Poll: Region locked Software, why?

[CronosYamato]

This is a simple question, but will probably not have a simple answer.

Why does region locked software exist? What is the point of it? I do not see why if a person is willing to import a game that hasn't been, or more likely never will be, released in their country that they shouldn't be able to play it. I have thought about this issue long and hard, and any type of advantage for the company eludes me. They are losing profits they would otherwise never have because of this. Why stop people from playing a game you made if the game is only in Japan, and they are in the US? Is this some kind of ploy by the Japanese? (that last statement was a joke, in case you couldn't tell.)

Tell me why you think Region locked software is used, or if you prefer, give you argument as to why it shouldn't be used.

 

[thedeathscythe]

Firstly, it is spelt sense, sorry if I seem like a grammar/spelling Nazi by saying that...

Now secondly, it sort of has no reason other than language barrier, and rating systems as far as I know. Different countries rate their games different (think of Australia) so I think that they lock it (or they used it, it's not common anymore but I hear the 3DS will bring it back) so that their rating system isn't messed up. For instance, a game rated M over here is maybe rated something else in a different region, and that rating maybe needs you to be an adult, as opposed to just being 16. But I have no clue, I actually googled it and couldn't find any logical (to me) answers.

 

[Irridium]

I wonder this myself. And I honestly think its because "fuck you is why".

Can't really think of any other good reason. I mean I guess there's the language issue, but thats still not a really good reason to lock it from certain parts of the world.

Youtube region locks also immensely piss me off.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I consider it a restrictive trade law and the most legitimate reason to mod a console. If Catherine doesn't get a US release I should have every right to import it and play it.

 

[bob1052]

There are many reasons relating to gameplay.

L4D2 wasn't region locked. If you bought L4D2 in Australia (from an Australian retailer) you got a different version (no gore) because of different rating systems. When a player from Australia joined a player not from Australia, Australian law dictates that the Australian player cannot see the gore the other players are using, thus lessening the experience for the non-Australian players, which led to Australian players often getting instantly kicked from games.

World of Warcraft is region locked, but the Cataclysm beta wasn't. While on the NA(live) servers, I have gotten two spanish-speaking groups, and one french-speaking group in the past 4 years. During the beta it wasn't uncommon to get people from all over Europe or Asia. That's a pretty hard language barrier to overcome compared to the region locked scenario.

Any versus game. Being further apart creates lag because data does not travel at an infinitely fast speed. Playing with people all over the world means you will be playing in situations with lag.

Then theres the obvious no region lock allows you to play with friends.

Then theres the plethora of economic reasons.

Personally, I prefer playing region locked games, but I wouldn't be upset if a game wasn't.

 

[DustyDrB]

What is region locking?

 

[KeyMaster45]

A quick look at the wiki page [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code] on dvd region codes (which is really about region codes in general) gives multiple reasons as to why we have region codes and most them are pretty much "because fuck you that's why" reasons. It all pretty much boils down to making sure the publisher controls their influx of money from the product and to keep from having to share the profits with other publishers/copyright licensees across the world.

The publisher wants to make sure you're buying from them and only them. Though this is kind of an outdated thinking since people just pay other people for circumvention methods on region codes. So yeah, the reason for it really kinda is, "because fuck you that's why."

 

[Rednog]

Some games are also far, far cheaper in some regions than others. For example I bought Splinter Cell Conviction for about $17-20 in Russia when I was there. And this was the first week of release and I found out later that apparently this happens for a lot of the games, and they end up cheaper because apparently they don't get any patches or online support for some of these games. I'm still kind of baffled because I was able to install it, choose the english option and patch it through the US servers.

Note: It says on the bottom of these boxes, not to be taken outside of the country it is sold in.

 

[SirDoom]

Region locking makes sense from the standpoint of a company, but it is still a manner of screwing over individuals.

Sometimes it's a matter of not wanting people to buy a cheaper version of some software only available internationally and switching the language to English. Sometimes it's because Company A has the right to publish Company B's games/movies in a certain country, and they won't get enough money from the deal, so it ends up never going to that country in the first place. Sometimes it's a matter of censorship.

Never a good thing for the consumer.

 

[Chris646]

I think the region-locked software is there because of the varying tv types. Japan has NTSC-J, Americans have NTSC-U, and I think everything else is PAL.

 

[CronosYamato]

I think the region-locked software is there because of the varying tv types. Japan has NTSC-J, Americans have NTSC-U, and I think everything else is PAL.

Then explain region locked software, or hand held systems like PSP of DS.

What is region locking?

Basically it makes it so games in one country can't be played in another.

 

[thedeathscythe]

Firstly, it is spelt sense, sorry if I seem like a grammar/spelling Nazi by saying that...

Now secondly, it sort of has no reason other than language barrier, and rating systems as far as I know. Different countries rate their games different (think of Australia) so I think that they lock it (or they used it, it's not common anymore but I hear the 3DS will bring it back) so that their rating system isn't messed up. For instance, a game rated M over here is maybe rated something else in a different region, and that rating maybe needs you to be an adult, as opposed to just being 16. But I have no clue, I actually googled it and couldn't find any logical (to me) answers.

Firstly, it's spelled. /trolling
OT: I think it's horrible, it keeps Weaboos whining about the fact that they can't play everthing that is remotely related to Japan, and that isn't just critisizing other people's lives, it's from personal experience.

It's actually spelt, maybe for Americans it's different but I'm pretty sure British spelling (I'm Canadian) has it that way. Just saying.

I couldn't agree more (EDIT: About region locking being horrible. Not sure what a weaboo is...?), I thought we were past region locking but as I said, I found out that the 3DS is actually going to region lock it's games again as I was searching for any logical reason to region locking. Who cares about language barriers? I know they aren't going to program every language into a game, but besides language, there's really no reason.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Region locking makes sense to me. Many games are published by different companies in different regions. Even if Nintendo publishes the game, Nintendo of Japan and Nintendo of America aren't exactly the same. Region locks prevent NoA from losing sales on Pokemon because NoJ gets it six months early.

 

[Merkavar]

region locking doesnt makes sense but isnt alot of it because of different systems. like UK uses PAL and US uses NTSC or what ever. Not sure if this is still an issue with newer consoles and TVs

 

[Romidude]

Firstly, it is spelt sense, sorry if I seem like a grammar/spelling Nazi by saying that...

Now secondly, it sort of has no reason other than language barrier, and rating systems as far as I know. Different countries rate their games different (think of Australia) so I think that they lock it (or they used it, it's not common anymore but I hear the 3DS will bring it back) so that their rating system isn't messed up. For instance, a game rated M over here is maybe rated something else in a different region, and that rating maybe needs you to be an adult, as opposed to just being 16. But I have no clue, I actually googled it and couldn't find any logical (to me) answers.

Firstly, it's spelled. /trolling
OT: I think it's horrible, it keeps Weaboos whining about the fact that they can't play everthing that is remotely related to Japan, and that isn't just critisizing other people's lives, it's from personal experience.

It's actually spelt, maybe for Americans it's different but I'm pretty sure British spelling (I'm Canadian) has it that way. Just saying.

I couldn't agree more (EDIT: About region locking being horrible. Not sure what a weaboo is...?), I thought we were past region locking but as I said, I found out that the 3DS is actually going to region lock it's games again as I was searching for any logical reason to region locking. Who cares about language barriers? I know they aren't going to program every language into a game, but besides language, there's really no reason.

I'm Canadian, too. Spelt is a type of wheat.

 

[Fenring]

Back in the day of analog, it was related to the refresh rate of screen, otherwise stuff would get messed up when the screen tried to project an image. Now it's more of a control thing. You want to know how much something sells in a region, or a government wants to limit what is released in their country. I feel it also is related to piracy in some way, but I can't source it, so dunno.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Rule number 1 of the universe. People are stupid.

 

[Kae]

It freaking annoys me that I cannot play Dungeon Fighter Online, Rumble Fighter, Vindictus, etc. just because I live in Mexico and am about 10Km away from the U.S.A. also it says that I cannot play because it's the North American version and it only works in the U.S.A. and Canada even though North America is composed of 3 counties and one of them is Mexico

 

[JoshGod]

I thought the ps3 was region free, but only with games. So i see no reason it needs to exist at all.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

I'm more annoyed by the fact that MMOs have regional servers. Yes, I know the technical side of it mandates division, but one day I still hope for an MMO with one universal server that everyone plays on.

But yes, the simple reason for region locking is different prices, commensurate with local spending habits and expectations.