Over the past few years, Namco and Microsoft have been growing closer together. Exclusive deals has been struck up for games such as Ridge Racer 6, Eternal Sonata and even the recently released Pac-Man CE for XBLA. It’s no surprise then that another game will be becoming 360 exclusive, but at a bit more of a blow then your run of the mill xbox live game. Beautiful Katamari, originally set for PS3 and 360 releases is far along in the process of an exclusive deal and should be announced as such at this coming E3.

What does this mean exactly? Well it’s not as earth shattering if something like Grand Theft Auto swapped over suddenly exclusively in their favour, but it is an example of trying times. For some reason Sony is just not securing the exclusive deals. And we all know Microsoft is fighting very hard to get them. A lot of Japanese publishers have been developing things exclusively for 360 as of late. While the 360 is still selling nickels and dimes in Japan, they are making a huge effort. What does the 360 need to do next? Shell out millions of dollars for a huge Japan franchise like Final Fantasy. Then we’d be presented with an interesting opportunity. Are the Japanese more loyal to their hardware brand, or the software?

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