We’d heard about the poor Xbox 360 sales in Japan for the past few weeks. But I found in hard to believe that even the Gamecube outsold the Xbox 360 in Japan for the week ending on Dec. 18th. Only 8,623 Xbox 360 machines were sold. Youch.

I know we could say that Microsoft probably messed up the marketing to the Japanese gamers, especially since there aren’t any RPGs yet for the new console (the Japanese really love those RPGs). But still, it’s amazing that a console that’s sold out in the U.S. can hardly sell at all overseas. And this even during one of the biggest shopping times of the year.

I don’t think the Japanese are biased against U.S. products; they like the American culture and haven’t hesitated to buy American products in other markets. I think the Japanese are either pretty smart and haven’t given into the hype around the Xbox 360—perhaps they’re waiting to see what the offerings are from Sony and Nintendo before they make their purchase.

Either that, or perhaps the difference in preferred gaming styles between the U.S. and Japan is much larger than we had ever imagined. It’s hard to believe things would be that incredibly different; after all there is quite a lot of overlap in games released in Japan and the U.S.

But with the sales difference is so large between the U.S. and Japan, the Japanese are certainly sending a message. In the end perhaps this will mean more interesting and original variety of games released in both countries.