Sony confirms PS3 games will be region-free, import-friendly

ST Dragon · Post by **ST Dragon** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:12 pm

Well a new Macross SDF 3D shooter on the PS-3 would be nice.
Or maybe another Zone of The Enders? Now that would rock.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:45 pm

It's been mentioned on here before that Ketsui might get a PS3 port. But other then that, I just don't think, even in Japan, that there will be that many PS3 shmup ports. I mean, after the huge list of JP region shmups, as well as other types of traditional shooters, I really don't know how much out there that there is even LEFT to port.

Which is why I'd like to know about whether or not the PS3 will be region-free for PS2 and PS1 games. Since it will be backwards compatible with both PS1 and PS2, games, I would assume so, but, then again, PS3 games will all be on Blu-Ray DVD's.

And as far as Sony saying it and not doing it; it's already been stated that the main reason why they've said they're going to do this is because of piracy, which is a major concern for the industry as a whole. Cripes, Nintendo went so far as to make the N64 cartridge-based, because of piracy. And, Howard Lincoln said that, as much disc piracy as there was with the PS1, he didn't regret it.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:31 am

I heard from a good source today that ONLY SONY games will definately be region free.

Sony are finding it hard to convince ALL 3rd parties to go totally region free, therefore just like XB360 it will be the developers choice to region protect the game or not.

It also seems Sony are still fighting to get 3rd parties to go region free, but unless all of them agree (highly unlikely) Sony WILL HAVE TO IMPLEMENT some region coding for the stubborn bastards that voted against it.

Would be nice to have region codes on the cases so at least we know if non-native software will work on your console.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:00 am

I don't think I've ever heard an explanation of the point of region coding, or if I have, I've forgotten it. I assume it has something to do with pirating, but can someone explain.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:39 am

Region protection does a few things.

It allows different regions to price point their software at varying levels, without competition from the other regions. So say Virtua fighter 4 on Japanese release was $60, in the USA it was released as greatest hits release at $20. If they were released at the same time it would stop a Japanese customer buying the $20 US version.

Release dates - Obviously some regions like the USA get English versions of games long before Europe because in Europe most games need to be Euro friendly, with manuals and game text in several languages. British people don't always want to wait 6 months for a Sony release if its released in the USA in English already. Almost all regions have seperate companies running operations, so Sony Europe would lose alot of sales if 25% of the people in Europe purchased the USA version of a game.. Same goes for 3rd parties.

NTSC/PAL - technical differences in games could cause problems. An NTSC product might not work properly on a PAL TV.

Censorship - Different countries have different regulations on censorship. Most world war 2 games don't get released in Germany for example. Region free games would allow Germans to play a game in which Germans are getting shot. Which I guess is not Politcally correct. Biohazard in Japan had scenes cut for the Western release, region coding enforces westerners will not see this cut footage. Even in Dracula X, a crucifix was cut for religious purposes in Catholic regions like the States and Europe.

But mostly, its just so each region can control their own sales, marketting, budgets etc.

Someone like Cave, want to license their software to Western distributors. But at a cost.. Region free would mean more sales for Cave, but if they wanted to sell the license to a Western distributor and the Japanese version was region free, it would compromise the license fee substantially.

The only relevance piracy has with region coding is that the region coding needs to be broken in order for pirate software to work. Even region free software use a code, its just a code that all machines will accept. If there was no code, you could in theory just burn as many copies as you wanted and they would all work without any system modification.

I think that covers most reasons.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:47 am

^^^That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

benj · Post by **benj** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:52 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:
Censorship - Different countries have different regulations on censorship. Most world war 2 games don't get released in Germany for example. Region free games would allow Germans to play a game in which Germans are getting shot. Which I guess is not Politcally correct.

I never heard of a game not being released in germany because it is based on WW2. According to this logic no film based on WW2 would be released here. If a game doesn't see a release here, the reason is usually too much violence rather than the setting.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:55 am

Sony should charge a higher punitive licensing cost (maybe 1.5x to double the normal amount) to developers who absolutely refuse to go region free. Just to hedge all bets, I'll import my PS3 when the time comes.

Worldwide releases would be the best thing. I'd be willing to put up with a rush-job Engrished-to-hell translation to have the US version of a game released simultaneously. Neo-Geo owners have done that for years.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 2:53 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:Censorship - Different countries have different regulations on censorship. Most world war 2 games don't get released in Germany for example. Region free games would allow Germans to play a game in which Germans are getting shot. Which I guess is not Politcally correct.

I thought it was ok for the German government to display Nazis as the enemy in games. At least that's what GamePro said.

Post by **system11** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 2:58 am

neorichieb1971 wrote: NTSC/PAL - technical differences in games could cause problems. An NTSC product might not work properly on a PAL TV.

Of course these days, nobody who has a modern console is running with a TV crap enough that it can't display 60hz. It's been a normal feature for at least the past 6 years at least in the UK.

Thankfully some companies appear to be realising this - Oblivion for example is 60hz only.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 3:17 am

All the above were just examples. Germany comes under the PAL region code anyways, so they could in theory import a UK or French version of the game and play it.

NTSC/PAL - Like it or not, not every PS1/2 and 3 will be plugged into modern TV's. Compatibility with everyone has to be assurred by the manufacturer. Just look at the CD debacle with people unable to play enhanced CD's with many car players because they are MP3 compatible. A standard is a standard and all electronics should work within their territory no matter what its plugged into.

Sega Europe released the Saturn only with a scart lead in the UK in 95 with each store getting about 3 RF leads. It caused confusion for many as they didn't know how to hook up the Saturn to their TV because their TV did not have a scart socket on it. The RF leads sold out pretty much immediately and people had Saturns sitting under the TV doing nothing for days.

In the UK, many people who bought consoles with SCART for the first time were using the TV's auto channel searching facility to tune the console in

. Obviously not very bright people, but they are out there

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:41 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:I heard from a good source today that ONLY SONY games will definately be region free.

Sony are finding it hard to convince ALL 3rd parties to go totally region free, therefore just like XB360 it will be the developers choice to region protect the game or not.

Yeah, that's exactly what I believed, since the developers could just impose their own lockout if Sony wouldn't do it. But I didn't realize that Sony would actually cater to these stuck-up companies if they disapproved. And somehow, my earlier post seems to have mysteriously disappeared from this topic (or maybe I just forgot to submit it)...

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 7:27 pm

I suspect that what will happen is that jp developers just won't put the english version on the disc, and when you start it you will be greeted by jp text and voiceovers, but the console will not actually prevent you from running it.

When no us version is planned, in fact that is the likely result. European gamers will get the shaft in that case, though.