Japanese Warming Up to 360?

And there's good news for Nintendo too - nothing worth Sony getting upset about, though.

Is Microsoft's much-publicised and no-doubt expensive campaign to cosy up to the Japanese working? Depends who you ask. According to a survey publishing earlier this year, less than 10 per cent of responders were interested in picking up the company's next-gen machine. But a recent survey by popular Japanese games magazine Famitsu, reported by Next Generation, paints a very different picture.

Almost a quarter of the 2000 people surveyed said they were interested in buying an Xbox 360 with another 40 per cent still sitting on the fence.

The Japanese found much to like about the console, including its widely praised controller and the removable hard disk, but these weren't enough to sway the majority of uninterested responders who said they simply don't care about the Xbox 360 or thought it was too expensive - despite a heavy discount relative to other territories.

The PlayStation 3 is a good bet for the victor again in Japan. Nearly 65 per cent of responders said they interested in Sony's new beast.

Things were decidedly less promising for Nintendo, though, which has managed to confuse a large part of the audience with the somewhat kooky Revolution controller. Only 36 per cent of those surveyed by Famitsu said that they though would probably jump into bed with Nintendo in the next generation.

The numbers do differ widely from those of earlier surveys, with Microsoft and Nintendo both doing substantially better. But then you know what they say about statistics.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games