What Do Some Japanese Gamers Think About Online Gaming/Distribution?

Japanese magazine Famitsu has polled a pool of 798 about their thoughts on what's going on with the game industry. The most interesting data was with online gaming.

While 90 percent of those polled have used some sort of home console or portable console, only 24 percent of those have actually paid to use said service — meaning, we assume, they're not using paid services like Xbox LIVE. What's more, 58.5 percent use those networks for wireless ad hoc play (think Monster Hunter on the PSP).

A large number of those polled (75 percent!) had downloaded a game off a network service, which is nearly doubled from the 37 percent who had at the same time last year. Still, the overwhelming majority of Japanese gamers prefer buying boxed games for reasons like "the satisfaction of owning a physical object" to "because I can sell it when I get bored of it." However, there were complaints regarding retail release dates, which often make it difficult for those working to pick up games on launch day.

Japanese gamers were happy with the ability for companies to release patches for games. Demos also got high marks. Said one 36-year-old woman, "Being able to download demos is great. I've made purchases based off the demos I've played several times." Things like online cheaters caused concern as well.

Besides online gaming and DLC, the poll also touched on Japanese gamers' opinions ranging from a one console future (An unemployed 30-year-old said, "There are too many consoles — I wish they'd all merge together.") to ports (A 31-year-old explained, "If a game gets ported somewhere else after it goes on sale, I feel like I wasted my money buying a console just to play that game.")

http://kotaku.com/5204458/what-do-so...ngdistribution

So that's why most PSP games don't have infrastructure uh?

Damn japanese, we aren't like you, cause here where I live the guy who owns a PSP is the brother of the cousin of a dude I know, who I happen to see once every 3000 years.

I don't see the stated Japanese opinion that much different from mine.

I refuse to pay monthly/yearly/etc. for a service (other than ISP) to play games online. It's gotta be free like most PC, DS, and Wii games.

I like playing demos when I have any interest in a game, and I let my experience of the demo determine if I want the full version. Although I rarely buy anyway since I already have many games I play regularly and I'm a penny-pincher. My most recent buy was actually UT3 right after Steam had the full version for free for a weekend, I got the boxed version on eBay for $4.04 and was able to register it on Steam for the best of both worlds (box/DVD and Steam). I'm a bit torn between the trade-offs of box vs. download, but as with UT3 the box was clearly the way to go once I found out it could also be registered on Steam for the addition of download capability if I ever needed it. I also have a "box tower", so having the box as opposed to download makes my tower more fun to show off. However, I never sell or give away my games, I treat them like collector items, something to remember my gaming past by.

I like the ability for a game to be patched and I like features being introduced, but I don't like rapid patch releases and I don't like it when a game is so buggy on release that it requires patches just to fix the bugs.

Cheaters bug me too and sometimes turn me off from a game I've played for awhile (such as Metroid Prime Hunters which I played aggressively for a year or two before the hackers took over), but so far it hasn't been a big enough concern to determine whether I buy a game or not.

The fact that patapon 2 is UMD-less bothers me as I like "owning the physical object". I prefer a tangible product over an intangible one. If Street Fighter II Turbo Remix was sold in stores on a disk, I would have picked that up instead of buying the Live Arcade version. When it comes to buying games, I'm mostly old school. I rather buy physical product if the console is not "dead."

As for infrastructure mode on PSP games. It seems that Sony is only concern with gamers in the big cities where they are liable to run into someone with a PSP. Everyone else is stuck playing the game off-line because no one else around owns a psp, or they live too far.

Monster Hunter Portable was meant to be played with others. Can't do that if no one else owns a PSP, let alone the game. I don't know what goes through their heads when they think about not bringing over infrasctructure mode. If that is the case can you make the game relatively cheaper than it's Japanese counterpart with online mode?

Well, I'm done bitchin'.

The only exception (for me) is the Wii Virtual Store.