Sony Kills Lik-Sang

Sony hates its customers.

Jesus… Sony has lost it’s damn mind. It’s like they’re trying to lose money.

There’s only one thing to do, and you know what it is.

Boycott Sony. Forever. Don’t even want their products. Don’t even look at them. Ever.

Of course, with microsoft being just as evil, this only leaves us with one option.

I bet the big retailers were more behind this than dumb sony. I can’t believe it, Sony getting in bed with the idiot retailers that are really bleeding our industry to death. This is blow not only to import retailers but to gamers who can’t stand the fool’s gold crap that’s shoved down our throats by western retailers.

Hopefully Lik-sang will be back in one form or another, and hopefully the other importers will be unscathed (but i doubt it).

Sony is the devil

RAAAAAAAAAAAAGE

If they go after my beloved Play-Asia (where I’ve gotten DS/GBA games and badass DS cases), I will uproot a redwood tree with my bare hands and swing at Sony headquarters with the force of a titan.

I remember when Nintendo was cracking down on importers, all they did was warn the sellers to stop supplying their games or they will take them to court. Obviously most shops stopped selling imports.
But damn, Sony took this too far. A great supplier for Japanese-only games is now out of business… Just another reason to hate Sony.

i hope lik-sang will be back soon…they’ve always been a good import shop, they really don’t deserve this…

those sony bastards!

I have always had second thoughts about investing in a PS3, now it’s official. FUCK Sony with a rusty morningstar.

For real, this makes me sick.

well, if SONY keeps “deciding” this way (like deciding for BluRay instead of HD-DVD, MemoryStick vs. regular USB, ATRAC instead of .mp3, etc.), I doubt they will prevail..
as all of their crap is starting to become incompatible with my “freedom of use”.

-this lines up perfectly with most of their “proprietary bullsh*t”

I agree with amanaplan

Sony Fanboys are getting screwed over so hard, you’d think they were fastening something. Wait, what?

Yeah, this is just sick. Too bad there is nothing we can do (a boycott only works if a majority of consumers are involved).

This is just the latest in a long string of offenses from Sony, Europe PSP’s, Rootkits, DRM CD’s, poor quality “mid-level consumer products, etc, etc, etc.

And yet, because they’re making the PS3, if we want certain games, we don’t have an alternative. They’re behind so many movies and cd’s as well, unless you want to pirate everything.

It’s pathetic, really. Multinationals.

I read somewhere that “fck the consumer over for massive damage” is their new slogan

ARGGHHHH!!! You bastards Sony, I’ve been a loyal Lik-sang importer for stuff, I live in the UK. I got my original DS, a ton of DS games and my DS Lite from them. To see them destroyed by Sony has made me sick, this is hideous. I will go out of my way to tell everybody about this and to boycott Sony products. Exploding laptops, illegal Digital Rights Management spyware and now LikSang closing. I’m really angry! (as you can probably tell)

This disgusts me in so many ways. I’ve ordered from Lik-Sang before (that’s where I got my GBA SP long before they hit US shores). I don’t mind paying a little more to get something early… I think it’s the right of the consumer to decide that. There’s nothing illegal about importing anything. It bothers me that Sony is getting their money either way, yet they completely ruined an entire business just to stop the sales of Asian PSPs to Europe. It’s like they don’t want money or happy customers.

This is bullshit.

I hope every PS3 explodes. Especially Shane Bettenhausen’s.

The worst part is that sites like lik-sang and play-asia worked in favour of sony by relieving demand in markets where supply was not met. That works against you, of course, is you are trying to create a fake shortage. (CLASSIC sony)

I’m mature enough to UNDERSTAND that neither Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony are angels, they are running a business and they will turn to ugly tactics among them to make their product sell. This, however, was way out of line.

My first (and only) import came from lik-sang, 50 dlls for Ouendan. The price was fair and the shipment lightintg fast. Guess I’m forced to turn to play-asia till sony decides to sue that company.

Worst part is, all consumers are getting screwed, not only sony’s. If you are a sony fan you deserve to suffer for being loyal to such imbecile brand; join the rest of us and get the best bang for your buck.

Hey, LIK-SANG, HERES AN IDEA: come back, call yourselves whatever you want and re-open the store, just stop selling SOny products. Screw ‘em, I say.

OMG Sony has hit new low. Wow. Just wow.

Of course, this is sure to outrage the many importers out there. Was it even worth it, Sony? People might just be pissed off enough by this to be put off buying sony products.

And I was planning one getting games from Lik-sang…

On the bright side, this has renewed my continuing hate for Sony. F**k you, Kaz!

Would anyone STILL like to tell me SONY understands and caters to gamers? >_>;

just a reminder : This is 4CR not joystiq or kotaku , please stick with Nintendo & comics , that’s what made 4cr so unique and awesome now it’s becoming more and more a general news blog…comm’on guys .

..And yet they still do nothing to stop the inevitable ebay launch day profiteers.

Fuck Sony. Lik Sang was an awesome site, not just for games and hardware, but for all those little things too, like the capsule toys, or that massive pile of stuff from the 80s they found in some nintendo warehouse somewhere.

Their customer reviews were also really handy =/

This is a sad, sad day.

Well, I think this might seal it for me. I can’t imagine ever getting a PS3 now…I mean, before, it was an option somewhere in the future…But this is just ridiculous. I can’t decide whether I think they took it to this level because of retailers complaining, or because they were mad about their spoiled fake shortage.

Everyone is hating on Sony now, but just wait a couple years. When the MGS4s,FFXIIIs, and GoW3s start showing up, we’ll see how many haters eat their words and give Sony their money! Just remember that you heard it here first!

What’s next? Sony sues eBay for allowing people to sell them from one country to another? Isn’t it the same idea?
Well, screw this. What a disgusting act on Sony’s part. To take away from the gaming community like this is inane, and ridiculous.

Good job, Sony. Those were potential happy customers you just took away from. Nice. /sarcasm

this is why I heart nintendo.

EVIL EMPIRE slayed the noble dragon.

@ 910do:

We reported on this because it affects any gamer who imports games for any system. Most of us are regular importers, so this is bad news for us.

man… what the hell is wrong with sony

fuck sony! even if they had good games i wouldnt buy them! we should protest in front of game stores on the ps3 launch day!

“Nintendo was cracking down on importers, all they did was warn the sellers to stop supplying their games or they will take them to court.”

You guys “heart” Nintendo? Because Nintendo took Lik Sang to court twice trying to shut them down too.

http://www.out-law.com/page-3659

It sucks what Sony did, but Nintendo was trying to do the same thing. I doubt you’d boycott Nintendo for shutting them down…

I wonder how righteous Sony’s case was on the matter, and how much of the court’s decision was determined Sony’s ability to out finance it’s argument. I’d hate to see Sony set a precedent on finance, instead of merit. I suspect the next little guy to get sued by Sony is going to have a much tougher time winning because of this verdict.

fanboys yay!

another reason to hate sony……..

what sucks is now its not just me not liking their product, and preferring nintendo’s… now…
NOW!!

THIS TIME ITS PERSONAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@NoBullet
That case was different; Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all sued Lik Sang over piracy when they where supplying chips for there consoles (And Blank GBA cartridges, which the article says).

Sony sued LS over “copyright infringement”, which is just ridiculous.

@NOBULLET

That was for selling Flash Linkers, which allows playing Back-up + pirated games, not illegally obtained cartridges. Did you read?

**** that ****.

Say goodbye to any of my dollars, Sony. That was my favorite import site.

I can understand if the CONSOLE isn’t region locked, then ban sales of the region free CONSOLE. But it is a great shame that we now cannot buy Japanese software. Damn Sony!! I really dislike them as a company.

“I AM THE DECIDER,” screamed Ken Kutagari as he chopped through Lik-Sang’s offices.

Ex-employees were running everywhere, trying to escape the wrath of the Ken-Axe. “We didn’t do anything wrong!” cried the employees. “Why us? You still got the money!” “I hope you rot in hell!!”

Sony is the axis of evil from now on.

I loved Lik-Sang. Oh well.

I guess all I can do now is hope that the PS3 is a bigger failure than the Dreamcast (a console I loved, just to be clear) and that HD DVD defeats Blu-ray as the next major proprietary format.

Doesnt matter what reason Nintendo sued them for. Nintendo could of taken them out of business just by taking their money, just what sony did now.

Nobullet said: “It sucks what Sony did, but Nintendo was trying to do the same thing. I doubt you’d boycott Nintendo for shutting them down…”

As has been pointed out, Nintendo and Sony joined a suit against Lik-Sang filed initially by Microsoft against them for selling mod-chips and flash-rippers….stuff that Lik-Sang agreed to stop selling, and the matter was settled. There was no need to sue Lik-Sang into submission or to threaten the entire import market. It’s an apples-to-oranges comparison. I mean, ‘Copyright infringement’?

The truly horrible thing is the chilling effect that this will have on importing stuff. I got Bleach for the DS and Gamecube through Lik-Sang, as well as other games and anime paraphenilia. Not anymore, though.

They certainly didn’t file suit in multiple countries simultaneously.

This is bullshit!
Sony has been making ALOT of stupid moves lately.
This is getting rediculous.

[Spiderman 3 font]Fuck Sony[/Spiderman 3 font]

Hey Nobullet:

Look at WHY Nintendo went after them though. Not the same thing, I assure you.

Oh, that’s supposed to be “Spider-man”, ofcourse.

WTF.

…this is a very, very dark day.

I cannot say how much I despise Sony at this current moment.

Rest in peace Liksang; rest in peace.

Naveed,

don’t you mean to say that Sony is the SIXAXIS of evil? Bwahahaha. Bastards.

This is really stupid of Sony… why would they willingly lower their sales numbers?

lik sang was a nice website that gave the people what they wanted… to play your f*cking games sony. you idiots.

Personally I’m a little hesitant to decry Sony over this unless I see more details. We’ve all heard about insane court rulings, but almsot all of these are, just under the surface, fairly reasonable. I don’t know what was really going on in the courtroom so I don’t know what moved the judge’s hand.

That said, I don’t really understand what case sony could possibly have. This looks at first glance to be a case of economic oligarchy vs. free market, with the court favoring oligarchy. If sony is unwilling to sell the game as-is in another market, how does it damage their bottom line if someone else buys their product in another market and imports it? How can they possibly claim monetary damages when the market is spawned of their inability or unwillingness to make those sales themselves?

Again this is only suspicion and I’m not about to boycott a company based on a summary I read one time on some website.

@ Jordan.

A judge didn’t decide anything. Sony simply bombarded Lik-Sang with multiple lawsuits from multiple European countries, and Lik-Sang was unable to pay for all of the legal fees. Basically, Sony destroyed them before they even had a chance to fight back.

Boycotts only work if a large segment of the target demographic participates. If only there was some way to spread the word among gamers and entertainment media consumers. What we need is some sort of global communications network…

Oh wait, right, the internet.

Spread the word, nerds: Say No to Sony. Post it to Slashdot and Fark, post it to Digg and YTMND, post it in movie forums (Sony owns companies that make movies), put it in your blogs and the comments of the blogs you read. Make a banner and share it with friends’ sites. Upload your protest to YouTube — smash Sony products, that’ll get their attention. Start a Boycott Sony information site, with Sony’s Crimes Against Humanity listed plainly and with sources cited for all to see. Email Penny-Arcade letting them know how Sony hurts the things you love.

So frustrating. Sony ftl.

W
T
F
??????

I hope all the PS3’s melt when they turn on. Rot in hell you bunch of greedy b*stards. D:

Well they did sell a bunch of stuff for pirating… Karma baby, karma.

I just wanted to put my two cents in here. *reaches into pockets* OH NOES! My two cents is gone!

DAMN YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOONYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

910do

This does have an impact on Nintendo buyers.
This was a great source for accessories for my Cube (like component cables), the DS and for the Wii (would have been).

They provided great support and they will be missed. Sony has also filed similar suits against other companies as well (all in the name of “protecting” gamers).

For me this was the last straw. I’m done with Sony.
Boycott Sony.

Ugh, some one needs to start a campaign to make light of all the bs Sony has pulled in the last couple of years to the general population. Exactly how long are people going to take getting shat on by Sony before they move on too a company that respects their userbase, I guess my next tv will be a Samsung.

Lets be honest – Nintendo would have liked to do the same thing.

Though to be honest – I have no idea why these multinationals think like this. By buying a DS lite from lik-sang, and then playing it on the daily commute – I was basically a walking advert for Nintendo (as was the PSP importers who did the same thing). People would wonder “what the fuck is that?” – and become interested.

But hopefully Sony will see the sales of it’s niche games fall – and realise that people importing random games your not going to localise – is much better than them just pirating them – which you are forcing them to do.

Look at Animal Crossing – that would never have made it to europe on the gamecube if it wasn’t for the legion of importers singing it’s praises for years! And now it’s a lead European title for the DS.

Sony Europe is INSANE!!!

I bought from LikSang a few times. One of their stickers is on my DS case. I’ve also ordered from Play Asia and found them to be a lot faster.

Still, this sucks. Sony is the king of empirical tactics. I hope Blu-Ray fails just like every other proprietary format Sony has tried to introduce since Beta.

A sale is a sale, regardless of how it messes with their ability to track statistics.

Sony is a huge mess and has divisions that directly compete with one another because they release similar products. They’re a slowly sinking ship.

ok come on. You KNOW that Nintendo woulda done the same for some el moolah. I mean they ARE a game company WHERE else are they going to get money from. If you think Nintendo’s evil company days are over, get a friggin’ brain. now its just Evil company with good, no, great PR. Who cares if they realese the ds lite just 2 years after the original, i mean, so what if they screw over early adopters? hey why not charge 250 for a 200 dollar console? heck, why charge 60 for the controllers?

arrgh! lave you beat me to it!

well crap on sony. I love lik-sang. My pc loves lik-sang(it has it’s lik-sang stickers respectively).
I used to appreciate sony for trying it’s own strategy of video game business, but now it just shows they are at the bottom of a well. Forcing video game retailers out of business and stealing their money? Big no-no.

ALL HAIL SONY!!!! KING OF THE LOSERS!!

@SHIFTUP

You only THINK it’s worth $250 because you THINK it’s only a GameCube with a new controller. It’s all subjective and we really don’t know much about it’s power. Besides, if the games are there, the perceived value of the Wii to a person will grow. That’s why the PS2 did so well and most PS2 owners swear by it regardless of how “weak” it is. Personally though, no additional DVD playing ability made a $300 PS2 worth it, hardware-wise. As they say, one man’s cheap Blu-Ray player is another man’s overly expensive videogame console.

Anyway, on topic, couldn’t Lik-Sang just sell other systems and games that aren’t Sony’s and still continue to operate? Sure I understand that a good sizeable chunk of stuff out there is PS2 related, but what about afterwards. Personally, I don’t think Sony’s going to lead by a landslide this time around, and unless Nintendo or MS do the same thing, couldn’t LS just sell Nintendo and MS stuff (in addition to other things like toys, figurines, etc.)?

They have sold illegal goods (products to pirate games)… Who cares if they went out of business. I say, good riddance to bad rubbish.

Sony had reported that they wont be earning profits in the next financial year due to the batteries recall.

And if PS3 doesnt sell, Sony is heading for serious trouble.

I bet they need as much cash as they can grab – even from small retailer like Lik-Sang.

Next, they will be suing EB for not selling as much PS3 as Wii.

JD how’s that job working out for you at Sony?

Lik-Sang was anything but a pirate outfit. Everyone from myself to the guys at Penny Arcade have used Lik-Sang for non-mod products. One of the last few places to get games that aren’t published here. Sony isn’t done either.

There are websites that only sell mods and they don’t get any flak, but a company that can allow Europeans to import a PS3 at a better price than Sony allows is shutdown?
Yeah Lik-Sang is the bad guy….and Sony cares for you and wants to protect you.

look questworld, it IS a glorified gamecube with a cool controller, and I KNOW the games will be awesome for it, but just because I will be happy with it doesn’t make it right to overcharge for it, but since when has the business world been run by ethics?

and I by no means said that the Wii wont do well( The Nintendo fanboy in me wont let me). it will do good because people want to buy it and Nintendo sees the demand and exploits it.

To all those who don’t like the price of a console “don’t buy it”. Nintendo and Sony is not forcing you but it. There is no reason to hate a console company for the price they sell a product at, I mean after all it is not like you require a console to survive now do you.

But this is another matter, when a manufacturer sues a retailer for providing a customers another service, that is very low. Especially since they are selling authentic and original products. I can understand why Sony Europe want to stop it, since it will cut into a market that Sony Europe believes is exclusively theirs. But they should have left it alone, but it is also troubling to know that there are laws that can disregard consumer rights to this degree.

Personally, I am not going to buy the PS3 for many reasons (price, controller, the wii) but now I can add despicable company to my list.

Lik-sang did sell mod chips and backup devices, years ago. They stopped in like 2002, shut down for a few months, had a turnover in management and came back as a legitimate store for importers. The “develop/backup” stuff they sold up until they closed today was actually legitimate development stuff, as you’d have a tough time playing pirated copies of commercial DS games on a GBA Movie Player, for example. I have had stuff I ordered from Lik-sang ship from Hong-Kong and arrive here in the northeast US faster and cheaper than stuff I ordered from countries in California or Montreal.

I did hate Nintendo for their role in shutting them down back then, but I had fully expected it…. the Gameboy Color flash carts I had bought from them were readily usable for pirating games, and I’m sure most people bought them for that. I have an extended family member who did so, in fact. Now I get my DS development stuff from Canada or ebay. But what I really liked about Lik-sang was the odd unlicensed stuff you could only get from an importer. I’m sure I could go into NYC and find some of it in Chinatown, but I really hate big cities and even if I didn’t, I’d take an online shop with a reputation like Lik-sang’s over some random storefront in a millisecond.

RIP, Lik-sang. No more games for my PS2, no used PSP, no more Sony DVD players or TV’s, no more DVD’s or CD’s released by any of Sony’s studios. When someone I know tells me they can’t wait any longer for a high-def DVD player (because for some reason being a computer nerd makes me know everything about every product with a transistor in it), and asks if they should get Blu-ray, I’ll very quietly shake my head and say, “No, I’d stay away from that.” And if someone asks me next year which console they should get, I’ll lie like a Circuit City employee if that’s what it takes to get them to pick the 360 or Wii.

F*** Sony and their fascist campaign!!

RIP Lik-Sang, RIP US import orders with free worldwide shipping

@ ROBOTRON: Work for Sony? Despite being offered a job there, I’m at that company… I’m somewhere much better I think.

While I said they sold pirating equipment, I never said they exclusively sold that. I really don’t think that if they were truly in business for the good of gaming or gamers, despite being a decent source for imports around the world, they did just as much damage by selling pirate eqt. (and I don’t mean swords and eye patches).

And please, for ever person that legitimately uses “dev kits” for actual development, there are many, many more that know they can download and pirate games in that manner.
And that’s why I don’t care that a company that such sold items went out of business.

As for Sony going to court and blocking grey market sales of the PS3 in Europe; that’s just shady. When I lived in Europe, I imported frequently but none of the companies I used sold mod-chips etc. There are other companies that are selling the PS3 to Europe from the J + US launches but really, I don’t see any game that screams “I’m worth $600+” or the $1000 that it’ll probably cost your average European. When ShirokishiMonogatari comes out, we’ll see…

Damnit, “I’m not at that company”… Lack of editing feature plus quick typing leads to errors…

But SHIFTUP, we don’t know the process and process it took to make such a product. I think the perception is that we think since the 360 core is only $50 bucks more and more powerful (nevermind about the inclusion of a game and internal storage medium in the Wii package), Nintendo must be overcharging us. But are they? How much is MS even losing per system? Do we think they’re undercharging us? No, we don’t care, that just goes by us. Between Nintendo’s profiting and MS’ losses per system, the gap becomes a small difference for the consumer. I’m not saying from a consumer stand point that we should be charged more by MS but I do think it’s unfair to say Nintendo is overcharging us for “old tech” simply because MS took the route to take the loss. At any rate, Nintendo’s Cube is $100, add $60 for controller, $20 for memory card (being generous here), and $30 for Wii Sports and you’ve got $210. Add in wireless online features (don’t remember how much the modem is on the Cube), upgraded specs, and voila, $250. All I’m saying is that I doubt they’re overcharging.

Play-Asia as well are forced not to send PSP soft- and hardware to Europe. Therefore it’s impossible for me to get Lumines 2 next month, and I will NOT buy the european version.

If I can’t import that game from somewhere else, I won’t buy it. I really want Nintendo to win the next race with the Wii AND the DS !!!

well, okay, sony, that’s it.
i bought a lot of your stuff. it was great in the beginning (ps1 + ps2), it was crap in the end (psp) but i won’t buy any more of your stuff. good-bye.

Sony’s done. This gen it will be Nintendo and Microsoft. That’s all I have to say… Oh yeah, and Sony reached a new low… a low so low that it can’t get any lower. Sony, you fools. Burn.

I never purchased from Lik Sang, but I wanted to! Now I can never be a l337 importer! Well, I can, but not from Lik Sang..

Nice image… sad times…

Oh well, I’m not gonna be overflowing with cash anyway, I get a new apartment and a new game console soon!

I hope Sony and Ken Kutaragi all burn in the bloody bowels of HELL! They are just the EPITOME of EVIL. ITS THE ANTICHRIST RUN FOR YOUR LIVES AND BE SAVED BY THE RIGHTOUSNESS OF THE WII! [Not to offend Christians, Im christian myself. WWWD]

Spread the word.

Japan always has the really wacked out games, this really sucks for developers of those games. Lik-Sang was so cool Sony, wtf is your problem?

SONY SuX! Nintendo & Microsoft rules.
Burn in hell SONY!!!

And just when I was about to order Ouendan from Lik-sang… This is just too much.

Lik-sang was not just a “hacker’s haven” as many have put it. Besides, I prefer to think of flash cards as “homebrew devices”. In any case, losing that site means losing one more place to get kewl imports (especially in my country, from where Play-Asia does not accept CC transactions…)

To add to the list, I bought the Sonic Adventure 2 Birthday Pack (DC) from Lik-sang.

It’s good that Gamestop and EB Games are praising the Wii and 360. They are now treating the PS3 as the red headed step child. My local Gamestop and its customers seems to ignore PS3 altogether because of the price. I may not like Gamestop and EB Games for their trading practices, screwy bastards,
but I just hope Sony doesn’t Kill them too.

Sony is doing this just to get attention. You know the child that was once popular, but not anymore. Too bad, SONY! If your reading this, you ain’t popular anymore. It’s the Wii and 360 thats popular. Don’t pick on Lik-Sang. DON’T BUY SONY PRODUCTS!!! SONY you piss me off!!!

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