What did Sony launch with in Japan?An established brand name in the case of the PS2. Thats all it needed. Sony didn't need to "bring it" so to speak in the games department because, very simply put, they established themselves with the PS1.
If your question was geared towards the PS1 launch, things were quite different then(as was the industry). Coming off the huge rivalry of the SNES and the Genesis there was no clear succesor to these systems. Sega basically stuck its foot in the wrong place with the release of the Sega CD and 32x. Basically killing allot of the loyalty its gamers had when it stopped supporting those products.
Nintendo was still riding the wave of the SNES. Sega was releasing the Saturn, Sony's machine (the Playstation) was just over the horizon after its failed partnership with Nintendo. The 32 bit revolution had begun. At the time, Donkey Kong Country was released and it helped keep the SNES in the limelight. How could a 16 bit system produce graphics that could match what the next generation could do?
Sega basically fumbled the US launch of the Saturn allowing Sony to get its foot in the door, in Japan I remember the Saturn being a mild success (correct me if I'm wrong here) but the point is, there was no clear industry leader at that point (and the at the jump the 32bit/64 bit era). The market was wide open for seomone with initiative to come in and become #1.
Namco's support for the PS1 with ports of Tekken/Ridge Racer and other titles helped to solidify the machine. That along with an ever growing list of third party developers helped make the PS1 the machine to beat. Speaking of third parties, at that time the RPG genre was very much a "niche" market and really hadn't reached mainstream appeal. It wasn't until the release of the much anticipated Final Fantasy 7 that the RPG revolution began. Square, a name once synonymous with the Nintendo brand had gone the way of Sony and its RPG really brought the PS1 into the limelight.
By the time Nintendo released the N64, Sony already had a clear and decisive lead on the Saturn (which was already floundering due to lack of third party support and complaints of being difficult to program for). The Nintendo 64 made its mark however with updated versions of Nintendo's classic titles and the power of the Pokemon franchise helped the N64 remain alive and well. End result of the "32bit era"? Sony's Playstation was the number 1 machine in the world. Nintendo held on to the #2 position with the N64 and the Saturn slowly died even though it had a strong library of games.
Fast forward to today and the release of the big three and you have Sony still ruling world with the PS1. The hype for the PS2 effectively helps to kill any momentum Sega had built up with the Dreamcast. Once released the PS2 sold like wildfire even though its lauch titles left a whole lot to be desired. However the name alone was enough for us gamers. Sony had built a dependable brand name in the Playstation and gamers ate it up.
Now you look at the industry when the Xbox and the Gamecube launched? The Playstation 2 already had a commanding lead in the userbase department and its library of games had grown to immense proportions. The AAA titles we were all waiting for had been released. The holiday season of 2001 was frightening to most gamers because of the sheer amount of quality titles being released for Sony's machine. What you have here ladies and gentleman is one clear and decisive industry leader. The market is not wide open and for the taking. it was locked up before the Xbox and the Gamecube arrived on the scene. Its no wonder both machines are lagging behind horribly and that won't change anytime soon.
Jeff's point is that to compete Microsoft really need to cater to the Japanese's taste. RPG's, Dating sims, high profile arcade conversions so forth so on would have helped the Xbox make a name for itself. A name that Sony already has and that Nintendo can depend on its first party software for.
(ok, my fingers hurt, Im shutting up now)
(they had a demo going)
