Even though Microsoft is trying tremendously hard to push the 360 in Japan, it just isn't selling well at all. Whether it's company loyalty, ethnic loyalty, a difference in cultural desire, or something else, they know they must act fast. Microsoft seems to think they have a trump card though, two Hironobu Sakaguchi RPGs which will debut around the time that the PlayStation 3 comes out.

"It's not necessarily about making money in the early going. We made a commitment in Japan - I made a commitment to Japan - that the problems we had during our initial launch during Xbox 1 we weren't going to repeat" said Xbox spokesperson Peter Moore in an interview. "And I think more importantly, Japan publishers are totally and firmly behind the Xbox 360 platform. They look at what we're attempting to do in Japan, but more importantly, what we are doing in North America and Europe".

But someone in Japan is admitting to trouble, "Globally we are doing very well but Japan has always been tough," said Microsoft's Japan president and CEO of Darren Huston during a company event. "We launched early and with not enough Japan-specific content" adding that "I can't say I'm beaming with confidence in Japan"

Sam Vantilburgh of Lionhead Studios today announced a milestone achievement for the production of Fable 2. What does this mean? When a development company is creating a game, they must periodically ship a build of their game out to their publisher, who then reviews the game's current progress to make sure that the project is on schedule.

Sam wasn't allowed to divulge any detailed information (in fear of his publisher "shooting" him "in the face"), but he did talk about the team's focus, "The story and the flow through it are obviously high on the agenda - the design team has been spending days and days in meeting rooms discussing every little aspect of the story". Sam adds, "Our testing guys inform the team each morning about the state of the latest version; this includes the good & bad about Fable 2 and is often referred to as the smoke test. This is a quite simple Yes/No checklist that checks the major functionality and features in the game and it's of great value to us (the team) as the emails tell us whether it is worth grabbing the build or not (so we can play it)!"

In regards to previous hints that Fable 2 would take on a "more mature theme", Sam says "... You get a story that is not only longer than the story from the original game but also one that's a little bit more mature!" Hmm...? Is that so? He then added, "No, we're not going down the route of GTA (violence-grandeur) but with the current plan some people might be shocked by what we have in stock for Fable 2 players".

"Story-wise this is a slightly different approach but you'll like it, it has some rather cool twists to it". What shocking twists does Fable 2 have in store for us?  Here's what Sam had to say; "I'm not talking about someone who rescues you at first and then betrays you, we've seen that a zillion times before, including in the original game".

And as for the overall progress of Fable 2? Sam says "...well over 70 people already working on Fable 2... the team made their deadline and the Microsoft Game Studios team was more than happy to see the progress that had been made. Everyone in the team has been pulling together splendidly and things have gone well. Well, okay. Okay, alright. Alright, they've not gone too badly".

One can now assume that Fable 2 is coming along nicely, so calm down and stop clawing at your computer screen!

Lionhead’s Sam Vantilburgh gave a small update on the progress of Fable 2. What he says is, the story for Fable 2 has been completed and is now being worked into the game.

Fable 2 is set some 500 years after your first visit to the world of Albion, and since then, there have been major changes to the scenery and inhabitants. The story will be longer than the original, and will also take on a more mature feel. Sam feels that many players will be "shocked" when they experience the twists that Lionhead has in store for Fable 2.

From the E3 trailer of Fable 2 (which you can watch below), we can already see that one major difference in the game story is the existence of guns. Sam also added that Lionhead Studios will give another update on Fable 2 some time next month. Fable is an action-RPG which debuted on the original Xbox console, and soon became one of the system's most popular games. Fable lets players direct their character's actions, morality, and even his love life, in a semi-nonlinear fashion through single player gameplay.

Fable 2 is set for release on the Xbox 360 in 2007.

Here are the titles which topped the charts of the Xbox Live most played games for the week of 7/3/06, straight from Major Nelson himself;

(Xbox 360) Top Live Games
1) Call of Duty 2
2) Ghost Recon 3
3) Oblivion
4) BFMC
5) Prey Demo
6) Final Fantasy XI
7) EA SPORTS™ Fight Night Round 3
8) 2006 FIFA World Cup
9) PGR3
10) Perfect Dark Zero

(Original Xbox) Top Live Games
1) Halo 2
2) Battlefield 2: MC
3) Counter-Strike
4) Splinter Cell Chaos
5) Rainbow Six 3 BA
6) Star Wars: Battlefront 2
7) Pro Evolution Soccer 5
8) Madden NFL 2006
9) Forza Motorsport
10) Splinter Cell Chaos

Mr. Nelson apologized for not being able to give title-specific data, but he did say that if both lists were combined, Halo 2 would be number 1 on the chart (followed by all 360 games).

Double Fine's Psychonauts is a highly acclaimed title across many platforms, but yielded poor sales figures. Some say that the release of this title was a major factor in Majesco's descent in the gaming industry.  However, if reviews are anything to go by then Psychonauts couldn't have played the accused role.  Psychonauts was one of the highest rated games of 2005 and Tim Schafer, creator of Psychonauts (and also Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle) is calling for help to have this game made backwards-compatible for the Xbox360.

On the developer's website, Schafer asks that all fans of the Psychonauts game write to the Microsoft Xbox360 Backwards-Compatibility Team with "heartfelt" letters to help bump up the game's priority. After writing his own touching letter to Microsoft, Schafer offers some tips on what he feels might help your letter make an impact.

"I want you to... send Microsoft a heartfelt message. Something to the effect of, 'I am a 9-year-old boy in the hospital, dying of consumption, and my last wish is to play Psychonauts on my XBOX 360!' (Please, try to make up your own disease.)"

I sure would like to see Psychonauts playable on the 360, but if I'm going to come down with some strange terminal illness, there might be some other titles I'd like to see running on the 360 first.

Konami has announced that Adriano Leite Ribeiro will be "the face of" Pro Evolution Soccer 6 for the European market, appearing on the front of the game's retail packaging. Adriano is one of the most respected soccer players today, known for his tremendous pace and skill, making him arguably one of football’s most dangerous strikers. Konami is also bringing Adriano and the Pro Evolution Soccer series to new platforms for the first time. PES6 will not only release for PS2 and PC, but also PSP, Nintendo DS, and Xbox360, which will release in the autumn.

"I am really looking forward to working with Konami on what everyone knows to be the most realistic football game around", Adriano said. “Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is known worldwide for its quality and I am delighted to be associated with such a fine series".

"Adriano is rightly regarded as a player with skill, pace and passion – all key elements to success in Pro Evolution Soccer 6", commented Martin Schneider, European Marketing Director for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. "We are very excited to be working with such a talent, and further new signings will be announced in the coming weeks."

This is a prime example of Konami's commitment to working with the best talents in soccer.

   
 

According to a podcast interview at Major Nelson with Microsoft's Peter Moore, "20 titles or more" will be added to the list of backwards-compatible games for the Xbox 360. Among the titles that this update will accommodate are Doom 3 and Lego Star Wars. The update is expected to go live some time this week.

"We're going to continue to get as close as we can to our stated target of every Xbox game being backwards compatible with the Xbox 360", states Moore in the Major Nelson Podcast. "There's a very talented team right here in the Redmond campus that are working on [backwards compatibility] and they'll continue to work on that, and more and more games will be announced over this calendar year and going forward".

We're still far from being able to throw out the old big black box, but this is definitely a pleasing progression.

In February of 2006, upon receiving the news that Atari was selling the studio, David Perry left Atari's Shiny Entertainment. Perry has decided to form a consulting firm for the videogame industry.  Perry says his experience developing blockbuster titles such as Earthworm Jim and MDK has helped him start his new business, called GameConsultants.com. According to the website, Perry has over 25 years of experience which result in holding contacts with other members of the industry that will help to "bring together an incredible advisory team containing some of the biggest names in video game history".

We told you earlier that Activision recently acquired a license for the use of James Bond IP (Intellectual Property). Now here's some new info on the deal. Although of course not all the details have been made available to the public, industry sources have said that Activision paid the $70 million up-front to MGM Studios to secure the license agreement that will allow Activision to create a James Bond game for each year of the contract's seven-year duration. The initial $70 million that Activision paid to MGM will then be used as credit against the royalties owed to MGM Studies by Activision for profits made on these Bond game titles. As you can see, this investment practically pays for itself (for Activision).

Industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities commented that compared to other recent licensing deals, the Activision James Bond deal appeared to be "quite reasonable". He also added that Activision probably estimates to generate anywhere from $80-$100 million in annual sales from the new Bond games.

Today in a standard report, Vivendi Universal Games has disclosed that in their first fiscal quarter for this year, their earnings from operations have increased by 109% to $30 million. VUG attributes much of this success to its MMORPG, World of Warcraft. According to Vivendi, the "dramatic" improvement in revenue is "an increased proportion relating to the higher margin of World of Warcraft business".

Strangely enough, in that same report, Vivendi states that the earnings figures include increased development costs incurred by Blizzard, World of Warcraft's developer. The report did not give details on what these funds were being used for, but one could speculate that it was either being used for the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, or possibly an entirely new game (perhaps for the Xbox360?).