In reality I like collecting information more than anything else.  I’d bet that my photo database for Japanese video games is the largest in the world.  What you see on my website now is probably less than half of what I have.  One day my collection will be to have the most comprehensive Japanese video game database on the plant…. if I can ever figure out the right way to do that… ;)

European requirements are more tricky.  You will have to use a step-down transformer because the power is different and that can vary by region.  You also have the PAL/NTSC issues with software.

Japan has natural barriers with language and geography.  They have little to no practice using English beyond school textbooks and doing business over the internet is something they’ll naturally shy away from because they won’t ever fully understand the logistics of everything and their society has enough wealth where they can just sell to a Japanese Buyer and not worry about it.  That’s to say they don’t need international Buyers.  To them, selling to overseas Buyers is confusing, time consuming, risky and of little financial benefit to them overall.  They just don’t see the benefit of opening up that can of worms for what amounts to a few extra dollars when they can just sell it to a Japanese person and not worry about anything.

Proxy bidding services act as the middle man where there is something between the Buyer and Seller to facilitate the transaction for a small fee.  That’s really the only way that someone will be able to bid on Yahoo from overseas and actually have it be worth their time.

There’s always room for niche sites like Game Gavel.  I think they’ll continue to grow.  But in the end no matter how angry people are at eBay, no one can match their exposure.  The other sites might be better, cheaper, more Seller friendly, but in the end it comes down to exposure and if you depend on a steady stream of sales to keep yourself in business it’s hard to break away from eBay.

I don’t know enough about the video game marketplace overall to really comment on the industry as a whole, but one positive thing seems to be the small developers for the newer consoles, games you sometimes see in places like Xbox Live.  The larger software developers have too much overhead that they tend to release the same titles over and over again as a safety net.  The smaller titles with lower overhead can experiment more with being creative.

When I bought my Xbox 360 I never thought I’d spend so much time playing downloaded titles for under $10 that are just fun to play, games like Heavy Weapon, 3D golf, UNO, etc.  I think those games are the heart and soul of gaming and it’s getting a second chance.  When people talk about their favorite games they almost never mention graphics but that’s what the selling point is for newer games.  People don’t play Bomberman 20 years later because of the graphics, they play because it’s entertaining.  There will always be a need for the large companies to make games like GTA IV, but I think it’s equally important to have the smaller shops making more entertaining titles to keep people interested in video games overall.