Japan Economy Forum

[Oriental vs West]

Well I live alone, no girlfriend or lover, don't have to pay the rent (my parent house), eat instant noddle daily, have no interest beside gaming so I'll manage to get one PS4. Oh don't worry about my identity, 100% VNese, living in Hanoi, hometown near China-VN border, studied 4 year in Saigon at an international school.

Seriously they ban people for using false flag?

It's hard to balance quality and benefit in gaming. I am interested in game design so I did research about the industry. You'll be surprised about how the industry work. Game designers do not make benifits directly from the sale, publishers do. Therefore publishers want more and more games out, with little time for development. And less time = less quality. Can't create a master piece with someone constantly shouting behind your back, you know.
That's why independent game studios tend to make better game, with the sacrifice of benefit and time.

That's not a good life habit. Do you realise that gaming is killing the young generations of Vietnam? Even the government has to issue "curfew time" for online gaming when they close all online game services after 10pm. Few years ago, there was incident when a kid dropped dead on the computer table after many days of continuous level grinding.

By the way, you make a really good analysis of gaming industry function. That's why I would never trust any company that publish triple A game such as EA. I cannot believe EA allowed two Battlefield titles: 3 and 4 to launch in Fall (just to get the most sales) despite having such severe issues such as bug and crappy net code. The Marketing department keep pushing the developers to create more features and more customisations for the game in order to attract more customers but in facts, those extra stuffs they add are mostly gimmicky and useless.

 

[xesy]

That's not a good life habit. Do you realise that gaming is killing the young generations of Vietnam? Even the government has to issue "curfew time" for online gaming when they close all online game services after 10pm. Few years ago, there was incident when a kid dropped dead on the computer table after many days of continuously level grinding.

By the way, you make a really good analysis of gaming industry function. That's why I would never trust any company that publish triple A game such as EA. I cannot believe EA allowed two Battlefield titles: 3 and 4 to launch in Fall (just to get the most sales) despite having such severe issues such as bug and crappy net code. The Marketing department keep pushing the developers to create more features and more customisations for the game in order to attract more customers but in facts, those extra stuffs they add are mostly gimmicky and useless.

Thanks for your concern. Fortunately I am not into MMO games. I prefer games with deep stories and innovative mechanics.

Gaming industry is becoming more and more like film industry. Game designers make up a concept, get sponsor from publishers, being pushed in the back to complete it, leave out many good things that they planned. One examples of such case is DICE with Battlefield 4. DICE has a talented and devoted team, but really EA rushed them to the finish line while the game was not ready yet. It should have been a chance for EA to overthrow COD franchise, but they messed it up.

 

[Cossack25A1]

Thanks for your concern. Fortunately I am not into MMO games. I prefer games with deep stories and innovative mechanics.

Gaming industry is becoming more and more like film industry. Game designers make up a concept, get sponsor from publishers, being pushed in the back to complete it, leave out many good things that they planned. One examples of such case is DICE with Battlefield 4. DICE has a talented and devoted team, but really EA rushed them to the finish line while the game was not ready yet. It should have been a chance for EA to overthrow COD franchise, but they messed it up.

Whatever the reasons maybe, the gaming industry will no longer be like what it was during the PS1-era where there are different games available. Now, the game industry is dominated by FPS and GTA-style games.

 

[Tractor]

GTA5 made a great contribution.

Whatever the reasons maybe, the gaming industry will no longer be like what it was during the PS1-era where there are different games available. Now, the game industry is dominated by FPS and GTA-style games.

And both of these two kinds of game I like most.

GTA5 made a great contribution.


And both of these two kinds of game I like most.

Japanese cartoon are so childish.

 

[cirr]

China Fines Japanese Auto-Part Makers $202 Million

Japanese Auto Suppliers Hitachi, NSK and NTN Are Penalized; Other Foreign Companies at Risk

Updated Aug. 19, 2014 11:20 p.m. ET

SHANGHAI—China levied 1.24 billion yuan ($202 million) in fines against 12 Japanese auto-part makers for alleged price manipulation in the latest effort to wield its power against multinational companies.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top pricing regulator, said Wednesday that it has fined companies including Hitachi Ltd. 6501.TO -0.73%Hitachi Ltd. Japan: Tokyo ¥776 -6 -0.73% Aug. 20, 2014 1:18 pm Volume (Delayed 20m) : 9.45M P/E Ratio 13.25 Market Cap ¥3,748.83 Billion Dividend Yield 1.29%Rev. per Employee ¥30,149,300 08/19/14 China Fines Japanese Auto-Part...08/01/14 Manufacturers Lead Japanese Ea... 07/31/14 Panasonic to Help Build Tesla ... More quote details and news » , NSK Ltd. 6471.TO +0.43% NSK Ltd. Japan: Tokyo¥1,390 +6 +0.43% Aug. 20, 2014 1:18 pm Volume (Delayed 20m) : 856,000 P/E Ratio 20.96 Market Cap ¥761.85 Billion Dividend Yield 1.73% Rev. per Employee¥29,422,700 08/19/14 China Fines Japanese Auto-Part... More quote details and news » , NTN Corp. 6472.TO +0.68% NTN Corp. Japan: Tokyo ¥446 +3 +0.68% Aug. 20, 2014 1:13 pm Volume (Delayed 20m) : 2.58M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap ¥235.88 Billion Dividend Yield 1.12% Rev. per Employee ¥29,426,100 08/19/14 China Fines Japanese Auto-Part... More quote details and news » and Sumitomo Corp. 8053.TO-0.37% Sumitomo Corp. Japan: Tokyo ¥1,342 -5 -0.37% Aug. 20, 2014 1:18 pmVolume (Delayed 20m) : 2.27M P/E Ratio 7.81 Market Cap ¥1,675.18 Billion Dividend Yield 3.43% Rev. per Employee ¥45,531,000 08/19/14 China Fines Japanese Auto-Part... 08/17/14 Myanmar Phone Service Makes Le... 07/22/14 Itochu, Sumitomo Seek to Sell ... More quote details and news » for colluding over prices of auto parts and bearings.

Lines of cars clog a highway in Beijing. Auto-components maker NSK said it has been fined for violations of China's antimonopoly laws. Reuters

"They have unlawfully affected China's auto-part prices, car prices and bearings prices, hurt the interest of downstream manufacturers and consumers," the NDRC said in a statement.

China has strengthened its regulation of pricing in recent years under its antitrust law, which was enacted in 2008. It has taken aim at a variety of multinational companies ranging from pharmaceutical producers to eyeglass and contact-lens makers.

Foreign car makers have been facing increasing pressure in what has been a lucrative market. China's state media have accused them of earning exorbitant profits by dominating the market, overcharging consumers and controlling the sale of auto parts.

The fines offer a potential glimpse of the penalties auto makers Audi AG NSU.XE+0.76% Audi AG Germany: Xetra €604.50 +4.55 +0.76% Aug. 19, 2014 4:35 pmVolume (Delayed 15m) : 73 P/E Ratio 6.33 Market Cap €25.80 Billion Dividend Yield0.66% Rev. per Employee €696,208 08/20/14 LG Chem Signs Multi-Million-Do...08/19/14 China Fines Japanese Auto-Part... 08/18/14 Chrysler's U.S. Sales Chief to...More quote details and news » , BMW AG BMW.XE +1.12% Bayerische Motoren Werke AG Germany: Xetra €89.02 +0.99 +1.12% Aug. 19, 2014 5:35 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 841,671 P/E Ratio 9.98 Market Cap €56.94 Billion Dividend Yield2.92% Rev. per Employee €698,680 08/20/14 LG Chem Signs Multi-Million-Do...08/20/14 What's News— 08/19/14 China Fines Japanese Auto-Part... More quote details and news » and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG DAI.XE +1.00% Daimler AG Germany: Xetra €61.60 +0.61 +1.00% Aug. 19, 2014 5:35 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.19M P/E Ratio 9.97 Market Cap €65.25 Billion Dividend Yield 3.65% Rev. per Employee €448,586 08/20/14 LG Chem Signs Multi-Million-Do... 08/19/14 China Fines Japanese Auto-Part... 08/18/14 Continental Hires Self-Driving... More quote details and news » might face. All three of the German companies have also been investigated by the NDRC over the cost of spare parts in China, with local pricing regulators saying on Sunday that Mercedes-Benz manipulated prices for spare parts in one Chinese region.

Audi and BMW said they wouldn't comment on fines imposed on other companies. Audi added that it wouldn't comment on the NDRC's investigation of the company's China practices until that probe concludes. BMW said it abides by Chinese law. Daimler declined to comment.

Bearings maker NSK Ltd. said on Tuesday that Chinese authorities fined it 174.9 million yuan. The Japanese company said it cooperated fully with the investigation, and it apologized to its shareholders, customers and others.

Separately, Japanese bearings manufacturer NTN Corp. said Chinese authorities fined it 119.2 million yuan. NTN's written statement also expressed regret.

NSK's fine is relatively modest under Chinese antimonopoly law. Authorities can levy fines of as much as 10% of a company's sales in China for the preceding year. The NSK fine amounts to less than 2% of NSK's annual revenue from China for its financial year that ended in March.

NTN doesn't disclose China sales.

Yale Zhang, managing director with consultancy Automotive Foresight, said it wasn't likely the German auto makers would face the full 10% fine, though much depends on how individual companies negotiate. All three have said they would slash prices for spare parts in China.

"If Chinese authorities think the car makers are dealing with the issue in an honest manner, the penalty likely will be slight," Mr. Zhang said. Still, given the size of their revenue in China, 2% would be a "very big number," he said.

Audi doesn't separately release its financial results for China.

Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton estimates Audi's total China revenue, which isn't reported on a consolidated basis, at €18 billion, or about $25 billion. Less than 10% of that sum comes from spare parts. However, the extraordinary profitability of both car and parts sales in China means Bernstein estimates the market accounts for more than 50% of Audi's earnings.

German brands dominate the luxury-car market in China, which McKinsey & Co. expects to become the world's largest as early as 2016. But German luxury car brands have been criticized, along with others, in state media for charging high prices.

NSK is one of the world's largest manufacturers of bearings, which it sells across a range of industries, with a focus on automotive. The company derived 167.2 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) of revenue from China in the financial year ended in March, up 83% from the 91.4 billion yen it posted a year earlier, thanks to new-model launches and steady growth in auto production.

The NSK fine in China is the latest in a string of fines imposed on the Japanese company by authorities world-wide. The European Commission, the European Union's central antitrust authority, imposed a fine of €62.4 million on NSK and its subsidiaries in March for their participation in activities that violated the European Competition Law in relation to sales of automotive bearings. NSK didn't respond to requests for comment on the EC fine at that time.

In January, authorities in Canada fined NSK 4.5 million Canadian dollars (US$4.1 million) for violation of that country's competition laws in relation to sales of automotive bearings there.

In September 2013, NSK pleaded guilty to antitrust-law violations in the U.S. and was fined $68.2 million.

NTN, which has been fined in other countries too, groups China sales under the category "Asia and others." Globally, the company had sales of 639 billion yen for the year ended in March, including 113.8 billion yen from the Asia-and-other-markets segment. It wasn't clear what proportion comes from China.

—Rose Yu in Shanghai, Liyan Qi in Beijing and Ilka Kopplin in Frankfurt contributed to this article.

Write to Colum Murphy at colum.murphy@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204616804580101123080054644.html

 

[TaiShang]

Good moves (against food chains, automakers and other dishonest foreign industries). China is no longer a playground for easy profit for foreign multinationals.

When in Rome, do as the Romans tell you to do.

 

[IsaacNewton]

Good moves (against food chains, automakers and other dishonest foreign industries). China is no longer a playground for easy profit for foreign multinationals.

When in Rome, do as the Romans tell you to do.

China tried that in the past, and the result was the opium war.

Make sure you build a strong navy to enforce your rules this time.

 

[Oriental vs West]

Thanks for your concern. Fortunately I am not into MMO games. I prefer games with deep stories and innovative mechanics.

Gaming industry is becoming more and more like film industry. Game designers make up a concept, get sponsor from publishers, being pushed in the back to complete it, leave out many good things that they planned. One examples of such case is DICE with Battlefield 4. DICE has a talented and devoted team, but really EA rushed them to the finish line while the game was not ready yet. It should have been a chance for EA to overthrow COD franchise, but they messed it up.

For me, it's still debatable of whether the COD will be able to survive in the future. I remember the day when COD 4 was launched, it was an absolute blast because of its new game mechanic and user interface. After COD 4 success, Activision keep recycle the game and release it under new titles for the next 5 years. One of the big issue with COD franchise is that it's still use the same old engine years after years with minor graphic modification. The game keep revolve around same old fast pace, arcading style 8 vs 8 where the main goal for players is to get as many kill streak as they can. Battlefield on the other hand, implemented new Frosbite engine with environmental destruction and game dynamic. However, Battlefield require DICE to put more effort to balance out the class dynamic (Assualt class is so overpowered) and vehicle. Base raping and grenade spamming happen so frequently in Battlefield. Battlefield 3 and 4 releases have ended the COD dominance of FPS shooter market. COD last redeeming quality is it single-player campaign with interesting storyline compared to Battlefield's mediocre campaign. I am shock to see COD Advanced Warfare multiplayer reveal trailer. It seems like they try to revive the already dead arena style shooter back with superhuman movement and futuristic weapon in modern FPS shooter game (it remind me about Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament). Do you think the upcoming COD game will be able to achieve success?

 

[C130]

Good moves (against food chains, automakers and other dishonest foreign industries). China is no longer a playground for easy profit for foreign multinationals.

When in Rome, do as the Romans tell you to do.

time to move out of town then

 

[senheiser]

The number is misleading. The 10 million number is shipped to retailers, not sold through to customers. PS4 is still somewhere between 8-9 million sold through to customers.

nope, sold

Good to see Sony' PS4 beats Microsoft's Xbox One.

Keep going!

less money for imperialists

 

[senheiser]

well, the only games I expect in PS4 are FPS and non-Final Fantasy RPG game, specifically this:

so like this game? Did you know your american friends hating and bashing this game, they say you are pedophile if you are playing it? whats your opinion about Americans?

 

[Beidou2020]

China tried that in the past, and the result was the opium war.

Make sure you build a strong navy to enforce your rules this time.

Navy?
Our vast and diverse missile force can annihilate any continent on this planet.

The last time any foreign military tried invading China under CPC rule, that foreign military was kicked out of North Korea in humiliating fashion. Take a guess who that foreign military was kiddo

China will do what it wants, when it wants, how it wants.
Don't like it?
Go cry to someone who gives a damn

time to move out of town then

That would be best news for the domestic Chinese companies as they get market share to the massive Chinese market. Foreign companies are a burden to China.

The foreign companies that leave China, the better it is for China.
But the foreign companies are begging China to get access to the massive Chinese market.

 

[xesy]

For me, it's still debatable of whether the COD will be able to survive in the future. I remember the day when COD 4 was launched, it was an absolute blast because of its new game mechanic and user interface. After COD 4 success, Activision keep recycle the game and release it under new titles for the next 5 years. One of the big issue with COD franchise is that it's still use the same old engine years after years with minor graphic modification. The game keep revolve around same old fast pace, arcading style 8 vs 8 where the main goal for players is to get as many kill streak as they can. Battlefield on the other hand, implemented new Frosbite engine with environmental destruction and game dynamic. However, Battlefield require DICE to put more effort to balance out the class dynamic (Assualt class is so overpowered) and vehicle. Base raping and grenade spamming happen so frequently in Battlefield. Battlefield 3 and 4 releases have ended the COD dominance of FPS shooter market. COD last redeeming quality is it single-player campaign with interesting storyline compared to Battlefield's mediocre campaign. I am shock to see COD Advanced Warfare multiplayer reveal trailer. It seems like they try to revive the already dead arena style shooter back with superhuman movement and futuristic weapon in modern FPS shooter game (it remind me about Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament). Do you think the upcoming COD game will be able to achieve success?

I was a fan to COD even before COD 4. Infinity Ward created a perfect fomular for shooter game (at that time). COD 6 was hyped, but did not surpass COD4. Then Treyarch came in and bring new winds to the franchise with their zombie mode. In the mean time, Infinity Ward chose not to take the risk of innovating and stick to the already-perfect-but-get-too-familiar shoot and run fomular that they made famous. Then there was people who left the studio and blamed Activision for it. Sure Activision is evil, all game publishers are evil, but without them, there won't be triple A titles around.

About COD AW, to me it looks like titans fall already, with slightly slower movement speed. SledgeHammer will have to come up with something, or all their sparky little guns cannot compete against giant mech from Titan Fall, maybe a hover-bike race or arena, kinda like the snowbile from MW2 or the giant satalite disk from Just Cause 2. Oh and the multi endings storyline of COD BO2 was very interesting. First time I gets a bad ending without know why. Hope AW will take note on that aspect too.

 

[xesy]

so like this game? Did you know your american friends hating and bashing this game, they say you are pedophile if you are playing it? whats your opinion about Americans?

Man I haven't seen that game but saying people are that or this kind of people judging by games that they are playing is ridiculous. Like all GTA-players are multi-talented gangsters. Shooter-players are gun maniacs, war thirsty beasts. Simulation-players are psychos who love playing God. Give gaming a break, that controversary about gaming is over.

 

[xunzi]

China tried that in the past, and the result was the opium war.

Make sure you build a strong navy to enforce your rules this time.

That is why we publicly release the DF-41. Asking anyone to come and pick a fight against us.