April 16^th, 2002 (12:00am) - We all know that the XBOX isn’t as popular in Japan as it is here in the good ol’ U.S. Any interest the Japanese public has shown in Microsoft’s console has slowly decreased since it’s release. Sadly, it gets even worse...

Sales tracking firm Media Create reports that in the first week of April (4/1 - 4/7), Microsoft sold a mere 2,179 units, a surprisingly low number for a console that was just released. It’s the sales of some of the other hardware on the market that makes this story even worse. In the same week in April, Sony’s now seven-year old console, PS One, sold 3,959 units. But more importantly, Sega’s discontinued Dreamcast console even managed to outsell the Xbox with 3,427 units purchased by Japanese gamers. As for the other next-generation platforms, the PS2 sold 80,734 units, and the GameCube sold 15,068 units.

Some people believe Microsoft should lower the price of their console. Others believe that it’s not the price, but the games that are least appealing to the Japanese market.

Then there’s the issue of faulty Xbox hardware in Japan. Though Microsoft isn’t commenting publicly, some storeowners in Japan have revealed that Microsoft is carefully replacing potential faulty Xbox units before they are sold to consumers. Though this move, if announced publicly, could possibly help instill more faith in the Xbox name in Japan, Microsoft is reluctant to address the subject for fear of having the replacement labeled a recall.

If there’s a glimmer of hope for Xbox in Japan, though, it’s this: up until now many of the software titles available for the machine have been developed with primarily American gamers in mind. As more Japanese-themed Xbox games become available, sales should hopefully increase accordingly.

Let’s hope Microsoft has something up their sleeve in the months to come. No one wants to see them fail, especially us XBOX owners...