PlayStation 3 Gets its First Region-Locked Game

Tanis

The Last Albino
Aug 30, 2010
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Wow...that's pretty shitty Atlus.

I mean, this company is KNOWN for being all levels of COOL with their fan-base, seriously they're kick-ass.

But if they start little crap like THIS they're gonna start alienating us 'hardcore' fans who import 'non-region specific games'.
 

mixadj

New member
Oct 23, 2010
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Am I the only one who didn't realize the PS3 had not used region locking yet? Hmmm... I have never taken advantage of that... Too late now though I guess. I have a feeling that other games will follow suit. Also maybe I should finally look into the persona series. With all the fan rage the game series must be pretty good. This might end up being the next OtherOS fiasco.
 
Mar 20, 2010
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Why in the hell? It scares me the fact that there still is no exact EU release date for it. I had to wait for 6 months for Catherine to come this way.

There is no region-locks on the vita right? Only reason I bought one is for Persona 4 Golden.

mixadj said:
Am I the only one who didn't realize the PS3 had not used region locking yet? Hmmm... I have never taken advantage of that... Too late now though I guess.
Also, this
 

RabbidKuriboh

New member
Sep 19, 2010
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this is complete bullshit! there's almost an entire month between the us release and eu release, and i would have been fine importing but no just another slap in the face from ridiculous east-west transfers from japanese devs

EDIT:also could someone confirm the jp release will be region locked to all other regions, but will the us be locked to eu?
 

neonsword13-ops

~ Struck by a Smooth Criminal ~
Mar 28, 2011
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Obligatory Persona User Group link:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Persona

OT: I honestly don't understand the reasoning behind this decision.

It's going to be region locked but also have world-wide servers? I don't get it...
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
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How peculiar. There has to be a reason for this other than "we just want more money"; I mean, they must realise that the only way their more isolated customers can acquire their games is by importing, and even if that means they have to buy it online, it's still a sale. I'm thinking there has to be some unforeseen legal aspect to all this, but the fact that this is a first for the PS3 makes that reasoning suspect. I look forward to an official announcement, if one is forthcoming in the future.
 

chadachada123

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Jan 17, 2011
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The main reason for region locking is this:

In poor countries, there's no way in hell that a company could charge $60 USD for a game. So they don't. Instead, they charge far less and then region-lock it so that you can't go to Taiwan and buy games for next-to-nothing and then just come back to play it here.

It's horseshit, though, and I am seriously disappointed in Atlas. They used to be so cool and so comparatively nice to their consumer base.

Edit: Let me be clear, though: I have never seen a case of region-locking that came about because of content worries, other than Left 4 Dead and Australia. Though, I'm not even sure that L4D was region-locked, or if Australia just got straight-up different games. Feel free to provide more examples, but the vast vast majority of region-locking is done to increase sales in poor countries while not losing money from richer ones.
 

bullet_sandw1ch

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Jun 3, 2011
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Thrashgrinder said:
Why in the hell? It scares me the fact that there still is no exact EU release date for it. I had to wait for 6 months for Catherine to come this way.

There is no region-locks on the vita right? Only reason I bought one is for Persone 4 the Golden.

mixadj said:
Am I the only one who didn't realize the PS3 had not used region locking yet? Hmmm... I have never taken advantage of that... Too late now though I guess.
Also, this
i felt genuinely sad when i found that certain countries waited for catherine. i LOVE that game. such a breath of fresh air. so refreshing, in fact, it was my game of the year for 2011.
 

CrystalShadow

don't upset the insane catgirl
Apr 11, 2009
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chadachada123 said:
The main reason for region locking is this:

In poor countries, there's no way in hell that a company could charge $60 USD for a game. So they don't. Instead, they charge far less and then region-lock it so that you can't go to Taiwan and buy games for next-to-nothing and then just come back to play it here.

It's horseshit, though, and I am seriously disappointed in Atlas. They used to be so cool and so comparatively nice to their consumer base.

Edit: Let me be clear, though: I have never seen a case of region-locking that came about because of content worries, other than Left 4 Dead and Australia. Though, I'm not even sure that L4D was region-locked, or if Australia just got straight-up different games. Feel free to provide more examples, but the vast vast majority of region-locking is done to increase sales in poor countries while not losing money from richer ones.
That would be kind of ironic to have region-locking just for Australia, because that's one of the few countries that explicitly makes it legal to make whatever modifications you feel like to electronics for the explicit purpose of bypassing region locking.

So... Region lock a game for the one place you know anyone that feels like it is well within their legal rights to hack your region lockout system?
Makes sense. XD
 

ScruffyMcBalls

New member
Apr 16, 2012
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TizzytheTormentor said:
Oh shit, I'm lucky its coming over to Europe then, I sure hope this doesn't happen to Persona 4 the Golden.

Fuck region lock, fuck it and all it's pointlessness.
So it IS getting a European release? Oh thank fuck for that, was getting scared for a second there.
 

Zandarck

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Jul 13, 2011
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Jeez, some people need to calm down... [link]http://www.destructoid.com/persona-4-arena-atlus-statement-clarifies-region-lock-230864.phtml[/link]

It's really not that big of a deal, and if you're an American and complaining about it, thank God you're not an Atlus fan in europe... Now, that is an expensive past time and a need for lack of region locking!
 
Apr 5, 2008
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The only reason for region-locking, and even further, restricting sales to a particular region, is money. It always comes down to money. Fact: different currencies have different values. In China, a player can subscribe to WoW for $1 per month. In the West it's $10 (or thereabouts).

In poor countries where incomes are low, a console game simply will not sell for $60, which could be 20% of someone's monthly income. Hence region protection. By preventing casuals from importing/copying them, they will gain more sales in richer countries. If I could buy all my games at US prices, I'd be laughing, and our Autralian cousins would find themselves paying less than half what they're currently forced to.

In an interesting twist, it's pirates again who have the last laugh. Paying customers have to put up with copy protection, regional restrictions and different worldwide release dates, while the less scrupulous among us will be playing on launch day (or sooner) once any version of the game gets released without region restrictions, Origin requirements, DRM or different international release dates.
 

RedEyesBlackGamer

The Killjoy Detective returns!
Jan 23, 2011
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Irridium said:
Well that's pretty weak. Wonder why they'd do this.
The game has dual audio and the dollar is down and the yen is up. They didn't want Japanese players importing the game in droves. And seeing as how they have confirmed that Persona 4: The Golden isn't going to be region-locked, I believe them when they call this an isolated case.
 

OniSuika

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Jul 11, 2009
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To anyone thinking this has anything to do with Atlus, it doesn't. They've had next to no involvement aside from story and music. The actual development and distribution lies with Arc System Works, And it's pretty shitty Atlus will probably get the blame for it...

Luckily for me, being European and all, I was planning on giving this game a pass anyway. I'm pretty ashamed this is happening as it is, let alone if I planned on importing it before our probable decade-away release.
 

ConanThe3rd

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Jul 3, 2012
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Zandarck said:
Jeez, some people need to calm down... [link]http://www.destructoid.com/persona-4-arena-atlus-statement-clarifies-region-lock-230864.phtml[/link]

It's really not that big of a deal, and if you're an American and complaining about it, thank God you're not an Atlus fan in europe... Now, that is an expensive past time and a need for lack of region locking!
Dood, if there is any time to anger up, this is it.

Like you said, if this becomes a thing, Europe is screwed and I was under the impression (Nintendo's absolutely bat-shit insane policies aside) that we had largely gotten past all this nonsense.
 

Some_weirdGuy

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Nov 25, 2010
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Gearhead mk2 said:
Sorry, did it look like I was defending them? I'm not, it's a stupid practice that means I can't watch Invader Zim because they didn't make europe-compatible copies. I'm just saying it's not a mindless fuck you like what EA does, it's a fuck you meant to enhance profit.

I assume this is on dvd, in which case you should buy yourself a cheap dvd player. the real cheapo dvd players save money by stripping out extras, such as the thing responsible for detecting the region lock XD
(not sure whether it's software or hardware, not that it matters, right? My expensive dvd player wouldn't play them, while the el'cheapo one for the spare room played it fine)