Sony Bringing PlayStation To China

VentureBeat reports that one market formerly closed to console makers is opening up in a big way. An excerpt: "One month after Microsoft announced its launching the Xbox One in China this September, Sony today announced that its PlayStation business is coming to the world’s most populous country. It’s unclear which PlayStation hardware and games will come to China — or when — but it’s reasonable to assume Sony will bring its PlayStation 4 console (and perhaps its PlayStation Vita handheld) to China later this year. The Chinese game industry is already worth $13 billion, most of which gets spent on PC and mobile. That’s not console makers’ fault: China implemented a console ban in 2000, saying it would protect children from violent video games. As soon as the Chinese Ministry of Culture said it would begin working on new rules, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony all expressed interest in bringing their consoles to the country. Like Microsoft, which is working with Chinese media firm BesTV to bring the Xbox One to China, Sony also has a local partner: Shanghai Oriental Pearl Culture Development (OPCD). Both OPCD and BesTV are subsidiaries of China’s Shanghai Media Group."

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[ArcadeMan]

Remember when the Internet was free? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Thanks for the laugh.

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[jones_supa]

..even with ads disabled checked.

fuck beta fuck tards.

Yeah, I noticed the same. Why have an "Ads Disabled" checkbox if it does not so what it says anymore?

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[Osgeld]

its nintendo, they are so safe and cutsie they puke flowers and rainbows

Drone pilots

[ls671]

Funny, I just read: China is behind in training future drone pilots and intends to catch up.

points of ingress

[Dominare]

I like the quote at the end of TFA: “Things that are hostile to China, or not in conformity with the outlook of China’s government, won’t be allowed [under the new rules]” said Ministry of Culture head Cai Wu earlier this year. “We want to open the window a crack to get some fresh air, but we still need a screen to block the flies and mosquitoes.”

I like how they're worried about cracking the window when - given that actual PCs are already widespread - the door is basicall

Piracy on those platforms skyrockets in 3,2,1

[sethstorm]

Given how consoles have gone with China, I wouldn't be surprised to see a corresponding increase in piracy.

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[jones_supa]

Yes, but aren't PlayStation games quite hard to pirate? The PlayStation consoles have generally had very robust copy protection systems.

Re:Piracy on those platforms skyrockets in 3,2,1

[DrXym]

The PS2 and XBox were vulnerable to modchips. The PSP suffered exploits and custom firmware took over. The 360 too was modded although Microsoft bans people from XBL to keep it under control. Nintendo seems to treat copy protection as an afterthought which may explain why their systems are all cracked.

About the only console to withstand attack is the PS3, although Sony had to shut off some features and move code into higher kernel rings to secure it. All that whining over OtherOS being removed and Geohot being prosecuted was Sony protecting their platform from piracy.

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[CastrTroy]

I think that Nintendo seems to not care so much because they actually make money (or don't lose as much) on the hardware. I've even soft-modded my Wii but didn't actually pirate any games. I just used to to enhance the capabilities such as enable it to be a media player. It almost seems like they built functionality into the Wii specifically for the sake of encouraging piracy. The biggest reason that I soft-modded my Wii was because it allowed me to hook up a USB hard disk to my Wii and play games from t

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[DrXym]

Nintendo may not have cared but I guarantee you 3rd party publishers did. The DS, 3DS and Wii all turned into a cesspool of shovelware because the money simply wasn't in these systems for publishers to aim any higher. It's not hard to find stories of companies with ambitious games being stung by poor sales. Think of all the good games you *might* have seen on those systems but never got to enjoy simply because the money wasn't there for them to bother.

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[Anonymous Coward]

All controllers are wireless, so I don't see why they should even have USB ports on the consoles anymore. I think the only real use of the USB slots was for the network dongle, and they could have put an actual Ethernet port in there for the same price.

You forgot need a USB keyboard for situations where online chat is a must. Think RPGs like FF11 [creativeuncut.com]. It had PC and Final Fantasy ONLINE RPGs [gamespot.com] like Console gamers [http] together IIRC. To get around keyboardless consoles, they had a rudimentary chat system where menus offer pre-defined things similar to "Hello" and "Let's team" and probably "Run". The optional keyboard and mouse input surely beats a 10 button PS gamepad. *

You may not be the target market. Nintendo has a long track record of supporting accessories (pre-U

Forgotten History

[tuppe666]

All that whining over OtherOS being removed and Geohot being prosecuted was Sony protecting their platform from piracy.

The reason for the removal of OtherOS was the (Risks? associated with the Other OS being outweighed!? by) the tax benefits imposed on importing consoles into the EU as computers being withdrawn. A feature available since the PS2.

I personally lament the loss of this feature. More so with the introduction of this generation of hardware which simply preform better as full computers not appliances and the massive strides GNU/Linux has made.

The worst of it is...is it became about "hating" on Sony, not a real cam

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[CronoCloud]

The reason for the removal of OtherOS was the (Risks? associated with the Other OS being outweighed!? by) the tax benefits imposed on importing consoles into the EU as computers being withdrawn

Why does this rumor never die. The surtax on consoles was removed in the EU a bit after YaBasic on the PS2 was released. Linux on the PS2 and PS3, post-date the removal of said surtax and therefor wasn't the reason they were created.

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[DrXym]

OtherOS was removed because it was considered a viable attack vector. Someone had broken through the virtualization layer it ran on and there was a fear that from there they might be able to attack the rest of the system. It's not hard to imagine the ultimate problem - someone producing a burnable ISO for the PS3 which booted, rooted it and installed custom firmware.

That's why OtherOS was removed. It may have been put in for other reasons but I suspect it would have lasted longer if not for the imminent t

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[spire3661]

The problem is, under any sane law, Sony did not have the authority to remove Other OS or force a decision on games or OtherOS. It was NOT a no-brainer, just that no one with money could be bothered to challenge them on it, so they did it with impunity. In my opinion, all PS3 sales should have been legally suspended until a proper remediation was in place.

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[DrXym]

Er what? Of course they had the authority - you as the user authorised them to do it. If you didn't want OtherOS removed, you should have refused to update your firmware when asked.

And yes it's a no brainer. It was a feature that virtually nobody used that posed a major attack threat to their platform and their revenues. Of course they were going to remove it. Anyone put in their position would have done exactly the same. Even console owners (at least the honest ones) should have been glad the hole was cl

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[spire3661]

The point is there should have been LEGAL pressure to give them pause. They fact that you hand waive it away as 'they had to' is telling. The only price they paid was customer backlash, there should have been severe legal repercussions. If Ford disabled my functions on my car to protect their service center profits there would be hell to pay

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[tlhIngan]

The PS2 and XBox were vulnerable to modchips. The PSP suffered exploits and custom firmware took over. The 360 too was modded although Microsoft bans people from XBL to keep it under control. Nintendo seems to treat copy protection as an afterthought which may explain why their systems are all cracked.
About the only console to withstand attack is the PS3, although Sony had to shut off some features and move code into higher kernel rings to secure it. All that whining over OtherOS being removed and Geohot be

Banned. Pfft. Nonsense.

[Rick in China]

Go to any computer market in China and there is typically a whole floor or large area dedicated to games. In Chengdu, for example, at the digital plaza computer market, there are maybe 8 or 9 mini-shops in the plaza which sell every console available, hardware accessories, and booklets with sleeves/printed covers to pick out SKUs of the pirated copy of game you'd like. Banned. Hardly enforced.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[Rick in China]

Must have been in some weird part of town. There are entire markets dedicated to knock-off-whatever, same market area will have fake golf clubs brands of clothing bags devices etc, but honestly, I've _never_ seen a "knock-off console" in over 10 years. If you go to a tech plaza, not ghetto knock-off wonderlands, I doubt you'd see 'knock offs' either :P except the games, which are typically stored in drawers in stacks, with booklets for you to flip thru to find the ones you want on the counters. You can also

PS3?

[drinkypoo]

A Chinese console has to compete with rampant piracy. It needs a large game library at a low price per title. It's not going to be the PS4. The PS2 is too old now. I predict an evenslimmer PS3.

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[Somebody Is Using My]

More to the point, Sony cannot depend on recouping their investment from software sales because software piracy is so prevalent in China. Thus, Sony needs a console that they can sell without losing money on the hardware. This very likely rules out the Playstation 4, but probably not the Playstation 3.

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[tlhIngan]

A Chinese console has to compete with rampant piracy. It needs a large game library at a low price per title. It's not going to be the PS4. The PS2 is too old now. I predict an evenslimmer PS3.

Well, the PS3 is completely open to pirates - the master keys are completely public all the way to the boot ROM. And those keys can't be changed without breaking compatibility with every game out there already rendering it even more useless.

OTOH, Japan got a new PS Vita - the Vita TV between the NA launch of the PS4 u

Govt Approved Consoles = Govt Monitoring Tools

[fygment]

It will be much easier for the Chinese government to monitor households with the 'blackboxes' that are game consoles. Expect audio video, and motion detect to be always 'on' and remotely accessible through government mandated backdoors. Expect government sanctioned games to monitor behaviour and in the cleverer versions, to modify behaviour and opinions in subtle ways eg. evil game characters bearing a resemblance to persons condemned by the state, such as foreign leaders, human rights activists, etc.

But

Factory direct?

[damn_registrars]

I haven't held a PS3 in some time or a PS4 ever, but being as >>>99% of all consumer goods sold in the US are made in China, it would seem reasonable to bet on these to be Chinese made as well. In which case, would they be able to sell them straight off the assembly line, or would they have to export / re-import them to sell?

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[Rick in China]

Currently they are being export/imported. Typically they are sold into HK - then brought back from HK and sold online or to shops for retail sales. That has been the model for the last decade - there is no hiding the fact all the consoles/games/hardware you want is available in China mainland, just as there's no hiding the fact you can buy pirated DVDs openly on the street in some areas, it's just kinda how it is. They don't allow Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft to _sell the consoles here_ -- but they do allo