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According to a recent special report from Famitsu Marketing Data Service (www.f-ism.net), a Japanese market research firm, Xbox 360 was not the hot ticket item Microsoft has hoped it would be when the system launched in Japan on December 10th.

Out of some 159,000 units available, the report estimates just 62,000 units sold in the first couple of days. By contrast, the estimated 330,000 Xbox 360s available in North America on November 22 sold out almost immediately and demand remains higher than supply.

The FMDS report suggests a lack of Xbox 360 games (only 6 are available in Japan) as well as the last minute delay of the highly anticipated Dead or Alive 4 account for the sluggish sales. It also points out that the next 3 three months could see a marked turnaround as many Japan-targeted titles for Xbox 360 will be released in early 2006.