China Lifts 13-Year-Old Foreign Console Ban

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China Lifts 13-Year-Old Foreign Console Ban

Posted by Unknown on Tuesday January 7, 2014 @01:44AM from the moving-on-up-from-a-jaguar dept.

hypnosec writes "China has lifted the 13-year-old foreign gaming console ban, which it imposed back in 2000 as a way to protect the nation's youth from unhealthy content that may adversely affect their mental health. The temporary lift of the ban, which was announced Monday by the State Council of PCR (Google Translation into English), will make way for international console vendors including Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo to setup production facilities in the newly created Shanghai Free Trade Zone and sell their consoles throughout the country. The vendors will still have to go through local checks, including the ones from the Cultural authorities to ensure that they don't violate any of those rules."

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Good news for me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 01:48 · Score: 0

If China has a console then it will get cracked/jail-broke faster and i can get to my homebrew sooner.
Down side: the Chinese that are looking to crack them just to use the camera to spy on all the hot American girl gamers.
1. Re:Good news for me by thaylin · 2014-01-07 01:53 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  First why is that a down side, other than for those Chinese people. After all for every 1 hot gamer girl they will have to go through thousands of basement boys.
  
  --
  When you cant win, ad hominem.
2. Re:Good news for me by CapOblivious2010 · 2014-01-07 01:54 · Score: 1
  
  Down side: the Chinese that are looking to crack them just to use the camera to spy on all the hot American girl gamers.
  Boy are they in for some disappointment...
3. Re:Good news for me by Bozzio · 2014-01-07 01:54 · Score: 1
  
  Or, we might get knock-off models at half the price (and half the durability)?
  I'm not a big gamer anymore, so I actually would like to try a knockoff next-gen console. Who cares if it breaks in 2 weeks if it cost me peanuts?
  Oh yeah, then environment :|
  
  --
  I just pooped your party.
4. Re:Good news for me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 02:00 · Score: 0
  
  ...will make way for international console vendors including Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo to setup production facilities in the newly created Shanghai Free Trade Zone and sell their consoles throughout the country.
  Press Release in 2015: "Chinese companies have create game consoles that are 100% compatible with XBox, Wii, Playstation for half the price. Soon to be in Walmart."
  2016: "Microsoft, Nintendo and SONY game Sales plummet Worldwide. "
  There is ALWAYS a technology transfer clause in these agreements.
  Sony, MS, Nintendo - Suckers.
5. Re:Good news for me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 02:01 · Score: 0
  
  When you already lost, say the other side is using ad hominem. BTW, it's can't, with an apostrophe, otherwise your sig makes even less sense.
6. Re:Good news for me by rmdingler · 2014-01-07 02:02 · Score: 1
  
  Heh heh...nice.
  On the plus side, it's going to make a lot of average-looking Chinese girls instantly more palatable.
  
  --
  Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
  Ernest Hemingway
7. Re:Good news for me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 02:17 · Score: 0
  
  original AC here:
  very true, it will be like chat roulette.
  maybe we will see compilations of Chinese reaction videos :-)
  I was also operating under the assumption that there are girls out there that fit this category. The internet said they exist so it must be true.
8. Re:Good news for me by Bing+Tsher+E · 2014-01-07 03:24 · Score: 0
  
  The only 'hot gamer girls' are the fictitious ones in photographs for ads selling gaming guides.
  Real 'gamer girls' are same same chips-n-cheeseburger munching human mounds-of-flesh as the gamer guys.
9. Re:Good news for me by ausekilis · 2014-01-07 05:39 · Score: 1
  
  If China has a console then it will get cracked/jail-broke faster and i can get to my homebrew sooner.
  I'm more interested in the Super Z-Station VII, the reverse-engineered XBone, PS4, and Wii U in one small box. We haven't had any good Retro-(X) consoles since the SNES/Genesis days. They've got some catching up to do with the N64, GameCube, Wii, XBox (original), XB360, PS1, PS2. Maybe we'll get the SUPER-MEGA POWER-GAME 2100, with all of the systems ever made in one small box for $100.
10. Re: Good news for me by Mabhatter · 2014-01-07 10:15 · Score: 1
  
  Except the consoles are ALREADY made in China. Why would anybody need NEW factories? This is merely the Chinese government "most graciously allowing" Chinese workers to buy the crap THEY MAKE for export.
  This is as not-news as selling cigarettes in the USA. Most of the WORLD's supply is made here but we ban and tax the hell out of them.
11. Re:Good news for me by sharknado · 2014-01-07 11:09 · Score: 1
  
  You're assuming they don't like basement boys. :|
12. Re: Good news for me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 15:18 · Score: 0
  
  RTFA
  They have to set up in the Shanghai free trade zone to qualify.
13. Re:Good news for me by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 15:21 · Score: 0
  
  Only in America, Asia has a lot of attractive gamers, and hardly any fatties.
just consoles? by nurb432 · 2014-01-07 01:50 · Score: 1

I assume games are still restricted.

--
---- Booth was a patriot ----
1. Re:just consoles? by rmdingler · 2014-01-07 02:00 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Yes. If by restricted you mean pirated faster & furiously.
  
  --
  Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
  Ernest Hemingway
2. Re:just consoles? by ackthpt · 2014-01-07 02:14 · Score: 2
  
  In Peoples Republic of China game restricts YOU!
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
3. Re:just consoles? by nurb432 · 2014-01-07 05:14 · Score: 1
  
  Restricted by law, not practice.
  
  --
  ---- Booth was a patriot ----
13 year old foreign gaming console ban? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 01:54 · Score: 1

Why not just import 12 or 14 year old foreign gaming consoles?
1. Re:13 year old foreign gaming console ban? by Bozzio · 2014-01-07 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  I see what you did there.
  I don't see just why you did it, though.
  
  --
  I just pooped your party.
2. Re:13 year old foreign gaming console ban? by ackthpt · 2014-01-07 02:15 · Score: 2
  
  Why not just import 12 or 14 year old foreign gaming consoles?
  Geez! Why can't you be quiet?!? Now I'll have competition from other slashdotters!
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Good for Indie Games by BisuDagger · 2014-01-07 01:58 · Score: 1

Assuming they allow purchasing from PSN and Microsoft Store etc., the Indie Game market could really soar from here. This is a pretty beneficial moment for more then just the big head companies.
Still more to be done by Akratist · 2014-01-07 01:59 · Score: 3, Funny

They still need to lift a ban on weed and frozen pizzas (if there is one) to get the full Western "console experience"...
I read that as 'casserole' and thought "ooh!" by vilms · 2014-01-07 02:05 · Score: 1

*hands in (already-mostly-ceremonial) geek card*
1. Re:I read that as 'casserole' and thought "ooh!" by ackthpt · 2014-01-07 02:16 · Score: 1
  
  *hands in (already-mostly-ceremonial) geek card*
  Casseroles are still banned. Have a pot sticker.
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
for a Gay Universe! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 02:17 · Score: 0

China is full of evil female creatures! Begin deployment of self-replicating dildo-bots. Our male brothers must be freed!
To suggest Chairman Mao is spinning in his grave.. by ackthpt · 2014-01-07 02:20 · Score: 1

To even allege the former ruler for life would frown on this, one must remember, he was a former bandit chieftain who joined the revolution so he could have a bigger group of bandits to command (and do away with the other commanders in his path to ultimate leadership) Mao was not a true communist at heart and was in it for Mao.
Which, if you think about it, is the theme for a heck of a lot of games. Just change the title character to Young Mao and you are golden.
"You heard me, change the title from Pac-Man to Lucky Mao and be quick about it!"

--

A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Big Deal by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 02:21 · Score: 1

Big deal, consoles are widely available here already, and have been for 20+ years.
1. Re:Big Deal by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 03:14 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, when I lived there 10 years ago, consoles were widely available and pre-chipped.
  Aren't they all manufactured in China, maybe that qualifies them as non-foreign.
2. Re:Big Deal by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 15:26 · Score: 0
  
  You must have a different version of widely than most people, its extremely uncommon here to own a console.
A year ago by jones_supa · 2014-01-07 02:52 · Score: 1

Just for historical interest, here's the Slashdot article from year ago when they started to plan lifting the console ban.
Thats good for PC Gamers by fluffythdestroy · 2014-01-07 02:57 · Score: 1

1 thing I know is that if you put 280 million people on a software chances are you will get it hacked eventually. Increase that number to billions and your chances increase with numbers I like. Maybe if big companies like Sega, Sony, Microsoft and all others think their creations arent hackable (I'm serious...I think they think people don't hack console games) like they think they are, with this number of people using consoles, I hope in a good evil way, it gets hacked so easily they will have to put more emphasis on computer games and stop making idiot low quality ports like we have most of the time right now.

--
PC Gaming enthousiast that gives comments, opinions and reviews on Games. I'm just having fun with games while doing let
1. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by CronoCloud · 2014-01-07 05:07 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Let me guess, you're not a native English speaker. Let me also surmise that you don't live in the UK, US, NZ, AU, or Japan. Because in those regions....people actually pay money for software.
  The only people wanting to start conversations about "flip-top" PS2's and HDLoaders on the PS2 Linux forums were not in any of the above countries.
  The reason developers/publishers put more emphasis on console games (which are actually computer games since consoles are special purpose computers) is because console gamers spend money. Especially so compared to PC gamers in Eastern Europe and the Second/Third World.
2. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by AK+Marc · 2014-01-07 06:42 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Your comment is wrong (about countries). In AU and NZ, hacking rates were higher because many releases were Japan-only or US-only, so the "smaller" markets would have more mod chips and such getting around restrictions because the number of legitimate titles was restricted.
  
  If all region codes were eliminated for all markets (not even needed now, as HD PAL and HD NTSC are essentially compatible, PAL/NTSC being one of the reasons I kept hearing for why they were "necessary"), then piracy would decrease, not increase. When they make it harder to buy legal content, more people will pirate. But they want to sell the same thing for $10 in India, $50 in the US, and $100 in NZ/AU. So NZ/AU will pirate because they are paying 10x what others are for the same content.
  
  --
  Learn to love Alaska
3. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by CronoCloud · 2014-01-07 08:26 · Score: 1
  
  Perhaps you aren't aware, but PSP, Vita, PS3 and PS4 games are not region encoded.
  Oneof the reasons australians pay more is that it's a english speaking country far away from the other english speaking countries. It didn't use NTSC encoding or 120V power so they couldn't just send australia the US stuff, and they don't use American spelling! They also have a totally wacky and outrageous rating system. The exchange rate is also part of the issue. Not taking into account the tiny population. At least with the US, you can add Canada into that which makes over 300 MILLION people. Australia is less than a tenth of that. So basically they have to send Australia a customized UK version for what is, essentially, a niche market.
  Besides Excuses about region encoding and whatnot are just that, excuses for impoverished Russians/Ukrainians/Poles/Thais/Indians/Brazilians to acquire media without paying.
  The moment some media company releases stuff in those places, it goes up on "ThePirateHarbor.ru/ro/ukr/pl/etc etc. They tend to not respect intellectual property.
  Think about it from a publisher perspective:
  "Why should we release our stuff at all in a nation of thieves."
4. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by khellendros1984 · 2014-01-07 10:57 · Score: 1
  
  Because in those regions....people actually pay money for software.
  Or maybe they're in high school or college. I rarely paid for games and other software because I rarely had money. Since graduating, the situation has completely flipped around. Still, I remember wondering how game developers and publishers could be making any money. Everyone around me seemed to be pirating their games, either through modified executables on their PCs or by chipping their consoles. This was all in a fairly affluent area of the US.
  
  console games (which are actually computer games since consoles are special purpose computers)
  Well, yes, and a Mac is a PC (in that it's a "personal computer"), but you'll just confuse people if you use technical definitions in a non-technical context.
  
  --
  It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
5. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 12:05 · Score: 0
  
  Console gamers pirate as much as PC gamers. There are lots of pirated copies of console games on torrent sites. I suspect that the real reason that companies only make games for consoles is because someone pays them handsomely to only release it for x console (s). Another reason may be that consoles have a set hardware, and a PC can have loads of different components.
6. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by AK+Marc · 2014-01-07 13:19 · Score: 1
  
  First it's:
  
  PS2's and HDLoaders on the PS2 Linux forums
  Then it's:
  
  PSP, Vita, PS3 and PS4 games are not region encoded.
  I'm confused, why did you change your focus from specifically PS2 to everything else? Seems pretty deceitful.
  
  --
  Learn to love Alaska
7. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 15:33 · Score: 0
  
  Just sell them the UK version, whats so expensive about that?
  
  Really its just a price gouge because they can, Aussies have the money so charge them more. The whole region coding nonsense is just globalisation for the big people, make stuff in the cheapest place but sell it in the most expensive place.
8. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by CronoCloud · 2014-01-08 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  Don't be so literal.
  the PS2 reference was what we call a "for instance" showing my point that it isn't Anglophones or Japanese that are pirating. The same would have applied to the PS3 Linux forums. The people wanting to turn PS3's into "PirateStations" weren't in the Anglophone nations or Japan.
  And as I said, region encoding of games hasn't been an issue since 2006!
9. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by CronoCloud · 2014-01-08 02:03 · Score: 1
  
  Everyone around me seemed to be pirating their games, either through modified executables on their PCs or by chipping their consoles. This was all in a fairly affluent area of the US.
  Where? I'm in the midwest and nobody but nobody chipped their consoles. You want a game, you paid for it, or if you were young, got mom & dad to pay for it. Or you rented it, or found a used copy.
  It's probably a selection bias thing, different locales different attitudes.
10. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by CronoCloud · 2014-01-08 02:06 · Score: 1
  
  Console gamers pirate as much as PC gamers.
  
  Not in the Anglophone nations in japan they don't.
  
  There are lots of pirated copies of console games on torrent sites.
  Yes, but it's not Americans doing the uploading or downloading but a bunch of Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Romanians..etc etc
11. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by khellendros1984 · 2014-01-08 05:32 · Score: 1
  
  Southern California. I'm sure it is an issue of selection bias; I had a lot of foreign friends during high school and college, and fairly technically-minded ones, at that. Especially during college, I had a lot of free time, a decent computer, and access to an on-campus file sharing server with a few TiB of movies and games.
  
  --
  It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
12. Re:Thats good for PC Gamers by AK+Marc · 2014-01-08 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  Good, then I can buy games in AU for my US Wii? I bought it after 2006, so it can't be an issue, right?
  
  --
  Learn to love Alaska
Sales of the Dreamcast will surely rocket by wonkey_monkey · 2014-01-07 05:03 · Score: 1

Now they can all go out and buy 13-year-old consoles.

--
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Game Over by PPH · 2014-01-07 05:43 · Score: 1

Logged on to my favorite MMORPG today and found myself confronted by an enemy with a billion strong army. I think I'll just sit back and read a good book or something.

--
Have gnu, will travel.
yeah, but you can only bring in Atari 2600s by swschrad · 2014-01-07 07:15 · Score: 1

and other consoles made before 2000. written natively in the Chinese language. featuring games of feeding pandas.

--
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Unlike copyrights, patents expire. by tepples · 2014-01-07 12:25 · Score: 1

You might notice that Super NES compatibility became widely added around 2010, when the Super NES patents expired. PlayStation and Nintendo 64 patents are expected to expire within the next three years.
Localization is not free by tepples · 2014-01-07 12:29 · Score: 1

But how would indie game developers outside China afford to have the text translated into Chinese logograms and the dialogue dubbed into Mandarin?
1. Re:Localization is not free by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 16:00 · Score: 0
  
  The same way a lot of foreign stuff was brought to us in the early days; With horrible translation (Google Translate; I CHOOSE YOU!) that was done by a machine. Also, if you have subtitles, no need for dubbing into good ol' Beijing-hua or Guandong-hua...
  Still the bigger question is how are they going to get around the rampant piracy? The Chinese _WILL_ find a way to chip, root, or otherwise modify their consoles so they can get copies of everything free or for pennies.
Available on Taobao by sc0rpi0n · 2014-01-07 15:28 · Score: 1

A quick search on Taobao (the number one Chinese online market place) yields more than 60000 results for 'xbox':
http://s.taobao.com/search?q=xbox&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&sourceId=tb.index&spm=1.6659421.754896237.1&initiative_id=tbindexz_20140108
People that want one can easily get one. Same for satellite dishes, which are illegal in China, but nevertheless easily seen on most apartment buildings in Beijing.
the ban was never enforced... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-07 15:29 · Score: 0

This is worthless news to anyone who actually lives in China. It's very easy to get any console or game you want. Yes, even legal copies. As some people actually do want to play online in China.