Biceps

September 23, 2010 at 9:09pm

Hey Nathan,

Here is a quick lesson for you on Japanese culture.  When they really want to say no to your idea or suggestion, but don't have a logical reason (that you know of) to say no, they make something up.  This is good in Japanese culture, because it saves face.  

For example, Ono didn't have to say to you, "Don't you f*cking GET it, man?  NO to PC!! No! No! No!" (insert karate chops).  Then, you would feel foolish, he would have a sore hand, and everyone would lose face.  Much better that he bend the truth a little, and say that Steam would be 'unfair'.  Logic really doesn't come into it, because he isn't really looking for a DRM solution.

Now, I know you are reading this and thinking... this guy is nuts and there is no way that is true.  Look up the experience Atomic Skis had back in the 1980s when they tried to get into the Japanese market.  They were actually BANNED from selling their skis in the Japanese market.  The reason? Simple: Atomic made extremely high-quality skis and sold them at prices that would have given the Japanese makers a huge run for their money.  So, when Atomic asked the Japanese government WHY they couldn't sell in Japan, do you know what the answer was?  "Sorry, but Atomic skis are not suitable for Japanese snow. Our snow is different in Japan, so your American skis won't work well here. Sorry!"  No, I am not shitting you.

I am assuming you can see the parallels between Ono's statement and the one made to Atomic. Cultural differences are wonderful things. 

dhosborne

September 23, 2010 at 3:54pm

First, i am stunned that this franchise still has a pulse.  

I remember playing Street Fighter on the Neo Geo. Because i am old as hell.

But the fact that they are regurgitating this sequel and shirking off ANY means to distribute it, and hopefully make enough money to make somewhat of a profit, is a surprise.

With digital market places like Steam available (who do a pretty good job of securing their digital copies with out being a**holes to consumers) downloading is simple and much more convienent than eliminating Trojans and virus's that come with a lot of P2P downloading torrents.

But this is fine, when this title falls on its face like the Street Fighter movie, perhaps they will consider shelling out some money to digitally protect their content.

Fiercedeity

September 23, 2010 at 2:32pm

His comments make no sense. This isn't about piracy at all. He said the PC version sold "fairly well". What does it even matter if the game was pirated? As long as they sold enough to make a profit, it's worth doing even if it has a high piracy rate. And it obviously made a profit, otherwise you wouldn't say it sold "fairly well". Either this guy has no understanding of economics, or he's lying about the reason there won't be a PC version. No matter how you look at it, piracy doesn't have anything to do with it.

LatiosXT

September 23, 2010 at 7:20am

You can't beat hackers. The more you try, the harder they work. In the end, you just kill the legitimate customer who's pissed off about assanine the DRM is. Case in point, I had to rebuy Mass Effect on PC because my CD key was invalid after so many activations. Thanks EA, enjoy my $50. Hope you enjoy the $10 I bought the game with on a Steam Sale. Yes I was that stupid, but Mass Effect 2 was $20, so...

Pwnado

September 23, 2010 at 6:10am

This is really just a way to secure income through DLC.

I bought the original, got stuck with windows live garbage, and within a week had already downloaded and used a ton of custom costumes.

so i've got a shiny nickle that sayd they are really going to gouge people for costumes right out of the gate.

dswanick

September 23, 2010 at 2:27am

This is amazingly funny, given that pirating console games isn't that much harder than pirating a PC game.  Note to Mr. Ono : If you're truly worried about piracy and your solution is to not publish your game to a piratable platform, better just stop publishing software now.

Nimrod

September 23, 2010 at 1:43am

Wow this is amazingly ironic. I was GOING to pirate this game, BUT COULDNT FIND A WORKING VIRUS FREE TORRENT FOR IT. And no i never bought the game. So even if i had pirated it, it wouldnt have been a lost sale. But then again, if i did pirate it and found out i loved it MIGHT have bought it so that i could play one line. So yeah, hes full of shit. Do these people actually believe that those of us on the PC platform believe this kind of stupidity? I mean, what about the people who RENT a game and never buy it? How is that anny different from pirating a game?