Sony Announces Chinese Launch

Sony officials have officially announced that the PlayStation 2 will be launched in China on December 20th, in five major Chinese cities at a price equivalent to $238. Although the announcement did not contain any new information about how the company hopes to avoid the piracy problems that dog the country it was revealed that plans are afoot to offer two to three new Chinese language games each month. Japanese publishers Koei, Bandai, Konami, Namco, Sega, Capcom and Taito have all indicated they are preparing translations of their latest titles for the Chinese market. Officials have also failed to indicate sales target for the console in China, although the five cities comprise about ten million households in total.