Koei, says that they are going to start a game rental service in Japan. Until right now, the Japanese game industry has successfully blocked efforts to introduce game rental services, stating that such services would hurt game sales and reduce revenue for companies.

Koei believes that just the opposite of that statement is true. According to Koei, rather than destroying game sales, its game rental service will bring in high amounts of additional revenue for publishers, resulting in higher total revenue. Koei also mentioned it’s pricing style which is like the usual way we do it. High prices (way higher then ours) on newer games, and lower prices on slightly newer games. But an odd strategy is added in. New games will not be offered until they’ve been on the Japanese market for at least one month. After one month, and until a game is about three months old, the game will be available to rent at about 2,800 yen ($24.40) for a five-day rental. For older games we would see prices more often like the ones you would see in video stores around the nation: titles that are three months to one year old will rent for 800 ($6.95) or 900 yen ($7.85), and titles more than a year old will rent for just 500 yen ($4.35).

But what method will gain more money? Are the prices for rentals to high for japan? Will gamers wait until it becomes available to rent one month later? The game industry will find out soon which side is right. The new service by Koei, called “RentaNet,” will launch in the second half of May.

Today, the Oklahoma Senate passed the House Bill 3004 today with a vote of 47-0. This bill would make it illegal for stores to sell games with “inappropriate violence” or even allow minors to view games with such content. But the bill has not headed to the governor’s office yet.

The bill is being held for any reconsiderations the votes then after three legislative days, it will be sent back to the House of Representatives so they can vote on any amendments that were made by the Senate.

PSP 2.7 firmware upgrade released today for users to now download and update. The new upgrade is available for download at www.yourpsp.com. And offers features such as Macromedia Flash and the ability to play it, a new podcast player with a RSS reader, and the AAC audio support (normally used by iTunes). The update also includes compatibly with Sony’s new LocationFree TV Service that will launch this May.

The downside? The Flash Player can only play Flash 6.0 which not very many sites support, so that feature isn’t such a great pro.

The LocationFree TV service will act like a portable Tivo that can save recorded TV shows. It will also be able to watch live TV through Wi-Fi. But the downside to that is that you must be in an area with good connection to get a good picture.