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Who Will Be the Next Lik-Sang?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the business-opportunity dept.

kukyfrope writes "Now that Sony has killed off Hong Kong retailer and Internet-import capital Lik-Sang, gamers must now find alternative outlets to import games and other goodies from Japan. Modojo has put up a nicely detailed list of some other online vendors that offer the sale of retail Japanese games to other international customers, featuring a few stores that can surely satisfy your import craving. 'The (now two) main Far East based export companies are Play-Asia and YesAsia. Both offer similar services (with the exception of Play-Asia's lack of European shipping for Sony products). So why would you prefer one over the other?'"

42 comments

  1. YesAsia is legit by Perseid · · Score: 1

    I've purchased some asian pop DVDs from YesAsia and they're pretty good, especially if you can snag one of their free shipping deals. They're kind of a one stop shopping place for Japanese, Chinese and Korean CDs, DVDs and games.

    1. Re:YesAsia is legit by blueZhift · · Score: 1

      I second that. YesAsia is pretty good. But they don't carry all of the niche/techie sort of toys that Lik-Sang did like coder cables and some truly exotic console mods. I only wish I'd imported some of that stuff before they closed.

      --
      To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
    2. Re:YesAsia is legit by twistedsymphony · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Even though this sites might offer imports the part I enjoyed most about Lik-Sang was all of the controller adapters, cable extenders, etc that they offered. Lik-Sang actually produced most of these products themselves, so something tells me it will take a while before another company really fully fills their shoes.

      Where else am I going to buy a SmartJoy Frag, or a PS2 to Xbox controller adapter, or a Sega Saturn controller extender, etc. (my actual last 3 purchases from Lik-Sang) without having to battle the bowels of eBay.

      --
      Collector's Edition
    3. Re:YesAsia is legit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      www.dvdconsole.com and www.pnp-nds.com

      Same company (or was the same company, perhaps not any longer). Mostly they prefer big orders (decent discounts for them, last time I ordered something like $3k in modchips and accessories and I got an incredible price), but what the heck, if you're willing to get the cash to them, they'll sell it to you. :-) Just don't be in a rush for shipping. The stuff generally works, but at the prices they quote, most of the chips are knockoffs (then again, none of the chips have a known name anyways). I've sold/installed a ridiculous number of these chips and the rare time there were issues I didn't care about throwing them away or building a programmer for them at the prices you get for quantity.

      Oh well, now you know the real prices of these products you can figure out the markup on them before they get into your hands.

  2. News Byte I missed? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1

    Ok, back this truck up...

    What happened with Lik-Sang and Sony? What'd they do?

    Point: It'd be nice to include a blurb why a BigCompany kills small fry (if that really is the case...)

    --
    1. Re:News Byte I missed? by chrismcdirty · · Score: 1

      Sony sued Lik-Sang in multiple European countries. Lik-sang claimed they could not afford the cost of attending court for each of these cases, so they decided to shut their doors. Wikipedia and Google may be more helpful.

      --
      It's like sex, except I'm having it!
    2. Re:News Byte I missed? by Lovedumplingx · · Score: 1

      See the Related Stories. This came out a few days ago (can't quite remember when).

    3. Re:News Byte I missed? by eht · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well you know, that "Related Stories" section, uhm, you might want to click the link there. It kind of spells out everything without rehashing it for the people that already know.

    4. Re:News Byte I missed? by grogdamighty · · Score: 1

      Sony sued Lik-Sang in most of the EU countries. Not being capable of defending themselves in the face of such an onslaught (monetarily? legally?), Lik-Sang shut down.

      --
      My other sig is funny.
    5. Re:News Byte I missed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      See the Related Stories. This came out a few days ago (can't quite remember when).
      Slashdot applies the date to the discussion page location.
      The Related Stories link says ".../06/10/24/..." so the date of that discussion was on October 24, 2006.
    6. Re:News Byte I missed? by TheSeer2 · · Score: 1

      They didn't spend a cent on legal costs but they closed. Think about it. They're just trying to create a marketing problem for Sony.

    7. Re:News Byte I missed? by AcidLacedPenguiN · · Score: 1

      I think this is about how it went down (keep in mind I'm simplifying it) let's say that the overall legal fees would amount to one million dollars. Now let's say the maximum amount that Lik-Sang could have possibly spent on the legal fees is one hundred thousand dollars. There'd be no possible way to cover the other 900 thousand right? Now as a CEO would you rather piss the money away knowing you're going to lose because you can't afford to win, or would you split the money up and dissolve the company?

      --
      disclaimer: I've been known to store numbers in my ass for which to dig out when quantities are required.
  3. I'll do it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm free next Tuesday.

  4. Do we know for certain that Sony did this? by joeflies · · Score: 1
    I read the previous story and I know that Lik Sang BLAMES sony for putting them out of business. But reselling sony equipment is only a part of the mix of the products that they sold, and they've been stopped from selling products by other manufacturers as well.

    Couldn't it be possible that Lik Sang is just taking advantage of negative Sony feedback over the past year to send another f-u to Sony? I find it hard to believe they'd be put out of business over this single issue, and the whole time not point any blame at the quasi grey market business that they were operating under.

    1. Re:Do we know for certain that Sony did this? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Couldn't it be possible that Lik Sang is just taking advantage of negative Sony feedback over the past year to send another f-u to Sony? I find it hard to believe they'd be put out of business over this single issue, and the whole time not point any blame at the quasi grey market business that they were operating under.

      Obviously, you weren't paying attention. Sony sued Lik-Sang in nearly every european country. Defending against one suit is expensive. Defending against dozens? Far too much for a small company like Lik-Sang. In fact, two separate judges expressed shock at the amount of money Sony's legal team was using to try the case. Sony wanted Lik-Sang dead, and they wanted it BAD.

      Here is Lik-Sang's response to the fiction that Sony fed the press. Decide for yourself.

      Me? I'm boycotting Sony. Feel free to join in.
      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    2. Re:Do we know for certain that Sony did this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      negative Sony feedback over the past year

      If you call being sued in nearly every European country simultaneously "negative Sony feedback", sure. As for the "quasi grey market", it first has to be illegal for me to sell the things I buy here in another country, and barring any export restrictions (lol ps2 guided nukes!), it's not. Sony is simply using the "You can sue anyone for any reason" tort rule, and in this case they won. If I had to hire 50 lawyers from 50 different countries in a half dozen different languages, I'd probably give up too.

    3. Re:Do we know for certain that Sony did this? by aleksiel · · Score: 1

      when you get sued like this, you can either:
      1) pay the court fees to fight
      2) pay the money because you didn't fight, or lost
      3) close your doors

      if you don't have the money to pay, as is the case for lik sang, then you only have one choice.

    4. Re:Do we know for certain that Sony did this? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      I read the previous story and I know that Lik Sang BLAMES sony for putting them out of business. But reselling sony equipment is only a part of the mix of the products that they sold, and they've been stopped from selling products by other manufacturers as well.
      Couldn't it be possible that Lik Sang is just taking advantage of negative Sony feedback over the past year to send another f-u to Sony? I find it hard to believe they'd be put out of business over this single issue, and the whole time not point any blame at the quasi grey market business that they were operating under.


      Try to defend yourself in the many languages and courts of the EU countries. Sony didn't just sue Lik-Sang in UK courts, they sued in nearly ALL EU member courts. The EU is a diverse place, with many different legal traditions and languages. Now take a small retailer like Lik-Sang (they're big, but really, the margins can't be too great on their products). They have to defend themselves not only in UK courts, but in all the other courts as well. Once they lost in the UK, they decided to throw in the towel and leave with money, than leave with lawyers holding the money and bankruptcy.

      So even if they intended to make it a big f-u to Sony, Sony helped by filing so many lawsuits, there's no way to defend oneself against the onslaught of court dates, court filings, lawyers, etc. It's like some large company decides to sue you in every state in the US. You'll exhaust significant resources just convincing the judge that the case should be moved. Now turn "state" into "countries" and that magnifies the difficulty and costs.

      1 lawsuit - not a big deal. Many lawsuits in different countries, VERY big deal.
    5. Re:Do we know for certain that Sony did this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      In fact, two separate judges expressed shock at the amount of money Sony's legal team was using to try the case.

      What are the names of the two judges?
  5. Question... by sesshomaru · · Score: 2, Informative
    Is this intended to be "Who will replace Lik-Sang?" or is it more like one of those Final Destination movies, "Who will Sony destroy next?"

    For import gaming I always used National Console Support , I mainly used Lik-Sang for wierd stuff. So what I'm looking for is not a replacement import gaming place, but a replacement wierd stuff place. I suppose The Goat Store could help me replace some of this. (Note: An acronym for Games of all Types, some ./'s probably have an unreasonable fear of goats at this point.) Unfortunately, that's mainly a retro store, not a wierd stuff store. Telegames used to be good, but they've scaled back on the products they carry.

    --
    "MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
    1. Re:Question... by Abreu · · Score: 1

      Goats!! Noooo!!! [runs]

      --
      No sig for the moment.
    2. Re:Question... by nuzak · · Score: 1

      What have you got against satanic chickens, fish that live in beer, biker trekkies, mayan programmers, cow computers, and pub-oriented transdimensional travel anyway?

      --
      Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    3. Re:Question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      JList carries plenty of eastern "wierd stuff" (and anime / hentai / pocky if that's your thing.)

    4. Re:Question... by sesshomaru · · Score: 1
      I've bought some games from J-List but I only play them for the articles....

      Actually, I was thinking of buying a Domo-kun from them (see URL link). But now we are outside the realm of games unless you mean PC games. In which case we may as well mention X-Arcade.

      This is all academic anyway, as I'm in debt up to my eyeballs for the next 5 years at least....

      --
      "MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
  6. dasf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    feddfsasd 55

  7. Play-Asia by the+dark+hero · · Score: 1

    I've always had a great time purchasing through play-asia. They have quick, responsive customer service and they also offer coupons as an incentive to purchase through them again.

    --
    You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.

    Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies

  8. RIP Slashdot Gaming News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A couple weeks away from the launch of the two major consoles and the gaming press is overflowing with gaming news and previews and excitement.

    And Slashdot is treated to another day of Sony/PS3 bashing from its one whackjob editor. Has anyone noticed how far down Slashdot has fallen in traffic relative to other online discussion forums...

  9. Missing from the list by Dracil · · Score: 2, Informative

    The sites mentioned are severely lacking in doujin/Japanese PC games like the Touhou series and a lot of the Higurashi stuff (the original PC version only costs about $20 instead of $60-100 for the PS2 version). Similar situation with Fate/Stay Night. http://www.himeyashop.com/ and http://www.paletweb.com/ fill that void quite well, especially for non-console gamers like me.

    1. Re:Missing from the list by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      None of the larger import stores sell PC games, at least not the indie variety. Perhaps they're worried because like 80% of these games use characters they have no rights to (i.e. shamelessly lifted from some dating sim). Thanks for the link to Palet, though, they seem to have more payment options and cheaper shipping options (Himeya refuses to ship uninsured and with many indie games that means you pay more on shipping than the game itself).

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  10. Can it be me? by Kohath · · Score: 1

    Vote for me on Nov 7 for the next Lik-Sang!

    Thanks.

  11. How did EU courts get jurisdiction? by the_B0fh · · Score: 1

    Why?

    Lik Sang does not have any operations in any of those companies. Why did they have to go and defend themselves there? When you file a lawsuit, you have to show the court that it has jurisdiction over the matter.

    1. Re:How did EU courts get jurisdiction? by CRCulver · · Score: 1

      If Lik-Sang loses a case in a country, it can no longer export merchandise to that country. Instead, shipments can be seized at the border as contraband. So, Lik-Sang could have ignored the suits and stayed in business, but it no longer would have had a market. The EU was its market.

    2. Re:How did EU courts get jurisdiction? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      They had a European subsidiary and bank accounts.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  12. I'm sure lik-sang will be back. . . by MrJynxx · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Lik-sang will be back. They put themselves out of business in order to get around the sony lawsuits.

    But what's the stop the owners to open it up under a different name all together?

    MrJynxx

    1. Re:I'm sure lik-sang will be back. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The daunting prospect of having to rebuild name recognition?

      Captcha: hurdle

    2. Re:I'm sure lik-sang will be back. . . by danimrich · · Score: 1

      The lingering threat of being sued by Sony for similar offences?

      --
      where's all that Karma?
    3. Re:I'm sure lik-sang will be back. . . by empaler · · Score: 1

      Lick-sung.
      Or lick-wang.
      Or something similar.

    4. Re:I'm sure lik-sang will be back. . . by burndive · · Score: 1

      They won't be selling Sony PlayStation(TM) 3's or PSPs, they'll be selling generic gaming console units.

      --
      ...because "hacker" sounds way sexier than "code drone."
    5. Re:I'm sure lik-sang will be back. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lik-sang -> hat-song?

      hate-sony

  13. Who's surly? by oldbeamer · · Score: 1

    I'm not surly about it, it's just business.

    1. Re:Who's surly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      who is the next liksang got killed? play-asia buygame2 japanboxz yesasia ai japanvideogames

  14. I've ordered from all of then... by bVork · · Score: 1

    ...and I usually buy from Play-Asia. They have great customer service and a great selection.

    YesAsia is often a little cheaper, but their selection isn't as good and they are really really terrible about updating their site about stock levels. They're also really bad about doing timely refunds. I've ordered games from them, only to be told a week and a half later that they're out of stock, and then had to wait another week and a half for the refund to be processed. This only applies to somewhat older games, though. If you're pre-ordering a title, YesAsia is definitely the place to go.

    NCSX is great if you live in the US. I don't. NCSX ships UPS, and UPS absolutely rapes Canadians with horrendous service fees. I don't enjoy paying anywhere from $20 to $50 in fees for a $60 item.