Hundreds of avid Japanese gamers queued all night to buy Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console, released in the country on Saturday morning.

The Xbox 360 is the first next generation console to go on sale in Japan.

After a good start in the US and Europe, the Japanese launch of the machine will provide the greatest test to the company.

The original Xbox has performed badly there, struggling to sell in one of the world's largest computer games markets.

Less than 500,000 units have been sold in Japan since its launch 4 years ago. By comparison Sony has sold a staggering 20 million PlayStation 2s in Japan.

But despite these poor sales figures, Microsoft appears to have high hopes for the Xbox 360.

With market-leader Sony expected to launch the PlayStation 3 next spring, Microsoft will hope that the early release date of the 360 will give it a clear advantage over its biggest rival.

Sony's share of the Japanese console market is estimated to be about 80 per cent, compared with less than 5 per cent for Microsoft.

Yoshihiro Maruyama, head of the Xbox division at the Japanese unit of Microsoft: "Japan is a very important market for our global strategy, and launching our console ahead of rival platforms will give us a certain advantage."

"Japan is a very important market for our global strategy, and launching our console ahead of rival platforms will give us a certain advantage," said Yoshihiro Maruyama, head of the Xbox division at the Japanese unit of Microsoft.

"Unless we achieve meaningful success here, we cannot say we are a winner in the next-generation console battle."

Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in the US on November 22, followed by the European launch of the machine on December 2.

The Xbox 360 is available in Japan at a retail price of 37,900 yen ($345). The only version available is the premium pack, which comes with a hard drive, a wireless controller, and a number of other accessories.

The US software giant will be looking to repeat the success of its domestic launch, where it is estimated to have sold over 450,000 machines.

However, a number of US gamers have already started to complain about several problems with their new machine, including over heating and disk scratching.

Microsoft said it expects to sell ten million units of the new console worldwide within fourteen months of the launch.

In addition to playing games, the Xbox 360 can also be used to watch DVDs, view photos and listen to music.

Microsoft will be hoping the Xbox 360 launch in Japan will help promote the machines launch in South Korea on February 24.