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View Full Version : Why Not Make All Games Consoles Region Free



wraggster
August 3rd, 2006, 23:04
Cast your minds back to the days of the Super Nintendo and Megadrive and those days only the very hardcore imported games, but nowadays the world is much smaller thanks to the Internet and because of stores like LIK Sang (http://www.lik-sang.com/default.php?lsaid=219793)and SuccessHK (http://www.superufo.com/?aff_id=24).

For people like me in the UK its great to be able to go out and buy the latest USA and Japanese games and at half the price they would cost me in my home country.

Sony and Nintendo have already made their PSP and Nintendo DS/ GBA/GB Micro handhelds region free but on the console front we have never had a region free console.

The Xbox 360 has several games that are region free but the majority of the games are not and there really is no reason for it.

Lets Explore reasons why they may not want Region Free

Incompatible TV Display

Years ago when everyone had crappy TVs this would have been a real sticking point, i even remember buying an American Snes and having to use a Commodore 64 Monitor to display the games.

But nowadays with nearly everyone having TVs that can display both PAL and NTSC images and some lucky buggers having state of the art HD TV theres really no point in the Display issue, so thats one of the list.

Sales In Each Territory

The 3 main areas for game sales are Japan, USA and Europe and even though the heads of each area want to keep the sales for themselves in that area they must understand that only the hardcore and eager ever really import anyway so the majority of game sales will occur in the area its meant to be, one other beauty for Region Free is that if a game isnt to be released in a certain area but the import markets show that it would be successful then its a win win situation for the Game and console makers.

Different Power Supplys

Another area in which theres really no need not to have region free, the PSP with its power supply showed us we can use it to charge the console anywhere, so if they can do it for Sonys Handheld then why not for the others.

Conclusion

Come on Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, if you want us gamers to really enjoy the consoles your selling to us then let us have the choice, you can do it for the Handhelds, so whats stopping you for the Consoles.

Region free consoles will benefit the whole gaming industry, you know it makes sense.

Do you agree or not agree, if you agree give a reply and lets show the makers of consoles that we want REGION FREE

idontnowhoiam
August 3rd, 2006, 23:25
what reason could you possibly have to support region specific? All systems should definately be region free.

Zion
August 3rd, 2006, 23:48
I couldn't agree more :D

Uruz 6
August 3rd, 2006, 23:48
Region free for me too.

Knuxman
August 3rd, 2006, 23:49
Hear hear!

quzar
August 3rd, 2006, 23:54
There are many more reasons to have games not be reason free:

ratings systems in each territory
import/export problems
restrictions in certain territories on games (in germany games can't show blood)
marketing/boxart/cart-disc art/instruction books

to give an example, if there were no region restrictions, many domestic (US) stores would carry all sorts of japanese games that are not intended for US audiences which may or may not contain dialog or depictions that would be controversial here. By placing restrictions on regions, game companies can make sure that they are not liable for anything like that. IIRC if a game is not rated by the ESRB, there is no obligation for the local seller to check ID regardless of the local laws.

Basically having games specific to regions is done out of necessity.

cdoty
August 3rd, 2006, 23:54
Another thing to consider is licensing issues.

A company may only receive a movie license, for example, for a certain region (Asian, UK, etc.).

Shadowblind
August 3rd, 2006, 23:58
Er dunno im a muppet

The_Ultimate_Eggman
August 3rd, 2006, 23:59
Why wont they make consoles ect multi region? simple $ony,M$ ect have managed to do what Hitler,Stalin,Ceaser and every other dictator has failed to do they run the world from a central office dictating what goes were and when.

Cooe14
August 4th, 2006, 00:07
Er dunno im a muppet
Agreed :D

StealthCP
August 4th, 2006, 00:17
Well, it is fun lording your NTSC PS2 over all your mates...

But in the long run, yeah: Region-free is definitely the way to go. :D

SSaxdude
August 4th, 2006, 00:18
The game companies would probably make more money if their games could be used anywhere.

Shadowblind
August 4th, 2006, 00:21
But what about Wolfenstein in Germany? Or Black in Africa? We all have to use discretion, so I went with Er I duno im a muppet

muffinman
August 4th, 2006, 01:12
Isn't the ps3 going to be region free?
Anyways yeah id like region free. i had to buy a convertor for my snes to play chrono trigger as it was never released in the uk.

10shu
August 4th, 2006, 01:31
Game develloper need time to do the translation job... Europe for exemple is quite a job with at least 4 languages.

also the parental coding thingy is different from one country to another...Blood as to be green in some country.

However I beleave they should give the choice to people...so i m for region free console.

quzar
August 4th, 2006, 02:35
The game companies would probably make more money if their games could be used anywhere.

Explain how.

dtothabreezy
August 4th, 2006, 03:49
they wont have to make seperate disks^^

gamesquest1
August 4th, 2006, 03:58
Its all about control an games companies love to have it, and in the case of xbox 360 letting some games be region free is just to torment us.

SILen(e
August 4th, 2006, 04:21
Sure, Microsoft would make more money in the US if all people from the UK would import their games from the USA, but the european department of Microsoft would lose money.
The european branches of Microsoft, Sony und Nintendo are much smaller than their american or japanese counterparts, so they would get hurt by this loss of money.

Oh, and it is allowed to show blood in games in Germany, but those games can't be bought by minors.
Additionally, imported games can only be bought by adults because they haven't been rated by the german USK (yes, even if it's The New Adventures of Mickey Mouse).

MaxSMoke
August 4th, 2006, 04:44
Um... I've bought Japanese games for the PSP and PS2, both of which work prefectly fine on my US consoles. What exactly is the game you've had problems with? As far as I know, I haven't heard of a single game that won't play anywhere. There is the NTSC vs PAL issue, but that's about it.

NeoXCS
August 4th, 2006, 05:15
Actually I believe Resident Evil 4 was edited specifically for the gore content in the German edition. The Japanese edition didnt even have exploading heads I believe! :eek: But I think region free would be neat and not too much a destroyer of profits because only hardcore fans of something usually import.

satty
August 4th, 2006, 05:26
Im pretty sure wii is supposed to be region free, I'll go search teh interweb to see.
EDIT: n/m, looks like nintendo is thinking about it, but nothing final. I hope the go for it, then the other companies may follow.

drew4237
August 4th, 2006, 05:41
idk what it matters. yeah sure it would becool to buya jap game but would retailers sell them cause if they wouldnt then i wouldnt want to import them. and paya rediculos shipping fee.

slayer2psp
August 4th, 2006, 07:04
ms said they would leave it up to the game companys on the 360. but a lot of them are region codeing there games its not ms doing it. but if they had any balls they would tell the game makers that the games need to be region free on the 360

ACID
August 4th, 2006, 07:07
By making them region free they dont have to worrie about different asemblie lines

SILen(e
August 4th, 2006, 08:02
Actually I believe Resident Evil 4 was edited specifically for the gore content in the German edition. The Japanese edition didnt even have exploading heads I believe! :eek: But I think region free would be neat and not too much a destroyer of profits because only hardcore fans of something usually import.

The gore was untouched in the german version, but they removed the mercenary-style bonus-games.
Gore isn't such a problem in Germany anymore, as long as it's not unnecessary.
The mercenary-bonusgames of some Resident Evil-titles are 'mindless' killing of people, so they have been removed.

There are two types of ratings at the moment, games with violent scenes will get rated 18+ and can be bought anywhere, while games which contain violent scenes only to show violent scenes (Postal 2 would be a good example, it's full of unnecessary violence) will get rated 18+,too, but it's not allowed to avertise them or to show them in the store-shelves.

Oh, and we have no problem with nudity or 'adult language' in Germany, yay :)

bah
August 4th, 2006, 08:15
I seem to recall the main defence of the 'modchip industry' when sony was trying to have them all ruled illegal in australia was their ability to remove region locking.
The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) agreed there was no just reason for the blocking of imported games and ruled modchips to be legal.

So i guess in some stupid way, sony's and the other's money grubbing techniques have backfired and resulted in the ease with which I can have my consoles chipped, enabling the joy that is xbox emulators :)

Video_freak
August 4th, 2006, 08:36
i said region free for imports :D

crackkills
August 4th, 2006, 09:08
If those money-hungry executives really wanted people to buy their games, they would make their games region-free. That is the ultimate marketing tool. Just Imagine a game commercial ending in "all versions now region-free" I mean DUUUUH. Would you buy the game?

crackkills
August 4th, 2006, 09:11
P.S.
don't you think that the company would think that if we thought what they are doing is cool than every one of their games would be cool, until we saw the reviews.

samthegreat68
August 4th, 2006, 12:05
in the Medal of Honor games you play an American in WWII killing either Germans or Japanese soliders.

i dont think that would go well over there. likewise a japanese game where you control a kamakaze pilot bombing pearl harbor in the USA.

i wouldnt mind it, but who knows?

weirdelf
August 4th, 2006, 12:33
isnt ps3 gonna be region free

bah
August 4th, 2006, 14:47
i dont think that would go well over there. likewise a japanese game where you control a kamakaze pilot bombing pearl harbor in the USA.

chinpokomon the game :)
You must bomb the harbour........
Bomb the harbour and you will have a happy feelings....

Pico
August 4th, 2006, 15:27
Different Power Supplys

Another area in which theres really no need not to have region free, the PSP with its power supply showed us we can use it to charge the console anywhere, so if they can do it for Sonys Handheld then why not for the others.

Different Power Supply regulations. The same could havee been said about other handheld's. Also there's a little matter of where companys are based and why there based there.


chinpokomon the game :)
You must bomb the harbour........
Bomb the harbour and you will have a happy feelings....

Thirst for blood was better.

GobboFett
August 4th, 2006, 15:31
I also couldn't agree more, REGION FREE DAMMIT! Just recalling the drudgery of playing my PAL copy of Final Fantasy X ALL THE WAY THROUGH then seeing the NTSC, non-letterboxed 60Hz equivalent...SO MUCH BETTER :mad: Made me want to throw my PAL PS2 out the window and commit ritualistic harikiri.

NeoXCS
August 4th, 2006, 16:13
The gore was untouched in the german version, but they removed the mercenary-style bonus-games.
Gore isn't such a problem in Germany anymore, as long as it's not unnecessary.
The mercenary-bonusgames of some Resident Evil-titles are 'mindless' killing of people, so they have been removed.

I heard about the mercenaries being removed. I swore I read that the thing where Leon's head gets cut off by the chainsaw man (Dr. Salvador) doesnt show the actually removal of the head up close and bloody like it does in the US release. Oh and I just found the Wikipedia that has the info on that.


Via Wikipedia
In terms of violent content, all the PAL versions are identical to the North American version. This is with exception to the German version of the game, which has less graphic animations for various ways that Leon dies (ie. Garrador, Chainsaw), explosions of enemy heads are almost unseen, violent cutscenes have been edited, and Assignment Ada and Mercenaries mini-games are left out. Since all PAL versions include multiple localizations, the game sold in the Netherlands is 100% identical to the UK version. Only the language of the manual is different in each country. The Swiss and Austrian version, however has all the original violence of the normal game and also includes the two mini-games that were removed from the German version while shipping with a German booklet.

Sorry for the huge post but this is a good reason I suppose they wouldnt do region free, but I still think region free is a good idea.

Accordion
August 4th, 2006, 16:18
would be nice...
but then publishers wouldnt get those wonderful european markup profits for selling games at nearly double the price in the uk
GBA games for nearly $60 is great for them.
Some 360 games equal about $100 in the UK, i doubt any company would like to lose that markup...

.:}<3\/!}\{:.
August 4th, 2006, 17:12
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i want Region free !!

quzar
August 4th, 2006, 17:55
they wont have to make seperate disks^^

They already make seperate discs anyways for standard and special editions, aside from the fact that it isn't any more costly to make 40k of one disc and 40k of another. The boxart and instructions need to be seperate anyways, so the disc might as well be. Oh, not to mention the disc's art.


idk what it matters. yeah sure it would becool to buya jap game but would retailers sell them cause if they wouldnt then i wouldnt want to import them. and paya rediculos shipping fee.

This is one of the reasons they don't want to have games region free. If they were people could import and export the games an undermine the company's pricing scheme. In the UK they could take advantage of the huge currency difference and buy games from the US for 25-35% off


By making them region free they dont have to worrie about different asemblie lines

They don't anyways. It is no more different to the giant machine that makes the different part if there are 2 sets of 50000 units or just 1 set of 100000. You feed the machine the different datasets for the discs, the different disc and box arts you want, and it spits out a finished product.

jwilds73
August 4th, 2006, 19:16
Some people here need to realize this isn't about marketing games in other regions simply about making the consoles able to play games from any region without having to resort to a mod chip to accomplish that. So German GTA will still be sold in Germany but atleast if you were a US soldier stationed in Germany you would know you could go to the local game store and purchase any game there and know it would work on your system you brought with you from the states. Sure this wouldn't work for all games unless you read and write the language your purchasing games in. Atleast though many platformer and fighting games could be enjoyed without the need to read or understand what was said.

mib_
August 4th, 2006, 21:19
There are many more reasons to have games not be reason free:

ratings systems in each territory
import/export problems
restrictions in certain territories on games (in germany games can't show blood)
marketing/boxart/cart-disc art/instruction books

to give an example, if there were no region restrictions, many domestic (US) stores would carry all sorts of japanese games that are not intended for US audiences which may or may not contain dialog or depictions that would be controversial here. By placing restrictions on regions, game companies can make sure that they are not liable for anything like that. IIRC if a game is not rated by the ESRB, there is no obligation for the local seller to check ID regardless of the local laws.

Basically having games specific to regions is done out of necessity.


Pretty much spot on... oh and language variations of course.

The code between western, euopean and japanese versions is substantial.. that's why we have different territories. It certainly isn't the game companies or the console manufacturers that are enforcing the region encoding... it's an agreement between the different governments... and it will probably never change either. It nothing to do with money either.

pt9087
August 5th, 2006, 18:47
:) Yer Region Free :)

Voltron
August 5th, 2006, 21:51
Region Free!

That would be cool. What would be even better is if games were released in all regions at the same time. Its agonizing to see Japan get tons of great games first. These games sometimes take more than 6 months to finally get released in the U.S.

Accordion
August 5th, 2006, 23:25
try living in the uk, you think its hard waiting for USA releases... hahahaha