out as Xbox 360 exclusive. The same thing is happening with Star Ocean 4. What a way to screw over Xbox 360 owners. Many Japanese gamers got a 360 just to play Star Ocean 4 and Tales of Vesperia and now they are screwed. Why not make all this stuff multi-plat right from the beginning? That way PS3 owners won't have to wait and Xbox 360 owners won't be screwed out of exclusive content. Final Fantasy XIII and Resonance of Fate multi-plat releases are the way things should be. No timed exclusivity crap. Everyone is happy (ok not everyone. Lots of Sony fanboys are pissed off because *gasp* Xbox 360 owners liked Final Fantasy back on the PS1/PS2 are not being ignored by Square Enix.)

If MS really wants to improve their standing in Japan, they should stop relying on third-party Japanese publishers (Tecmo, Namco Bandai, Square Enix, From Software, etc. are in the business of making money, not in the business of pledging loyalty to Microsoft) to release so-called "exclusives" and focus more on first-party efforts (ie. publishing Mistwalker's games like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey). First-party games are guaranteed to stay on the 360 and aren't going anywhere. Unless the developer owns the IP (ie. Ninja Gaiden was published by MS but Tecmo owns the rights of the series). In that case, don't publish the game if you don't own it.

Giving incentives to third party japanese devs working on PS3 games to go multi-plat is a good move as well. It's not going to make much of an impact in Japan but it's good business in the west. Stealing FF13 exclusivity from Sony was a wonderful powerplay and while the 360 version won't sell as much even in the americas (since I predict that the japanophile "M$ sucks because it's american" effect will give the ps3 an edge), it'll still sell very strongly. Sales of Resident Evil 5, Devil May Cry 4, Street Fighter 4, etc. prove that the 360 can sell multi-plat Japanese games reasonably well in the americas. Much more significant to the MS bottom line than all those so-called "exclusives" were.

Compared to xbox its a upgrade x4.

I'd just like to point out to people who think the timed exclusives in Japan are a bad deal for Microsoft, that they wouldn'tve sold half as much as they have right now had they not done so. That's why they weren't multiplat from the beginning. Microsoft doesn't really care what they do after about a year or so. At that point, everyone who was going to buy a 360 just for that game had already done so, so it didn't really matter much at all.

This.

But then to actually discuss or debate the effectiveness and impact, wed have to know How much they paid for each timed exclusive. Because while MSFT did exceed expectation this gen in japan, imo, it appears in the grand scheme of things, depending on how much they had to pay for these timed exclusives we wont know whether it will be worth it either next gen or later.

To be honest, i dont think MSFT ever had or has any intention on cracking japan. Im sure with blue dragon, infinite undiscovery, last remnant, lost oddysey, trusty bell, ToV, NG2....i mean wow, think about that....they still havent been able to sustain anything long term....

I think they did a good job of bringing some new IP's to the table, and did a good job of attempting, i cant think of anything else they could have done to be honest, but as soon as FF13 comes out its just not oging to matter....every one of those games will be trumped.

It was a great attempt, and for the last 2 years it sure left sony with some serious poopoo on their face, but long term it really hasnt done much, and based on sales in japan now, ans preorders for FF13 in the region (200,000) already people have forgetton quickly about the oodles of JRPG exclusives on the system.

Not to mention ToV PS3 sales. MSFT had the software and then some....sometimes, stigmas, reliability and company dedication just matter more than software. But gamers benefitted, so i dont care if MSFT bled money at trying, or if Sony got shit on for 2 years in their home country, we all got some great games.

You do know that starved people will just eat twice or thrice as much when they finally get their hands on food, right?

Just ask anyone with "io-ioing" weight.

its not like it make much difference anyway.. still very small number.

FF13 in japan alone will eat all in a second.

by Japan exclusive you meant not released in the West- only in Japan, but all those games you listed were released in the West???

It pushes it over a million.

And what does Final Fantasy XIII have to do with anything?

its exclusive in japan.

a 360 only have able to push ratio 1/1. with exclusives

so i think most of 360 owners also have a ps3.

simple maths.

demographic it's kinda mess with 360 in japan.

third party mutiplatforms aren't really that diffence ps3 sells x4-5-6 times 360 does.