Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield scored an unusually frank and revealing interview with Microsoft Game Studios Japan's former senior manager Ray Nakazato in which the FeelPlus (makers of Lost Odyssey) president reveals the inner workings of the Japanese game biz. He not only recounts the troubles that plagued Tetsuya Mizuguchi's sub-par Ninety-Nine Nights, but speaks openly on dealing with Rockstar Games and working at Microsoft.

Nakazato also gives the Xbox 360 a fighting chance in Japan, the console in which his company is heavily invested:

I think most of the Japanese gamers will go to casual games on the DS and such, but there will be a high-end gamer market. For those gamers, because of a lack of Japan-made games, they're going to start playing U.S. games. Then, I think the Xbox 360 will have a better chance.

Xbox Live is so sophisticated - on that point I think even Sony is behind, even after their most recent announcements, like Home. I think their infrastructure is still behind. If Microsoft has a chance to succeed in Japan, I think the Xbox Live services and new entertainment fully using Xbox Live are important.

An amazing, and, at seven pages, long interview with great insight into the inner workings at FeelPlus, Capcom and Microsoft. Don't miss it. Michael McWhertor

Ray Tracing: A Japanese Game Market Expose With Ray Nakazato [Gamasutra]