Thank you Frank Yu!

I should thank my ever so resourceful Google News Alerts as well, for picking up on this Mr. Frank Yu, former Microsoft Xbox Regional Business Manager for Asia.

This article from Gamasutra describes one challenge the iPhone might face in entering the China market--that it could be defined as a "gaming device", all of which except for the Nintendo DS Lite (didn't know that!) are illegal to sell in China. I'm not sure I totally buy the argument, as iPod Touches, the second generation of which is a better gaming platform than the iPhone, are currently sold in China. Of course, the Chinese government could change its mind at any time about that.

More importantly though, Frank Yu looks like someone anyone interested in Asia and especially China's gaming industry should know and kiss up to or just agree to be friends with. His old MSDN blog is still hosted and can be read here and he is currently the CSO and COO of Shouji, a Beijing based mobile games developer, which has a blog as well.

(thanks Gamasutra!)

World Cyber Games, yeah China does it

The World Cyber Games, apparently the Olympics of computer and video gaming (I just learned that it exists), does have a team from China. Some quick facts:

2008 WCG competitors: 15

Tournament participant since: 2000 (the tournament's first year, when it was called the World Cyber Game Challenge)

The team competed in: FIFA, Counter Strike, Star Craft and War Craft

Won 2nd place in 2001 (But I can't figure out where they won their medals from the winner charts)

Sadly does not compete in any console games--hope that changes soon though.

Also WCG really needs to update their info and their website--it lists China as having a mere 123,000,000 Internet users, although now that figure is over 300,000,000, and the site has way too much going on on the front page.

(WCG)

Microsoft bringing Xbox360 to China?

"Industry sources" say so, so it must be true!

But how Microsoft prices the Xbox will be key, said Florian Pihs, assistant vice president of the market research firm Analysys.

“Microsoft has to choose whether to go for better software protection or if they’re going to charge more for the Xbox because there are already some gray imports,” he said, adding that most firms launching games expect them to trigger piracy.

Expects it to trigger piracy? What? This analyst needs to be fired. Xbox360 games sold in China are currently ALL PIRATED. You can't find legit copies. Duh.

Will the PS2 ever die?

It seems not. According to this report on kotaku, more people are playing PS2 than any other system, including the Wii, and by a ginormous margin. WTF? People, it's not 2005 anymore, come on and step up to the latest and greatest.

What does this mean? Are next-gen consoles just lame and sucky, like my great great grandmother's teats? Or are people just not seeing what the big hoohaw is about the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3?

None of the above. Perhaps once console makers could rely on the market's steady growth to introduce new and more powerful systems that would outsell their predecessors, but the PS2 kinda futzed that up for everyone by selling enough systems to populate a decent-sized country. Obviously the next-gen consoles had no hope to match the PS2's sales, and I'm sure they weren't aiming for it, but Sony must feel a bit sad that the original Xbox is played more than the PS3 is.

Will another system ever sell as well as the PS2? Not until they all break down I suppose.

I predict, however, that the next-next-gen systems, perhaps the PS4 and Xbox^3, will do much better. The PS3 and 360 were stop-gaps, leaps ahead in performance but not really offering anything new in terms of gameplay. The PS3 did offer more innovation, but its high cost stifled it. Personally I think it's a great investment if you're not only looking for a gaming machine, but Sony is only starting to market it as such now. Next time around, boys...