CESA Boss Talks Japanese Gaming Problems 44
Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with CESA executive managing director Kazuya Watanabe, as the head of the "game industry's trade organization" in Japan discusses issues such as the Japanese games industry's dislike of the used videogame market: "Used software sales are now legal and covered by the law. Despite the fact that the court has passed judgment, the software manufacturers are still not satisfied with the outcome because of the high percentage of used sales in overall Japanese game sales." He also addresses the perception that many Japanese PC titles are adult-oriented: "They stand out. They do not have a large market, but they catch your eyes. If you look at that, you may think, 'Boy, these Japanese are very strange.' It is not the case."
Used games (Score:1)
Re:Used games (Score:2)
That's the main reason I don't usually buy used games. They generally aren't much cheaper than new ones, and it's usually easier to wait for a sale someplace like gogamer.com than to pay for a used game. That, and the fact that you're right about them giving squat for the games I try to trade in. It's just not worth it.
Re:Used games (Score:2, Informative)
First, I assume you mean PS2 games just for clarification. Secondly, most retailers are reluctant to take PC games on a used basis because it is extremely risky (I'll get back to that later). Thirdly, retailers give very little money on trade-ins because thats largely how they make a profit. The most money you can get on a trade-in without using any special deals? $25, and thats only if the game is a new release/still highly priced. What
This guy knows his stuff. (Score:4, Insightful)
"Also, ownership is an important component of American culture. People do not like to buy things unless they feel that they own it with no strings attached"
How is it that the head of Japan's major video game trade group has more insight into American consumer desires then our own trade groups?
Re:This guy knows his stuff. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This guy knows his stuff. (Score:2)
Mod the parent as funny +5 (Score:2)
Japanese? Weird?? (Score:1)
Now, I'm just about as tolerant as I can be about cultural differences, and I don't look down at another culture's adult entertainment any more than I would judge them by the clothes they wear.
But there is a reason why there isn't an english translation f
Re:Japanese? Weird?? (Score:5, Insightful)
It literally means 'pervert'.
I think you are trying to make out the Japanese to be more different than they really are- for example, the tentacle rape is just a side effect of their weird legal system (no human penises allowed, no sex between women and animals either, but sex with imaginary creatures apparently falls into a legal grey area... go figure!); and the apparent youth of the manga characters is illusory- the Japanese consider the characters to be older than Americans do- there are some cultural differences relating to reducing sun exposure in Japanese women and physical differences that tends to make them look younger to western eyes than they really are. You cannot really condemn Japanese Hentai manga unless you understand the environment that it has evolved in.
I mean, the Japanese may well consider LA porn to be barbaric and offensive (you can see pubic hair?)
Indeed... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not sure that the culture that created "Max Hardcore" has any business commenting on the supposed strangeness of other country's porn. Who was the comedian who said "The first time I saw a Max Hardcore film, I didn't know whether to jerk off or call the cops"?
Most of the oft-sighted strangeness of Japanese porn either has a direct analogue in our porn, or is otherwise a product of the strange obscenit
Re:Japanese? Weird?? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's interesting--I'm sure the reason why the censorship laws were made was so the citizens wouldn't become corrupted by porn, but I'd bet that the Japanese are more screwed up by what resulted from the laws than what would've happened without them.
Of course, I don't think the fact tha
Re:Japanese? Weird?? (Score:3, Informative)
Not sure I would really say the they 'screwe
Re:Japanese? Weird?? (Score:2)
This is not true. Many characters in hentai manga are in high school, even middle school. I couldn't count the number of manga where the main character is 14 and appears nude or in sex acts.
The sex
Re:Japanese? Weird?? (Score:2)
Surely there are cartoons that are intentionally made to look like underage, but if you read Japanese language you'll find that none of them explicitly state that they are underage by themselves. Even with
Re:Japanese? Weird?? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't have to assume. Characters in middle school are not adults. characters in school living with their parents are not adults. Characters who have their age explicitly stated as under 18 are not adults.
Do you insist on 'human rights' of those imaginary drawings?
No. Where do you draw that inference?
Surely there are cartoons that are intentionally made to look like
Re:Japanese? Weird?? (Score:1)
Used media.. (Score:5, Interesting)
In fact, more than P2P, it's my personal observation that this is where the real damage is to producers.
Think about it for a second..sales of used media are pretty stable, if not increasing. This does one of two things..
#1. It prevents a new sale on something that is still sold shrinkwrapped.
#2. Even on obsolete media, it's taking valuable entertainment dollars out of the market.
It's #2 that I'd be concerned about, more or less. People only have so much to spend on entertainment, and theoretically, it would actually be better, for example, for a consumer to spend that 20 bucks going towards a new game, and download the older game, than taking that money out of the potential market for their product. Now that's no guarentee that it'll work out, but you gotta be bold, be confident I guess.
Now, I buy used media myself, and get it at a good price. (Buy 2 DVDs get 2 free) Even though I know it's hurting the producers, as long as they focus on piracy, and those scare tactics, instead of going after those stores, frankly, I couldn't care less.
But it IS hurting them.
Re:Used media.. (Score:2)
Re:Used media.. (Score:2)
In any case, if you didn't notice, when I referred to it as media, that's including music and movies, where such trade-in, just isn't as prevalent.
I think that game rentals, in the long run, hurt more than used, at least in that particular market..not because that most vid
Re:Used media.. (Score:1)
Re:Used media.. (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Used media.. (Score:1)
Re:Used media.. (Score:1)
maybe, but you know where those valuable entertainment dollars go? Right back into the pockets of the consumers, who then procede to spend it on other goods and services. The harm in this case is against the consumer, who should have a right to control physical property that he has purchased. It's a DVD, not a license to play the game on the DVD, that people are purchasing.
I don't see why we have to engineer these controls to make the
Re:Used media.. (Score:2)
But I think it highlights the madness that is going through regarding things such as emulation, for example. Offering it for download for free is baaaad, but re-selling it and making money off of your work is good?
Yes, there's a legal difference. But if the media groups want credibility, they have to be honest.
Re-selling is perfectly legal. It's also hurting the industry much more than any sort of P2P or casual copying.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Used games (Score:3, Insightful)
So the solution, in my eyes, would be for the publishers to incorporate keys into their console software. They'd have a real uphill battle doing that though (for everything but the Xbox and very few PS2 games, its not as though entering your CD key is going to get you anything)
Nintendo (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Nintendo (Score:1)
Most Japanese PC games aren't hentai? (Score:3, Informative)
Rob
Whoops, didn't RTFA (Score:2)
Rob (At least that's what it looks like; he wasn't completely clear)
Re:Most Japanese PC games aren't hentai? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Most Japanese PC games aren't hentai? (Score:1)
no rentals for games in Japan either (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe the game industry in Japan just has more legislative clout to get the government to give it control over users, but I doubt it given the size of the music industry here.
I wonder if maybe it's just that historically the reason so many more games are available in Japan is because so many of those games are very, very, crappy. If people are able to rent a game and realize how shoddy it is, maybe they would be discourraged from buying the product. This same thinking might explain the crusade against resale -- a much larger chunk of the gaming pie here consists of titles that are simply worth the wait for buying used.
CD rentals in the US (Score:2)
Check it out sometime.
Re:CD rentals in the US (Score:1)