Gamer in Asia: how to buy a console in China

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the first ever Gamer in Asia column. Gamer in Asia is a new column, written by yours truly, written to help gamers in Asia answer some of those trickier questions. If you have questions, or ideas for future columns please feel free to stick them in the comments section and I will answer as quickly as I can.

The China console quandary

It’s tough to be a gamer in China, it’s especially tough if you are not Chinese, or don’t have a decent grasp of the language. China is different from other countries: there’s no Gamestop, and there’s no (enforceable) guarantees on consoles. So picking your console is much more complicated here than it is outside. Fortunately, there is one simple decision Before we even begin to make those decisions, you need to make a simple decision.

To pirate or not to pirate?

If you are buying one of the older generations of consoles, then you have a choice: do you want a modded or an unmodded console?

An Xbox 360 in the middle of being modded

The lure of cheap (or free) games is mighty compelling for some, but is it worth the loss of online features and moral crisis? It all depends on you, your needs and your own moral stance. China’s infrastructure is better served to pirates than it is to non-pirates because $50 for a game is too expensive. However, with the rise of China’s middle-class and the popularity of online games like Call of Duty and Halo 4 it is possible to be legit in China.

Current generation (Xbox One and Playstation 4)

If you feel the need to be on the cutting edge of console technology, then my friends you came to the wrong place. The modding community has not managed to hack either of this generation’s consoles. As a result most Chinese gamers have little interest in acquiring either.

It is possible to pick them up at your local technology market, but be prepared to wait a few days for delivery unless you live in a top tier city such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The fatal flaw with the latest and greatest consoles is their reliance on internet connectivity. Unless you are in one of China’s remarkably few fibre-optic areas, you are going to struggle to get the most out of any of their features. Take this from a guy who has been waiting two days to download a three gigabyte arcade title.

Fortunately, if you live in Shanghai or Beijing, you can head to any technology market and pick up real games. In second, third or fourth tier cities, access to games for the Xbox One and Playstation 4 is going to be limited.