Xbox One to be region-locked
Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox One will be region-locked, due to "country-specific regulatory guidelines."
The Xbox One announcement gave us some technical specs for Microsoft's next console, but it did leave some unanswered questions. They've been dripping in ever since, and today we have another bit of information. The console will be region-locked.
"Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale," a Microsoft representative told Digital Trends. "We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One."
Region locks aren't strictly required. For example, PlayStation 3 was largely region-free, with the notable exception of Persona 4 Arena. Xbox 360 does employ region protection, although many games have been released on that platform with no region coding whatsoever.
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, Xbox One to be region-locked.
Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox One will be region-locked, due to "country-specific regulatory guidelines."-
Ouch... this drops my interest significantly.
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www.ozgameshop.com just shit themselves :/ (they sell UK games to AU and AU / UK region is the same on 360)
Prices are actually sensible there.-
is it generally the case that digital vs physical doesn't matter much as far as whether the AU version is priced way higher than the US version?
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I meant is the price gouging on the imported version usually equally bad for a digital purchase as for a physical purchase? Or have digital services started to improve this state of things?
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Digital purchases (targeted to Australia, in Australia) are, without question the biggest ripoff of them all, because "they can"
PSN store games are often vastly more expensive than the USA PSN store games AND never (or very rarely go on sale)
Steam online games, the ones which actually do have price adjustment for AU enforced by the publishers (see: COD) massive, mammoth ripoffs (like $90 US even for older games,.....)
The cheapest way to purchase games in this country is to buy a foreign key online (PC, digital) buy a foreign boxed copy (PS3, PC) or buy a UK specific foreign boxed copy (x360, UK = same region as AU)
If and when (so when) we can no longer buy games from 3'rd parties and it's direct only sales, we'll be ripped off the likes of which have never been seen before and there will be no alternative to compete with.
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digital is sometimes just as expensive as retail, but it depends on the publisher. For instance COD is still like $90 or some shit on steam.
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Straw that broke the camel's back. Not a chance in hell I'm getting this thing now. This console is clearly geared towards US consumers only.
So it's either PS4 or nothing at this point. Most likely nothing. If GTAV actually ends up getting a timely PC release I have no reason for a console anymore. -
What part of "country-specific regulatory guidelines" do you tards not understand...
Just buy 10 PS4s already and stfu about it, these are government agencies who demand this, usually
because their populace voted them into power and now must deal with the repercussions of their choice. DRM will be dictated by the publishers, since they are the ones who suffer most with used games and piracy. If you think for one moment Sony will not do similar shit you are totally delusional.-
This has nothing to do with regulations and everything to do with Microsoft wanting to stop people importing cheaper games from abroad. This might not bother people in the US much since games are cheap there, but it's a big issue for people who live in countries were games are absurdly expensive.
Besides, the PS3 has no region coding on games and there have been no regulatory issues with that. This is about money, pure and simple-
I find this attitude weird. Obviously it's about money for you, and them. Knowing that, can you really blame them for making a, likely good, business decision?
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Of course he can, he's the (potential) customer, not a share-holder. And it's not just about money, like with movies, it's also quite a bit about availability.
I know the only R1 movies and TV-series friends and I got were because they weren't available in R2 (at least "yet"), and this is also clearly an issue with games (esp. Japanese ones)
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They both allow publishers to region-lock games, so there are a bunch of games on the 360 that aren't locked, and also a lot that are. Weirdly enough, only one PS3 game is locked.
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Aren't all modern consoles region locked? DVDs and Blu-ray players too? How is this 'news'?
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(I actually asking because I don't know)
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PS3 really isn't, at least not the games on it.
The 360 is for the most part, but there are a number of games that don't have region locking. Totally seems random as to which will be locked and which wont.-
Probably supported but it's up to publishers to do it or not.
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this has a pretty good rundown historically for everyone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_lockout
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There is only one locked PS3 game. All others are region-free. PS3 PSN accounts don't care what region the system is actually in, so you can have accounts for North America, Japan, Europe, and Asia with no issues. The PSP, DS, and DS Lite are all region-free. The Vita also, so far.
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from the wiki link I posted:
All PlayStation 3 games except for one are region free.[4][5] Even though publishers could choose to region-lock specific games based on a mechanism that allows for the game to query the model of the PS3, none did so during the first six years after the launch of PS3.[6] The first game to be region-locked on PS3 is Persona 4 Arena;[7] publisher Atlus declined to reverse its decision despite substantial outcry by some of their fanbase. The decision was made to avoid excessive importing, due to all versions of the game sharing the same features and language support, but differing release dates in each region.-
Mainly it was because the Japanese version was scheduled to ship only one week before the North American version, and both had localization for English and Japanese. A Japanese gamer could theoretically import the US version for less than it would cost to buy the Japanese version, and that was Index's justification for the region lock.
Europe got screwed in this, because Zen United delayed the EU release of P4A by months; the game JUST released over in Europe, on May 10. That's a week after both of these arrived: http://chattypics.com/files/figma_aigis_labrys_8ubgn2kdgh.jpg
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Does anyone know why these country specific regulatory guidelines seem to matter sometimes but other times do no apply? People in this thread are saying PS3 is not reguin locked? Why would that not have to follow the same guidelines?
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It's just more bullshit. Publishers and console manufacturers DO NOT have to support region-locking at all.
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so what is the reason for region locking? is it better in some way?
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I'm not 100% sure all the reasons they do it in the game industry but I know in the movie industry they do it so that they can release a movie on DVD in one country when it's only coming to theaters in another country - if they didn't have region locks then the people in the theater country could just import the DVD. Of course this idea was thunk up before DivX and TPB.
I think at least part of the logic is to prove to the governments of restrictive countries that the console manufacturer cares. So, no ninjas or nunchucks in UK games, no swastikas in Germany, etc.
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No, I think he means that his caring is at the bottom level. There is no lower 'care level'.
And yes, with every new piece of information, my level of interest drops. So for me, I could care less. And Microsoft makes it happen every time they open their mouths.-
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I'm pretty sure he means he couldn't care less, this might be a cultural misunderstanding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw
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this might be your best work.
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A++ trolling, would read again.
Just did. Still funny.
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The NDS and DS Lite are not region-locked
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At this point they might as well rename the XBone to FUCK YOU
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Pass.
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Dahahaha *pets PC, slurps mountain dew*
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Meh, I don't give a single shit about Japanese games. So its all good. Sucks for Aussies I guess.
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