Sony decided to screw the UK again over PSP imports.

Post by **system11** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:06 pm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/ ... 91,00.html

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:27 pm

Companies against importing isn't anything new, but to track down and confiscate the systems? That's...wow.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:27 pm

Bullying the companies was bad enough, but tracking down the individuals??? What the hell is wrong with them!?! You'd think they'd be happy about people buying their stuff...

Post by **system11** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:42 pm

It's an unprecedented level of insanity even for Sony, I can't help thinking there MUST be some reason - maybe there's going to be extra/different region locking on the genuine UK/Euro units?

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:00 pm

Update:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0 ... 91,00.html

Thanks to Tychom for discovering this.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:33 pm

I never pirated a Sony product in my life. Suddenly I feel obliged to.

D · Post by D » Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:43 pm

Playing on a imported console that's not made for your region is just as bad as playing illegal copies of games/ downloading them and downloading music. I am against it.

All people who have a PSP in Europe right now should go to prison

Funny story;

My nephue (damn how do you spell that anyway) 'tried' to buy a PSP from someone in the Netherlands for 250 EURO.

Guess what he got? A package with a book in it.
I heard about these kind of practices.
Why just not send anything at all?
Why go to the effort of putting a book into a package and pay money to send it? Isn't that sadistic?

Well anyway, my nephue got what he deserved, because he once put a sticker on my tv and never completely came off.

I guess I should read the topic about removing ugly stickers from game cases.

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:47 pm

D wrote:My nephue (damn how do you spell that anyway)

"nephew".

Also, according to dictionary.com, "nephew" stands for

1. A son of one's brother or sister or of the brother or sister of one's spouse.
2. The illegitimate son of an ecclesiastic who has taken a vow of celibacy.

The latter rather surprised me. Gotta be careful who you go around calling nephews.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 2:02 pm

D wrote:Playing on a imported console that's not made for your region is just as bad as playing illegal copies of games/ downloading them and downloading music. I am against it.

All people who have a PSP in Europe right now should go to prison

Hear hear! They should put a chip in all consoles so if somebody plays them out of region, their heads explode.

Us westerners just flat-out don't deserve Gradius Gaiden and Dai-Ou-Jou.

Post by **Icarus** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:19 pm

Isn't it illegal/bad practice for a company to request private information relating to another business's customers?

D wrote:Playing on a imported console that's not made for your region is just as bad as playing illegal copies of games/ downloading them and downloading music. I am against it.

I don't see how buying an imported console/game is the same as playing pirated games/downloading music you haven't bought. One of those you buy, the other you "steal", so your comment seems a little.. odd.

In any case, I'd like to see how any shmupper/gamesplayer worth their salt survives without the likes of Mushi, Minna Daisuki Katamari Damashii, Xexex and Raiden 3, among others. Or do you actually like playing the crap that floods the local games shops?

TVG · Post by **TVG** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:42 pm

i highly question the validity of this article, but if it's true, someone give me a good solution to download the entire ps2 library via ISOs fast, thanks.

then again, just because you read something on teh intarweb doesnt mean its true.

it kinda seems unreal, i know you anti sony fanboys will jump in joy, it still sounds jerky to me.

AngelFish · Post by **AngelFish** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:43 pm

If we couldnt import Games and consoles we wouldnt experience much gameplay. thats like saying you cant look at that painting because your from another region from what the painting is.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:02 pm

Regions are so pointless. Why even have them? The damn things were made in Japan originally. Besides, isn't the PSP region-free? So why would Sony give a fuck?

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:09 pm

Sly Cherry Chunks wrote:I never pirated a Sony product in my life. Suddenly I feel obliged to.

Well said, suddenly Sony is going all Nazi on us. Too bad too, since any affect on sales must be so small as to not even register in Sony's account department. Just the kind of thing that makes them look like the bad guy.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:14 pm

Weren't Nintendo import Nazis too back in the NES days?

You Europeans always get screwed over on videogames. What did you guys do to the Japanese companies to deserve this?

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:20 pm

D wrote:Playing on a imported console that's not made for your region is just as bad as playing illegal copies of games/ downloading them and downloading music. I am against it.

All people who have a PSP in Europe right now should go to prison

You're joking, right? Please, someone tell me that he's not serious.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:28 pm

FatCobra wrote:Regions are so pointless. Why even have them? The damn things were made in Japan originally. Besides, isn't the PSP region-free? So why would Sony give a fuck?

I agree regions are pointless for consumers...they only fuck us over. They exist so that the companies can make more money licensing titles out to different areas of the world. Lamesauce imo.

the PSP is currently region free for games, but not movies. before the PSP was released, I heard from a VERY credible source that the PSP was going to be region locked....but whether that applies to both movies and games or just movies, I really don't know. Given that the movies are region locked, it's quite plausable that they could easilly region lock games in the future (similar to how they added anti-modchip code to Playstation games).

TVG · Post by **TVG** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:37 pm

after discussing with someone who works in a big videogame store and gets to talk with sony of europe big dudes, i really think this just comes from some sort of mis-reading or shit like that.

where are the fuckin sources?

(then again, if it's true, and depending on what degree, i swear i wont BUY a sony liscensed product, ever)

raiden · Post by **raiden** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:34 pm

I agree regions are pointless for consumers...they only fuck us over. They exist so that the companies can make more money licensing titles out to different areas of the world. Lamesauce imo.

it´s a little more complicated. Those companies are split into branches, and these branches are responsible for translation, distribution, customer service and so on. European branches are in a bad position because they need to produce several translations for all the different languages and make the game compatible to Pal TV sets. The latter part is often done badly, which is one reason (besides release schedules) why many people in Europe like to import stuff. Now, the European branches figure if they can hold people off from importing, they can force them to buy localized versions, improving their profits. But the really bad thing is this actually works to some extent, at least here in Germany almost all import stores that were around 10 years ago have been closed down, and many people who used to import have resigned and started buying Pal consoles and games by now.
Every time you import something, you run the risk of customs keeping it without giving proper reasons, there are even cases where customs state the goods have been destroyed during transport, only to appear on ebay soon afterwards. And if you happen to come across a store still selling imports, you can count they are ridiculously overpriced (recently seen: Killer Instinct Gold on N64: €10 for the Pal version, €70 for the US version, a few more examples like this).
This was actually one of the reasons I got so enthusiastic about shareware after getting my first PC, because this has no problems crossing borders, without any chance of customs or dealers fucking with you.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:20 pm

Sony, what about instead actually caring about those customers and actually delivering the games they have been wanting to play for years, and showing some presence in the Latin American Market as well, so people can buy your original games because you made them available, instead of buying CDRs BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO GET THE GAMES???

Forgive me for saying this, Mods, but I am actually glad that someone actually got to crack the format and people can run emulators and other games (including PSP isos). It's time you learned some humility, Sony.

And I'm glad Minidisc is getting owned by the Ipod. There.

What's next? Sony demanding to see a credit report before you can buy a PSP to make sure people will be able to buy PSP games in the future?

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 9:08 pm

Sony, what about instead actually caring about those customers and actually delivering the games they have been wanting to play for years, and showing some presence in the Latin American Market as well,

It seems like this generation will be really fucked up for us. Here in Brazil we have zero support for either the X-Box or the PS2. Nintendo is represented by Playtronic (Which is actually Gradiente - The guys that in the past, licensed both Atari systems and MSX systems for us), so we got some support for the Gamecube and the GBA.

But AFAIK, the DS has not been released here yet, and there's no talk about the Revolution hitting our stores so far. I begin to worry that in a very near future, all of our gaming will be done by either overpriced importing (Import is always overpriced here... US$ 300 for a PS2, US$ 90 for a PS2 game in average), or by pirating.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 9:13 pm

Man. And I thought we had it bad in Mexico. Gray market imports are usually the most used solution. But then someone found out how to burn flash chips with GBA rom files, and all hell started to break loose. It's hard to find an original GBA game outside of an official overpriced reseller. (60 bucks for Metroid Zero Mission? Yikes.)

Post by **system11** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 11:11 pm

The vagrant wrote:i highly question the validity of this article, but if it's true, someone give me a good solution to download the entire ps2 library via ISOs fast, thanks.

then again, just because you read something on teh intarweb doesnt mean its true.

The Guardian is a 'proper' newspaper, the sort of thing businessmen read on the train to work. This is not the gutter press, and that story and followup will be accurate and true. That website is simply their online version.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 11:22 pm

Sucks to be in the UK. First a band of rebels succeed and form America, then Beckham gets caught fucking around on Posh, and now this!

Tar-Palantir · Post by **Tar-Palantir** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:11 am

D wrote:Playing on a imported console that's not made for your region is just as bad as playing illegal copies of games/ downloading them and downloading music. I am against it.

I suppose you wouldn't if it was TATEable?

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:38 am

Am I being too obvious when I suggest...

DO NOT BUY SONY'S PRODUCTS ?

D · Post by D » Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:18 am

Tar-Palantir wrote:
D wrote:Playing on a imported console that's not made for your region is just as bad as playing illegal copies of games/ downloading them and downloading music. I am against it.
I suppose you wouldn't if it was TATEable?

eh,.......NO.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 7:59 pm

D wrote:Well anyway, my nephue got what he deserved, because he once put a sticker on my tv and never completely came off.

I take it you're a warm person that really loves his family.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:38 am

Stormwatch wrote:Am I being too obvious when I suggest...

DO NOT BUY SONY'S PRODUCTS ?

Yes, considering that the import PSone and PSTwo have some of the best shmups available.

And I'm seriously sorry that this is happening in Europe, but I REALLY doubt SCEA will come to my house and confiscate an import PSTwo and games; should I decide to buy such.

And Raiden, I thought that TVs in Europe that were made in the last several years were supposed to be able to play both PAL and NTSC media?

I wish regions didn't exist either, but someone on this site once told me that the main reason they do is because of piracy.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 3:01 am

Specineff wrote:Man. And I thought we had it bad in Mexico. Gray market imports are usually the most used solution. But then someone found out how to burn flash chips with GBA rom files, and all hell started to break loose. It's hard to find an original GBA game outside of an official overpriced reseller. (60 bucks for Metroid Zero Mission? Yikes.)

That's the same situation here. Everyone pirates. It's like original games never existed, people are selling pirated PS2 games at every corner. The consoles are sold by people who are getting them in illegal ways. THat's the scene of gaming here.