By skipping Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft is not doing anything to win over Japanese gamers

The United States was easy. Europe was slightly harder. But Japan has always seemed nearly impenetrable for Microsoft's Xbox gaming platform.

The U.S offered the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft a home field advantage and it was able to use popular sci-fi shooting game "Halo" and online service Xbox Live to power past Sony. As a result, "first-person shooter" essentially became shorthand for Microsoft's gaming machine.

In Europe, however, Microsoft struggled. Thanks to good games from Sony's European studios and a classy brand image, Sony has long had a stronghold in Europe, with more PS3s being sold there than the U.S. The Xbox could never really compete against Sony or Nintendo's consoles in Japan, either. And last month Microsoft did something that won't exactly help that position: It announced that it will not be attending this year's Tokyo Game Show.