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You may want to check out the Hong Kong DVD packs. . . . It's legal but hard to find.

Sadly, eBay (and, from what I hear, many conventions) are flooded with bootlegs from Hong Kong, and I don't think most people know that what they're buying isn't legitimate. Search eBay, Half.com, or Amazon.com for a popular TV series like 24 or The Sopranos, and see just how many copies turn up that are described as "import" versions with "Chinese writing" on the box.

Anyway, to answer the grandparent's question, there's finally a trend starting where R1 anime companies release season/series sets in thinpak sets for a fraction of the price of the original discs, typically 6 months to a year after the last individual volume of the series is released. You lose the pack-in (and, sometimes, on-disc) extras, but the prices are far easier for the casual fan to swallow. For example, Amazon.com is selling Neon Genesis Evangelion -- once infamous for being ADV's cash cow -- for under $50 for the whole series. It's not quite on par with the pricing for most domestic TV series, but it's close.

Unfortunately, there's no word yet of packaging Stand Alone Complex in a cheaper collection, at least not in Region 1. Bandai and/or Manga have apparently decided there's still too much demand for the more-expensive individual volumes.

You may want to check out the Hong Kong DVD packs. . . . It's legal but hard to find.

Sadly, eBay (and, from what I hear, many conventions) are flooded with bootlegs from Hong Kong, and I don't think most people know that what they're buying isn't legitimate. Search eBay, Half.com, or Amazon.com for a popular TV series like 24 or The Sopranos, and see just how many copies turn up that are described as "import" versions with "Chinese writing" on the box.

Anyway, to answer the grandparent's question, there's finally a trend starting where R1 anime companies release season/series sets in thinpak sets for a fraction of the price of the original discs, typically 6 months to a year after the last individual volume of the series is released. You lose the pack-in (and, sometimes, on-disc) extras, but the prices are far easier for the casual fan to swallow. For example, Amazon.com is selling Neon Genesis Evangelion -- once infamous for being ADV's cash cow -- for under $50 for the whole series. It's not quite on par with the pricing for most domestic TV series, but it's close.

Unfortunately, there's no word yet of packaging Stand Alone Complex in a cheaper collection, at least not in Region 1. Bandai and/or Manga have apparently decided there's still too much demand for the more-expensive individual volumes.

Lately I've pretty much felt the same way, but not just with games. Every year we've pretty much been seeing the same things coming out of both Hollywood, the music industry and the games industry.

I have a slightly older friend who has always gone to see the latest subtitled film, listened to Belgian house, and was into retro gaming before the concept had even been invented. I always used to take the P*** out of him!

The past year I've been buying a lot of oriental films in a big way, in particular I'm getting heavily into Korean cinema and when I haven't been trying to get Mame games working on a shuttle mini pc that's sat under my tv, I've been really into the indie games scene. Gametunnel and games from moonpod, pompom and sigma team have kept my gaming urges alive this year. They might not offer anything new, but at least they are games offering gameplay, rather than chasing the need of the masses to immerse themselves in a movie. I suppose once you've seen so much media of any time, you begine to crave somehting new.

It's not old age, just boredom. Thankfully, I haven't felt the need to get into Belgian trance music yet...

If you liked "Shaolin Soccer", then you must check out "God of Cookery", also by Stephen Chow. It was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and I bet half the jokes were lost in translation. Imagine "Iron Chef" with kung-fu and bearded schoolgirls, and you'll have some inkling of what it's all about.

Hong Kong is NTSC. It is also very cheap, even for legitimate discs (as this site sells). After all, if it's legal there, it's usually legal for you to import it, although not to sell. You might need an all-region player (HK being in region 3), but a lot of legit HK discs - like Shaolin Soccer - are code 0 anyway.

Over in the UK, all of our our DVD players can play both PAL and NTSC, almost all of the cheap supermarket ones are already or can be made multiregion by remote, and certain high-street hi-fi chains sell modded MR product (I have a MR Pioneer 360 from them). Even our version of Amazon sells modded multiregion kit - the current top spot is a modded Sony DVP-NS330. Multiregion is much more widespread here, and that's a good thing for British consumers (even though most of them don't know about it). I try to let my friends know.

Multiregion dvd player owners might like to buy the R3 version from DDD House

And no. It's not a bootleg. It's legit. Just very cheap.

if the price looks too good to be true, it probably is

Unless you're buying R3 releases from somewhere like DDDHouse which are official releases.