Well, here's an interview with a fairly prominent Japanese developer (from Team Ninja of Tecmo)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123178
Originally in French, this is someone's translation:
"About developping for the PS3 and the 360 in Japan:
- 360 is easy to develop for since you can use the same tools as when developing for Windows
- The PS3 has a japanese OS and the japanese engineers don t want to surrender to the power of Microsoft. They have this competition spirit, to create different interfaces , which symbolizes their culture.
- He doesn t think either PS3 or 360 is better than the other. The PS3 is a little more powerful, as a console launched one year later can be. The only big difference is the PS3 is japanese so japanese people prefer the PS3.
- "The PS3 is stubborn, but so am I, so it s not a problem!"
On the 360 s failure in Japan:
- Brand recognition is the main reason, Microsoft does not have a good image in Japan. They still have an OS company more than a videogames company image while Sony has a very young and modern image.
- He says he s been helping Microsoft for the last 5 years but he doesn t have the communication power to change things more.
- It s not something you can really explain rationaly.
On the japanese market in general:
- That being said, we don t know if PS3 is going to sell either. Japan is going through a crisis.
- Japanese are tired of traditional videogames and want some more lightweight and accessible games.
- The population is growing older with the decrease in natality, which prevents an important renewal of players. Which means that even when targeting adults, you sell less games because they are more exigent and less impulsive buyers."
(There's a better translation later in the thread, but that's a good summary)
I think that pretty much explains the poll results.
