I am copying over another article that should really upset quite a few in the gaming community and really shows off what I have been saying about Sony being nothing but a money train. They have become everything that all gamers should hate, as you watch, forst there was the cease and desist order to ebay on the PS3, and now Lik-Sang is gone because they were selling import PSP units, what's next?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Spokesman: Pascal Clarysse (Pascal@Lik-Sang.com)
Web Site:
http://www.lik-sang.comMS Word document attached
Hong kong, October 24th of 2006 - Lik-Sang,com, the popular game retailer from Hong Kong, announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed it's trademarks, copyright and registration design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgement in the higher courts of london (England) rendering Lik-Sang's sales of PSP consoles unlawful.
As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the possition to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with Banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs or shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.
A sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell gameindustry.biz that "Ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK safety standardsd , due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not - in PS3's case _ backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVD's, and will not be covered bt warranty".
Lik-Sang strongly disagrees with Sony's opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped form Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compayibles world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations.
Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe's very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP Hard or Software imports in nicely packed lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan's official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (More than nine months earlier than the legal action). the list of Sony PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who's who of the videogames industry, and include Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd.), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd.), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd.), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd.), just to name a few.
"Today is Sony Europe's Victory for the PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe's ongoing pressure about the PS3! With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don't see fit. It's the beginning of the end...of the world as we know it", stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as Marketing Mahager of Lik-Sang.com
"Blame it on Sony. That;s the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally 'won', few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today."
Truthfully, thias is some crap. Oh, this is not part of the article, by the way! Sony os so full of themselves and this reminds me of when Nintendo was pulling their crap in the 90's and that was some crap as well. It almost ended up killing them in the end, and I am glad that they got what they deserved and have learned and become a better company because of it. This that Sony has done though is just an outrage! If want to import a video game system, I will do as I please and could care less what the company has to say about it. I damn well know what the risks are as far as warranties go and whatnot as do 99% of the people that import these machines! I love how Sonmy is trying to make it look like they are "Helping and Protecting" us, the dumb sheep consumers that don't know anything about the industry obviously. I am outraged, and you as gamers should be outraged as well! This is the beginning of probably the darkest days we will see as gamers since the crash of '84, I am telling you, the wave is coming, and here it comes right now, be prepared. :(