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PlayStation 2 Release Delayed In China
Thanks to the San Jose Mercury News/AP for their article regarding Sony's postponement of the PlayStation 2's release in China. According to the piece, "Two days after the planned release date, a statement on Sony's Chinese-language Web site blamed an 'unfavorable environment' for the delay. It didn't elaborate or set a new launch date." The article goes on to speculate that "Makers of popular console games such as Sony and Nintendo have been wary of launching products in mainland China... largely because of fears of piracy", referencing Nintendo's recently-launched iQue console, and also noting: "Earlier reports said that the advanced computer chips used in PlayStation 2 and some of its advanced graphics functions might have military applications that would preclude export of the devices to China under U.S. and Japanese law, but Sony did not mention that in its announcement."
If apple can sell the G5 in China, why shouldn't Sony be allowed to sell the PS2? Since its already available nearly everywhere else in the world, why not make it avaliable to china? I am sure that if there was a military application to this it would have already been found + I doubt that the Chinese military is stupid enough to rely on a console to power their military equipment...
http://chrono.posterous.com/
Since the prevailing attitude of most of the technologically elite is one that condones INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT, than it is hard not to agree with Sony on this one. If the artists who put their time and effort into game design are going to be undermined by counterfeit games, than why should the system be released in that country at all? Are MOD CHIPS not entirely made in China? If a flourishing video game industry is to develop in that country it should be without the dark cloud of piracy. The bottom line is that innovation in gaming is threatened by mass piracy. The Dreamcast and Sega were destoyed by mass counterfeiting and filetrading, yet it may very well have been the best console EVER made. FACE IT PEOPLE...IF YOU DOWNLOAD GAMES AND INSTALL MOD CHIPS, YOU ARE MAKING GAMES AND GAMING CULTURE WORSE NOT BETTER.....I guess I'll have to write a follow up... http://www.avnonline.com/issues/200312/newsarchive /news_120303_3.shtml....
The real question is what should we do with the pirates? The ones who profit from the sales of such counterfeit goods? Obviously the direct persecution and punishment route against the end user hasn't worked (see failed RIAA persuit of Joe and Jane Downloader)....If Google and Yahoo can ban hate literature, why not remove SHOPPING LINKS to MODCHIP sites?
I don't know about unfavorable. Even if they are worried about piracy, so what. Change the business model a bit. Jack up the price of the console to where you make a profit. You won't sell as many, but who cares. It beats loosing money on the console thinking you'll make up for it on games. You know you're going to get your ass handed to you on game sales, so you make up for it elsewhere. Good luck getting a developer to translate games though, since they know they aren't going to make much if any.
Could it be anything to do with using gpu's for very high power maths ala that slashdot article a few days ago? the emotion engine is one powerfull gpu....
Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
PS2 has been launched in Hong Kong for a very long time already, and mod chips are widely available too. If SONY insists not to launch PS2 in mainland China, people will simply buy them from Hong Kong. There is privacy problem in Hong Kong too, just not as terrible as in the mainland.
Modding however is completely seperate from intellectual property theft. as the VHS before it, modding consumer electronics you own has substantial non-infringing uses. Thus, it should be protected fair-use. but thanks to the over-reaching DMCA, the consumer is now prohibited from altering a product they purchased and own, as well as having their right to free speech co-opted to protect an illegal corporate practice.
While many people would agree that for-profit ip theft in China is a serious issue - trying to use that to justify the DMCA (which is the only law that forbids the modding you hate so much) is not a solution, and only serves to make criminals of the paying customers.
After all, selling stolen intellectual property was already illegal. the DMCA makes it no easier to prosecute criminals who sell blackmarket software. contrarily, software piracy is much easier to do with a simple DVD writer than trying to convince black market customers to wield a soldering iron.
there was absolutely no cause or need for a law to prohibit reverse engineering - except that corporations have a large political budget, and much to lose if they have to price their product fairly and compete in an open market.
Everyone knows console makers are participating in the normally-illegal practice of selling product below cost. Everyone looks the other way because of the supposedly benevolent effect - consumers get hardware cheap. However, there is no fair market for software for this hardware (the console publishers fix pricing, and only compete between consoles - and they seem to have agreed on de facto price fixing).
In effect, the publisher is merely dumping the hardware to make the price of the next-gen console reasonable to the mass market consumer. if the actual price was applied to the machines, they would have to face the possibility of longer shelf-lives for their old product and a healthy after-market in truly 3rd party games and peripherals.
Which nearly exactly describes the situation in mainland China -- where systems as old as the famicom have a thriving aftermarket in peripherals, upgrades, and local games.
Yes, downloading games, or buying black market copies is certainly harmful to the game industry.
but mod-chips are only potentially harmful to those already breaking the law (if they weren't dumping, they wouldn't lose money if people bought the console but no games). And even then, mod chips only add another possibility for harm to the games industry. an opportunity orders of magnitude smaller than a simple DVD-R already does.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
I've heard of other piracy issues in China and Korea. Rampant piracy of VHS tapes... anyone know about this? Why is it a bigger problem there than it is in other places? Is it a cultural thing, like less respect for intellectual property? More of a tradition in buying things from the guy on the corner instead of going to a more regulated retail outlet? Is it economic reasons? All of the above? I'm curious why the piracy problem is bigger there than in, say, the U.S.
Other than the fact that most of the Gamecube mod scene is in Honk Kong.
Everyone knows an Apple computer can upload a virus to an Alien Mothership. So, exporting a G5 Apple to China only increases our Global chance of preventing extinction by way of hostile Alien take over.
But, apparently a PlayStation 2 can be used to guide missiles to and fro. So, that's no good for the public health...
Geeze, I thought all this was completly obvious.