Sony Sees Gaming Opportunities, Rough Times In China 19
Thanks to Frictionless Insight for pointing to a China Daily article discussing Sony Online's moves to introduce its MMO titles into China, as it has "found a Chinese partner to help it run its shooting game PlanetSide", and is "also trying to find partners for the forthcoming EverQuest II." While a Chinese gaming entrepreneur suggested "Western game companies are much superior to their South Korean counterparts in terms of graphic quality and game designs", a Shanghai-based analyst retorted that "...most Chinese game players like fashionable heroes and heroines in games more than picture quality and game plots, the strong point of South Korean and Japanese game developers." Elsewhere, GameScience has a translated article noting Sony's struggles in launching the PlayStation 2 in China, as it's argued, with regards to both imported hardware and pirated software: "There is simply no way for the official goods to compete with the [widely available] pirate versions."
Finally. (Score:2)
Re:Finally. (Score:2)
I thought the quote to be rather insulting to the Korean/Japanese gaming community, but ... whatever. I'm not Korean/Japanese, so I suppose they were right to assume that I (conversely) would find fashion in my video games less important than plot and graphics (respectively, i
Re:Finally. (Score:2)
RTFA (Score:1, Insightful)
* Pirate software is cheaper than the official ones.
Coupled with the fact that there are only two (2!) Chinese region games - and the official Playstation consoles have crippling region locks that won't play import / pirate games - nobody in their right mind will buy one. It is a chicken & egg situation.
"Region locks are great!" Yes, keep telling yourselves that, Sony.
well... (Score:2, Interesting)
maybe my friend is better off than most, but it seems like if you want, you can get, regardless of channels, and generally for alot less money...
Re:well... (Score:1)
Re:well... (Score:1)
The gist of it was that Swiss watch makers actually exported $150m worth of watches. The people actually do want to get the real thing.
I think the reason that doesn't usually happen is a result of a couple of things. First, China's people are still very poor, even with the burgeoning middle class the
Re:well... (Score:2)
but you are 31337 if you have warez, but seriously, I find it more common for people to brag about saving money off the "big name" rather than look down on cheaper knock-off products
Re:well... (Score:2)
Erm, does that include cheap money?
PlanetSide, Ultima Online et al are Massively Multiplayer, and require a subscription. So unless bootlegging extends to currency, theres not much point pirating them, not to mention they need a CD key to set up an account and get your free month... In the event they have finally perfected that Matter Compiler, can you ask your friend to send one over, and ill compile him some mo
Re:well... (Score:2)
Graphics not important? (Score:2)
Well that's an obvious load of shit. Anyone who isn't blind will have an appreciation for graphics quality. Just because they don't have the skill to deliver better graphics quality doesn't mean they wouldn't like it.
And note that he included game plots with graphics quality. I guess a character's wardrobe is more important that their story?
Re:Graphics not important? (Score:1)
Ohhhh....so that's why so many asian games are total crap and not at all fun to play. Jiminy Chrismas, why don't you just say you like buying music Cd's for the cover art, or a car based on the factory installed radio.
God my head hurts so much right now from reading that. I need an aspirin.
Re:Graphics not important? (Score:1)
(You can't tell if I'm being sarcastic or not, can you...
Glad to be of service!
Re:Graphics not important? (Score:2)
Just because graphics aren't the selling point doesn't mean they don't like good graphics. Unlike their U.S. counterparts, they don't make hundreds of dollars a week to spend on games and hardware (8 dollars an hour * 40 hours a week = $320 before expenses). Cheap, but effective graphics are the trade-off for a good online experience. Unlike games like Everquest 2 which seems to be aiming for the 'will cripple your top-end computer' f
Communism and games ... (Score:1)