More Japanese support for X360?
Third party deals anticipated.
Microsoft may be preparing to announce a new batch of Japanese-developed titles for the Xbox 360 in the coming weeks, with media reports in the Far East suggesting that new third-party deals will be revealed during July.
According to a report in the latest issue of Famitsu, partially translated by GameSpot, Microsoft will be revealing new titles targeted at Japan - and "there could be some major surprises" among the unveilings.
The company has already garnered support from independent developers Mist Walker, Game Republic and Q Entertainment, headed up by well-known game creators Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshiki Okamoto and Tetsuya Mizuguchi respectively.
Japanese publisher Square Enix is also committed to launching massively multiplayer title Final Fantasy XI on Xbox 360, but has yet to announce any original titles for the system, while other publishers such as Konami have confirmed that they're working on Xbox 360 product but have announced no details.
Earlier this month, Xbox Japan boss Yoshihiro Maruyama announced that the Xbox 360 will launch with around seven or eight locally developed titles in the region, and confirmed that talks were ongoing with Square Enix about bringing more games to the platform.
He also said that pricing details of the Xbox 360 will emerge before the end of the summer, but it seems likely that price and launch date information will emerge from the firm's headquarters in North America first, rather than from the Japanese division.