Another new Tales game

[Kevassa]

The average Japanese isn't expected to know of Tales period :p

Yeah, it's not just about money and time, a big factor is integration. It's the same reason some people rather put songs on their cell than "lug" around an ipod. Too many gadgets for too many things. Everything else is arguably superfluous, the cellphone is not, because itself is an integration of communication and storage apps.

The day cellphones stop sucking here is not so much related to gaming, but when you can pay for anything with it and use it as a pass for everything (to get your car out of a fully automated vending machine type parking garage). We just started testing cellphones as ticket passes in the metro train system here where I am, and not your own cellphone but a standard one they sell because cross-platform is too hard for now. We're still using paper tickets with magnetic strips (not even electronic passes, which the bridge toll system uses) and electronic passes have been the norm in Asian countries for years, if not at least a decade.

In USA they are years of advancement from my country, last year I bought as a fashion thing a cellphone with camera XD

[Kajitani-Eizan]

the thing is, at least as far as i'm aware, cell phones with these capabilities are EXPENSIVE in the US. far more so than a DS, or a standalone 5-7 MP camera with flash, or whatnot. i can understand if relatively entry phones can do all these things, and thus people play cell phone games instead of DS, but from what i've seen, entry phones take meh-to-okay pictures, are relatively slow, aren't really great for watching TV or anything, etc.

certainly something like an iPhone, or one of those higher-end Nokia smartphones might be great for this sort of thing, but i don't think most people have those. which makes me wonder if a large number of people have phones with similar capabilities in east asia...

[Chuc]

Having come back from Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, both those countries have vastly integrated RFID card systems into their daily lives, moreso in HK with the Octopus card system. (Tokyo has the Suica and Pasmo systems which iirc were exclusive to rails, metro, buses and SOME vending machines, and Singapore has EZlink but I've only seen it used for the MRT and buses) So much so that the cell phones they use are now capable of carrying the rfid system, which I'd imagine is connected to their bank account, along with the phone plan. So integration is key.

Over there also Ntt DOCOMO and au phones are IMMENSELY popular, according to a friend they offer very cheap rates plus a plethora of services, chiefly an email address (that has completely replaced the old sms system), live streaming television and internet services. Basically the whole 3G package for average joe wages.  However the catch is that you have to use an au/docomo supplied phone iirc, but the phones themselves are pretty dern awesome with tilting screens, folding which-way and there, plus a screen that's about the size of the entire GBA micro.

[Cyllya]

the thing is, at least as far as i'm aware, cell phones with these capabilities are EXPENSIVE in the US. far more so than a DS, or a standalone 5-7 MP camera with flash, or whatnot. i can understand if relatively entry phones can do all these things, and thus people play cell phone games instead of DS, but from what i've seen, entry phones take meh-to-okay pictures, are relatively slow, aren't really great for watching TV or anything, etc.

I don't know about other companies, but Verizon gives special deals for upgrading your phone if you've had yours with their service for a long time. IIRC, my mom's nice phone with the TV capability and lack of button-to-screen delay was normally $250, but she got it for $100 or maybe $50 after the Verizon deal and rebates.