The Xbox hardware has traditionally experienced low sales in Japan, but sales were apparently sparked by the recent Japanese debut of Namco Bandai's Xbox 360 exclusive Tales of Vesperia. The action-RPG is due out in North America next week.

"Currently, the Xbox 360 is sold out, and retailers are unable to restock their supply," reads the official Microsoft statement, as translated by Kotaku.

"This is a result of our own sales targets being exceeded by the actual customer sales," the company continued. "We deeply apologize for this inconvenience to our customers, retailers and business partners...We truly thank you for your patronage hereafter."

A similar sales boost accompanied the Xbox 360-exclusive release of Namco Bandai's Ace Combat 6 last year, though that spike did not lead to hardware shortages.