WIRE REPORTS

Gree partners with several companies for mobile platform Telecompaper (subscription) The partners include: Digital Hearts, Katalyst Lab, Keywords International, Lionbridge Technologies, Poletowin Pitcrew Holdings, Amazon Data Services Japan, FreeBit, GMO Internet, IDC Frontier, Microsoft Japan, RightScale, VeriServe, Bellsystem24, ... and more » Amazon, Microsoft et al will help GREE fight DeNA across the globe Games.com News (blog) The most notable of companies that GREE has signed on are Microsoft Japan and Amazon Japan, both of which have agreed to provide the upcoming platform with server-side infrastructure support. In English, both Microsoft and Amazon's Japanese arms will ... and more » From Grand Theft Auto to Dancing Pudding Kotaku Microsoft Japan apparently roped in schoolgirls for viral Xbox 360 promotions a few years back. After "PonPonPon" exploded last summer, Kyary moved into the Japanese mainstream, appearing in ads, including what is the greatest pudding (or "flan") ... and more »

DAILY REPORTS

Dec 13 Sony shopping is 'wrong direction' in Apple war Sony Corp. Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer has announced acquisitions worth $8.4 billion this year to bolster phones and content. That may not be enough to turn around a company heading for a fourth consecutive loss. Japan's largest consumer-electronics exporter will pay cash to control its mobile-phone venture with Ericsson AB, partner with Michael Jackson's estate for music assets from EMI Group, and team up with Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) for patent rights. The Ericsson buyout gives Sony full access to the unit's 6.29 billion euros ($8.3 billion) in revenue, adding to Sony's $84 billion in sales for the year ended March 31. (Bloomberg) Nov 21 Have Japanese brands lost their way? Japan has dominated the world of technology for years, but have attempts by Apple, Microsoft and others dented the image - and profits - of its home-grown brands? Everybody gets excited about technology but in Japan, they take it to another level. Entire districts of Tokyo are devoted to robots, computers, gadgets and huge electronics shops. But over recent years, the former dominance of Japanese brands in their own country has been challenged like never before by the new behemoths of South Korea, China and the US. The Japanese have been married to technology for decades and their brand loyalty is well documented. But whereas once these brands were nearly always Japanese, the lucrative market of the Far East has been the target of a number of other firms. (BBC) Nov 17 3DS still way out in front in Japan Nintendo sold another 100,000 3DS units in Japan during the week ended November 13 to top the hardware chart. Click to view larger image While the total was down from 145,271 units the previous week, it was still higher than the combined sales of all other platforms. 3DS's closest rivals, PSP and PS3, shifted 23,472 units and 22,919 respectively, while DSi LL sales came in at 1,751 units, around 200 units ahead of Xbox 360, with the PS2 about the same distance behind Microsoft's console. On the software front, PSP rhythm action game Hatsune Miku Project Diva Extend debuted at No.1. (computerandvideogames.com) Nov 15 Microsoft in hot water over exec's comments on Japan Microsoft is again in the middle of a controversy, this time for an alleged statement by one of its senior executives who said he had "zero pity" for victims of the magnitude-9 quake and tsunami that hit Japan earlier this year. UK's The Telegraph reported the executive, a vice president in the company, allegedly made the comment in April, barely a month after the quake and tsunami that had killed some 18,000 people. "I would have zero pity for Japan. I would push them right under the bus and create another tsunami," the Telegraph cited filings that quoted the executive, a vice president of the company. (gmanews.tv) Sep 15 Tokyo game show turns to cell phones, has new star A startup little known outside Japan that offers games for cellphones is emerging as the new star at this year's Tokyo video game exhibition, usually dominated by big-name console makers like Sony and Microsoft. Gree Inc., a social networking service that began just seven years ago in the founder's living room, had its first booth ever at the sprawling Tokyo Game Show, which previewed to media Thursday ahead of its opening to the public later this week at a hall in this Tokyo suburb. (AP) Aug 28 Nations With Low Malware Rates Have Better ISPs Countries with good national security teams (CERTs) and diligent ISPs show consistently lower rates of malware infection than those states that adopt a less paternalistic approach to security, a new analysis by Microsoft researchers has suggested. According to statistics drawn from the company's widely-used Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), the countries which have shown notably lower infection rates of malware are Austria, Finland, Germany, and Japan. Using the yardstick of computers cleaned per mile (CCM)*, Austria recorded a normalized rate of 3.3 CCM in Q4 2010, Finland 2.3, Germany 5.3, and Japan 2.3, all significantly below the global average taken from 116 countries of 8.3. These low rates have remained consistent since the first measurements taken in 2007. (PC World) Aug 19 Japanese retailers says sayonora to the Xbox 360 The land of the rising sun has been a forbidding and inhospitable place for Microsoft's gaming console. Despite solid sales elsewhere around the world, the Xbox 360 never really caught on in Japan, and both Sony and Nintendo crushed the gaijin console. To put it in perspective, the Wii has sold 11.74 million units in Japan and the PS3 has sold 6.85-compared to the American totals for each system, those numbers might seem low, but they are sold for Japan. By comparison, the 360 has sold a meager 1.52 million units since 2005. Hardware sales in general are struggling in Japan, but none so much as the 360. According to Next-gen.biz, Japan's largest gaming store, Geo, has announced that it is the latest Japanese retailer to phase out the majority of its Xbox 360 items. Beginning immediately, the majority of its stores will sell off all current stock of hardware and software at deeply discounted prices. Xbox 360 products will still be available in select locations and online, but the majority of stock will soon hit the bargain bin. (Digital Trends) Jul 27 KDDI to launch Windows Phone in Japan in September KDDI Corp. said Wednesday it will launch in early September or later a new smartphone based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone 7.5 operating system for the first time in Japan. Manufactured by Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications Ltd., the water and dust-proof Windows Phone IS12T is equipped with a 13.2-megapixel camera, said KDDI, the provider of "au" mobile phone services. With the launch of the new model, Microsoft aims to capture new customers in Japan, where Apple Inc.'s iPhones and Google Inc.'s Android-based smartphones are gaining popularity, while KDDI aims to enhance its lineup of smartphones. (Kyodo) Jul 25 Microsoft, Fujitsu tie up to upgrade post-quake pet search website Microsoft Japan Co. has tied up with Fujitsu Ltd. to upgrade its website aimed at helping people reunite with their missing pets following the March earthquake and tsunami, the companies said Monday. Under the tie-up, people looking for their lost pets can look up information about animals under protection in facilities such as one in the tsunami-ravaged Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, including their pictures, breed, sex and where they were found. (Kyodo) Jul 12 Japan mulls using yen loans with Gates Foundation to eradiate polio The government is considering utilizing yen loans to eradicate polio in Pakistan in cooperation with a foundation set up by Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, sources close to the matter said Monday. The envisioned project through the Japan International Cooperation Agency reflects Japan's aim to expand the use of long-term, low- interest yen loans to the field of health in developing countries in addition to the improvement of infrastructure, they said. (Kyodo) Jul 6 Microsoft establishes Japan-specific gaming division For a long time now, Microsoft has been unsuccessfully trying to crack the Japanese gaming market. Xbox Live is pretty much the gold standard these days when it comes to getting online gaming community-building right, and still the Xbox 360 flounders as Japanese gamers flock to the more compelling content (for local audiences) available for Nintendo and Sony products. Microsoft is taking a new step toward changing that now, with the creation of a new Interactive Business Division at Microsoft Japan. (Digital Trends) [ More... ]