As the year enters the last quarter, it seems that Microsoft Japan is still hell-bent on winning over the elusive Japanese market. While the Xbox 360 is definitely struggling in terms of sales in Japan, Microsoft Japan is banking on upcoming games such as the Mistwalker RPG Blue Dragon to increase interest in their next-gen console.

And just so the public doesn't get tired of them always using the Blue Dragon card when asked about their year-end releases, they've finally decided to stamp a release date on Winning Eleven. Word has it that the Xbox 360 version of Konami's uber-popular soccer title will hit Japanese retail stores on December 14 at a price of 7,329 Yen (a little over US $61).

Seems a bit expensive, but with Winning Eleven's track record of having each of its PS2 installments sell over a million copies in Japan alone, Japanese fans will surely come to stores in droves on its release date. The game will also be released in the US under the title Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 in January 2007.