Best place for import games?

[madhair60]

There is a PSP game I'm after, but it is Japan only.  It's expensive as fuck on Play-Asia, and I don't know of any other sites that ship to the UK, besides eBay which I'd prefer not to use.

Any other good places for imports?  _{Or any 'Whores in Japan with Paypal?}[nb]Actually, this might be against the old forum rules - delete if so[/nb]

[Consignia]

I use Yesasia. Delivery is a little slow, and they are a tad expensive, but they it through customs[nb] contrary to what they say, PSP and PS3 are done VAT-free[/nb] for you so they end being a bit cheaper overall than many places, and they don't have any of this nonsense were you can't import Sony platform to the EU.

PSP and PS3 games tend to be a real bitch to import because of Sony cracking down on the grey import market. I had to end buying one particularly rare game second hand in Japan because nowhere that had it in stock would ship to the EU.

Anything you are looking for in particular?

[madhair60]

Yeaaah... could have got it in three guesses, I think.

Cheers for the link, I'll check it out.

[Consignia]

I thought it might have been that. It's in my PSP right now.

It's probably no comfort wanting it right now, but I think it's very likely to have budget re-release under the PSP the Best label in the next 6 months which would stick it in the reasonably priced bracket. It sold quite well and has been out for about 6 months.

[madhair60]

Very jealous.

I'm quite pernickety and the Hits line will probably have ugly cover art, won't it?

[Consignia]

Yeah, I guess so, it is a white border with a yellow stripe across the top. It's not too bad, but the yellow stripe kinda clash.

EDIT: For reference


I've been looking around, and Yes-asia's price isn't all that bad for it. It's about 10 quid cheaper at amazon.co.jp, but nowhere else is giving it as good a discount as that, and with shipping most places are more expensive than yes-asia. It's the strong Yen, I'm afraid.

[madhair60]

I'll have to Yes-Asia it soon as I can then.  Thanks again.

Er, what can this thread become, now...?

[madhair60]

Ah, that packaging isn't too bad actually.  Be worth it for the price cut.

How is the game, by the way?  Youtube makes it look excellent.

[Consignia]

I'm probably not the best person to ask, as I'm not a massive K-on fan. I found a bit difficult to get into at first, but actually it is quite good when you get used to all the nuances of the characters. Each character has a different play style, e.g. Mio's Bass is focused a lot on the directional pad for long notes, whilst Ritsu's drums are more of a rhythmic affair. The graphics are pretty impressive.

The thing I find most difficult to get it with it is I don't really care for many of the songs, most of them are pulled from the B-sides of their image CDs, but there is some the more famous ones there; "Don't say 'Lazy'" and "Cagayake!Girls" ring any bells? I think if you like soundtrack you'll enjoy it a lot, as there are about 19 tracks and 5 ways of playing each song, in addition to 2 difficulties.

That said, there is a single song in it which I love, "Fuwa Fuwa Time", which I've aced with every character on hard, and has pretty much justified the purchase for me. Overall, I think it's a pretty good game but, as I said, you really have to like the soundtrack.

[madhair60]

K-On Houkago Live arrived today.  Yes-Asia ftw.  Cheers Consignia.

Can't play it yet, as a) I'm at "work" and b) battery needs a full charge in order to accept the firmware update.  Damn damn damn