playasia
Latest
Amazon now sells Japanese video games internationally
If you've ever paid an astronomical price to import a Japanese game, here's some good news: Amazon Japan will now ship video game hardware and software internationally. The change happened recently with no fanfare -- Twitter and NeoGAF users started reporting it yesterday. Not every game can be shipped; it's restricted to products sold by Amazon, rather than third-party sellers. There are also some products that don't seem to want to ship, for reasons unknown.
Play Asia lets Mag Kid's price slide
Curious about Nintendo's Slide Adventure: Mag Kid? We totally are. We'd love to play the game designed for that weird sliding optical-mouse-esque DS stand doodad (the official name.) Retailer Play-Asia is making a fairly convincing argument in favor of giving it a shot: they've reduced the price to $29.90 for the week.That may seem like regular price to US gamers, but Japanese DS games tend to retail for closer to $50. Take into account the bundled doodad and you've got yourself quite a deal. If the game's any good.
Play Asia conducting a Nodame Cantabile sale
We've put up several posts in the past about Nodame Cantabile, a conductor-themed rhythm game that follows Ouendan's tap-circles-to-the-beat formula, hoping someone would eventually pick it up and let us know how its mechanics compare against its predecessor's. If we haven't convinced you to try it out yet, perhaps Play Asia's discounted price will; the import shop will have the Bandai title listed at $14.90 ($2.90 US shipping) until next Monday, less than half of its original price!Speaking of Nodame Cantabile DS, have you ever seen the commercial that aired for it in Japan? It's pretty wacky! Jump past the break to watch the clip.[Via CAG]
Donkey Kong: King of Savings
Burabura Donkey, or DK: King of Swing as we know it in the states, puts you on a quest to recover 24 stolen medals and prove yourself as the Jungle Hero. Swinging the gorilla from peg to peg is managed with your handheld's L and R buttons, while jumping can be accomplished by hitting the two shoulder buttons at the same time. Its mechanics are simple, and many feel that the graphics are a step back from the Donkey Kong Country series, but it can still be pretty fun if you're looking for something different in an action game. Import shop Play Asia will be selling Japanese copies of the Paon-developed GBA title for $10.90 for the next three days, so if you still haven't tried out DK: King of Swing, here's your chance!
Gloss Silver and Metallic Pink DS Lites now available for import
The new DS Lites have been released in Japan and have shown up on import shopping sites. That's right, for only $179 + shipping, you can have a DS Lite in one of the two new Japan-exclusive colors! You have your choice of Like the Regular DS Phat Color but on a Lite, or Like the Pink One but Shinier. Sure, you pay a premium, but it may be worth it to have a DS that looks somewhat different from other DS's in the immediate area. Depends on how you feel about the new colors! What do you think-- Gloss Silver or Gross Silver? Metallic Pink or Me-tacky Pink?
Face Training's price causes us to make a thoughtful face
It is possible that some of you may be persuaded to buy Face Training. This is assuming two things: first, that you would like to have a stand, and second, that something other than Adults' DS Face Training, homebrew or official, will make use of the DS camera. A distant third possibility, that you feel a strong desire to stretch your face at your DS, would supercede the first two. We would enjoy a DS Lite stand, and we hope we'd have a use for the camera, so it's not inconceivable that we'd consider this a deal worth looking into.Play Asia is taking preorders for the game at $48.90, which is their normal asking price for a Japanese DS game. That's not too bad for a camera, a stand, and (ahem) miscellaneous bonus content. We hope it's within range for a few homebrew developers, at least.Of course, its regular-priced-ness in Japan means that if, by some clerical error, Adults' DS Face Training somehow came out in the US, it would be regular US price of $30-$35. Don't hold your breath on that one-- although it may be good for your face to puff out your cheeks like you're pretending to hold your breath.
Play-Asia's summer smoothie sale
For the next week, online shop Play-Asia will be selling all of its in-stock items at a 20% discount, excluding weekly specials or anything released in the past 30 days -- cross Jump Ultimate Stars and Doki Doki Majo Shinpan off of your to-buy list. All of the import retailer's eligible products have been marked with the smoothie icon shown on the right, so it's easy to spot which games are on sale. We've picked out several noteworthy bargains that you might want to consider: Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 - $39.12 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All - $23.92 Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu 4 - $15.92 Gyakuten Saiban 4 Limited Edition - $103.92 bit Generations: Orbital, Soundvoyager, Dialhex, Boundish, Digidrive - all $11.92 Urban Life Style Cases, White and Light Blue - $10.32 Headsets, Nintendo - $10.32, Dragon - $5.52 Play Stand DS Lite - $11.92 Though the sale doesn't end until next Friday, a lot of these items won't stay in-stock for long. Don't be that guy who has to leave a comment about missing out on a particular deal![Via CAG]
Go ahead, Jump! Ultimate Stars sale
As if language barriers aren't enough to dissuade would-be importers from ordering Japan-only games, the pricing on these titles often border on lunacy when compared to what new releases usually cost in the states. So while Play Asia's Jump! Ultimate Stars sale for $29.90 might not seem like much of a bargain, keep in mind that the online fighter usually sells for a staggering $48.90.It's a great game though; many have even compared it to the Super Smash Bros. series, except in 2D and with twenty hojillion playable manga characters. Since Play-Asia will be honoring the reduced price until next Monday, that gives you plenty of time to consider whether or not this discount is deep enough to warrant a purchase. We think that it is!
Import Kururin Paradise for only $10
Long hailed as one of the GBA's best puzzle titles, Kururin Paradise never landed on North American shores, preferring instead to limit its release to Japan. Play-Asia has taken pity on our Kururin-less souls, listing the 8ing-developed game at a dicount price of $9.90! This deal lasts until next Tuesday, so you'll have more than enough time to collect change on the sidewalk for this purchase. Pilot your spinning craft past the post break for a video preview of this simple-but-addictive game!
Now is the time to buy some RockMen
Online import shop Play Asia is trying to lighten its stock of mega-robot guys, hosting a week-long sale on RockMan 3 Zero. Capcom's GBA action-platformer has been discounted to $9.90, almost a fifth of its original price! RockMan 2 Zero boasts a similar discount as a limited time offer, but you get an additional dollar off if you bundle the two games together for your order, bringing the total cost to $18.80.And in case you've already forgotten, Renchi has also marked a number of its DS import titles down to $9.99, one of them being RockMan ZX! Geologists, rejoice![Via CAG]
Dress like a DJ: DJ Max Portable shirts available
Hot of the heels of the DJ Max Portable concert, comes DJ Max Portable 2 T-Shirts. Seeing as how great music is only half the equation, it makes sense for some of the art to be shown off in a wearable form. There are currently three designs for sale, but only while supplies last. The shirts are attractive enough, that even non-gamers are likely to compliment you on your wardrobe choice. Each shirt comes in at the reasonable price of $34.90. I'm not sure I'd ever look as cool as the models wearing the threads in the promo images, but I can't let that stop me from trying.
Front Mission: The sale
We've been excited about Front Mission: The First since we saw the remake's trailer last month. While Square Enix's mecha-based SRPG has a cult following in the states, none of the original game's various versions have ever made it to the US. If you've been thinking about importing this introduction to the Front Mission series, you're in luck! Play Asia has the game on sale for $19.90 (while stocks last), less than half the price of what eBay stores are asking for!Political-drama-based plots are usually awash with text, but since the game's menus are already translated into English, Front Mission: The First should still be playable even if you don't know any Japanese. It's not like there are any good SRPGs released in the west yet, anyway.[Via CAG]
Deals of Mana
Amazon must have a warehouse teeming with Childen of Mana shipments, as the online shop seems to have a sale on the game every other week. Square Enix's dungeon crawler has sold for less in the past, but today's $17.99 pricing is still a significant discount from it's regular $29.99 tag. This offer disappears tomorrow -- likely reappearing in a fortnight -- so don't wait too long to drop the game into your cart.Play-Asia's Heroes of Mana sale will stick around until the end of the week, but there's no guarantee that the title will stay in stock. The Japanese text might be too much for first-time importers, but according to what we've heard, this RTS/RPG is a quality purchase. You can grab Heroes of Mana for $19.90, paying an extra $2.60 for shipping to the US. [Via CAG]
Deal of the Day: LocoRoco for $15
Surprisingly, LocoRoco wasn't included in today's Greatest Hits update. Maybe it didn't sell enough copies? Regardless, import retailer Play-Asia is offering the blubbery platform game for cheap: only $14.90, plus shipping. Although this is an import version, this package offers English text ... even though of all games, this probably doesn't need it.[Via CAG]
Deal of the Day: Gold PSP for $160, and other import deals
Play-Asia is having their Crazy Week sale, which truly lives up to its namesake. The store is slashing prices 20% for every in-stock item not released in the past 30 days. That includes hardware, which means the import Champagne Gold PSP is only $160: that's cheaper than buying a boring black Core system in America!But that's not the only deal in the store. You may be interested in picking up the original DJ Max Portable, the GPS receiver, Pink PSP, Silver PSP, or the PaRappa pouch. Happen to find other noteworthy deals? Tell us![Via CAG]
Play-Asia's Crazy Week sale
Starting today, popular importer Play-Asia will be hosting another one of its bargain blowouts, selling every in-stock item at a 20% discount (excluding products released in the past 30 days). Dubbing the event "Crazy Week," the online store will be marking down thousands of its games and accessories until next Thursday.Some of you might not think that 20% off isn't a great deal, especially when you factor in shipping and handling. We would probably be inclined to agree with you if we hadn't come across Play-Asia's reduced pricing on the bit Generations series. Coloris and Orbital have been cut down to $19.92, while all of the other titles are listed at a ridonkulous $11.92! That includes critically-acclaimed games like Dostream and Soundvoyager!If that isn't enough to convert the 49% of you who haven't imported games yet, we don't know what will. [Via CAG]
Import game releases for the week 2/18/07
Every week PSP Fanboy brings you the import releases for the coming week. Since your PSP can play games from any region, the only limitation is your bravery and langauge skills. It's a big week for import PSP games as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd hits Japan's retailers. There's also another Simple 2500 game and games that let you drive a Taxi and control and airport. Continued after the jump ...
Japan is mad for Monster Hunter Portable 2nd [Update 1]
Monster Hunter never found much of an audience in the US, but in Japan it's a big deal. How big of a deal? Well, when's the last time you saw this many versions of a game to buy: 1: Stand-Alone Game2: Accessories Set (the game and themed accessories of UMD holders, headphones, and collectible card)3: Hunter Pack (the game and themed accessories of a champagne PSP, 2 replacement faceplates, one carry case, strap and soft Monster Hunter toys) [Via DCEmu] [Update 1: Corrected links and formatting.] See also:Sony goes bling with new Champagne Gold
Silver and Blue, for your import consideration
One of our readers, Brandon, made note that the new Silver and Blue PSPs are available for importers at Play-Asia.com. These are both going for $199, the same retail price as an uncolorful American PSP. Remember: import PSPs can play all games. The only catch is: they can't play other region's UMDs. Not that that should matter anyways.
Deals of the Day: tons of sales, everywhere
These retailers are simply crushing my wallet. My AMEX card is almost maxed out! Here are some highlights from the web:amazon.com [Via CAG]Holiday Sale! Highlights include: Mortal Kombat Unchained $40 $18 Gitaroo-Man Lives! $40 $30 Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins $40 $30 Bounty Hounds $40 $30 Bomberman $30 $18 Power Stone Collection $30 $20 Invisible Shield [Via CAG]Get 40% off screen protectorsGamestop.com [Via CAG]Every Extend Extra only $20Decal Girl [Thanks, Joel!]$6 face platesPlay-Asia [Thanks, Joel!]Talkman for $13
