Ebooks and Games
Published by Gabe Glick (@gabeglick) —
Just finished vol 1 of 進撃の巨人(Shingeki no Kyojin) and wow, not what I was expecting. Not your typical shonen manga. Need Vol 2 ASAP.
Reading manga for the first time in a while reminded me how stupid it is I can't really get it on any of my devices (would like on kindle)
@sprsk You can get English Viz manga on iPad, but that's about all I've seen. Prolly won't see it in JP for another 5 years. :p
@johntv @sprsk you can definitely get legal manga apps on the android store, from Japanese publishers, for what it's worth...
@johntv @sprsk also on iOS http://t.co/XwjwAIXRジャンプのipadアプリキター！-たった115円で掲載漫画/
@mehdi_eff @johntv @sprsk Interesting: hadn't heard about this. Here's the direct app link if you want to check it out: http://t.co/1KX82u1n
@mehdi_eff @johntv @sprsk After a little more searching I also found this service: http://t.co/f0Mj0cMD
Even has 進撃の巨人.
@gabeglick @johntv @sprsk I'm not surprised that there are more than 1 app for that. Too easy to just always criticize JP publishers :P
@mehdi_eff @gabeglick @sprsk How many popular mainstream JP manga can you get for any of these apps? (i.e. stuff 99% of ppl want to read)
@johntv @mehdi_eff @sprsk The Jump app seems to just let you buy digital versions of Jump, so that's presumably everything that's current.
@johntv @mehdi_eff @sprsk The other one seems to have a spattering of popular stuff and a lot of lesser-known stuff.
@gabeglick @mehdi_eff @sprsk Jump SQ, not Jump. Unless I'm missing something?
@gabeglick @johntv @sprsk what Gabe said. I also know that the Tsutaya-Galapagos app (android-only tho) has almost everything (one piece,...
@johntv @mehdi_eff @sprsk Oh, yeah, that. I don't even know what Jump SQ is; I barely keep up with any manga these days.
@gabeglick @mehdi_eff @sprsk Jump SQ = bunch of manga you and I don't care about. :) Blows my mind that stuff like One Piece isn't on iPad.
@mehdi_eff @gabeglick @sprsk Dunno what that is (not an Android owner) - any idea if/when it's coming to iOS?
@johntv @mehdi_eff @sprsk Yeah, Japan ebooks seem to still be caught up in lots of disparate incompatible platforms like US ones used to be.
@johntv @gabeglick @sprsk the exact same app cant be on iOS (unfortunately). IIRC it's a deal between Tsutaya and Sharp (Android smartphones
@gabeglick @johntv @sprsk I definitely agree that the ebook market in Japan has still a lot of catch up to do. But it's just not as bad as
@gabeglick @johntv @sprsk as bad as John wants it to be :P ("won't see it in 5 years…")
@gabeglick @johntv @sprsk now that I think of it, it's not a JPN-only problem at all. Why can't I get Harry Potter on iBooks nor Kindle?
@mehdi_eff @johntv @sprsk Oh, don't get me wrong, the US market is still far from perfect. But it *is* better than the situation in Japan :P
@gabeglick @johntv @sprsk Apple and Amazon are US company, they only focused on bringing US publishers on board and now the US market is OK
@gabeglick @johntv @sprsk Sony and Sharp have their own ebook stores, they have most JPN-publishers already, but they make their own devices
@mehdi_eff @johntv @sprsk Right. The big difference is Galapagos Syndrome again (not the one partnered with Tsutaya).
@mehdi_eff @johntv @sprsk Different stores, different devices, different publisher deals, DRM galore… For readers, it's a mess.
@gabeglick "Different stores, different devices, different publisher deals, DRM galore… For gamers, it's a mess." :P
@gabeglick it's not fair to put the blame on the Galapagos Syndrome of the JPN industry, same thing with western games, movies, music, etc..
@mehdi_eff Games have always required proprietary devices to play them. Books have been around and "interoperable" for ages. Not the same.
@mehdi_eff Then why isn't there any Japan equivalent of Kindle or Comixology that runs on everything with a screen?
@mehdi_eff Movies and TV in the US have consolidated around iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu. Music is now DRM-free. Japan is where the US was.
@gabeglick well keeping with the same analogy, for the same reason that there's no universal store for games that would run on any console
@gabeglick it's not really the same comparing games and books, but games and e-books should be the same right?
@mehdi_eff How does that follow? Videogames are a wholly digital creation, ebooks are bringing something that was analog digital.
@mehdi_eff You also don't need different controllers to read books, nor can certain books only run best on the latest readers.
@gabeglick (this is really getting interesting)
@mehdi_eff Glad you think so :)
(and for the record, I think it's possible that there will be One Console To End Them All at some point…
@gabeglick the diversity in games stores (Stream, XBLA, PSN, etc.) is not related to a need for different controllers or better HW IMO
@mehdi_eff …and that this will not necessarily be a bad thing)
@gabeglick it's really because different companies want their own device on the market
@mehdi_eff The PC is unique and I'm not sure it fits your examples. It's the closest we have to a single box that can run everything.
@gabeglick (also, it's when it becomes interesting that ideas become hard to express on twitter …)
@gabeglick yes and not. You can't play XBLA or PSN games on PC, so in the end for the user it's still a mess!
@mehdi_eff After all, Steam succeeded because the original market for PC games was so diverse and scattered. IOW it's another example of
@mehdi_eff the kind of service that Japan needs.
@mehdi_eff Not everything, but if you need one platform that can play almost all the non-exclusives the PC is it.
@mehdi_eff (heh, indeed. I can only hope our mutual followers enjoy these kinds of discussions ;)
@mehdi_eff Anyway, my original point still stands. For better or worse, disparate devices has defined video gaming since forever.
@gabeglick well for me, a PC that can't play Mario is like an ebook reader that doesn't have One Piece
@mehdi_eff But books are not games, and the expectations are not the same. This is why I think the current ebook situation is a mess.
@gabeglick Apple and Amazon understood earlier than everyone else, and most of their revenues come from contents and not devices right?
@mehdi_eff Come now, surely you remember Mario is Missing and Mario Teaches Typing as fondly as I do, right? ;)
@gabeglick that's what Japanese companies need to understand. Maybe if (when) Rakuten finally enters the ebook market people will understand
@mehdi_eff For Amazon, yes, but that is not the case for Apple. Apple makes (roughly) 90% of their money from hardware.
@mehdi_eff That's why they encourage low-price content and make sure it works on everything they sell: to make their devices more attractive
@gabeglick oh, I thought revenues from the iTunes store (especially music) were bigger than that
@mehdi_eff That's my hope too. Japanese consumers may be used to it, but things can and should be better. Hopefully Rakuten gets it.
@gabeglick this is really where I don't think I agree with you. ebooks aren't that different from games
@gabeglick you have publishers (books and games) and HW makers, and everyone has a different philosophy.
@mehdi_eff The difference is that game hardware directly affects the types of games that can be made. Just look at Nintendo's history.
@mehdi_eff For books, almost anything with a screen can show a book, so the different philosophies are about which screens to show them on.
@gabeglick e-ink can only display books, LCD can display books and comics, add a touchscreen and you have textbooks, etc...
@mehdi_eff ebooks have existed for years before any kind of tablet. Project Gutenberg has been around since 1971(!). Sony's first ebook
@mehdi_eff reader was made in 1992. People have read books on their computers, dumbphones; maybe even TVs for all we know.
@mehdi_eff Yes, tablets and smartphones make them a lot better and more convenient, but the content itself has never really changed.
@mehdi_eff (also, e-ink can totally display comics and images: remember how @sprsk wished he could have comics on Kindle just today?)
@mehdi_eff As I said, almost anything with a screen can show a book. The internal hardware simply doesn't matter as much as it does in games
@gabeglick yeah you have a point. ebooks shouldn't be dependent on the hardware (as games are), but they are unfortunately.
@mehdi_eff Now, yes. I'm saying they shouldn't be :)
@gabeglick as you said before, it should be like the music market now, where every store sells you drm-free mp3s
@mehdi_eff Exactly. One file, preferably infinitely re-downloadable, available on everything with a reader app.