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American Game Companies Target Asia
Thanks to the BBC and GamesIndustry.biz for their stories on American game company expansions into Asia. Electronic Arts is opening a dev studio in China, hoping to open up the world's largest market to online gaming. PCBang style internet cafes are rapidly becoming big business there. Microsoft, on the other hand, is getting serious about the Japanese market. Their next gen console is already being hyped to Japanese developers. The form factor and design are going to take into account Japanese tastes, as will their marketing campaign. The next Xbox may offer Japanese and American consumers a fascinating new feature as well, with Bill Gates himself confirming the development of spectator mode for the Xbox. It's unclear whether that would be rolled out for the current Xbox console, or will have to wait until their next product.
A widely available spectator mode on Xbox Live has some interesting possibilities. There have already been articles about how TV is starting to lose viewers to video games and the internet. Being able to tune in, so to speak, to live gaming on Xbox Live could help accelerate the trend. And where there are viewers, there's money, then ads... Of course ads are already starting the show up in games. Imagine my surprise that Red Bull was a real product after playing Wipeout the first time so many years ago!
Hmmm, you know there's a reality TV show in there somewhere! Maybe the best FPS players can land a starring spot on a Sims 2 based reality program with sims modelled on their game personas...hmmmm....
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
Pretty much everyone who makes stuff that China is already stocked to the brim with. Forget about any primary sector industries. The big deal about asia is the service sector, video games straddle the fence between two sectors what with online components.