Sushi Suzuki

There are definitely cultural differences in play here. In Japan, celebrities aren't looked down upon or cheapened by appearing in commercials, which is one of the reasons why many well known American actors/actresses do commercials in Japan (but then sue all platforms online that show it to American audiences).

I actually enjoyed this clip, I think its a welcome change from all the subliminal product placements in the world right now.

I agree though, I think selling your soul is waaaaay too strong of a phrase to use.

You know those big red letters on the pictures say, do not post elsewhere?

Funny, I've been playing RL on my SL cellphone for a long time.

Pricing is never directly about how much it costs to manufacture the item (fixed or incremental). It's a common misconception that pricing should be based around how much it takes to manufacture the item, while it's really about maximizing profit.

Profit = Quantities Sold * (Price - Incremental Cost)

Ofcourse in SL, as you mentioned, Incremental Costs do not exist so

Profit = Quantities Sold * Price

Obviously, the more expensive the item, the less you will sell, but chances are, there is that sweet spot where you can be making the most money. Furthermore, you could start expencive, and capture those that are willing to pay alot to be an early adopter, and then slowly decrease the price for those that aren't willing to pay the high price. Of course, you do this too much and people will wait on you.

What the Reuters article says is that currently, people are willing to pay more for clothes, signifying that by increasing the cost, the decrease in demand won't be significant allowing for more profit in the end. Companies do these kinds of research in RL all the time to determine pricing.

Furthermore, there is an interesting way of creative perceived value, which is to make it really really expensive. There are a lot of high priced luxury items out there with ridiculous profit margins that become status symbols for those that can afford it. Of course, to reach this state, you need to have a strong brand presense. One interesting example is Noka: http://www.dallasfood.org/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=78

Wonderful world of no communicable diseases.

Well written. Wow.

What the heck is $25000L?

I don't think there is enough character differentiation between the two to make it as interesting as the American one. The iLife one is a pure port, and probably the least interesting of the three. I like Mac and PC which seems to be a Japan original but I'm not sure what point they were trying to make.

Wilkie: add "anese" to the end of "Jap" and you'll sound a lot less ignorant.

Has there been anything in reverse? Has any SL entity advertised in RL? Anshe maybe? or Electric Sheep Company?

WHO WILL BE THE FIRST!

Is virtual money considered to be actually worth anything according to the US or Aus govt.? Or does the income tax clause kick in once you convert that back to anything worth while, ala US/AUS$?

I think Linden Labs should have a lawyer-ish person dealing with all these governments and working with them to come up with a reasonable plan as this is going be a hot topic in the future. They should also have a lobbyist, but then a one company industry with venture capital funding may not have too much firing power....