Apossum
01-13-2007, 04:35 PM
Just returned from a trip to Argentina and decided to write about something while I sit here and reel from the time difference between Illinois and there (for those who want to know it's 3 hours later there and Argentinians schedule things differently-- we usually ate dinner somewhere between 9 and 11pm, then stayed out till around 6-7AM. This was the norm from what I understand. It's strange to leave a dark bar while you're half drunk and find that sun had already risen. The hot sun hits your skin and punishes you for being so debaucherous. It's a really uncomfortable feeling, but it was all worth it.)
As you can already tell, this will be long and mostly pointless. I could probably sum it up in a few sentences. In fact, I have in the Fighter thread. But I'm committing this tome to Cheapy's server anyway.
First, some backstory. I had bought a used, old model, beat-to-hell Nintendo DS a few hours before my flight out of Chicago. I called every Gamestop and EB in a 20 mile radius and only found one platinum fat model, which looked slightly better than the floor model systems you see and cringe at in stores. It's possible that several little kids have owned this DS. The outer case is scratched and permanently marked with some faded marker and you can feel friction between the stylus and touch screen since it's so worn. It was sticky, probably from being played immediately after some 6 year old ate a melting popsicle (why don't EB or GS employees even wipe these things off? if not out of duty, then out of courteousy...) The serial number had wiped off and had to be written on. Obviously, this was an impulse buy, as the thought of 15 hours in transit to Argentina scared the crap out of me that morning. I had to have it since I knew I would not sleep a wink on the plane (I can't fall asleep in those damned airplane seats.)
Along with my DS I got Resident Evil, Gunpey, and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. I knew PoR was worth it, but the other 2 I would not have bought. I only got them since they were the only other decent and relatively cheap games left in the used game section. I told myself I would just find more games when I got to Argentina, so I didn't really fret over my selection.
Simple enough, right? Nah. If it were, I wouldn't be writing this. I might have been in the Bragging Rights forum showing off pics of tons of ultra cheap, rare games instead.
Before we get into it, I should mention that everything but electronics is super cheap over there, with the exchange rate of 3 pesos to 1 dollar. I almost felt bad paying around $100 for huge multi-course, gourmet meals with beer and wine for large groups of family and friends that would surely cost over $200 in the states. Naturally, my cheap ass was excited and hypothesizing about how cheap the games might be: "Even if it's 50 pesos for a new DS game, that would be less than $20 USD...!"
When I got a minute to stop in a game store, my dreams were shattered. Actually, I should say that my hopes were elevated way too high for the first minute then crushed. I walked in, looked at the wall, and saw a treasure trove of rare PS1 rpgs just sitting there marked at 15 pesos a piece. Suikoden 1 + 2, all the FF games, Valkyrie Profile, Persona 1 + 2, Brigandine, the whole shebang. Even if they were PAL, it would all be so cheap that I might as well get a PAL PS1 to play them on. It was like a scene out of a game collector porn movie, if such a thing existed.
So I go up and ask for Suikoden 2, for starters.
the clerk, who had obviously been through this before with other tourists, says something like: "Vos sabes que los juegos son copias?"
this basically translates to: "Hahaha, this shit's all counterfeit. zing!"
It was all burnt. The PS1, PS2, Xbox and Gamecube games were all burned. They were also fully stocked with burned 360 games, though I never saw a 360 system for sale once there. They had almost complete libraries for every system in a huge binder. If they didn't have it, they would order it (download it?) for you. All you need to start a game store in Argentina is a spindle of blank discs, a burner, and a decent internet connection.
The clerk, who's a saint for putting up with my broken Spanish, explained that the originals, and the systems, are all extremely expensive in Argentina. When I asked if lots of people get fooled into thinking they hit the jackpot, he laughed and said something like "I have broken many foreign hearts." I giggled at his cheesy joke.
Systems-wise, he had gamecubes, xboxes, and PS2s, all modded of course, at $300 to $400 USD. Another shop was selling PSPs for 1800 pesos or $540 USD. A Sony Style store at a mall had a slim PS2 for $300 with old games costing up to $60. Import prices are a bitch, eh? Don't get me started on IPods and laptops.
Finally, I found one store that had some DS games. And by DS games I mean Ping Pals, Spiderman, the Urbz, and some other launch window games. I didn't even ask about prices and decided to give up the hunt, as I wasn't even using my DS during the trip, aside from one long bus ride to the beach.
There you have it. I remember hearing about how other countries have problems with piracy and how game companies are reluctant to release their systems there, but I never imagined that almost every game store dealt soley in bootlegs. As you may have guessed, this doesn't just stop with games-- music and dvds are also pretty much all bootleg, though originals are very easy to find compared to games (and are cheaper than the U.S. versions, except the liner notes are all in Spanish.) You can find people with VCD/DVD/CD stands in the middle of a rural, 3rd-world-looking suburb who have all the newest titles for a few bucks a piece. I have never thought too deeply about world economics, but this got my mind flowing for sure. After a little bit of research, I found that this is how media is done in the larger, poorer countries. While in the bubble of the U.S., I thought the RIAA was a huge, greedy, crybaby asshole with nothing better to do since there really isn't a lot of piracy here (and still feel that way.) When I really thought about it, I realized that there's a bootleg market for media that is probably about the same size as the legit market.
To conclude, I'll just say this isn't a "look how bad piracy really is, lets bomb Argentina" piece. In fact, I'm all for people experiencing art forms like music and movies (and games, if you consider them art) even if they can't afford it. I'll gladly pay the premium to support the company so that these people can get the bootleg copies. All in all, I just find it to be a bit of a mindfuck.
Thanks for reading this far :lol:
I'll edit the grammar and spelling later...
As you can already tell, this will be long and mostly pointless. I could probably sum it up in a few sentences. In fact, I have in the Fighter thread. But I'm committing this tome to Cheapy's server anyway.
First, some backstory. I had bought a used, old model, beat-to-hell Nintendo DS a few hours before my flight out of Chicago. I called every Gamestop and EB in a 20 mile radius and only found one platinum fat model, which looked slightly better than the floor model systems you see and cringe at in stores. It's possible that several little kids have owned this DS. The outer case is scratched and permanently marked with some faded marker and you can feel friction between the stylus and touch screen since it's so worn. It was sticky, probably from being played immediately after some 6 year old ate a melting popsicle (why don't EB or GS employees even wipe these things off? if not out of duty, then out of courteousy...) The serial number had wiped off and had to be written on. Obviously, this was an impulse buy, as the thought of 15 hours in transit to Argentina scared the crap out of me that morning. I had to have it since I knew I would not sleep a wink on the plane (I can't fall asleep in those damned airplane seats.)
Along with my DS I got Resident Evil, Gunpey, and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. I knew PoR was worth it, but the other 2 I would not have bought. I only got them since they were the only other decent and relatively cheap games left in the used game section. I told myself I would just find more games when I got to Argentina, so I didn't really fret over my selection.
Simple enough, right? Nah. If it were, I wouldn't be writing this. I might have been in the Bragging Rights forum showing off pics of tons of ultra cheap, rare games instead.
Before we get into it, I should mention that everything but electronics is super cheap over there, with the exchange rate of 3 pesos to 1 dollar. I almost felt bad paying around $100 for huge multi-course, gourmet meals with beer and wine for large groups of family and friends that would surely cost over $200 in the states. Naturally, my cheap ass was excited and hypothesizing about how cheap the games might be: "Even if it's 50 pesos for a new DS game, that would be less than $20 USD...!"
When I got a minute to stop in a game store, my dreams were shattered. Actually, I should say that my hopes were elevated way too high for the first minute then crushed. I walked in, looked at the wall, and saw a treasure trove of rare PS1 rpgs just sitting there marked at 15 pesos a piece. Suikoden 1 + 2, all the FF games, Valkyrie Profile, Persona 1 + 2, Brigandine, the whole shebang. Even if they were PAL, it would all be so cheap that I might as well get a PAL PS1 to play them on. It was like a scene out of a game collector porn movie, if such a thing existed.
So I go up and ask for Suikoden 2, for starters.
the clerk, who had obviously been through this before with other tourists, says something like: "Vos sabes que los juegos son copias?"
this basically translates to: "Hahaha, this shit's all counterfeit. zing!"
It was all burnt. The PS1, PS2, Xbox and Gamecube games were all burned. They were also fully stocked with burned 360 games, though I never saw a 360 system for sale once there. They had almost complete libraries for every system in a huge binder. If they didn't have it, they would order it (download it?) for you. All you need to start a game store in Argentina is a spindle of blank discs, a burner, and a decent internet connection.
The clerk, who's a saint for putting up with my broken Spanish, explained that the originals, and the systems, are all extremely expensive in Argentina. When I asked if lots of people get fooled into thinking they hit the jackpot, he laughed and said something like "I have broken many foreign hearts." I giggled at his cheesy joke.
Systems-wise, he had gamecubes, xboxes, and PS2s, all modded of course, at $300 to $400 USD. Another shop was selling PSPs for 1800 pesos or $540 USD. A Sony Style store at a mall had a slim PS2 for $300 with old games costing up to $60. Import prices are a bitch, eh? Don't get me started on IPods and laptops.
Finally, I found one store that had some DS games. And by DS games I mean Ping Pals, Spiderman, the Urbz, and some other launch window games. I didn't even ask about prices and decided to give up the hunt, as I wasn't even using my DS during the trip, aside from one long bus ride to the beach.
There you have it. I remember hearing about how other countries have problems with piracy and how game companies are reluctant to release their systems there, but I never imagined that almost every game store dealt soley in bootlegs. As you may have guessed, this doesn't just stop with games-- music and dvds are also pretty much all bootleg, though originals are very easy to find compared to games (and are cheaper than the U.S. versions, except the liner notes are all in Spanish.) You can find people with VCD/DVD/CD stands in the middle of a rural, 3rd-world-looking suburb who have all the newest titles for a few bucks a piece. I have never thought too deeply about world economics, but this got my mind flowing for sure. After a little bit of research, I found that this is how media is done in the larger, poorer countries. While in the bubble of the U.S., I thought the RIAA was a huge, greedy, crybaby asshole with nothing better to do since there really isn't a lot of piracy here (and still feel that way.) When I really thought about it, I realized that there's a bootleg market for media that is probably about the same size as the legit market.
To conclude, I'll just say this isn't a "look how bad piracy really is, lets bomb Argentina" piece. In fact, I'm all for people experiencing art forms like music and movies (and games, if you consider them art) even if they can't afford it. I'll gladly pay the premium to support the company so that these people can get the bootleg copies. All in all, I just find it to be a bit of a mindfuck.
Thanks for reading this far :lol:
I'll edit the grammar and spelling later...