Microsoft Japan announced on Thursday that the number of Xbox 360 game titles currently available to users in Japan will have more than have more than tripled by December. Offering attractive game titles is a crucial move to booststruggling sales of the new console in Japan and to better compete with PlayStation 3, whose worldwide release was recently delayed until early November.

Microsoft expects that 15 games will be launched by the summer for the Xbox 360, increasing the total number of titles to 40. That number should reach 80 by the end of the year, Takashi Sensui, general manager of the Japanese unit's Xbox division, told a briefing.

The 15 game titles to be launched by summer include Hudson Soft Co. Ltd.'s Bomberman action game and Capcom Co. Ltd.'s Dead Rising survival horror.

"Microsoft's head of games division, Peter Moore, has repeatedly said that there would be no true success for Microsoft without Xbox's success in Japan," Sensui said.

"Xbox has created such a stir in overseas markets including the United States and Europe. As the manager of Xbox operations in Japan, my task is to achieve the same success in Japan."

The Xbox 360 has been selling well in the United States and Europe, but is struggling with the Japanese market.

Microsoft is estimated to have sold 123,000 units of Xbox 360 in Japan between its early December launch and March 26, according to industry watcher Enterbrain.

In comparison, Sony sold almost a million units of PlayStation 2 console in the first three days of its March 2000 launch in Japan.