via Games Industry


The slow performance of home consoles in Asian markets outside of Japan shouldn't be just blamed on piracy, according to Nexon CEO Joonmo Kwon.

Kwon is optimistic that there could be a credible console market in countries such as Korea, provided console manufacturers and publishers take the time to understand the specific demands of the separate regions.

"It's true that the issue of piracy has had adverse effects on the development of the console game market in Asia to a certain extent," offered Kwon in an exclusive interview published today.

"However, as you can see by the consistent growth of the music and movie industries in most Asian territories despite such intellectual property issues, you can't really blame the underdevelopment of the console market solely on piracy."

Kwon detailed the performance of the three home consoles, noting that sales expectations for the Wii were lower than anticipated and that PS3 and Xbox 360 figures only make up a fraction of global sales.

"Microsoft's Xbox 360, which boasts sales of 15 million units worldwide, has only sold 150,000 units in Korea in the past two years," he said.

"Sony's PlayStation 3, which has sold 5.5 million units worldwide, has only sold 50,000 units during the past year in Korea. And the Nintendo Wii, which initially was expected to sell more than 100,000 units in the first month after it was released only sold about 40,000 units for almost two months - and the situation isn't much different in other parts of Asia, except of course for Japan.

"However, despite those numbers, the results aren't all discouraging when you consider that these numbers indicate that there is at least a possibility of a console game market in Asia, where online games traditionally had been completely dominant," he added.

Other encouraging signs are similar to growth areas in the Western market – the increased uptake of handheld consoles and a broadening of the demographic to include female consumers.

"You could even say that the situation is pretty much optimistic in general - the new trend has greatly contributed to the expansion of the game user demographics, capturing wider age ranges, not to mention female groups too," said Kwon.

However, if publishers really want success in Asian markets, Kwon believes they must cater to the local demands, and that means increasing online services in regions that expect such features as standard.

"In almost all parts of Asia, excluding Japan, online games have been leading the market growth since the very early stages of the games industry, which is something that indicates users have a strong preference and attachment for the common characteristics and typical features of online games.

"So for the console game industry to succeed in Asia, unlike in North America or Europe, it's extremely important to set strategies that are specifically suitable for the local market,” said Kwon. “Most Asian gamers are far more used to and attracted by interactive games via network connections, and they've long been enjoying the unique convenience that online games offer - such as being able to download and play a wide variety of games for free with a single account from any PC."

He added: "Games which require specific consoles and extra hardware devices, or are stored in a cartridge or CD/DVD-ROM, are purchasable mostly at offline stores and a new boxed product needs to be purchased for each new game that a person wants to play - all of those things simply make console games less appealing to gamers in Asia."

The full interview with Joonmo Kwon can be read here. ...

New sales date for console sales in Japan are in as usual, with a change in ranking:


Nintendo DS Lite: 63,859
Playstation Portable: 30,156
Nintendo Wii: 29,686
Xbox 360: 28,188
Playstation 3: 8,053
Playstation 2: 7,669


DS lite goes up roughly 12,000 while PSP slips 3,400. Wii sinks lower down by 4,00 while the Xbox 360 shoots up in sales by 27,000, overtaking both the PS3 (down about 250) and PS2 (down 300). ...

Hey guys! I'm currently working on an MSPaint like Lua app entitled 'RoxPaint'.

Here are the features in the current version:

• -Resizeable canvas
  -Saves to ms0://psp/photo/ as a PNG(It will overwrite saves...)

Here are the controls:

Analog = Move cursor.
D-Pad = Resize canvas.
Cross = Select.
Circle = De-select.

Download it from my website
[Link to Download Page]
[Link to Main Page]

Enjoy!

-RoxFox64 ...

Newly released today:



features
Embark on a journey to explore the land, seas and skies of the DRAGON QUEST universe in this grand entry from the Zenithia Trilogy.
Indulge in the colorful DRAGON QUEST world created by Yuji Horii, combined with the charming characters and monsters designed by Akira Toriyama and memorable soundtrack from famed composer Koichi Sugiyama to create an unforgettable gaming experience.
Experience the world of DRAGON QUEST through the perspectives of multiple characters with a unique, chapter-driven storyline
Journey through a beautifully rendered 3D world, with dynamic dual screen presentation and newly animated monsters.
Enjoy an all-new English translation that incorporates 13 known dialects from around the globe, bringing the diverse world and characters of DRAGON QUEST to life.
Unravel the ancient mystery behind a cursed kingdom by expanding your town via Chance Encounter mode, available through local wireless connection.

description
A prestigious army captain, an adventurous princess seeking to test her skills beyond palace walls, a humble merchant aspiring to open his own shop, and two sisters who wish to avenge their father’s death… These seemingly unrelated individuals will soon cross paths when fate brings them together to journey alongside you, the hero. Dive into this unique adventure, and discover an epic tale told through the experiences and emotions of characters from all walks of life.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2tcx.html ...

Welcome to this week's Movie/Music news roundup, containing new Japanese and Hong Kong Video and Music releases from this week listed at Play-Asia.com. Around 310 new items are covered in this week, including new J-Pop, Anime as well as Japanese, Hong Kong and Western movie releases and much more.

Take a healthy dose of Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Carribean trilogy box set. Recorded in high definition with Blu-Ray Discs, this collection is going to turn your sitting room into a real cinema.

When people mentioned pirates, the face of Jack Sparrow will pop up (aside from Luffy, perhaps) the success and pervasiveness of this image is not merely due to the make up but the veteran actor's execution. Endearing characters combined with exciting special effects and an engaging plot, this is a deal you cannot miss.

Most people have heard of the talented singer and pianist through Final Fantasy 12's theme song Kiss me Goodbye. With a minimum of sound effects and arrangements, there usually are very few things to distract the audience from Angela Aki's strong, melodious voice and messages within her works.

Tegami ~ Jugo no kimi e [standard and limited editions] is chosen as a number to be performed in the Junior High School National Concurs, organized by NHK. With its emphasis on the hopes life brings, this is a particularly suitable song for teenagers and many have been moved to tears when Angela Aki herself sang it on stage.

While Angela Aki encouraged young people to face their future with hope, Ikkitousen Best Song Collection [standard and limited editions] portrays quite a different picture. Sung mostly by voice actresses, the songs are upbeat, energetic and amplifies the sex appeal of the characters.

Fan service and combats are very much the essence of the show and the songs display the fighter spirit of the girls and their ability to make you swoon.

Here's a summary of all new releases that were published between Saturday, September 13th and Friday, September 19th. If some specific item that you are looking for is missing, please don't hesitate to contact our customer service with your request.


J-Pop Music releases (109)
ENKA Music releases (1)
Anime Soundtracks & Drama CDs (22)
Video Game Soundtracks (3)
Hong Kong Version Music releases (2)
Blu-ray Disc Movies (37)
Anime & Animation (32)
Hong Kong Version Movie releases (25)
Japanese Movies (13)
Non-Japanese Movies / Japanese Version (34)
J-Pop DVD releases (23)
ENKA DVD releases (1)
Misc Japanese Movie releases (1)
Idol DVD (9)

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...9-en-84-n.html ...

... With "tasteful" minigames. Indeed, Nintendo Power has published the first comprehensive preview of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, according to details provided by NeoGAF poster botticus. The relayed information (in handy bullet-point format), describes Chinatown Wars as a "true GTA game," which is to say, a Mature-themed sandbox game concerned with all things criminal (just like the survey said). The DS technology limits gameplay to an isometric camera angle with cel-shaded visuals, though the load times, draw distance and frame rate are reportedly sound; and weather effects, along with a day and night cycle are in tact. The preview claims there are plenty of on-screen pedestrians and cars -- speaking of: there are multiple radio stations, mostly juiced with instrumental tunes. All in all, "800,000 lines of hand-optimized source code" are packed into the tiny cart.

What else? Chinatown Wars is said to return players to a sizeable portion of Liberty City (wild guess: Chinatown?), though the map has been altered from the console version. Missions also will be shortened and can be easily restarted upon failure. The D-pad is used for aiming, while the R-button activates auto-targeting; and there's "subtle" auto-steering built into the driving controls. The touchpad will be used for the aforementioned minigames, in addition to navigating the PDA-like UI, which includes email, contacts, the map, a music player, GPS, and stat-tracking (stats can be Wi-Fied to the Social Club). Now, how about some, uh ... scans? (Or better: screens! C'mon Rockstar, with this game scheduled to release in mere months, throw us a friggin' bone or two!)

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/19/ru...-m-rated-crim/ ...

1Up reports on comments by Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Game Studios, which indicated that several different teams are working on Halo projects at the moment. Quoting:
"When GamesIndustry.biz then pointed out that it puts the Age of Empires franchise in a similar position as Halo after Bungie departed from their partnership with Microsoft, that's when Spencer dropped this intriguing tidbit: 'Well, there's more than one team building Halo games right now. There are more than two or three teams building Halo things right now. Some of them we will own, some of them we won't. It's never been, for me, about who you own or don't own — it's about working with the best creative talent in the industry,' he said."

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl.../09/18/2122219 ...

We just never got the hang of that little blue robotic man, with his arm-blaster and his wall jumping and his awesome friends, and the Nyko Wing helped none at all: we managed to kill they guy about five seconds after picking up the controller. Still, it's a nice little chunk of plastic. It's much more natural in the hand than that funky Classic Controller, and seems rather high-quality for a Nyko product, but the d-pad is too mushy for our taste, and the whole assembly seems a tad too light. Either way, we're sticking with Mario.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/18/n...k-at-mega-man/ ...

Yes the release of waninkokos back uploader has apparently been leaked on the net and all those who enjoy pirating are happily doing whatever they do, sadly for real homebrewers this is a kick in the teeth. Even worse when respected tech sites like engadget etc post it with somewhat delight in the post, nice to see homebrewers from not just the wii scene condemn this, despite what some tards on lesser sites think this is bad for homebrew and homebrew sites, yeah Sony apparently havent got the brains or dont give a monkeys about the PSP apart from anyone selling consoles to us in europe (remember lik sang) but Nintendo are a different propostition but whatever happens and appareantly Waninkoko has abandoned the project this will im sure lead to repercussions, ill be interested to hear what Bushing, Marcan and others from Hackmii have to say on this subject.

Yes anyone with any knowledge knows that Wii Modchips have run backups for a long time (more importantly homebrew) but this release that doesnt need any extra hardware so its extremely damaging for nintendo, im not sure how easy to brick your console it will be because of the hack but frankly you take the risk.

I will post updates on this when they come in. ...