The chaps over on Technology blog are straying into our backyard again, reporting on Microsoft's plans for what amounts to a relaunch of Xbox 360 in Japan due to poor sales. According to the usually well-informed news site Magic Box, along with other sources, there is even a date for the big event - June 29. The company expects to have 60 Xbox 360 games available in Japan before the end of the year - of those, Chromehounds, Spectral Force 3: Innocent Rage, Bullet Witch and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter will apparently hit the shelves to coincide with June's day of truth.

Microsoft is also releasing a special Limited Edition World Cup version of the Xbox 360 console bundled with EA's FIFA World Cup 2006 and a FIFA face plate. It looks quite nice actually.

But will all this be enough to tempt Japanese gamers? Jack Schofield over on Technology Blog is skeptical, arguing that a nation of PlayStation devotees is unlikely to switch allegiances so easily after a decade in Sony's pocket. I'm not so sure this is about loyalty to PlayStation though - I think it's more indifference to Xbox and what it has to offer...

So far, this has not been a good platform for traditionally popular Japanese genres - RPGs, fighting games, survival horror, kawaii puzzlers and trading games, etc - instead, there has been an emphasis on FPS and squad-based strategy titles, neither of which tend to figure that highly in Japan's gaming charts. Still, Microsoft is making some moves in the right direction. Ninety-Nine Nights, the lush fantasy battle adventure published by MS and developed by Q Entertainment has just scored an excellent 37/40 in Famitsu Xbox 360 magazine and is much more in tune with local tastes. Ninety-nine more like that and Microsoft might be onto something...