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Microsoft Xbox 360: 10 Dec In Japan

Microsoft Announced The Japanese Launch Date For Xbox 360

Microsoft announced it will start selling its next-generation Xbox 360 console in Japan on Dec 10, ahead of the planned launch of Sony's PlayStation 3, scheduled for 2006.

In a previous statement, Microsoft said it is selling the Xbox 360 game console at 300 USD in the US, and 299 EUR in Europe and 37,900 yen in Japan.

"Japan is a very important market for our global strategy and launching our console ahead of rival platforms will give us certain advantage," said Yoshihiro Maruyama, head of the Xbox division at Microsoft KK, the Japanese unit of Microsoft/US .

"Unless we achieve meaningful success here, we cannot say we are a winner in the next-generation console battle".

"The key to success is how effectively we can make Japanese players understand that we have rich content and software line-ups. Because one of the key reasons for the failure of our first generation Xbox is lack of blockbuster titles which can satisfy Japanese players."

"More than 100 game titles are under development exclusively for Japanese players, and many of them will hit the market before the end of this year," Maruyama added.