First of all, I must say that this list of titles appears well-balanced: there’s a title for each major genre, and I’ve got no doubt it was carefully planned that way. However, if you look at the list from a Japan vs US perspective, it’s clear that the list is heavily weighted in favor of Japanese gamers.

There’s no question that the Japanese market is looking promising for the PS3, and the announcement of working titles such as these is a major part of Sony’s pre-release marketing. Conquering the Japanese market alone, though, will not be enough to make the PS3 profitable for Sony, due to the high cost of both the console itself and PS3 game development.

The question is, will Sony be able to capture US and international interest with these titles?

What’s clear at this stage is that Sony is certainly trying to expand the PS3’s market by including multimedia and next-gen DVD functionality with the PS3.

Personally, I’m very interested in Sony’s strategy for the US market, and the additional titles the company announces in future will provide some clues as to their plans for this important market. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is currently struggling to catch the eye of the Japanese with their lack of RPGs at launch. In contrast, Sony is certain to have a whole range of attractive games available that will be popular in the both the US and Japanese market.

By Takatoshi Yokoo, PS3Focus.com writer