Sony to offer pre-paid PSN vouchers in Japan
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ May 8th 2007 at 4:55PM }
Those dying to download Marl Oukoku no Ningyou Hime (and who isn't?) from the Japanese PlayStation Network will now find another payment option nestled in the aisles of the nearest convenience store. IGN reports that PlayStation Network Tickets will soon be procurable from convenience stores and post office ATMs across Japan, allowing those without a means of direct electronic payment to enjoy and more importantly, pay for the wares of the PS3's virtual marketplace. The tickets will function in a similar fashion to Nintendo Wii Point cards and Xbox Live MS Point vouchers, with the exception that they'll be grouped in a non-bogus currency. Available in units of ¥1,000, ¥3,000, ¥5,000 and ¥10,000, the cards will contain a 12-digit code recognized by the PSN as a command to fill up your virtual wallet with the corresponding amount.
As for the possibility of PSN Tickets becoming available elsewhere, Sony offers, "We have no announcement regarding any changes to the electronic payment options on the PlayStation Store in North America at this time."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jon @ May 8th 2007 5:16PM
I like it that transactions are shown in real money terms.
Matt Smylie @ May 8th 2007 6:15PM
Works for me. Hope they bring them over here to the US pretty soon.
Marlos Hill @ May 8th 2007 6:11PM
i LOVE the fact that its in real money. ONLY problem i have is WHY do they continue to do things like this: I mean this is a really good thing, yet they don't take the extra step to at least secure it or even "project it" to come to other territories. Sometimes Sony just pisses me off with the bassackwards crap.
Blizz4l9 @ May 8th 2007 6:31PM
its pretty stupid of sony to not of made these available at release in all territories, it shows there lack of respect for there customer.
Hardcore @ May 8th 2007 8:24PM
@Blizz4l9
This is lack of respect for the customer.
http://portable.joystiq.com/2007/05/08/moore-dont-focus-on-xbox-360-failure-focus-on-repair
Blizz4l9 @ May 8th 2007 8:39PM
i agree Hardcore, but at least mechanical failures are not intentional.
Blizz4l9 @ May 8th 2007 8:46PM
also its hard to tell how many PS3's are defective when most of em are still sitting on the shelf, and my 360 has yet to have one problem in the 14 months i've owned it and out of all my friends only one had to replace theres, i remember many friends having ps2's die on them much more than defective 360's i've seen. I'll take what i've seen with my own eyes over what spreads on the internet.
Tim @ May 8th 2007 11:13PM
Despite being a Wii owner, I salute the way you just called Wii Points bogus.
Brian @ May 9th 2007 10:10AM
Sorry Blizz but IF you have ten friends with Xbox 360s and "only" one failed that is a 10% failure rate which is of course a huge number. You can ignore all the many people who have had problems (including a ton of game journalists) but even your own eyes should tell you that the 360 is failing too often.
sheppy @ May 9th 2007 9:34AM
On topic, yeah... the cards need to come out everywhere. Just because I know some people hate using their credit cards online.
"also its hard to tell how many PS3's are defective when most of em are still sitting on the shelf, and my 360 has yet to have one problem in the 14 months i've owned it and out of all my friends only one had to replace theres, i remember many friends having ps2's die on them much more than defective 360's i've seen. I'll take what i've seen with my own eyes over what spreads on the internet."
Stores are still ordering them so obviously stores are still selling them. Most still sitting on shelves? Yes, out of the 3+ million shipped, they sold twelve. Moron.
Incidently, as Tycho puts it, "we've all heard stories and tales spun on the mysterious ring of red but so far, we had been lucky to avoid that issue. But our luck did not hold. And you can say what you want about defect rates but when it happens to you, it might as well be 100%." As someone who is personally on his fifth 360, I can tell you the issue is real. Out of the 13 friends I have with Xbox 360s, only two haven't red ringed. One only bought his console shortly before christmas. The defect rate is high.
And, out of curiosity, how many of those dead PS2s occured within the first 14 months of the product launch? Just wondering because 360 seems much higher and in a much shorter time.
Blizz4l9 @ May 9th 2007 10:31AM
i never claimed there were no problems with the 360,my point is the internet also exaggerates all negative news of any console,and i personally seen a more ps2's with problems than i've seen with 360's.
and sheppy maybe its different were you live but here in the Attleboro MA area the ps3's just sit on the shelf and the display PS3's at the 2 local gamestops and 1 EB there PS3's aren't working 75% of the time i walk in there stores.
and i have my issues with xbox as well just not hardware wise my main gripe with them is there unwillingness to transfer licenses of arcade titles and such to other systems if yours does die or if you want to upgrade to an elite which in my opinion is completely unreasonable.
Jon @ May 9th 2007 10:52AM
I have seen zero PS2 failures among my group of friends. My own personal slim PS2 has been going on without failure whatsoever, and that includes me transporting it in my bag on an almost weekly basis to my girlfriends home 200 miles away.
What is that about internet exaggerations?