Huge Japanese Support for Xbox 360

Ridge Racer, Resident Evil, Pro Evo and tons more coming to Microsoft's next-gen console.

Microsoft's newfound zeal for the Japanese market was on display this week as the company held its own next-gen showcase, just days after Sony's last week.

The Xbox Summit 2005, which took place in Japan on Monday, demonstrated that Microsoft is serious about getting it right with Xbox 360 - something Japanese game companies seem to be recognizing.

More than 50 publishers came together to show their support for the new console at the show.

Ridge Racer 6 marks the series' debut on a Microsoft console

"We know [Japan] is a demanding market, but we believe we have the right product, the right partners, the right games and the right timing to realize complete success with our Xbox 360, especially in the Japanese market," Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in a video statement shown at the event.

"Microsoft is fully committed to this market and we look forward to continuing to work very closely with all of our partners."

Some of those partners came out of the woodwork at the event, where they showed off some of their upcoming Xbox 360 games.

You can expect games to show up on Xbox 360 from such popular publishers as Bandai (which is working on a new Gundam game), Namco (Ridge Racer 6), Konami (new Pro Evolution Soccer), Koei (Dynasty Warriors 5), Tecmo (Dead or Alive Extreme 2), Yuke's (Wrestle Kingdom), Genki (new Tokyo Extreme Racer) and Capcom (Resident Evil 5).

Microsoft has recently suffered by comparisons of in-development Xbox 360 games with PlayStation 3 demo footage, but the company fired off its next shot in the console wars at the summit, showing real-time footage for several games, including impressive in-game video for Project Gotham Racing 3.

Xbox 360 is scheduled for worldwide release this Christmas. The next big show for the console will be the Tokyo Game Show, which takes place in mid-September.

Below is a list of games announced at Xbox 360 Summit 2005:

• A-Train X (Artdink)
• Call of Duty 2 (Activision)
• Chambara Beauty X (working title - D3)
• Chromehounds (working title - SEGA)
• Dead or Alive 4 (Tecmo)
• Dead or Alive Code: Cronus (Tecmo)
• Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Tecmo)
• Dead Rising (Capcom)
• Dynasty Warriors 5 (Koei)
• E-D-FX (working title - D3)
• eNCHANT arM (From)
• Every Party (Microsoft)
• Far East of Eden Ziria Ð Tales from Distant Jipang (Hudson)
• FIFA Soccer 2006 (EA)
• Final Fantasy XI (Square Enix)
• Frame City Killer (Namco)
• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (working title - Ubisoft)
• Gun (Activision)
• King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2 (working title - SNK Playmore)
• Love Football (working title - Namco)
• Mobile Suit Gundam (working title - Bandai)
• NBA Live 2006 (EA)
• Need for Speed Most Wanted (EA)
• Ninety-Nine Nights (Microsoft)
• Operation Darkness (working title - Success)
• Project Gotham Racing 3 (Microsoft)
• Project Progressive (Tecmo)
• Proyakyu Spirits (working title - Konami)
• Quake IV (Activision)
• Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)
• Ridge Racer 6 (Namco)
• Rumble Roses XX (working title - Konami)
• Saints Row (THQ)
• Super Robot Wars (working title - Banpresto)
• Test Drive Unlimited (Atari)
• The Outfit (THQ)
• Tokyo Extreme Racer (working title - Genki)
• Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision)
• Untitled game (Cavia)
• Untitled game (Eidos)
• Untitled game (Frontier Groove)
• Untitled game (G.Rev)
• Untitled game (Hamster)
• Untitled game (Idea Factory)
• Untitled game (Jaleco)
• Untitled game (Kids Station)
• Untitled game (Marvelous)
• Untitled game (Spike)
• Untitled game (Treasure)
• Untitled game (VU Games)
• Untitled RPG (Namco)
• Versus Tactical Action (working title - ARC System Works)
• Winning Eleven (working title - Konami)
• World Airforce (working title - Taito)
• Wrestle Kingdom (Yuke's)
• Zoids (working title - Tomy)
• Zookeeper (working title - Success)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games