Giordano Contestabile

Thanks to Facebook games such as Farmville and Bejeweled Blitz, the concept of paying for virtual items is now widespread and familiar to most people. What was once a niche activity, limited to a few Second Life enthusiasts has become big business and one of the fastest growing segments of the games industry. In fact, some analysts predict that in a few years more revenue will be generated by buying in-game virtual goods that by buying the games themselves.

As part of my job with PopCap Games in Asia I spend a significant amount of time in Japan, and even after a few years of regular visits to the Land of the Rising Sun, I'm still regularly surprised by this most fascinating country. As everyone knows Japan has long been considered the Mecca of gaming and technology, but at the same time it can be an insular space, dominated by local (and often, for an outsider, weird) gaming genres, and resistant to outside trends.