Why Harry Potter "cannot" be set in 1991-?

[Beth]

No: HPFGUIDX 79494

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Odile Falaise
> <odilefalaise at y...> wrote:
> > 
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita
> > Prince Winston)" <catlady at w...> and others wrote
> > about: 
> > 
> > <previous notes snipped>
> > 
> > <<<Dudley chucked his Playstation out the window, thus was no 
longer
> able to play Mega-Mutilation III, in GOBLET OF FIRE, set in 1994, 
when
> ... Playstations were not yet available in UK or US, but had been
> test-marketted in Japan. ...>>>
> 
> > 
> 
> bboy_mn:
[snip]
> 
> Now we come to the true and only test of effective story writing. I
> doesn't matter if JKR's story stands up to intense timeline 
analysis;
> the only thing that matters is, did you believe it when you read 
it?
> If you were so captivated by the story that the Playstation release
> date was the farthest thing from your mind, and what happens next 
in
> the story was the most important thing on your mind, then JKR
> succeeded totally as a writer. 
> 
> The fact that the timeline doesn't add up is nothing more than a 
bit
> of side trivia of obssessed HP nuts like us.
> 
> Just a thought.
> 
> bboy_mn

Being completely ignorant in a lot of things, including when each 
non-Atari video game player became available, I found the scene 
believable when I read it. However, I've read this argument before, 
and perhaps I've read a similar response here, too: Why couldn't the 
Dursleys, who feel compelled to surpass themselves every year in the 
number of birthday gifts they give their son, possibly obtain a 
state-of-the-art video game player available only in Japan? Or maybe 
Marge decided to try Japanese whelks (I know, I know) and picked up 
a gift for her favorite nephew? 

Beth