Slashdot Mirror


Nintendo Puts Business In Brazil On Hiatus

jones_supa writes: Nintendo has announced that it will end distribution of its consoles and games in Brazil. In a statement, Nintendo attributed the move to high import duties, which makes doing feasible business difficult. The company could avoid those duties with a local manufacturing operation, but has chosen not to establish one, presumably for the costs involved. In a statement e-mailed to Polygon, Nintendo of America said that the company's distributor for Latin America would no longer send products to Brazil, but it would continue to distribute Nintendo goods to other parts of South America. Nintendo will also keep monitoring the evolution of the business environment in Brazil and evaluate how to best serve Brazilian customers in the future.

111 comments

  1. worst for brazilians but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good business opportunities for paraguayan importers

  2. Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 5, Informative

    Environment for electronics and just about anything else. http://www.insidesources.com/c... . The problem is this doesn't serve them well. Trying to recreate the rest of the worlds industries internally just insures they have many second rate products, or have to pay hefty premiums for the tools they need to get things done. Really surprising after all these years they haven't tried to emulate more successful models, ala Japan, Singapore or Taiwan and encourage their industries to pursue ventures where they can have a competitive advantage.

    1. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Kind of hard to debate to go more free when your neighbors are vastly more poor with zero taxes. Wouldn't it be easier to go Uruguay or Venezuela?

      The US too lost and still the middle class never has recovered from NAFTA. Wages have not increased in 20 years regardless of inflation! The US can argue it will benefit CEOs and lobbyists as the companies are at least owned here. Not true for Brazil so cutting taxes would only cut your revenue as nothing is based there.

    2. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There are no local industry to be protected. Brazil has almost no electronic industry, and absolutely no computer/videogame/high-tec industry.

      The whole protection excuse is meant only to justify absurd taxes, that goes directly to the pockets of politicians. While most import taxes in EUA are about 3%, the default rate for imports in Brazil are about 80%.

      And it doesn't get better if you put a local subsidiary, you still have an absurd amount of local taxes. Except if you're a friend of the government, you have no way to be competitive in the internacional market.

    3. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You've never tried importing electronics into Brazil before have you? Over 50% in tariffs must be paid.

    4. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      You've never tried importing electronics into Brazil before have you? Over 50% in tariffs must be paid.

      But get rid of them and you loose anyway as you can't produce as cheap as our neighbors

    5. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by jonwil · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It doesn't matter if the taxes and tariffs in Brazil are set at 0%, 50%, 100% or even 1000%, it wont do a thing to encourage electronic manufacturing in the country. In fact, I suspect there is nothing that the Brazilian government could do that would get electronic manufacturers to build product there short of dropping wages and other costs low enough to make building there (instead of building in super-low-labor-cost countries like China) viable.

    6. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      Easy, peasy, drop all patents on products they want to be manufactured locally, go partners with manufacturers from China that have very small patent portfolios and you are done, screw the US and the patently corrupted USPTO. Now when it comes to primary resources, you can bullshit till your blue in the face but if you don't have enough, you simply will never have enough. Unless like the US you invade countries, murder the local populations and the pretend to sell those resources to US corporations who then install corrupt autocrats to keep the population down and murder as many of the population as necessary to keep profits flowing. Brazil is obviously seeking to reduce association with the US.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    7. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Koby77 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I was thinking of a similar experiment -- if a company refuses to sell a product in your country, then it loses all copyright / trademark / patent protection. Locals would then be free to open up shop and start making the hardware or copying the software. I'm not sure if this would work, but I'd be interested in seeing the result nonetheless.

    8. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Can't they produce what they are good at instead? Beef and porn or something?

      Though I think beef is stupid and maybe the world should give them money to preserve the rain forest and then just let it be as such.

      Tourism and huge "this was earth"-wild life&nature preserve?

    9. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I was thinking of a similar experiment -- if a company refuses to sell a product in your country, then it loses all copyright / trademark / patent protection. Locals would then be free to open up shop and start making the hardware or copying the software. I'm not sure if this would work, but I'd be interested in seeing the result nonetheless.

      Ok let me get this straight.

      1. Put into place a law that lets you steal the patents of products not being sold in your country
      2. Raise Tariffs on said products to the point they can't be sold
      3. ....
      4. Hope your military is sufficient to deter retaliation from the countries you have been robbing ?

      Now admittedly a military response maybe a little much. At the very least you can certainly expect the other nations to go after your assets abroad, pursue economic retaliation, hell they could issues letters of mark and reprisal against your merchant shipping.
       

    10. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      You forgot the Elders of Zion in there.

    11. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by del_diablo · · Score: 1

      I read parts of the article. And it doesn't make any sense.
      Why would cutting tariffs do anything? Thats only going to make the out sourcing of products worse, and the best part is that tariffs forces company to do weird things. Which may end up with supply chains and local jobs, for no other reason that profit.
      On the top of that, 17% sales tax is fucking nothing.

      "High ITC prices leads to reduced consumption" and why is this bad again? Even the next segment talking about establishments going digital or replacing their tools, and talking about startups: It never talks or justifies the fact that this is somehow bad, that it damages the economy, or anything.
      It just states "this is bad, and we can't argue why". The final segment isn't even advice its just "i think so, without any form of evidence".

    12. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by del_diablo · · Score: 1

      I love the escalation of the argument.
      You can't steal patents, because its not a trade secret.

    13. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      There are no local industry to be protected. Brazil has almost no electronic industry, and absolutely no computer/videogame/high-tec industry.

      Yet the whole protectionism thing ended up with Lua getting invented. So I guess it did help improve the world a little bit.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    14. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem is this doesn't serve them well. Trying to recreate the rest of the worlds industries internally just insures they have many second rate products, or have to pay hefty premiums for the tools they need to get things done. Really surprising after all these years they haven't tried to emulate more successful models, ala Japan, Singapore or Taiwan and encourage their industries to pursue ventures where they can have a competitive advantage.

      And yet, day after day, post after post, we see people here on /. advocate that US at least be able to manufacturer everything locally, to reduce dependency on foreign tech, to reduce brain-drain to foreign manufacturing, etc, etc, etc.

      Then we see a country try and do that. And we tell them its wrong...

      I realize /. is of course many people and many opinions... but I wonder how many people were reading your post nodding; while simultaneously thinking the US should be producing more locally, despite the competitive advantages of outsourcing the manufacturing (which is precisely is why we do it.)

    15. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      and the best part is that tariffs forces company to do weird things.

      If you think forcing companies to destroy wealth is going to be beneficial to an economy, I don't think I can help you out trying to explain this.

    16. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      You seem to be confused.
      Patents are property, and hence can be treated like any other property.

    17. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by diamondmagic · · Score: 2

      You're not supposed to produce everything as cheap as your neighbors, it's actually bad thing to do that. Even if your neighbor produces literally everything below the cost of domestic production, so long as the two entities have different opportunity costs for different goods, it's still more beneficial to outsource stuff and trade. Economists call this comparative advantage and it's a mathematical theorem.

    18. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      That's actually a good example. It's an issue that is very confused for most people.

      First problem with that, is confusing protectionism with wanting a healthy manufacturing sector. The two aren't the same thing. In the case of the U.S. there were quite a few things that hurt manufacturing here and it's doubtful that protectionism would bring it back. In Brazil's case they have had 40+ years of protectionism and it hasn't helped their manufacturing.

      Personally I would like the U.S. to have a healthier manufacturing sector, I am just pretty sure protectionism would be about the worst way for us to achieve that goal. After all we did try that once before with rather disastrous results http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... .

    19. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...screw the US and the patently corrupted USPTO.

      IOC what U did there...

    20. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4. Hope your military is sufficient to deter retaliation from the countries you have been robbing ?

      Yeah, let kill peoples because some corporation does not get the expected profit its shareholder are entitled to.

      You are a retard. The united state build its empire from ignoring European patent and copyright. China's explosive growth was fuelled the same way. Any nation that what to grow and create wealth must ignore copyright and patent. The only purpose of copyright and patent is to grant monopolies on ideas, if these monopolies are not your then you don't benefit from them. If you want to prosper, you need to free yourself from them. Of course once you do prosper you will want to impose your own monopolies to others, but do try to remember where you came from.

    21. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      You are a retard.

      If you are going to write a sentence like this
       

      The united state build its empire from ignoring European patent and copyright.

      You might want to evaluate your intellectual superiority.

      Anyway last time I checked the United States wasn't the only nation in the world or the only nation with significant patent holdings. When it comes to this kind of thing, we are actually exceptionally nice about it, other countries not so much.

    22. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 1

      In Brazil's case they have had 40+ years of protectionism and it hasn't helped their manufacturing.

      That's a gross misconception, to say the least. It has managed to attract lots of auto manufacturers, especially in the last decade, coupled with a global recession and a boom in purchasing power. Even Foxconn has brazilian factories for serving the local market, which is saying something.

    23. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      As compared to other countries ?

    24. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      I have to ask what makes you think protectionism would even have that effect ?

      I am curious and before you answer don't read down

      Remember when a nation buys an import it pays with it's currency or the exporter's currency. In the case of the foreign reserve, it had to sell something to acquire that reserve, in the case of it's currency the exporting party has to spend their currency on something. Either way, if you raise tariffs you are imposing taxes on doing business which results in less business and slows economic growth. At best you are hoping that your trading partners won't impose reciprocal tariffs on you. The net effect either way is diminishing your markets.

    25. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      Personally I would like the U.S. to have a healthier manufacturing sector, I am just pretty sure protectionism would be about the worst way for us to achieve that goal.

      The most effective way is for your working class to accept the same level of wages as are paid in China. Unfortunately that defeats the whole purpose of the exercise, as the reason most North Americans and Europeans can afford to buy so much stuff is that an hour of their time is more valuable than an hour of the time of the guys making the stuff. Domestic production means most of your consumer base have an hour that is no more valuable than an hour of the time of your workers, so they can't buy as much stuff. "Made in the USA" is too expensive for most Americans, just as "made in China" is too expensive for most Chinese people.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    26. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      The most effective way is for your working class to accept the same level of wages as are paid in China.

      Well that certainly is a way, and it would be effective, in about the same way using nuclear weapons for urban renewal would be effective.

    27. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by jittles · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Wouldn't it be easier to go Uruguay or Venezuela?

      I've lived in Venezuela. It is not a poor country. The people are poor, but they have huge oil reserves, diamonds, gold and many other natural resources. They used to be the largest oil exporter to the US until Hugo Chavez started diverting that oil to Cuba for free. Venezuela also charges import duties on all products (with some exception in the state of Nueva Esparta, which is mostly duty free). They also charge an income tax that most people do their best to avoid ever paying.

      The real problem with Venezuela is corruption. When I lived there, I did not keep an ID on me at all times, even though it was required by law. I kept my passport in a safety deposit box because it was cheaper to pay the fines for not having proper ID than it was to pay the bribes to get my passport back from the National Guard when they would do one of their regular shakedowns. If you were a mere janitor for the state-run oil company (PDVSA), you were probably set for life. If you didn't have some important friends or family, you probably couldn't get a job for PDVSA.

    28. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      Patents are whatever the owning country decides they are to it - poke the bear and the bear probably won't take kindly. Just how well will your country work without access to the international banking system?

    29. Re: Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yerrr... staying in Brasil for about 6 months on and off over the past 5 years you hear people make this argument on occasion. And then living in a country which boasts an abundance of cheap electrical goods. I can say without a doubt 'the grass is always greener'. What 'hamstrings' Brasil today will be what saves them when the morons in Wall St sleepwalk into 2009 v2.0.

      Okay the trade off is that you dont have the flashiest retina screen but what you have as an offshoot is that the tech does eventually become affordable. And the end game is. Well brasillians have cheap movie streaming services and social media is just as popular as any other country. So in the long run they miss out of SFA. Its just a few months behind what corporate brainwashing and marketing dictate.

      p.s Their car industry is a perfect example of 'how it should be'.

    30. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      Domestic production and imports are very closely linked with one another. If you put ANY artificial restrictions on one, it negatively impacts the other by a near equal amount. This has been shown to be true time and time again.

      If they removed their tariffs, they'd suddenly find that they have the means of acquiring capital. That wouldn't fix their economic problems overnight, or even over a few years, but would absolutely benefit long-term growth.

      In the developed world, mercantilism ended with the great depression for this exact reason.

    31. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be chinese. Have fun living in a fucking shithole devoid of creative thought.

    32. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      Sorry, that's free market economics. You either restrict the market (protectionism) or labour goes where it's cheapest. The only thing approaching middle ground is worker protection laws that apply to imports -- if you weren't allowed to buy from companies that have worse employee rights policies than are applicable in your country, Foxconn would go out of business overnight. Alternatively, if not having laws protecting workers' rights in your country meant import tarriffs that compensated for the unfair competitive advantage of (for example) no paid holidays, then some level of parity could be achieved. It's always surprised me that countries haven't used this strategy to justify import tarriffs...

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    33. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by C0R1D4N · · Score: 1

      Spend wealth on the local economy and infrastructure is not "destroying it". Wealth is supposed to be moved around to keep the economy going. Not horded like these companies are all run by fucking Smaug.

    34. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you should study why 'Hollywood, the studio capital of the world' is in California. Or just re-evaluate your life's choice. You sound really retarded. Notice how I don't care about convincing you of anything. Maybe it is because nothing really matter. Wake up! You are not the centre of the universe.

    35. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Headw1nd · · Score: 1

      On the flip side Brazil frequently has a positive balance of trade, something the US hasn't had in a long time. In fact many of the countries with highly positive balances of trade are protectionist in outlook. Not to say that's necessarily the best policy but it is something to think about.

    36. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by loonycyborg · · Score: 1

      No they aren't. Using word 'property' in this case is misnomer. Patent a temporary state granted monopoly. You can't steal a monopoly. Only encroach on it.

    37. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Immerman · · Score: 1

      The patent is only a piece of paper granting you, within a particular jurisdiction, exclusive rights to control the production of a particular implementation of an idea - something which by it's nature cannot be owned at all.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    38. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by CanEHdian · · Score: 1

      ...but using the word 'property' as in 'Intellectual Property' leads to an Intellectual Property Tax! And this tax is to be collected after 10 years, for the 10 years previous and the 10 years following from the owner (unless owner withdraws any and all property rights and the 'property' becomes public domain).

      --
      When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
    39. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      My point was there is no comparative advantage. All you do is cut revenue and gain nothing. Brazil is in a rock and a hard place. I guess tourism and oranges might be its only comparative advantage.

      In the 21st century you are supposed to produce cheaper as we race to the bottom are go out of business. This is why we mine the ore here ship it to China for smelting and then ship it back. It is very cheap.

      So Brazil will give a discount with the tariff if they produce locally. I guess it is blackmail.

    40. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by JBMcB · · Score: 1

      Then good luck buying *any* sort of technology from anybody. "Hey let us buy your fancy chip fabrication machine so we can produce cheap knockoffs." Not gonna happen. So now you end up having to design and build everything yourself, as a country.

      The closest thing we have to this situation is North Korea - and look at how great their standard of living is.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    41. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by diamondmagic · · Score: 1

      How in the world does comparative advantage not exist in a place like Brazil? To say there's no comparative advantage is so statistically improbable you may as well get hit by an asteroid. A million times.

      You know what comparative advantage is, right? If it takes me $5 to produce an apple and $4 to produce an orange, and it takes you $2 to produce an apple and $1 to produce an orange; that's comparative advantage: Even though you produce both fruits by far and away cheaper than I do, you produce oranges at an opportunity cost 2x cheaper, and so Economics says we will trade, and it will be beneficial for both of us to do so.

    42. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is the "victim" deprived of their "property"? If not, no robbery occurred.

      Btw, Brazil already says "yeah, well, fuck you" to a few remedy patents. It works so long as it isn't worth invading over, like when the US "stole" English "property".

    43. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      You forgot BRIC, Brazil, Russia, India, China, that's half the worlds population and basically that's just a beginning. Yep, the US as the bumbling three legged attack dog of the Israeli government is coming to an end and it's conservative Americans who are by far the most sick of it, they will be a real price to pay and Israel will most definitely end up paying it. Cranky Americans lose all self control when they are used and betrayed and they certainly have a lot to lose control over when it comes to the corrupt manipulations of their government by a foreign power.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    44. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      How is it stealing patents? Unless they were actually patented IN Brazil and the requirements of the patent are maintained, there is nothing to steal.

      The word you're looking for is recognize. As in Brazil recognizing foreign patents. By what right do you demand a sovereign nation recognize foreign patents?

    45. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      And like most economic theorems, it assumes spherical friction free cows. You still have to give your citizens some way to make a living. Widgets costing $1.00 that your people can afford trump widgets costing $0.10 that they can't.

    46. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      But if the only way your people earn money to buy those fruits at all is being paid wages to produce them, you all starve if you allow that trade.

    47. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      You mean other than the fact they are obligated by treaties they entered into ? And their withdrawl would hurt their own citizens with patents ?

      http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en...

    48. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      Troll harder son.

    49. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Define middle class? 20 years ago I was making $26,000. Today I make $120,000. 20 years ago I was a college dropout. Today I still am.

    50. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      A deed is only a piece of paper granting you within a certain jurisdiction the rights to control a piece of land.
      Any physical item is only yours to the extent that you can defend it from being taken away.
      Your person is only yours to the extent you can defend it,.

      Extending your reasoning there is no such thing as property

    51. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      It's funny because whenever people say things like that I hear Gollum going "mine mine mine my precious". Aside from things like a bonfire of the vanities or wars there are few better ways to destroy a countries wealth than forcing the economy into inefficiency and non competitiveness

    52. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      Really that is the only way ?

      Hmmm the only way.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

      So that as a concept for making your labor force effectively more competitive globally doesn't exist for you ?

      People seem to forget when they bring up a company Foxconn, that they actually do a rather exceptional job meeting the customers needs and producing a quality product. This is one of the reasons U.S. is buying from China and not Mexico post NAFTA

    53. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      It's their choice to withdraw or not. The number of Brazilians owning patents is probably dwarfed by the number suffering because of them.

    54. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      And it would be nowhere near the amount suffering caused by the retaliatory tariffs provoked by such actions. Unless you think it's reasonable to tell people to rob grocery stores when they are in economic difficulty how can you consider this reasonable ?

      But I must say, it'squite the pleasure to see Communist Mercantilists who don't understand how funny they are.

    55. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      I didn't say it was a great idea, I just said it's not stealing.

      As for the grocery store, if it is a question of shoplift or starve, the sane response is to shoplift. Apparently you expect people to nobly watch their family die of starvation.

      You capitalists who think tough times is when you can only order 3 pounds of the finest caviar are honestly too screwed up to find funny.

    56. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still don't think this would work:

      (1) Because anything electronic is an assemblage of components which are themselves products of entire systems of industries.
      (2) Because like it or not, SouthEast Asia not only is the most integrated space in the world cross-borders, but with all that water between all those specialized centers of production, perfect for shipping between each production point.

      This is why the United States wants to make sure nobody dominates and ruins shipping between these nations, it's key to global commerce continuing to function globally rather than for any growing powers' agenda to make themselves the center (empire), regardless whether they're at the center. In turn it's also key to these nations remaining independent, so they really like having entities like the United States (despite occassional rhetoric otherwise) around to help with the logistics, training, military cooperation, to check the bigger neighbors, and did I mention how much the US military spends around there?

    57. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      It's theft. You're appropriating other people's work for your own use without compensating them or their consent.

       

      As for the grocery store, if it is a question of shoplift or starve, the sane response is to shoplift. Apparently you expect people to nobly watch their family die of starvation.

      Really because there is no other way ?

      You capitalists who think tough times is when you can only order 3 pounds of the finest caviar are honestly too screwed up to find funny.

      Just call me the laughing capitalist .

    58. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      Simply re-asserting it won't make it true. You're declining to extend special treatment to an intangible that only exists because of a boon from the government. That boon is supposed to advance the useful arts and sciences. If it fails at that purpose, the government should stop handing out special gifts.

      In this case, they would be mostly declining to recognize a boon handed out by some other government.

      Wherethehellisthatistan may think that one of their citizens is so special that only he should be allowed to make anything wheel-like but why should I care?, I don't live there!

      If I take a wheel that he made without his consent, that would be stealing.

    59. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      Simply re-asserting it won't make it true. You're declining to extend special treatment to an intangible that only exists because of a boon from the government. That boon is supposed to advance the useful arts and sciences. If it fails at that purpose, the government should stop handing out special gifts

      Yes, in other words it's no different than any other kind of property right or right in general.

      Wherethehellisthatistan may think that one of their citizens is so special that only he should be allowed to make anything wheel-like but why should I care?, I don't live there!

      Well I suppose that attitude works very well for people that don't make anything that others might want to copy, or benefit in any way from the people that do. Personally I can't think of any nation on earth that is so intellectually bereft that this would be good for them.

    60. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      People seem to forget when they bring up a company Foxconn, that they actually do a rather exceptional job meeting the customers needs and producing a quality product.

      They do indeed. And many people believe that they are less abusive of their staff than their local competitors in China. Foxconn continues to get targeted due to their high profile, in the hope that as Foxconn moves, so will the rest of China follow.

      But Foxconn produce incredible quality, and they have to be congratulated on being able to guarantee that quality even as their staff fall asleep at their stations due to overwork and lack of sleep.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    61. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      There are good philosophical arguments for real property and possessions. Things that one no longer has if someone else takes them. Those do not extend to ideas where copying doesn't remove the property from the originator. If you have a baseball and take it, you are minus one baseball. I have stolen from you. If I make one of my own, you lose nothing but the unjustifiable glee at knowing I don't have a baseball. I make my own baseball, you still have a baseball. If you have a lit candle and I light mine from yours, you still have a lit candle.

      The wheel existed long before some guy in Wherethehellisthatistan came up with it. that is true of many patents in the U.S. as well. We got along without patents of copyrights for most of human history. They do not represent actual property in any common sense of the term.

      If Brasil starts making it's own wheels, the guy in Wherethehellisthatistan who refused to sell his wheels in Brazil anyway loses nothing.

    62. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Not at all - the entire basis of the patent system is that you give away the complete details of your design for free in exchange for a limited-time injunction against unlicensed manufacturing by other people *in your jurisdiction*. The value of a patent internationally has pretty much always been shaky - if you don't want people in Brazil manufactuing your widget, go get a Brazilian patent. Ditto every other nation on the planet. Generally they won't be able to export unlicensed goods to a nation that respects the patent, but that's often not an issue.

      At the moment I believe we have some trade agreements that grant automatic jurisdiction expansion, and that may include Brazil, but from what I've heard there's also a growing movement among many powerful nations to rewrite the rules to something that doesn't so blatantly favor the slowly collapsing British/American economic empire. New rules or a game without rules, to quote Putin's speech.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    63. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      The patent is only a piece of paper granting you, within a particular jurisdiction, exclusive rights to control the production of a particular implementation of an idea - something which by it's nature cannot be owned at all.

      A contract is also just a piece of paper (or verbal agreement), but contract law exists.

      The debate about whether patents and copyrights should be called "intellectual property" at all is interesting, but ultimately irrelevant. Just because the offence you commit isn't 'stealing a piece of physical property' doesn't mean it's not illegal.

      A lot of people here argue that there are two sorts of laws, natural and artificial. In fact, all laws are artificial. If you're alone on a desert island the concept of law is as meaningless as your "right" to life or liberty or whatever.

      Unless you believe in God, of course, but that's another question.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    64. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...don't even have to do that. Just call in their loans.

      "Banks had 2.926 trillion reais ($1.2 trillion) in outstanding loans at the end of October, according to the central bank. About 53.4 percent was credit extended by state-run banks, with 32 percent for domestic private-sector lenders and 14.6 percent for foreign lenders. ($1 = 2.5114 Brazilian reais) (Additional reporting by Luciana Otoni in Brasilia; Editing by W Simon and JS Benkoe)"

    65. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Immerman · · Score: 1

      The Law of Gravity would disagree. As would the Law of the Jungle. Natural law, in my experience, generally refers to the rights and responsibilities we would possess even if there were no government to enforce them. And no, neither life nor property are protected by them. An important point missed by many who call for "less government interference" - without government protection of property wealth accumulation is *severely* limited, so if you're going to protect property rights "fairly" you need to also institute a system to prevent excessive wealth accumulation.

      As far as patents are concerned - it's illegal to violate a US patent in the US. It's only illegal to violate it in Brazil if Brazil has a patent-protecting treaty with the US. And considering that such treaties are largely negotiated and ratified in secret, with little to no input from the public or even the legislatures of the signatory nations, and often overturn existing laws, we could no doubt have a long argument about whether they constitute legitimate law in a democratic nation.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    66. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by diamondmagic · · Score: 1

      What part of beneficial for both of us don't you understand? Both parties will be able to eat more total food. The less productive group will still be eating less, but more than if they didn't trade at all.

      There is no situation in which it's bad to permit people to trade. Again, mathematical theorem.

    67. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      Not if they have no money they won't. You get that? No money = no food. No job growing food = no money.

      Again, friction-less spherical cows.

      Lets say the import is allowed such that local production becomes un-economical. Where do the people no longer working get their income for food? Don't say other production because the current situation based on economic mis-matches is that most all production is cheaper elsewhere.

      Don't say it will equalize, because it will do so at poverty levels and long after people have starved or revolted. It MIGHT work out if the trade is limited and controlled well over a long period.

      That's the problem with economics. They prove some simple small case in isolation and millions suffer in the large and broad real world.

    68. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      The closest we have to that is China and products used internally rather than exported and oh look, now the worlds leading economy. There is a reason I nominated China as the partner, they would not have one qualm about doing it and they would recognise Brazil's right to have the laws it democratically wants within it's own country.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    69. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by diamondmagic · · Score: 1

      The theorem doesn't require money. You could be trading apples for money, apples for butter for oranges, apples directly for oranges, doesn't matter. If three's comparative advantage, people trade. Period.

      If people aren't trading, that doesn't mean the theorem is wrong; it means one of the conditions isn't being satisfied.

    70. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by sjames · · Score: 1

      Substitute any useful good you'd care to for money but remember, MOST people's primary useful good to trade is money from a job. No job = no money = nothing to trade.

      The level of need won't change the foreign price. But given free time and know-how, the people in need might grow their own = no trade.

    71. Re:Brazil has long had a very protectionist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's theft. You're appropriating other people's work for your own use without compensating them or their consent.

      People appropriate other people's patented work for their own use without compensating them or asking for their consent after the patent has expired in their jurisdiction. Do you consider it theft if the patent has expired? What if it's expired in the jurisdiction where it's being appropriated but not in some other jurisdiction? Do you still consider it theft? What if the length of the patent is 20 years in one jurisdiction and 0 years in another?

  3. customers should get pissed at their government by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

    Must suck to have just received a new Nintendo for the holidays, then have Nintendo cut you off from the supply of new games.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by Arkiel · · Score: 1

      Do they not make blank media for whatever the Wii-U uses? Because piracy in Brazil is prolific. Getting the hardware is the main barrier to entry.

    2. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by jonwil · · Score: 1

      I have no idea if the Wii U has been fully hacked but I know for the Wii you can download disk images from the internet, use any of the various exploits out there and easily play pirated games, you dont need optical disks (blank or otherwise)

    3. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just use a Wii U emulator and ROMs, free from the get go.

    4. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "wii u emulator"
      there's no such things. There's a Wii emulator, no Wii U emulator. It hasn't been made yet.

    5. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Someone already said there was no Wii U emulator.

      Anyway considering I already buy lots of other games on sales and bundles I kinda feel considering the quality or what Nintendo releases those games deserve to be bought not pirated.

      Guess one could argue the MSRP price but I guess it's optional to pick those games one think is worth it or not or maybe they could use some more competitive pricing (vs PC games.)

      Better finish and content deserve higher price.

    6. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by RogueyWon · · Score: 1

      There's currently no way to play pirated games on a Wii-U. The original Wii's copy protection was circumvented (very quickly), as was the 360's (if you didn't mind losing online functionality). PS3 piracy was possible for certain titles on consoles with certain firmware revisions, but was generally a huge pain in the ass, so it never really took off. The copy protection mechanisms on the PS4 and Xbox One are currently intact.

      However, those in Brazil who have bought consoles already do apparently have the option of importing titles from neighboring countries or the US. Nintendo is the last of the console manufacturers to support region locking (and even Nintendo is now publicly acknowledging that it has an internal debate on ditching it), but a few minutes with google seems to indicate that they treat the whole of the Americas as a single region for locking purposes.

    7. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      but a few minutes with google seems to indicate that they [Nintendo] treat the whole of the Americas as a single region for locking purposes.

      That is moronic. The whole point of region locking is that you can adjust prices to fit the local disposable income. Having Bolivia (GDP per capita $2700) in the same region as the USA ($53001) makes a mockery of the whole thing.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    8. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by RogueyWon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Agreed it's moronic. But this is Nintendo we're talking about. Region locking isn't about the money; it's about a combination of their messed-up corporate structure (the various international companies are only loosely integrated) and nasty control-freakery. They have a long history of liking to say "title X does not fit with our irrationally conceived stereotype of region Y, so we won't release it there, or will cut it to hell first". Region locking is one of the tools they use for that.

      The whole "region locking for differential pricing" thing at least had a simple motive behind it ("more money"), but it doesn't work all that well (markets where you need to sell cheap tend to have too much piracy to be worth it anyway). Most people who region lock for that reason are moving away from it now (Sony and MS have ditched it entirely).

    9. Re:customers should get pissed at their government by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why should they be pissed of at their government for the stupid decision of one private company? Couldn't they make their decision before Christmas, or offer support for one year to recent owners? Prices on electronic goods are high in Brazil, still all the electronic companies ship goods to Brazil. This should not a problem for Nintendo, there are always people ready to pay and customers should be able to order their goods if they are ready to pay. What Nintendo does is to prohibit South America sellers to ship to Brazil, and this is fairly stupid. Thos sellers were willing to earn money from sales, and cannot do this anymore. What Nintendo will get is loosing the market to other manufacturers, and to illegal copies of their own game material. Even if they come back to Brazil one day, it will take long before they recover their market share.

  4. Customers? by Bert64 · · Score: 2

    evaluate how to best serve Brazilian customers in the future.

    Only they won't have any brazilian customers, they will cede the whole market to microsoft and sony... Any existing customers they did have will be angered as they're now unable to buy any games, and will end up going to a competitor and/or modding their console to play pirated games.

    --
    http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  5. A: Because it breaks the flow of a message by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

    Q: Why is starting a comment in the Subject: line incredibly irritating?

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  6. Protectionism can create jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one seems to know the fact that not only Xbox and ps4 is produced in Brazil, but also iPads.

    This puts down most of the arguments here stating that high import tax is a bad thing. At least for this case. Good for Sony and Microsoft, bad for Nintendo.

    1. Re:Protectionism can create jobs by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      This means that the policy is working up to a point, but it doesn't mean that it's a good thing,

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    2. Re:Protectionism can create jobs by TWX · · Score: 1

      Producing them there doesn't mean that they're producing them there profitably. Obviously the goal is to produce them profitably or for the entire business surrounding the devices to be profitable (ie, paid software making up a slight loss on the initial device) but that doesn't mean that they've actually achieved profitability.

      It's kind of interesting, the various free-trade zones in the Americas. Part of the reason that Mexico is so popular is that it sits in at least two zones, the NAFTA one and the Latin American one, so that qualifying products can be sold all of the way from Ellesmere Island to Tierra Del Fuego without facing hefty tariffs. That's why so many automakers set up shop in northern Mexico, it's a very short distance to ship new cars to the United States as the largest market and up to Canada, but inexpensive to sell them all of the South American countries too.

      I'm a little surprised that Brazil's tariff policy on electronics exists given their participation in their free-trade zone.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  7. haha cost by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    The company could avoid those duties with a local manufacturing operation, but has chosen not to establish one, presumably for the costs involved.

    No, it's for the chaos involved. Brazil is ridiculous. People get kidnapped off the streets for a paltry few hundred dollars' ransom. I wouldn't open a factory there if it were guaranteed to spontaneously generate gold nuggets. It's not like it's that big a market anyway, their economy is terribly, horribly uneven.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:haha cost by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 2

      No, it's for the chaos involved. Brazil is ridiculous. People get kidnapped off the streets for a paltry few hundred dollars' ransom.

      A decade ago, the travel advice for visitors to Amsterdam was to carry a €10 note within easy reach. Low-order mugging was big business and if you handed over a reasonable sized note, the mugger would walk away without harming you, and without demanding a wallet. This meant that there was a lot of crimes that were officially classified as "violent", but not a lot of violence. If the mugger hasn't hurt anyone, he's not facing a long sentence, and most were happy to stay that way. Furthermore, the police were never going to expend all that much energy trying to track down guys who have never injured anyone and only walk away with €10 at a time.

      The low-ransom kidnap market runs on similar principles. Keep the price down, and most people will pay up, because it's not worth the risk. This means that the kidnappers almost never have to follow through on threats of injury or murder -- human beings generally don't like hurting each other. The end result is a series of crimes that are rarely reported, and even if reported are unlikely to be pursued aggressively by the police.

      Both situations are wrong, but they represent a sort of "sustainability", a steady-state equilibrium of crime. It's not pleasant, but it's not a chaotic system.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
    2. Re:haha cost by Zaatxe · · Score: 1

      People get kidnapped off the streets for a paltry few hundred dollars' ransom.

      This is past. Now they just call random phone numbers and say something like "I got your daughter here with me, if you want to see her well again transfer 2000 bucks to this account". All this using smuggled cell phones, in the comfort of the penitentiary they are in!

      My father once got one of those calls and since he didn't know where my sister was, he was scared. He KNEW that 99.9% of those ransom calls are fake, but when that's about your kid and you are not 100% they are ok, you fall prone to this fear. Luckly he was able to tell his wife to call my sister and check she was ok, before hanging up. Another friend's mother didn't have the same luck and lost about 2000 US dollars for one of those calls.

      --
      So say we all
  8. Gray-market Nintendo smuggling by Guppy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In a statement e-mailed to Polygon, Nintendo of America said that the company's distributor for Latin America would no longer send products to Brazil, but it would continue to distribute Nintendo goods to other parts of South America.

    So in other words, Nintendo's legitimate subsidiary cannot compete with gray-market smugglers who evade the tariff to bring in consoles and games from the neighboring countries.

    So they're just going to pull out and let the smugglers be their de-facto distribution channel.

    1. Re: Gray-market Nintendo smuggling by jsveiga · · Score: 2

      There are a lot of shades of gray.
      For years, Sony ignored Brazil in regards to the Playstation market. There was no PS2 nor PS3 officially sold nor supported by Sony in the country, no way to select Brazil when creating a PSN account, no Sony warranty nor repair centers, Nothing.
      Nevertheless, nobody cared, and most people didn't even notice (until they tried to register a PSN account and had to resource to hacks to be able to register one as being in the US and makw Sony accept a Brazilian international credit card).
      The consoles could be purchased by several "channels", from black to almost white gray market: From smugglers, by going to the US an bringing one, from legit stores who would legally import them directly and even provided a 1-year warranty, etc.
      Sony did not spend a dime with the market. They would't even answer support questions from Brazilian customers, although there was a lot of money coming in from the indirect sales of the consoles, game sales, and PSN purchases.
      After Brazil was finally "recognized" by Sony, soon US PSN accounts would no longer accept Brazilian international credit cards via the "hack". Makes one wonder if the well-known hacks (merely using a US city with the same ZIP code of your Brazilian city would work, for example) was tolerated before so Sony could get the profits without the burden of officially supporting the customers.
      Maybe Nintendo just wants to save money with the same business model.

    2. Re:Gray-market Nintendo smuggling by esperto · · Score: 1

      This is the real reason, they (as others before them) close shop here because the offical cannot compete with smugglers and people buying offshore. They probably won't lose one single sale, as it will be promptly replaced by gray market produce, and at a cheaper price, great deal for the consumer, except there is no warranty, but would be no different than before as consumer right here are a far cry from what is practiced in the US.
      I don't by most of my electronics locally and so does anyone else, for example, iphone sales represent, IIRC, 0.4% of the phone market here, but I would say about a third of people I know owns one, none purchased here.

  9. But "stealing" isn't the word by tepples · · Score: 1

    Some people are on a crusade against using the word "steal" to refer to copyright infringement, patent infringement, or trademark infringement. Larceny, copyright infringement, patent infringement, and trademark infringement are defined in separate areas of law, and they aren't even crimes under the same circumstances. A judge agreed that the term "theft" misleads jurors.

  10. Region locking and upstream licensors by tepples · · Score: 1

    Region locking isn't always about differential pricing. It could also be about the publisher of an adaptation respecting the rights of an upstream author. For example, a video game adaptation of a novel whose author died between 50 and 70 years ago is legal in Canada but not in the European Union because copyright terms differ. So is a film that uses a piece of music whose author died between 50 and 70 years ago. Or an upstream author or publisher may have already sold exclusive rights in other regions to other publishers who specialize in the tastes of a particular region, which is why Jump Super Stars didn't make it to North America and why Netflix is in so few countries.

    1. Re:Region locking and upstream licensors by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      The copyright terms thing still makes N America/S America a rather hetergenous "region", as does the upstream rights thing.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  11. I can understand by mseeger · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am working for a small (65 employees) company in Europe that serves customers with locations around the world. Of those locations that we have to deal with, Brazil is the worst nightmare.

    Money (taxes, customs duties) is a solvable problem: it just costs the customer more. But getting definitive answers about the process, reliable delivery schedules or any kind of planning dependability is extremely hard. Due to the bureaucratic overhead, nobody there wants to deal with it.

    I would rather skip the business than ruining our reputation through uncontrollable external influence.

    1. Re: I can understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      I live in Brazil for work on a longterm assignment.

      It is a disorganized shit hole. The beauracracy is just as you described, a giant shit show. Nobody knows what the rules are, at the same time they seem to be constantly changed, and nothing can be completed quickly/effectively/efficienty.

      My process for obtaining a badge in the USA for plant access involved an email, an appointment, and me showing up for that appointment. Two days and I have a functional badge.

      For Brazil? A month, a myriad of paperwork, a physical examination by a doctor.

      It's one of the most dysfunctional places in the world, and the cost of all goods besides labor is absolutely outrageous. Brwzilians are literally paying two to three times the American USD Msrp for almost all goods.

      700 BRL for your drivers license, 3000 BRL to insure your car, 40,000 BRL for a base Ford Fiesta, 4,000 BRL for a play station 4. All on a salary of 60,000 BRL if you're fortunate enough to be a "middle class" engineer. Minimum wage is about 700 BRL.

      And what do brazilians get for all of the taxes they pay? ridiculously high crime rates, shit infrastructure, shit schooling, shit hospitals, and a corrupt and worthless shitty government (at all levels, local, state and federal).

    2. Re: I can understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When Brazilians come to the USA, frequently they'll bring empty suitcases

      http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/08/14/211737003/brazilians-flood-to-u-s-on-massive-shopping-sprees I know when my Brazilian friends visit they always take a lot of electronics back with them. Brazilians politicians don't want a better economy, they want to maintain their riches and suppress the people.

      In the Senate and in the Favella, there's filth everywhere in Brazil. It's sad because I love the Brazilian people.

    3. Re: I can understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same Ac as the GP.

      Yes. All of my brazilian co-workers do this as everything in Brazil is as 2-3x or more the cost than in the USA.

      Every time I go home i get a myriad of requests to bring back goods for my friends - whether it's an iPad, a pair of running shoes, clothing or protein powder. it's all much less expensive in the USA.

    4. Re: I can understand by esperto · · Score: 2

      mod the parent up (sadly I have no more points)

      It is sad but true, we pay huge amounts of taxes (almost 35% of GDP this year) and have no quality in government services.
      This bureaucracy infects even the private organizations, that suppose to be more nimble than the publlic sector but are just as bad, because no one trusts their employees (rightly so, unfortunetly).
      And politicians don't want to change anything, because they get wealthy in the chaos, big companies also (only those can navigate the paperwork and "grease" the wheels), and the people either don't know or don't care... it's depressing.

    5. Re: I can understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Living in Argentina is exactly the same. Traveling to USA is like going to another planet were you can get incredible things and in fact many people here work just doing that.
      Problem is, government already know about this trick and have increased import taxes a lot. And custom agents are basically thugs with have access to every purchase you did with your credit card, and every declared income you had, so if you buy something that dont mach, they have the right to basically seize it, and the do it, constantly.

  12. This is more significant than we realize by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    Brazil has a longstanding special relationship with Japan. For generations, Japanese have treated Brazil as a frontier for settlement, with a long list of accompanying trade deals. Having a comeant the size of Nintendo pull out is a major blow to the old relationship.

    1. Re:This is more significant than we realize by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Brazil has a longstanding special relationship with Japan.

      A lot of Japanese went to Brazil. But, facing a negative birth rate, Japan repatriated a lot of those people.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  13. First of all... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Beware of supposed Brazilian comments about invalidating patents. Nobody talks about that here (I'm Brazilian). We did that _once_ and it was not related to dominating industries or whatever. It was about locally producing AIDS medicine and stopping a disease before it would get out of control -- which ultimately would be a disaster even for non-Brazilians.

    We have a perfectly traditional system regarding patents: we buy licenses, improve technologies, and we aim to patent and sell them worldwide. Just business as usual.

    The problem is that we're not very good at that industry thing. We rock regarding agriculture, we're less competent regarding in the mineral extractive sector and we utterly suck at most manufacturing businesses. We invited a lot of car makers to come to Brazil. They make expensive cars and blame taxes -- except the car before taxes is already a lot more expensive than cars with taxes in other countries. My conclusion is that some industries actually don't want to be here, but they won't say no -- they just put an obscene price on tags and we, out of options, either pay or leave.

    Protection won't help us. If anything, it would make prices even higher. We got better cars when we opened the economy, some decades ago -- not cheaper, but better. We must do what India, Japan, Korea and now China, did: have our own industries. The German, the French, the Koreans, the Japanese, the Italians and the Americans won't help us. There are problems we must solve; they can't make miracles happen.

    For the same reasons our ports suck, our trains are in terminal state, public transportation cause riots. And there's a lot of Political fighting about that... but that has been a problem for almost a century, even probably before 2nd World War. While the US got rich selling things all over the world, we missed the opportunity. Maybe we can recover in the coming "prosumer" age, but right now we would need to do our best just to get things to work. I cannot really blame Nintendo for going away...

  14. Good news for Sony and Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sony and Microsoft already manufacture their consoles in Brazil - namely, in a duty free area called Zona Franca de Manaus. The problem is that Nintendo is not able to compete with the locally manufactured consoles because of the import duties.

    This is probably good news for Sony and Microsoft as it eliminates one competitor.

  15. Re:Nintendo Is Dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This has nothing to do with the relations between Brazil and Japan and everything to do with the fact that Nintendo is dying. This company has shown time and again that all they can do is release tired useless gimmick after tired useless gimmick and pass that off as "innovation". They release the same games every single year with absolutely no change and force their customers to pay a massive premium. The Wii was a massive joke, except no one laughed. Their 3DS handheld has less power than the original PlayStation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games. The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360. Don't get me started on that abomination of a controller that weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of about 1 foot, and a battery life measured in minutes and not hours.

    Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they will even be around in five years. Even their own shareholders can't stand them. They would just be better selling off all their IP to a company that knows how to actually produce something, like Disney. Then Miyamoto and Iwata should do the world a favor and commit sepuku to atone for the massive failures they have inflicted on the game industry.

  16. I fuckin hate dirty politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So Japan and Brazil are at it now?

  17. Re:Nintendo Is Dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This has nothing to do with the relations between Brazil and Japan and everything to do with the fact that Nintendo is dying. This company has shown time and again that all they can do is release tired useless gimmick after tired useless gimmick and pass that off as "innovation". They release the same games every single year with absolutely no change and force their customers to pay a massive premium. The Wii was a massive joke, except no one laughed. Their 3DS handheld has less power than the original PlayStation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games. The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360. Don't get me started on that abomination of a controller that weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of about 1 foot, and a battery life measured in minutes and not hours.

    Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they will even be around in five years. Even their own shareholders can't stand them. They would just be better selling off all their IP to a company that knows how to actually produce something, like Disney. Then Miyamoto and Iwata should do the world a favor and commit sepuku to atone for the massive failures they have inflicted on the game industry.

    Lol, your post seriously made me laugh, The wii U is more powerful than the 360 or the ps3, though not close to the x1 or ps4. Nintendo has enough money to sit on their worst year to year losses until 2052. They aren't dying, and you are so misinformed its pretty funny

    BTW the wii u controller lasts 4-5 hours of use. And man must I get the workout if its a cinderblock weight.....

  18. Re:Nintendo Is Dying by Aerokii · · Score: 1

    This has nothing to do with the relations between Brazil and Japan and everything to do with the fact that Nintendo is dying. This company has shown time and again that all they can do is release tired useless gimmick after tired useless gimmick and pass that off as "innovation". They release the same games every single year with absolutely no change and force their customers to pay a massive premium. The Wii was a massive joke, except no one laughed. Their 3DS handheld has less power than the original PlayStation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games. The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360. Don't get me started on that abomination of a controller that weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of about 1 foot, and a battery life measured in minutes and not hours.

    Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they will even be around in five years. Even their own shareholders can't stand them. They would just be better selling off all their IP to a company that knows how to actually produce something, like Disney. Then Miyamoto and Iwata should do the world a favor and commit sepuku to atone for the massive failures they have inflicted on the game industry.

    Ooo, this should be fun. I'mma go ahead and debunk basically everything you've just said that can be proven with numbers.

    The Wii was a massive joke.: FALSE. The Wii has sold over 100 million units, and about 9 times as much software (so, about 9 games per console. Not bad!)

    The 3DS handheld has less power than the original Playstation Portable and costs 3 times as much and has no games: FALSE. The 3DS runs an ARM11 Dual-core at 268 Mhz compared to the PSP's CPU held back to 222MHz. The only way it's more powerful is through mods/hacking. In addition, the 3DS has had over 186 million software units sold, compared to psp's 5.2 million. In addition, the PSP retailed for $199. The 3DS retailed for $249, and later went down to $149. So, no, not three times more.

    The Wii U has less power than the original XBOX much less the 360: FALSE.The WII U is lcocked at 1.24 GHz, compared to the original Xbox's 733Mhz. Now, the Wii U does have a slower clock than the 360, but has more memory and a higher GPU clock. Raw CPU power will only get you so far, and the Wii U is more than capable of out-shining the 360.

    Controller weighs as much as a cinder-block, has a range of 1 foot and battery life measured in minutes, not hours.: FALSE. The Wii U gamepad weighs about 1.1 pounds. Cinder blocks, on the other hand, usually come in at 30 to 35 pounds. The range goes up to 27.5 feet, but typically works best up to 15. The Battery life CAN be measured in minutes, but only if you consider that 180 to 300 minutes a better way of saying it than 3 to 5 hours.

    Nintendo is the corporate equivalent of the walking dead. I doubt they'll even be around in five years.: FALSE. Nintendo has enough money saved up to last 52 years, assuming an annual deficit of 250 million. That seems unlikely given that they had a profit of over