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PlayStation 2 Release Delayed In China

Posted by simoniker on from the confusion-reigns dept.

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."

10 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. If the G5 is available.... by suyashs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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/
    1. Re:If the G5 is available.... by Tango42 · · Score: 2, Informative

      The military issues may not be realistic, but the piracy ones are. It may well not the financially viable to sell it in China. You can't expect a company to do something that would lose them money, can you?

    2. Re:If the G5 is available.... by JFMulder · · Score: 2, Insightful

      See Xbox.

    3. Re:If the G5 is available.... by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, Germany to England is easy, as long as all you want is a basic path. The problem comes in when you are shooting missles at people that have an air defense worth mentioning, in modern warfare. Then, you usually want to have some sort of terrain following missle (ala Tomahawk), which gives little warning to your enemy, can mask the launching platform's position, and is less likely to be destroyed en route to target.
      Now, would a country, such as China (who bought up tons of Soviet military hardware) really need to get a PS2 chip to guide a missle? I seriously doubt it, they probably have thier own stuff to do this already. As for ICBM's and MIRV's, well, Clinton already sold them that technology.
      If anything, I think this is just a rumor, started by Sony, to make the PS2 look better.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
  2. Unfavorable? by Saint+Mitchell · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  3. Military by Loosewire · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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....

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    Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
  4. PS2 in Hong Kong by cloudless.net · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:PS2 in Hong Kong by cloudless.net · · Score: 2, Funny

      I was going to say "piracy" but I typed "privacy", sorry about the typo.

  5. Re:It's all about the MOD CHIP by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Since the prevailing attitude of most of the technologically elite is one that condones INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT"

    That isn't true. Piracy is not something that the 'technologically elite' is trying to accomplish. We've paid for software/content, if we have the means, we should be able to explore the capabilities of what we have spent money for. If you have a specific situation in mind about what sparked this rant, I'd be happy to explain to you what the real intent is.

    "The Dreamcast and Sega were destoyed by mass counterfeiting and filetrading,"

    Very untrue. The Dreamcast died because of competition with Sony. Piracy wasn't a huge factor, if at all. Sega simply couldn't get enough consoles out in order to sell enough games to make a profit.

    "FACE IT PEOPLE...IF YOU DOWNLOAD GAMES AND INSTALL MOD CHIPS, YOU ARE MAKING GAMES AND GAMING CULTURE WORSE NOT BETTER...."

    If that is directed solely at the people here who download games to avoid paying for them, then you are not speaking to a wide number of people. Most of the pro-modding comments I've seen here aren't related to pirating games, but rather to remove region restrictions.

    Why is it that the harshest opinions come from the least informed? Is it because information reveals shades of gray?

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  6. Why the Chinese piracy problem? by Unoti · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.