It's not by choice - it's what the market demands over there.
Electronics cost 2-3x what they cost here and you can ONLY buy the latest and greatest high end equipment, because THAT'S ALL THERE IS. This isn't because the Japanese consciously have said "We only want new stuff!" but rather, the companies have dictated "We only sell you new stuff."
Games cost $80-$100. They've always cost $80-$100. Selling used games/CDs/etc. is considered "Grey market", with many stores closing down due to police pressure (only to move down the street and re-open.)
The market in Japan is screwed up. Food prices arecompletely controlled by the farmers in Japan. You can't get non-Japanese rice in Japan - even non-white varieties like bhasmati, because it's too cheap.
My last company had to TRIPLE the price of its servers for Japan because the resellers told them $1000 would make people think that it was a bad product, but that for $3000, they'd think it was a great product. I don't quite understand how we got away with selling half the hardware at 3x the price of a normal PC, but that didn't stop Japan from becoming one of our largest markets...
BC3k took what, over 10 years to be developed, and caused the death of an innocent Coke vending machine.
Most impressive of all, though, was during this whole time, the developer maintained(!) multiple flamewars on usenet - even AFTER the first game was released by...Take Two.
As many commented, the flamewars provided far more entertainment than the eventual game ever did...
I could have sworn I started hearing about this game back around '95 or so... Of course, back then, it was more of a re-release of the DukeNukem 3D with bugfixes and enhancements...
I think the point was that Microsoft is misrepresenting this as a "feature" when in reality all you're doing is downloading a code that lets you access the levels that are already on your disc.
I'm sure when Microsoft said "downloadable levels!" people did NOT think this meant "download a small key that unlocks some files already on the game disc."
Maybe this is the way Microsoft wanted it, so they can claim they never meant you downloaded the actual levels...
The PSX does contain a HD, but its primary purpose is to act as a PVR. It is not known if the PSX's HD will be able to be used by PS2 games, or if you'll have to purchase a second HD (the "offical" PS2 HD), or if PS2 HD games (like FFXI) will even work on this unit.
Furthermore, the PSX seems aimmed at the A/V market by being a DVD recorder with a built-in PVR that also happens to play PS2 games.
Although I have no doubt that the PS3 will launch with a built-in HD.
1: Prices are not the same around the world. Anyone who's imported media from Japan will tell you that it's 2-3 times more expensive in Japan than in the US - even for the same identical product. Companies are worried that people would simply import the cheapest version of the game, instead of buying the "local" copy. Remember that most games don't require that much reading (RPGs are an obvious exception.)
2: Games will be liscensed to overseas companies for them to translate and release. An example of this would be Working Designs in the US. Importing a version of a game that has been liscensed to a local company theorhetically deprives the local company of a sale.
Most of the time it's the secrets I'm interested in anyways, such as some of the more hidden quests in FF-whatever.
Trying to get me to pay for such information will simply cause me to stop going to GameFaqs.
Besides, most of the FAQ writers include this information in their documents anyways, and as stated on the website - the FAQs belong to the writers - NOT to CNET or GameFaqs.
Now I could see Cnet maybe trying to convince a FAQ writer to sign up for a pay-per-view type service so CNET could try selling the information (ie. the author gets a quarter each time his FAQ is viewed.) Maybe some will go for it. But there always seems to be multiple people writing FAQs, and if just one decides to keep his FAQ free, the whole pay system will collapse. (why pay for something you can legitimatly get for free?)
Most FAQs are quite large, and if you get 1000s of people downloading the same one over and over, you could see quite a bit of bandwidth.
Granted, since most FAQs are just text, you could save bandwidth by using a webserver that supports compressed files, so that aren't neccessarily the large file, just something 1/10th its size... Would save a lot on bandwidth that way.
If Gamefaqs starts charging for access to people's FAQs, people will pull their FAQs from Gamefaqs, and someone will start their own FAQ repository service.
Personally, I don't really know how you could make money from a website anyways. Either you charge for the information (the FAQs) and/or use ads.
Ad revenue has been proven insufficient to support a website. It might help, but no one's going to get rich from it...
Does this mean they'll contact a random user, give him root, and tell him to kill 1 for the good for the system?;)
Re:This game raises a few questions
on
Matrix MMORPG
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· Score: 1
Will you have to find Morpehous or someone similar, to break "out" of the Matrix as Neo did?
I've got more questions, but they're spoilers from the 2nd movie, so don't read on if you don't want to be spoiled. . . . . . . . . . . . . Will you be able to go to Zion and fly around on hoverships? And will you be able to break out of THAT Matrix?
I dunno about that. I seem to recall that some of the alien fighters took quite a beating before going down, so being able to match their speed was an essential command used by me. A lot.
I played WCP on my PC some years ago. Pretty cheesey, if you ask me. WCI, II and IV were a *lot* better, IMHO.
Anyways, WCP had by far the most complicated control scheme of the WC games. How are you going to squish that into something with only 6 buttons and a d-pad?
Maybe they could put sensors in the cartridge so it could intrepret tilting the game as steering, as well as when you move forward/backward as speeding up/slowing down. That way you'd just go to a large open field, and start running around in circles while you blast aliens...
You're expecting china and korea to fix something?
These are the same countries that are in 1000s of black lists due to their continued incompetance regarding spam and open relays.
Heck, someone over there installed the same broken version of sendmail on ALL of the servers belonging to the Korean education department! ALL OF THEM. A whole nation of servers that will anonymously relay spam! Even the Korean government's servers are open relays.
It seems to me that the only competent IT and computer folks aren't working for the "good guys" in korea or china, and that's a bigger problem than them running out of IP-space.
At 1.8GB/disc, the first thing I thought about was using them to store SVCD-quality video, or other media formats.
Simply stick the player on the disc, and you'll still have plenty of room for your media. True, you'd need to buy a special peripheral for your computer to format & write to the discs, but if it was reasonably priced ($50-100) so what?
If Sony did this, their handheld would be a fearsome competitor to behold - capable of being your portable MP3 player, video player and game player - just swap discs.
Of *course* investors don't know about what they're investing in.
This is why Cisco can make an announcement that causes their stock to go up, and then you'll see Intel's stock go up because investors think Cisco...Intel...it's all the same stuff.
Yeah, I agree with you, it'll be at least a year before we'll start seeing what this thing from Sony is actually going to look like, what it's capabilities will be, and most importantly, what the games look like.
Oh you might think that Evangelion is your standard "kids pilot giant robots to save the world!" type of show...at least until you watch a few episodes.
But don't feel too bad, the Japanese TV broadcasters fell for the same trap, and put Eva on at 4pm when the kids were just getting home from school...
1: The DVD Movie player isn't as compatible with DVD movies as it should be.
Personally, I never had a problem with it, except for one disc, and even then, a lot of other players did the same thing. After installing the update, even this disc played with no problems. Yeah, the PS2 had problems with layer switches, but then again, so did a lot of players circa 2000. Again the upgrade helped a lot.
2: The DVD mechanism itself is defective, resulting in a $120 repair charge for a $200 or $300 product.
This DID happen to me - my first PS2 conked out after about a year of moderate use, maybe about 200 hours of games and movies. I tried the tips on the internet - canned air, lens cleaner, even opened the case, but nothing worked. The drive would need replacing and was a $100 for the part (DIY), or $120 for Sony. I just bought a new unit figuring it wasn't worth the "gamble".
Slashdot Mirror
It's not by choice - it's what the market demands over there.
Electronics cost 2-3x what they cost here and you can ONLY buy the latest and greatest high end equipment, because THAT'S ALL THERE IS. This isn't because the Japanese consciously have said "We only want new stuff!" but rather, the companies have dictated "We only sell you new stuff."
Games cost $80-$100. They've always cost $80-$100. Selling used games/CDs/etc. is considered "Grey market", with many stores closing down due to police pressure (only to move down the street and re-open.)
The market in Japan is screwed up. Food prices arecompletely controlled by the farmers in Japan. You can't get non-Japanese rice in Japan - even non-white varieties like bhasmati, because it's too cheap.
My last company had to TRIPLE the price of its servers for Japan because the resellers told them $1000 would make people think that it was a bad product, but that for $3000, they'd think it was a great product. I don't quite understand how we got away with selling half the hardware at 3x the price of a normal PC, but that didn't stop Japan from becoming one of our largest markets...
Not yet...
BC3k took what, over 10 years to be developed, and caused the death of an innocent Coke vending machine.
Most impressive of all, though, was during this whole time, the developer maintained(!) multiple flamewars on usenet - even AFTER the first game was released by...Take Two.
As many commented, the flamewars provided far more entertainment than the eventual game ever did...
Has it really only been 5 years?
I could have sworn I started hearing about this game back around '95 or so... Of course, back then, it was more of a re-release of the DukeNukem 3D with bugfixes and enhancements...
I think the point was that Microsoft is misrepresenting this as a "feature" when in reality all you're doing is downloading a code that lets you access the levels that are already on your disc.
I'm sure when Microsoft said "downloadable levels!" people did NOT think this meant "download a small key that unlocks some files already on the game disc."
Maybe this is the way Microsoft wanted it, so they can claim they never meant you downloaded the actual levels...
By "new playstation" do you mean the PSX?
The PSX does contain a HD, but its primary purpose is to act as a PVR. It is not known if the PSX's HD will be able to be used by PS2 games, or if you'll have to purchase a second HD (the "offical" PS2 HD), or if PS2 HD games (like FFXI) will even work on this unit.
Furthermore, the PSX seems aimmed at the A/V market by being a DVD recorder with a built-in PVR that also happens to play PS2 games.
Although I have no doubt that the PS3 will launch with a built-in HD.
It's not that you *have* to do those things, that makes the game interesting, but the fact that you *CAN* do those things...
Everyone has dark impulses.
There are two reasons for region locked software.
1: Prices are not the same around the world. Anyone who's imported media from Japan will tell you that it's 2-3 times more expensive in Japan than in the US - even for the same identical product. Companies are worried that people would simply import the cheapest version of the game, instead of buying the "local" copy. Remember that most games don't require that much reading (RPGs are an obvious exception.)
2: Games will be liscensed to overseas companies for them to translate and release. An example of this would be Working Designs in the US. Importing a version of a game that has been liscensed to a local company theorhetically deprives the local company of a sale.
If they do this, GameFAQs will die.
Most of the time it's the secrets I'm interested in anyways, such as some of the more hidden quests in FF-whatever.
Trying to get me to pay for such information will simply cause me to stop going to GameFaqs.
Besides, most of the FAQ writers include this information in their documents anyways, and as stated on the website - the FAQs belong to the writers - NOT to CNET or GameFaqs.
Now I could see Cnet maybe trying to convince a FAQ writer to sign up for a pay-per-view type service so CNET could try selling the information (ie. the author gets a quarter each time his FAQ is viewed.) Maybe some will go for it. But there always seems to be multiple people writing FAQs, and if just one decides to keep his FAQ free, the whole pay system will collapse. (why pay for something you can legitimatly get for free?)
Most FAQs are quite large, and if you get 1000s of people downloading the same one over and over, you could see quite a bit of bandwidth.
Granted, since most FAQs are just text, you could save bandwidth by using a webserver that supports compressed files, so that aren't neccessarily the large file, just something 1/10th its size... Would save a lot on bandwidth that way.
You know what will happen...
If Gamefaqs starts charging for access to people's FAQs, people will pull their FAQs from Gamefaqs, and someone will start their own FAQ repository service.
Personally, I don't really know how you could make money from a website anyways. Either you charge for the information (the FAQs) and/or use ads.
Ad revenue has been proven insufficient to support a website. It might help, but no one's going to get rich from it...
Does this mean they'll contact a random user, give him root, and tell him to kill 1 for the good for the system? ;)
Will you have to find Morpehous or someone similar, to break "out" of the Matrix as Neo did?
l you be able to go to Zion and fly around on hoverships? And will you be able to break out of THAT Matrix?
I've got more questions, but they're spoilers from the 2nd movie, so don't read on if you don't want to be spoiled.
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Wil
I dunno about that. I seem to recall that some of the alien fighters took quite a beating before going down, so being able to match their speed was an essential command used by me. A lot.
I played WCP on my PC some years ago. Pretty cheesey, if you ask me. WCI, II and IV were a *lot* better, IMHO.
Anyways, WCP had by far the most complicated control scheme of the WC games. How are you going to squish that into something with only 6 buttons and a d-pad?
Maybe they could put sensors in the cartridge so it could intrepret tilting the game as steering, as well as when you move forward/backward as speeding up/slowing down. That way you'd just go to a large open field, and start running around in circles while you blast aliens...
Better yet, does anyone actually care anymore?
And since when is "Duke nukem forever" not being released considered NEWS?
Makes me sort of wish Slashdot let the readers grade the stories. This one would get a "-1, redundant" for sure.
You're expecting china and korea to fix something?
These are the same countries that are in 1000s of black lists due to their continued incompetance regarding spam and open relays.
Heck, someone over there installed the same broken version of sendmail on ALL of the servers belonging to the Korean education department! ALL OF THEM. A whole nation of servers that will anonymously relay spam! Even the Korean government's servers are open relays.
It seems to me that the only competent IT and computer folks aren't working for the "good guys" in korea or china, and that's a bigger problem than them running out of IP-space.
Oh come on now, Sega, how many people does it take to make PSO? Surely not THAT many.
Heck, I'd be happy with ports of Saturn games to other modern consoles in decent numbers so I can actually buy them.
But no, Sega is too busy making yet another Sonic game (who cares, I mean, really?) and yet another boondoggle that is PSO (again, who really cares?)
I wouldn't count using a bread machine as knowing how to make bread.
Do you know how to make bread from scratch? How to knead the dough, let it rise, before punching it down into a loaf and baking it in a stone hearth?
Simply pouring a prepared mix with some liquid and an egg into a machine and hitting a button doesn't constitute baking.
Bread machines are nifty, but using one doesn't make you a chef.
At 1.8GB/disc, the first thing I thought about was using them to store SVCD-quality video, or other media formats.
Simply stick the player on the disc, and you'll still have plenty of room for your media. True, you'd need to buy a special peripheral for your computer to format & write to the discs, but if it was reasonably priced ($50-100) so what?
If Sony did this, their handheld would be a fearsome competitor to behold - capable of being your portable MP3 player, video player and game player - just swap discs.
I'd definitely buy one if this were the case.
Eh, wouldn't be any worse than swapping discs in a PS1 RPG...
Of *course* investors don't know about what they're investing in.
This is why Cisco can make an announcement that causes their stock to go up, and then you'll see Intel's stock go up because investors think Cisco...Intel...it's all the same stuff.
Yeah, I agree with you, it'll be at least a year before we'll start seeing what this thing from Sony is actually going to look like, what it's capabilities will be, and most importantly, what the games look like.
Appeal??
You've got zombies, nifty sword play, and busty ninja chicks. How can you go wrong?
Look at the Resident Evil movie - zombies + chicks + gunplay. Same formula. (no, literally - both games are made by the same company, Capcom.)
Oh you might think that Evangelion is your standard "kids pilot giant robots to save the world!" type of show...at least until you watch a few episodes.
But don't feel too bad, the Japanese TV broadcasters fell for the same trap, and put Eva on at 4pm when the kids were just getting home from school...
From reading usenet, Sony has supposedly started repairing the older units for free - even if out of warranty.
Unfortunatly this was too late for me...oh well.
The suit addresses two points:
1: The DVD Movie player isn't as compatible with DVD movies as it should be.
Personally, I never had a problem with it, except for one disc, and even then, a lot of other players did the same thing. After installing the update, even this disc played with no problems. Yeah, the PS2 had problems with layer switches, but then again, so did a lot of players circa 2000. Again the upgrade helped a lot.
2: The DVD mechanism itself is defective, resulting in a $120 repair charge for a $200 or $300 product.
This DID happen to me - my first PS2 conked out after about a year of moderate use, maybe about 200 hours of games and movies. I tried the tips on the internet - canned air, lens cleaner, even opened the case, but nothing worked. The drive would need replacing and was a $100 for the part (DIY), or $120 for Sony. I just bought a new unit figuring it wasn't worth the "gamble".