@BritBloke916: Why should any PS3 owner be mad though ya know? It's ridiculous how loyal people are to big companies like Nintendo,Sony or Microsoft. They don't give two shits about anything but the bottom line. I wish more people would realize how faceless the consumer is to the "Big Three".

EvilMetsFan

@fakeplasticlung: That me lol haha... I'd love to hear their battle plans... They should bum rush the targets by yelling KAMIKAZI!

hyewarrior

@fakeplasticlung: Cool. Previously, I met most of the Japanese Live users I've run into via Ace Combat 6 and Forza. A few on Halo and a few on CoD4.

Parsifal

av model faceplates(inter alia) and ms will have the market cornered

kitsuneconundrum

@fakeplasticlung: LOL. I think i played them before with some of my friends, we were absolutely obliterated! I can't remember the clan tag though.

nottsville

@SPni: let it go, All languages are constantly changing, cat speak is the new English.

Plsk1n

My god...

Anaralia

@crazyace: Yeah that's true, it probably would have only helped a smidgen. Don't get me wrong, I think this is great for them - I wasn't casting doubt on their latest surprising escapades in Japan, just noting something which hasn't been mentioned.

Theoris

I for one welcome our new Japanese brethren to Live.

Fear not the world of Online...

Parsifal

Well, they are pratically giving them away... and with all those jrpgs, its quite tempting. I'll just wait till they drop them to say... 100$?

SirM

As a PS3 owner, I'm actually not particularly upset about this - rather I'm hoping that it will serve as a good kick in the ass for Sony, forcing them to get their act together.

BritBloke916

@Theoris:

The thing is, how much stock could M$ have had in Japan before they sold out? I can't imagine too much with them only selling ~2000 units a week prior to this. With most of it probably being units from the original launch. Which that in itself wasn't too impressive.

crazyace

some japanese clan kicked my ass in halo 3 last night and i loved every second of it

fakeplasticlung

Get your ice-skates on and let's take a visit to hell!

At last, the MS strategy of JRPG after JRPG is slowly starting to make its mark... hope this isn't a short-term blip.

midnightz

@SPni: *simply

Kotaku needs edit function for non proof reading idiots like myself.

SPni

Wow, I... I just don't know what to say. *wipes solitary tear*

mind in rewind

Cats and dogs living together... mass hyteria!

But yeah, good for MS. Honestly, with the recent price drops, I'd get a 360 too, if I didn't have one already.

Poison

Stunned. I am simple stunned.

SPni

@Witzbold: I wasn't implying it was intended. But isn't this a case of understocking leading people to wait until the following weeks? The previous weeks have been so small..

No need to swear at me.

Theoris

Well, I like the 360 library of games, I just wish the consoles themselves were a bit more reliable. Thanks to my RROD problems I've inadvertently ended up with 2 working 360s as the extended 3 year warranty let me repair my first unit. My other unit had to get repairs too. Can't even sell the other one off as I know it's just a matter of time before they get RROD again.

Just can't imagine the Japanese are having a ball with these problems either. I don't blame them if they were trying to steer clear of a $300~$400 hit-or-miss purchase. Now that the 360 is much cheaper and still come with 3 years warranty it's not so much a big deal anymore.

crazyace

In all honesty I am not impressed I was expecting 50k minimum. They would have to sell almost 2 million consoles to catch up to the ps3 in japan.

97gsx

@Theoris: No because there was no stock to hold back in the first place.

Jesus fucking christ people.

Witzbold

Isn't this just a case of holding back stock, making people wait who would have bought it the past couple of weeks, and then releasing in a flurry of high amounts of purchases? Making it feel more 'sought after'.

Almost like the Wii.

Theoris

@EloraHRanma: That was my first reaction too ^_^

Here's hoping they can keep some momentum going in Japan - if they can, hopefully we'll get a few more Sony-only franchises to go multiplatform...

AndyboyH

First Japan! Then the world!

alecpyron

Did the 360 just outsell the Xbox's total Japanese sales in a week?

I dont know if thats great for the 360 or sad for the Xbox.

Probably both.

SaanZ

O_o I guess they really did sell out of consoles.

BaseVilliN

Impressive, I think all those school girls DLC outfits got to the Japanese crowd!

I kid, I kid.. MS got dealt a better hand this time, but it never was a fluke to them. They really worked their asses off for this day.

Plsk1n

A sign of the Apocalypse, surely!

But in all seriousness well done to MS. Its about time the Japanese realised what they were missing out on:)

TheSpiller

I am wondering, will this start a trend? Can we expect the 3600 now to regularly sell more than 2-4k units a week in Japan? Or will we see it go back to the old numbers in a couple of weeks, after the impact of the price drop and Tales has worn off?

EvilFiek

couple week like this one and they will have biger base than sony with ps3, cool

yanogore

Holy crap, all those deals with Square really did pay off. Is this the start of a new trend? Probably not but it's cool that they finally made a dent.

egyptomix

Holy Sno, Holy Snot Indeed. I to want one. Im just gonna get the $200 arcade one. Nothing to fancy, you know?

shrek187

The awesome power of the Tales series conquers all! Even the super weapon Metal Gear Wii!

Blazinfire0

So, I wonde if the people laughing about last weeks ~800 for X360 sales are still laughing.

Tyrannical

The end of the world is NIGH!

EloraHRanma

We'll I'll be...I did not see this one coming...I guess Tales of Vesperia is better than I thought.

PhilESkyline

Well done MS. It's hard making the Japanese buy products made from the West, especially when it has a high failure rate!

DiskoDanyo

28k! Now that's something . . .

Voyevoda

im glad to see it, with the work MS put in this gen to secure some JRPGs and broaden their library.
no doubt there'll be a slew of people saying this is a fluke, and others with the usual xenophobic commentary about japanese business and such, but you know what? if MS just "stopped trying" like so many here'd told them, we'd not have seen this progress.

TheIrishNinja

i wonder how long this is going to last...

Geomanis

Our l'il green pie-chart sliver grows up... *wipes tear from eye*

ShaggE

*crosses fingers for great WKS launch in December*

bobtheduck

lol wut?

outofreach

@XbhaskarX: Sigh.

dowingba

@XbhaskarX: Thats a load of crap considering its the third largest region for consoles in the world.

LaylaMisun

This is a great performance fo MS.

Although with these sales they will probably be in short supply again next week.

GloryHornetEmmo

You know your desperate when you celebrate ONE weeks worth of sales. I don't think I've ever heard of that before.

LaylaMisun

@dowingba:
Ummm, "the console war" will most certainly NOT be fought in Japan, as consoles are practically dead in Japan relative to the US and EU.

XbhaskarX

Decent games, localized well or made for the area first, units in stock, decent adverts for support.

I really have to applaud Microsoft for the change around, they really have stepped up and started to treat Japan like a real market where they can do well as opposed to years past.
Oh those good ole days when hardly a game was made with the Japanese market in mind or they weren't even translated into Japanese. Too bad it just took this long and it's after I move to the States.
Now just to hope Microsoft will make the PES Controller standard.

Kenofthedead

Aside from the lower price all the new JRPGs, the 360 is now both less likely to break and much quieter.
I'm sure those changes are all having a positive influence over Japanese consumers.

XbhaskarX

Man, didn't see that one coming. The 360 is really setting itself up as the place to go for JRPGs. PS3 still having FF13 exclusive in Japan is gonna go a long way though. This generation, the console war may be fought in Japan, with RPGs as ammo.

dowingba

Whoa

NoBullet

Wait wait...WHAT? People in japan know the 360 exists? And they're buying it?!

*looks outside for sky falling*

Ajh

@tossrStu: CheapyD's friend's words, not mine =)

It's in CAGCast #133 - Steal This in the first 1/3 of the podcast.

Rask

Xbox 360s are #1 in Japan? I... I... Did I wake up in Bizarro World this morning? *looks at his coke can* Or maybe someone slipped me some sort of narcotic. *looks around* Hmm. No giant pink ducks are talking to me, so that must mean this is Bizarro World.

Salen

Ok... im waiting for the universe to collapse on itself any second now.

Shiryu

@Rask: People are apparently calling that announcement the second atomic bomb.

Wow, that's... kinda tasteless -- yet somewhat appropriate, considering the original Xbox's codename.

tossrStu

God bless you, Microsoft. God bless you for bringing the peoples of the world together and allowing us to speak a shared language: the language of gaming. From West to East and back again, nation shall speak unto nation, and they shall say "LOL U GOT PWND FAG".

tossrStu

I was listening to the the CheapAssGamer podcast yesterday on my drive in from work and Cheapy was mentionning that the perception of the 360 on asian message boards has been changing quite a bit since the FF13 announcement.

People are apparently calling that announcement the second atomic bomb.

I don't think anyone ever expected the 360 to best the Wii in Japan ever...

Rask

@Parsifal:

The one time I played with a lot of Japanese gamers on Live was with the release of Lost Planet. The first few days it was out there would be some matches where everyone but me would be from Japan. If I remember correctly, they released it there first and that may be why there was the surge in Japanese gamers. I thought then that MS was finally getting a foothold. Maybe I was right, but just two years early.

Sloopydrew

In a related note, a small fireworks stand in Redmond just sold their entire stock in one sale.

justhesh

I can see kingdom hearts and FFXIII doing this for the PS3 also LBP may have a similar effect world wide if sony is lucky

Blazinfire0

@ Castef

They have Last Remnant, another Square Enix game coming out in November, so It may happen once more this year.

Plus another RGP out after xmas.

GloryHornetEmmo

Good for MS and great for Sensui. Maybe he can make enough progress to move up the ranks and play a bigger role in the Xbox division.

Spartan1308™

@SamuraiG0SU:
Yeah I hear Tales is pretty good.But,Infinite hasn't been getting such good press over here.

enewtabie(wants a job at Insomniac Games in NC)

Job well done? Hell no. Online retailers all over are completely sold out, lots of smaller game shops are reporting getting only 1/10 of the stock they requested, etc. I'm sure they didn't expect it to sell this well, but if it takes them a month again to refill stock like the last time around...

muu

*checks date*
*not April 1st*

Well, shit. Good for MS, I guess.

deviantCharles

Well, don't forget that also Infinite Undiscovery has been released. Two "big" JRPGs in a so short time. Quite a unique occurrence for Xbox 360 in Japan. I can't see another one coming in the next year, for istance.

Castef

TOV is great.

So now i understand why it [xbox360] is selling well in japan. (since the launch of tales...)

SamuraiG0SU

weren't Enterbrain the people behind the RPG makers? :S

lucky_7s

All prepare for the second coming! The end s nigh!

Acebuckeye13

Now if they could just level off at 10,000 units a week instead of their usual 2,000-4,000 a week some more Japanese publishers might actually start taking them seriously.

Wickerman1972

Tis cold down here. Just goes to show that hard work can pay off when you keep at it.

el_rezzo

@DiskoDanyo: by your reasoning xbox live should be a ghost town then!

news just in: IT AIN'T!

shaunomacx

Holy shit, the 360 outsold the Wii.

R0YB0T

Always good to see!

Melee Is Best

Well done, I really hope the Xbox Japan team get some sort of bonus. Yeah, this is a very small achievement on the whole, but considering how little the Japanese public cared about the Xbox brand even a year ago this is fantastic.

Hopefully they manage to get more consoles into the country and keep up their hardware sales.

Kazzahdrane

If you get the games, they will come!

KEELr

@Rask: "People are apparently calling that announcement the second atomic bomb."

Er, I'm pretty sure that Japan has already been on the receiving end of two nukes back in the 40's. So I guess that this would be third atomic bomb. Except that the first two were hugely important world events shaping the very nature of human civilisation, and this is about video game sales.

BritBloke916

It's over 9000!!??

Sorry could not resist the DBZ plug.

I guess even in the land of the rising sun, they know a good deal when they see one.

~soul

Black_Ops_19

Big deal...And it was Infinite Undiscovery that boost up sales not Vesperia. Fact is that they spend so much money to have a boost to slightly surpass the wii(which do not have ANY major game release in weeks).

But in the kingdom of the BLIND the one eye is KING.

AkiraGr

@Rask: "People are apparently calling that announcement the second atomic bomb."

Wow, history FAIL.

I'm sure the people of Nagasaki would disagree

NecronomiconUK

@UnnDunn: Wow, you won this thread.

EvilFiek

Holy shit, that was like 4 times what I thought they'd sell after the cut...kinda glad I bought mine on the day and didn't wait a week.

Just goes to show you that a whooooooole lot of people were banking on the price cut, and hey, now that the stock is sold out, the demand might rise even more- have nots hearing from the haves how good the system is now that they've actually bothered to look at the games, once it got cheap. Or, the other way around, the have nots hearing from the haves how much the game have almost no substance. Choose one, they're both right, and they apply to all systems anyway.

denki

So it appears that maybe the LHC shoved us into some sort of bizarre alternate universe where the 360 moves units in Japan. :o

UnnDunn

So Tales of Veperia is like crack for the Japanese?

MetalGearMax

Congrats to MS, here's hoping it levels off nicely and isn't just a 'perfect storm'.

With such a boost like that it's only time as word of mouth and prioritised displays knock away the bias and the community grows.

The more people buying the 360/ps3 and less buying the wii the better imho, i'd rather not have a future where the casual 'mainstream' commands my favourite pastime.

edhe (xbl)

I think the world is ending or something. 0_o We live in weird times.

yanipheonu

Tales of Vesperia IS quite good. Aside from Ramza, maybe, it has the best lead character in a jrpg ever.

Inglix

Cool beans, I wonder how they're doing in the states now.

Ptolemy

finally, a real console war. not a beating.

s.

ciruela

@Inglix:

You're forgetting Xenogears.

Koztah

Ops, I forgot, props to MS. They are true contenders and not giving up on Japan is finally paying off. Hope they can keep up the pace!

lucasreis

@Xemnas: You´re like the worst kind of fanboy ever. I don´t believe that you have the three consoles. To me, you just say it to sound unbiased and get away with it. And even if you have the three of them you´re not smart by just getting games for one of them. If you really care 97% about the PS3 just sell the other consoles. I don´t have a PS3 cause it didn´t do anything for me until now, but if I had more money I would get it and have all of them (proud owner of PS1 and PS2 here). But I split my time between the Wii and the 360 very well.

Competition is good for everyone. Don´t cry because the 360 outsold everyone in Japan, fanboy...

lucasreis

@Xemnas: dude your probably the only one i even have a ps3 and have a total of 3 games for it vs 15 on my 360

phantam

holy shit! thats 28k in ONE WEEK, damn those chinese are price concious consumers, i know microsoft said that the 200$ pricepoint is where 90% of all consoles start selling but DAMN

phantam

Wow! It was true after all...LOL

CCCombobreaker

beat the wii? Jeeze.

tooji

@Xcite79: What a joke. I want to see the PS3 meet the most success, as, as an owner of all three consoles, I find it to be the only console deserving. The Wii has sold itself out to cheap party games, for the most part. And, the 360 has broght nothing but frustration, terror, and annoyance to me. Whereas, I end up spending about 97% of my gaming time with my PS3.

Xemnas

there is just one thing that can make the 360 a success in japan - adult games.

BADASSgeek

@Xemnas:

"They don't deserve sales."

What?

jwpunk

Sorry, guys. I just entered that comment before finishing. I own a 360, so don't call me a fanboy. But, I think the 360 has marked only bad things for this console generation. Now, if you disagree, so be it. But, you're not going to change my mind. Only Microsoft has the chance to do that, and they bury themselves deeper each and every day.

Xemnas

@Xemnas:

Who cares but you? I rather see a competitive market than one where Nintendo continues to conquer and can get aways with majority of the garbage on their system so who really is more deserving or are you going to let your fanboyish heart decide?

Xcite79

I beat it had something to do with the price drop. It is is one of the advantages the Wii has always had but now the 360 is more price competitive. Adding Tales of Vesperia obviously was a boost as well.

Xcite79

Geez, c'mon, people! Of course I'm still laughing at 800 units sold last week. I'd think it's maybe a bit obvious that the Japanese people saw the USA price drop, went "Hmmm... wonder when we'll get in on that action. Guess I'll wait until then." and then jumped when it dropped. It's a cheaper console than Wii, with better games. Plus everyone and their mother already owns a Wii... something else is bound to sell better than the slowing Wii one week.
If you average out the past two weeks, you've got under 15k units sold still. One week does not even a battle make. Nintendo probably saw that and "meh"ed because they know next week, Xbox will probably drop off the face of the earth again. And they won't outsell Wii this week, because you can't find the damn Xbox units in stores, due to Microsoft routing the systems to countries where they actually sell.

Roughly the same weeks last year:
September 3 - 9, 2007
Wii - 29,088
PS3 - 13,248
X360 - 1,286

September 10 - 16, 2007
Wii - 26,181
PS3 - 13,101
X360 - 1,243

They'll need a hell of a lot of 25k+ weeks there to even see their competition in this marathon... and since the 360 is known for having little blips in sales in Japan, I suspect they won't have another 25k+ week for quite some time (maybe when it drops another 5k yen?)

rentahero1

Hopefully, this madness will end by next week. They don't deserve sales.

Xemnas

I'm glad for them, shocked, but glad.

EmeraldDragon

@paulpc: Unfortunately there is no emote or ascii depiction of eye-rolling that will even come close to conveying how stupid I think your comment is.

Sandvich

Xemnas: the 360 has broght nothing but frustration, terror, and annoyance

Oh my God! The TERROR! The sheer terror!

Sandvich

@Talryyn: Huh? We already do.

vx2

Wow good for all gamers! Maybe we will get better games.

Talryyn

I'm sorry....WHAT?!

CanaryWundaboy

September 11 ? Weird, just like Microsoft.

paulpc

@phantam:

Chinese?

Amazing, just simply amazing. I'm neither ethnicity and that's just insulting.

And it was Activision, not Microsoft that said that the "Next Gen" consoles had to get to the $199 price point before they started selling.

adinnieken

@Xemnas: Are you serious?! Just because you enjoy the PS3 over the other consoles the sales for the 360 should stop? Good god, angry fanboy alert! Don't get your panties all in a bunch, this sort of thing doesn't happen too often, just go back to hugging your PS3, it needs some more loving....

Teamwork Takedown

@phantam:

chinese? O_o

anyway, congrats MS.

cyhborg

Got Tales yesterday. Japan made a good choice.

FP_slomo788

O_O;

Incredible....I guess they finally found the magic bullet.

Knoxximus (360/PSN)

I think this is just a spike from it coming back in stock and it will reclaim its familiar dead last position next week.

Mezodon

@Talryyn: You mean, more generic shooters..

CockroachMan

Xbox 360 outsells the Wii? IN JAPAN?!? Have to give them credit, Tales and a reduced price point is working out really well.

Xenigma

@Tyrannical: I doubt it. I was assuming that the Japanese were waiting on the price cut. Seems like I was right.

twinturbo2

@phantam:

/facepalm

Jeff

Damn, If I had just held out another 2 years, I would have been able to get in on this price cut action.
*slaps forehead*

Chinpokomon

@phantam:
Man that just made you sound so bad.

Just an FYI, this may come as a shock, but people living in Japan are Japanese. People living in China are Chinese.

That one comment made you sound like a big racist. (not because of the cheap comment, but because of your generalization that people in asian countries are all chinese)

eblend

:O very suprising,MS worked their but off and they deserve this im proud of them

reaper208

And the Cubs win the World Series!

DugDawg

@Xemnas: You can always call the police and have them come and take the 360 away. It's okay little one, we know it scares you and beats you into terror but if you just make that call, just call.

Anyway nice for MS, I like to see them rewarded for there great efforts in Japan and I can't see a more deserving company this gen since MS has focused harder on that market than the competition has on any market. As an RPG fan I've seen the benefit myself too so I'm glad to support MS and see them get some reward.

Llost

I bet THEY (Japan) are getting the Jaspers....T_T

Knoxximus (360/PSN)

@Xemnas:

I totally agree with you. I'm not trying to be a fanboy, but what I'm about to say will come off as extremely fanboyish.

With Microsoft buying exclusivity and games that would otherwise be exclusive (you know it's true), they are preventing the PS3 from realizing its full putential. I'm in no way saying the 360 should not be getting good exclusives, but not other consoles. By doing this, Microsoft is ruining competition. Without a good rival console, many first party's will not push themselves to create the best game they can make (though on the other hand, the lack of PS3 games has lead to good things from sony first partys).

Anyway, there should definitly be a balance.

cakeman19

@Sasquatch: nobody likes the wii. it's all about the selfish desire to own something that is supposed to be rare and hard to get. i gurantee if nintendo wasn't curving demand and everybody could get one then it would fail miserably.

Xtreme_Hindu_Cow

@Tyrannical: I am and a lot!!

mpar

I have both a PS3 and a 360, and they both have their strengths. For me, I prefer to controller on the PS3, and the fact that when I want to upgrade the HDD, I can just put in a new SATA drive instead of overpaying for the 360 hard-drive. Plus, when it comes to huge games, it's nice to know that Blu-Ray will be able to accommodate the coming storage demands (FFXIII for example, I'm sure will be on multiple discs for the 360, although I must congratulate MS for pulling that exclusive away from Sony). But, when it comes to big-time multiplayer, I prefer Xbox Live. It's just a more robust, easy-to-use service and is easily worth the $4/month I pay for it. It also has a really strong media-delivery service. I have the entire 4th season of Lost in sharp HD, and they were only a few bucks per episode. I have both consoles because this year, there's no way I'm going to miss out on either Gears of War 2 or Littlebigplanet.

Fanboyism is retarded. Unless you work for one of these companies, your fierce loyalty is a waste of emotional energy. Just pick what you like and shut the fuck up. I don't really like the Wii, but I'm not on here every time I see a Wii post to pick fights. I generally keep that opinion to myself unless asked.

Sasquatch

wow, that is pretty impressive.

Gray665

I own all three consoles and for a fact my 360 gets the most play. Welcome to the XBL fun Japan!

axiomatic

@MysteriousStranger: I own all three, and have nothing but contempt for the way the 360 platform is designed, and the choices Microsoft makes with it. I like what Sony is doing, I'm curious what Nintendo is doing, but what Microsoft is doing fills me with vitriol. The main reason I put it away is that I'm tired of throwing money at it.

HikariOblivion

Yes! I think Japan should definitely give the 360 a chance. It's the console to have for JRPG's, among just about every other genre. I'm glad to see that maybe the tide is beginning to turn.

HaydenTenno

@XbhaskarX:
Its 28k consoles for MS , 27k for Nintendo and another 8k for sony in one f***in week which makes your statement stupid. Consoles are dead in japan pfft... maybe you should think al little more before commenting or maybe read the article just maybe..

evetssteve

damn... go ms

ZetaCrossfire

Well when you have Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, Eternal Sonata, and to a lesser degree, Infinite Undiscovery and Blue Dragon, with The Last Remnant and Star Ocean 4 to come (plus the western RPG's in Oblivion, Mass Effect, and Fallout 3,) then it's easy to see how the 360 appeals to that market now both in the US and Japan. It's amazing Microsoft has stolen a market from Sony they've dominated since the PS1 over 10 years ago.

MSUHitman

@cakeman19: You might have a point, except fact gets in the way. As someone on here informed me a few weeks ago, its the PS3 thats holding back the 360, not the other way around. Welcome to the world of creating parity by adjusting to the lowest common denominator. Multi-platform games have made the differences in the 2 consoles completely irrelevant. The only true competition is between MS and Sony's pride.

Sweetsauce

@Xemnas: o boy, one of those fanboys that claims to own all three.

MysteriousStranger

@BritBloke916: ...you shouldn't be upset either way

MysteriousStranger

@cakeman19: Your argument is backward and stupid, microsoft "buying exclusives" is good for competition it means sony will need to step up its game through in house development, thats where the future of games will be one, sonner rather than later all 3rd party devs will be multiplat, and the your going to have to choose which console has the games you want from in house devs!

SSJ4_Macd

Microsoft is breaking through in Japan! I never thought I would see the day. Seriously this must be like a miracle to Microsoft, I am not even sure they thought they would ever do it at this point. It beat the Wii for god sakes, that's just insane. I am surprised the Enterbrain computer did not start spouting "does not compute" and explode when it got these numbers.

Congrats to Microsoft it has been an long hard road for them in Japan to this point, but it might just pay off after all.

WPack911

So, they'll come for it being cheap, and then get suckered into paying more for it than they would for the PS3. Lurvely.

HikariOblivion

Hey if you look outside u might see some pigs flying!!!!

quadrado

Wow. All those JRPG investments must be paying off now.

Rctdaemon

Monumentally slow week in Japan, then?

marmidukestank

@Witzbold:
I wasn't expecting that kind of crap from you.

milkmonkey

@eblend:
Racism: Prejudice or discrimination based on an individual's race; can be expressed individually or through institutional policies or practices.

Calling Japanese people Chinese =/= racism.
Stupid maybe, but not racist.

ps360blows

So, when you sell something for cheap, people will buy it.

What a revelation.

gains

@B33: Not permenantly but it's an increase and they can follow up on that with more games and more titles to get that increase to repeat itself.

Llost

Seems like Microsoft finally found the missing ingredient to their console in Japan... Though, will it last?

B33

@HikariOblivion: So you have no contempt for Sony of today? What about the Sony of yesterday. Are you talking about the same Sony since the success of the 360 was based on the strategy of the PS1/PS2? In much the same way the success of the Wii was based on the strategy of Apple.

Tepoz

OMFG! And BADASSgeek, I really doubt about your opinion. What's most desired in japan are RPG games, being these adult's or not that far.

VelhoBabao

Yeah, I'm still laughing... the 360 finally outsold the PS2! Hahahahahha!

TheFaze

Well, the price point I think and the recent introduction of several exclusive JRPGs has to do with this sale price. Coincidence? I don't know

eternalsunshineofcoralfang

@cakeman19: Oh the youth of today.

I guess you have no clue as to why the PS1 and PS2 dominated gaming. That Microsoft strategy you hate so much, well, they lifted that strategy straight from Sony since it worked so damn well. I doubt you were a member of the original Playstation Underground back in the 90's.

Tepoz

As a resident of japan and an owner of all 3 platforms, this is good news. More 360 sales means more games for the platform released here(although to be honest, the 360 already has far more titles than the PS3 here)

As of now, the 360 gets about 90% of my playtime with over 70 games owned compared to roughly 6 for the PS3, so this is more good news in that ill have more people to play online with.(PSN is broken for me)

That said, I dont think this will be high next week as I just looked at sites such as amazon and yodobashi and they are sol dout. Additionally, both of the local retailers are sold out too. So until they can restock, im guessing we'll see another 800 week.

RuneX21

Hell is freezing over. I saw Daemons in Shinjuku screaming in pain and burning...it was an ugly sight.

Voltron

@HikariOblivion: Can you not explain why it's bad with logical reasons rather than just saying your going to stop giving them money?

Llost

Wait, I thought the apocalypse wasn't for another four years. Did CERN have something to do with this?

TSlade

This console race has been the most interesting one. From the surprise dominance of the Wii to the PS2 lasting forever and ever to the constant shifting of momentums between 360 and PS3. Crazy stuff, but terribly intriguing.

If the 360 gains a significant foothold - even if a distant third place - in Japan this gen, it could totally change what happens next gen.

This holiday is going to be very interesting. Will Little Big Planet move consoles the way advance buzz suggests it could/should/deserves to? Will 360's price drops and reach for the casual help it solidify it's claim to second place worldwide? Will the Wii ever slow down? Will the DS number sold eventually surpass the population of the globe?

Stay tuned.

lionkitten

Well I'll be damned. It is the first sign of the apocalypse! What will happen now? The end of the world is surely upon us...

But that's cool for MS. I used to have an Xbox 360, and now I have a PS3, but the Xbox 360 did have some good exclusive games.

MGSchick

Wow. Just WOW. That's seriously impressive. So is this a perfect storm/sales to retail outlets (and not to consumers)/or is it that Japanese customers are so price-sensitive?

Oh wait, maybe it's a combo, with Japanese consumers being more savvy about how appalling the lineup of games is for the Wii and choosing the 360 as their 2nd console now? Maybe even their 3rd?

I just can't see them giving up PS3 sales due to the blueray factor alone.

mariospants

@Tepoz: Yep, as someone who stuck by the Saturn, the N64, the Dreamcast, and the Xbox, I had plenty of contempt for Sony in the day :)

But I live in the present. Thinking back just brings the pain of the fact that there just aren't games like there were then.

Sigh.

@Llost: Sure. Low hardware quality, malfunctioning diagnostics, and the whole thing is built around one thing: if it can exist, Microsoft gets a share, and we've already seen how this applies to such mythical things as user content.

HikariOblivion

@pasquinelli: oh, we covered that already.

pasquinelli

@shrek187:

No..no..no...Just get the model with the hard drive. You will regret it...

phunky420

@eblend: let's be fair, it didn't make him sound racist, it made him sound stupid.

pasquinelli

Wait..What?!!?!?!?

Flahbah

So is that 28k just all the 4k-5ks from the weeks before all adding up when there wasn't stock around or is some of that from Vesperia?

Pudgey

You can almost hear the PS3 fanboys weeping.

BONERJAM

@Xcite79: I'd rather see a competitive market too...just not one Microsoft is a part of. I don't think they've done or will do anything good for the industry as a whole if they take a lead position.

Jump down my throat if you all must...I've grown accustomed to the fact that for as much as gamers bitch about everything in this hobby there's still a wild paranoia about disliking a particular console or company.

Be that as it may, I'd much rather see a market place where Nintendo is pushing a true next-gen system and the "third competitor slot" is filled by just about anyone but Microsoft...Apple, SEGA, Sammy, Square-Enix, Capcom...you name it.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

I think they'll see a bigger weekly average after this, something closer to the 7-8K mark, and it's good to see that Japanese gamers are enthusiastic about it.

gdf

Wow, what a huge suprise! 360 sales spiked after the release of a large game... just like they did each time before than microsoft released a sellout game in Japan like Blue dragon, Lost Odyssey, Gears of War, ect...

Rendon

tales of vesparia came out, so that would mean a lot of gaming time. as we all know that a lot of gaming time on the 360 will kill the 360. so the question is, how much of those consoles sales are repurchases?

newave

So the way into Japan's heart is through big name franchise jrpgs? Who would have thought!

Mind boggles why they haven't got a deal in place for FFXIII to also come out for 360 in Japan. I'm calling it now, it will sky rocket PS3 sales in Japan and Xbox 360 should want to get in on that action.

Big franchises = win.

Walker

@Knoxximus (360/PSN): We're all getting Jasper according to a fellow Kotaku reader. Stuff made after 33rd week of this year have Jasper in them.

To clarify, Jasper is separate 65nm GPU and CPU and I want one *drool*

okenny :) ...building bridges (to hide under)

Wow... just Wow!

zgreenwell

@newave:

So true...so true...RROD!

MGSchick

MS isn't dumb... their agressive tactic to make XBox 360 sell in Japan is paying off.
Good for them. And I don't mind the extra support for japanese developers too.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic:

And what did sony do as market leader? As far as im concerned their business practices were far worse than MS's. Not only did they buy exclusive, but they refused to replace faulty hardware(which they still do to this day), attempted to make online irrelevant, and in general did nothing to progress any market.

The only companies to really advance the industry as a whole were nintendo and sega, and sega was destroyed by sony with thier "nice" business practices while nintendo was nearly wiped out with only its portable market really pulling the weight through the rough years.

In the end, id say MS is a happy 3rd party in this race and brings a nice balance to things. Some peopel are just mad because they are taking sony's approach to the industry, but since sony cant match MS in terms of money they are upset. 2 evil empires are good for gaming, one is bad for anything.

(and for hte record, id say based on my perosnal experience MS and Sony both offer crap hardware, but until im on my 12th xbox unit in 3 generations ill give the nod to MS in terms of quality)

RuneX21

Gratz to MS!, hope they can keep the stock and the momentum going to put more consoles on japan homes... they deserve it, investing a lot of money and seeing nothing in return(at least in japan)...

Sonrics

@Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic: "I don't think they've done or will do anything good for the industry "

Then you are very biased. The other consoles would do very well for themselves to copy every single thing that they possibly can from XBox Live. Sony is trying, but so far has been too little much too late.

robinandtami

@Xemnas: I have all three consoles too... I LOVE my PS3....... as a blu-ray player anyway.

robinandtami

asked the Devil, "Is it getting cold in here?"

X2X

Awsome. It must be the tales of vesperia. Maybe this is why Sony asked squeenix not to sell FFXIII on Xbox360 in Japan. Square enix, you don't have to listen to Sony.

bird1988

@Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic:Online gaming is a cancer in the console world. It's great to an extent, but far too much is being sacrificed or ignored in order to accommodate it.

If online gaming is a cancer in the console world then I have been trying to catch it for far too long. Gaming in general is heavily enhanced by online elements, such as being able to play with friends and other people and extending the life of games in general, hell, some games live due to the online alone.

If I remember gaming how it was a few years ago to how it is now I would not look back. There is nothing that needs to be sacrificed in order to create a game and includes online components. Well, might need to sacrifice some of the graphic detail, if thats what you mean, Lol.

R3load

@Fergie24: You should e-mail CERN right now! It's probably a reaction they didn't expect!

Who knows... maybe they like videogames...

Dynosaulo

@Sandvich: maybe ¬¬'

=P

Dynosaulo

They fire off the super collider in Switzerland and then this happens. Coincidence? I think not.

or

Instead of creating a black hole as intended the collider eliminated one for Microsoft in Japan.

Fergie24

Now im wondering if the 360 will top wii sales in the US. It will be hard considering the wii sells out as soon as its put on shelves. Of course theres more 360's out in stores in the first place.

lifeinthefridge

Not to knock MS because it is nice to see something where they are making sales but they do this from time to time spiking then cooling.

TheNexusRebound

@RuneX21: Sega killed Sega. There's no one else to blame for their egregious screw-ups. As far as replacing faulty hardware goes...the only reason Microsoft is even doing it is because the problem is so widespread that it would effectively end their bid at the videogame market forever if they didn't. It's not out of charity. If the problem had been A) as comparatively small as the overheating/DRE issues and B) squelched within the first year or so of production there wouldn't have been any sort of replacement plan - end of story.

@robinandtami: Online gaming is a cancer in the console world. It's great to an extent, but far too much is being sacrificed or ignored in order to accommodate it.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

@LaylaMisun: The journey of a thousand miles and all that.

Does Not Equal (ダズノット)

It's cheap...er, it's got games the Japanese demographic like, FF13 is coming, this doesn't seem like a big surprise.

What are you going to do Sony. It's your turn to move your piece.

artofwar420

I would say good for them, but my mind is blown right now.

Jason144

@Tepoz:
I was born in 1987. I've been part of gaming since the NES.

Looking at what I said, I do realize it was worded horribly. Whatever, maybe I'm still bitter about the ff13 annoucement. I still think Sony will make a comeback seeing as 3rd parties are already beginning to appreciate the PS3

cakeman19

@Tyrannical:

You do know they were still basically sold out last week right?

VladMalice

@EvilFiek:
When you look at software sale, then you will see that iu has sold very strong, so it wasn't tales i guess.

krokounleashed

@Sweetsauce:
"the PS3 thats holding back the 360"

Riiight. Just the kind of fanboy crap I expected in these comments. Look at Heavy Rain and Uncharted on the PS3 and then talk about "holding back".

DustySword

@Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic: "Online gaming is a cancer in the console world. It's great to an extent, but far too much is being sacrificed or ignored in order to accommodate it. "

Yes.... it's a cancer. The most common symptoms are....

Games that once would have had you bored after playing through the campaign twice, now keep your attention for months on end.

Meeting others online who have gaming interests similar to yours so that you never have to game alone again unless you choose to.

The ability to truly size up your skills against others.

I could go on forever.

It's fine if you want to say that you personally don't enjoy online multi-player, but to call it a cancer and refuse to see how online in general and Live specifically have broadened the appeal of gaming is...... trying to think of a nice word....... DUMB is the nicest I can do.

robinandtami

I am SO SICK of the RROD commentary. Yes, it has been a problem, but MS has actually stepped up to the plate and done something about it. I have an older 360, and I have yet to experience the RROD.

And you want to talk about faulty hardware? NEVER buy the big brick PS2. Almost every single one of them will reach a point where they will not play the blue discs. Almost every single one.

And what did Sony do about it? Release a newer version of the console and make people buy that.

AZRockslide

When contacted for comment. satan said "brrrrr"

rianfrost

@CockroachMan: No I mean less!

My comment is, the more you have system parity, the more the developers are going to have to make something that stands out from the last. We are starting to see that already, but a few still slip out. AitD is one you can point your finger at, etc.

Talryyn

@robinandtami: DUMB...hmm...that's exactly the word I would've used to describe those who find no value in a game after they've played through it once or twice.

But what am I saying? Of course playing through the same death matches, the same co-ops, the same races, and the same fights over and over and over again for hours, days, weeks, and months is the height of dynamic interactivity...and not at all symptomatic of a gaming population getting dumber, louder, and ludicrously fickle.

For the record, it's not the presence of on-line gaming I'm objecting to...rather that it's slowly but surely supplanting single-player or offline play. I have games on my shelf that are over twenty years old that still see regular play...so do many other gamers. Yet a "major component" of Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, a game which only saw release two years ago is now completely useless. Do you understand the significance of that? I'll spell it out for you: THERE IS A PORTION OF THAT GAME WHICH CAN NEVER BE PLAYED AGAIN - EVER. This is just one example but there are plenty of others. And with the meteoric rise of online components and online only games on consoles, it's an issue which will only continue to grow.

And don't even get me started on the number of phoned in single-player modes these days...

Enjoy your disposable pastime is all I have to say.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

@Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

You still haven't answered the previous statement on how MS is just implementing the same tactics Sony did to Nintendo during the PS1 & PS2 reign. Microsoft has taken the business model Sony created and supercharged it with their limitless funds.

I was a Sony guy I owned a PS1 and PS2 and I traded in my PS2 for an Xbox once I got a taste of the Xbox's revolutionary online service (for a console of course). Also the Xbox produced better looking games at the time, but yet a lot of PS3 owners who switched from the PS2 weren't exactly singing its praises at the time for being technologically superior to the PS2 hmmmm...

The xbox brand has innovated more than the Sony the past 5-6 years evident in the fact that the PS3 now comes with a standard HDD and it has completely ripped off XBOX live with PSN.

Don't give me some tripe that Microsoft has no business being in the industry. They have given gamers many many features that we will see standard features on consoles for years to come.

Leobebes

Surely this is the end of days.

LockeEWiggin1

@Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic: Deathmatches, etc are never the same. Unlike campaigns where the same AI opponents always pop out at the exact same moment, human opponents always behave differently so you always have to adjust your own gameplay. Good multi-player games are never "disposbale." Thousand of people still play CS every single day. Hell, I could sign into Perfect Dark Zero multiplayer right now and find 30 active matches; and PDZ was widely considered a mediocre launch title released three years ago. If the multi-player component of a game loses it's following in a short time, that is just a sign that it was baaaaaad.

Again... just because you don't particularly enjoy multi-player doesn't mean there aren't millions of players out there that do. Game makers would be idiots to ignore them.

In fact, the growing popularity of social gaming is causing more and more