In our final special report from Japan, Q Games' Dylan Cuthbert (Star Fox DS) discusses a number of fascinating topics, including his company's work with both Nintendo and Sony, defeating the 'salaryman' ethic, and how foreign developers operate in Japan.

There have been plenty of articles in the past pontificating on the Japanese game market. But very few seem to have taken things down to a granular practical level, by simply analyzing what is stocked on Japanese video game store shelves, and how it differs to what we see in North America.

If the Xbox 360 Media Briefing, held in the Cerulean Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya September 20, 2006 and covered in detail elsewhere, could be termed anything, it would be 'hopeful.' The 90 minute briefing, helmed both by Takashi Sensui, General Manager of Xbox Japan, and in parts by an ever-ebullient Peter Moore, was intended to show that it was business as usual in terms of Microsoft's Japanese strategy.

When we caught up with Inis co-founder Keiichi Yano in his company's offices close to the center of Tokyo before the start of this year's Tokyo Game Show, he was in relatively relaxed mode, since he and his staff had just completed production on Elite Beat Agents for DS, to be published by Nintendo in North America this November.

When Sony's Ken Kutaragi strode on stage to give the first keynote on the business day of the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, one might think the CEO and President of Sony Computer Entertainment would be concerned at some of the adverse PR sent his company's way over the past few weeks.

Not so - the Sony exec clearly felt that the best way to answer critics was to simply show them the goods upfront, and started by noting that "over 200 consoles and development tools" were available at TGS "to let you enjoy the PlayStation 3".

As part of the CEDEC Premium conference at the Tokyo Game Show attended by Gamasutra, Epic Games' Jay Wilbur discussed the company's attitude to next-gen development, revealing the formation of Epic Games China to provide low-cost game asset outsourcing to both Epic and third parties.

As part of a Q&A at the CEDEC Premium event during Tokyo Game Show 2006, Epic's Tim Sweeney spoke forthrightly on topics including the challenges of multi-core processors and PS3's Cell chip, and Epic's plans to allow modders to make PS3-playable Unreal maps via Sony's open online protocols.

Talking at an interview conducted by Gamasutra during the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade head Greg Canessa explained the future of the successful Xbox 360 digital download service, including the concept of an 'Imports' area on XBLA to highlight the best foreign-territory titles, and upcoming improvements to the service.

Continuing Gamasutra's series on the state of the Japanese game market, we had a chance to interview longtime Japan resident John Ricciardi and his partner in localization firm 8-4, Hiroko Minamoto, and get their expert opinions on everything from the PlayStation 3's chances to the DS' tremendous Japanese success.