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Microsoft answers the question of Xbox One region locks

As the details of the Xbox One continue to trickle out following the May 21, 2013 unveiling and the subsequent deluge of facts (some real, some not),digital trends have one more piece of information to confirm about the console: the Xbox One will still feature regional locks.

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digitaltrends.com
Prcko3985d ago ShowReplies(2)
jay23985d ago

PMSL! we don't need this stuff anymore. Sony got it right.

abzdine3985d ago

it's worse and worse with this VCR! (i cant call it console)

slapedurmomsace3984d ago

@abzdine...lets give it some credit, it looks more like a 2yr old Direct TV HDDVR than a VCR. Acts a whole like one too. Well minus the DVR.

amiga-man3984d ago (Edited 3984d ago )

Did M$ have a competition to see how many anti consumer ideas they could fit into the xbox one?

Jeez if they dig their hole any deeper the only chance they have of making money from this stupid device is if they strike oil.

mushroomwig3985d ago

Hold your horses, we don't know everything about the PS4 yet. For all we know it could also be region locked.

Blastoise3985d ago

Could be, I doubt it though.

The Vita and PS3 were both region free.

Fingers crossed anyway, region free consoles are great

abzdine3985d ago

Vita isn't region locked and Vita PS4 will support remote play. you cannot have region free remote play and locked for normal use.

strigoi8143985d ago (Edited 3985d ago )

It seems like you never owned sony playstation ever since..sony never did region lock the ps3 before so why bother for ps4..

SecondSon3985d ago

Why would they region lock games? This way Japanese exclusives can be imported by fans making them a couple extra bucks.

rainslacker3985d ago (Edited 3985d ago )

So? It'd be a con for the PS4 if it has region locks as well.

Sony will probably like they do for the Vita and PS3, leave it up to the publishers. That to me seems like a good compromise, and not many games bothered to use region locking...only one I know is P4:Arena, and it got some hate over it.

BISHOP-BRASIL3985d ago

I believe PS4 may follow Vita and PS3. No region lock on console or games, but the PSN region have some restrictions (like matching content with Store), no big deal.

Back on topic. Quite frankly, I don't see much of a problem here. 10 years ago we would have to wait A LOT for games cross the ocean, but this is now much rarer. Also you had all those different versions for each region, but no longer happening that often either. Today the only concern is Japan, where some games, mostly exclusive ones, never get released elsewhere, but quite frankly this not XBox territory, there's hardly anything exclusive for MS there.

So sure, better if not region locked, but as the industry is going today, I don't think it's a deal breaker for any console, specially not for Xbox One, just a little nuisance if something appears and you have to wait some six monthes.

GameSpawn3984d ago

The PS3 was never region locked, however it was "display locked".

What is display locked...well there were still two types of PS3's in the world: NTSC & PAL

Of course, this only matters on standard definition TVs (NTSC: 480 line interlaced; PAL: 576 line interlaced) and who the hell doesn't have a TV capable of at least 720P at this point.

So, the PS3 was only limited in what standard definition TVs you could connect it to, meaning if you imported a PAL PS3 into an NTSC region or vice-verse you MUST connect to an HDTV. The PS4 will likely have the same limitation. But since games aren't region locked, why may I ask would you find any reason to import a PS3/PS4 into a country with mismatched SDTV standards?

nix3984d ago

only bluray/dvd movies are region locked that's because it doesn't come under gaming. games are not region locked.

badz1493984d ago

you're trying too hard there, buddy! it's still surprising on why M$ still region locking their games like Nintendo.

the PS4 will be Region free just like the PS3 and just like the Vita. for a multilingual gamer like myself, it's a blessing. I buy imported Japanese games all the time and that's a HUGE advantage because localization always take forever for many games! recent case in example, Ni no Kuni and One Piece Pirate Warrior which took a year!

I bought OP Pirate Warriors at launch with the special Edition PS3 too and just last month bought Pirate Warriors 2 for my Vita! Freaking #2 already when the English version of the 1st on just came out! lucky US over here, local stores almost always get their hands on latest release from around the world be it Japan or US or Europe! don't know how awesome their supply chain is to enable them to achieve such feat but Region free gaming is the reason this is possible in the 1st place!

1Victor3984d ago (Edited 3984d ago )

@ Badz Congratulations That PS3 Look Golden (No Pun Intended) I Hope You Enjoy It And Keep It For Years To Come .It Would Have Been A Surprise If The Xbox One Wasn't Region Locked Since You Have To Use You LOCAL Cable Company For The TV Part

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 3984d ago
Why o why3985d ago

hmmm. This isn't much of a big deal for me personally as I only ever imported 1 title this gen, unreal tournament NA version to Europe. That being said it seems MS really is being a bit draconian with this console. Who is/are making these decisions. MS cant catch a break right about now... smh

theBAWSE3985d ago

a BIT draconian? And award for understatement of year goes to........ Ahem........ Why o whyyyyyyy

Round of applause for that fellow

pompombrum3984d ago

Lol @ the disagrees.. just because your yearly dose of cod isn't effected, there are many passionate gamers who appreciate what many lesser known Japanese games can offer. This is especially the case for Europeans who are generally used to getting the short end of the stick in terms of Japanese game releases. To me region locks are a big deal as they are for many niche gamers but I guess seeing as i'm not a 40 something year old soccer mom with kids, M$ will continue to microshaft me. I just hope Sony allows for region free games again with the ps4.

Zhipp3984d ago

Well, you're not exactly gonna be playing many Japanese games on an Xbox, now, are you? lol

linkenski3984d ago

I agree except my pals bought Mass Effect 3 and hated the ending, but they couldn't install the extended cut because the game was regioncoded for England so they needed to have acces to an english PSN store account to get a working DLC.

batbatz3984d ago

of course its region locked...

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3984d ago
Sharius3985d ago (Edited 3985d ago )

i'm pretty sure the PS4 will be region free since it can cross play with PSV, and FYI, PSV is region free

if this gen sony can make DLC region free then it will be fantatic

Godmars2903985d ago

It may have been region free, but they made it as hard as possible to get PSV games from the various PSNs.

BISHOP-BRASIL3984d ago (Edited 3984d ago )

Not really region locked. You can just back up and format your card to access another region and goes back and forth with data backed up from either region you wanna play from. Or, even easier (but costs more money), have two cards, one synched to each PSN region you want.

I believe (I don't have a Vita yet so I can be completely wrong) it won't back up your games, demos and such (making you have to download again) but game saves are still there.

EDIT: Also, despite they locking your card to a PSN region, you can still just pop in a game from any region you want.

fermcr3985d ago (Edited 3985d ago )

Microsoft, another bad decision.

Each time they speak about the X1 it get's worse.

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Bethesda Needs to Reduce the Gaps Between New Fallout and Elder Scrolls Releases

Waiting a decade for new instalments in franchises as massive as Fallout and Elder Scrolls feels like a waste.

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gamingbolt.com
-Foxtrot11h ago

Microsoft have Obsidian but I feel it's Bethesda who just don't want to play ball as they've always said they want to do it themselves.

Once MS bought Zenimax in 2020 they should have put the Outer Worlds 2 on the back burner, allow Bethesda to finish off its own Space RPG with Starfield (despite totally different tone why have two in your first party portfolio with two developers who's gameplay is a tad similar) and got Obsidian for one of their projects to make a spiritual successor to New Vegas.

When the Elder Scrolls VI is finished Bethesda can then onto the main numbered Fallout 5 themselves.

The Outer Worlds 2 started development in 2019 so putting it on the back burner wouldn't have been the end of the world, they'd have always come back to it once Fallout was done and it would have been nicely spaced out from Starfields release once they had most likely stopped supporting it and all the expansions were released.

If they did this back in 2020 when they bought Zenimax and the game had a good, steady 4 - 5 years development, you might have seen it release in 2025.

We are literally going to be waiting until 2030 at the very earliest for Fallout 5 and all they seem bothered about is pushing Fallout 76.

RaidenBlack9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

Its not just only Todd not playing ball.
Obsidian have made a name for themselves in delivering stellar RPGs, but most famous once have always been sequels/spin-offs to borrowed IPs like KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Stick of Truth etc.
Obsidian wants to invest more in their own original IPs like Outer Worlds or Pillars of Eternity with Avowed.
Similar to what Bluepoint & inXile wants to do or Kojima is doing (i.e not involving anymore in Konami's IPs).
So yea, even if New Vegas has the most votes from 3D Fallout fans, Obsidian just wants to do their own thing, like any aspiring dev studio and MS is likely currently respecting that.
But a future Fallout game from Obsidian will surely happen. Founder Feargus Urquhart has already stated an year ago that they're eager to make a new Fallout game with Bethesda, New Vegas 2 or otherwise. Urquhart was the director of the very first 1995's Fallout game after all.
And don't forget Brian Fargo and his studio inXile, as Brian Fargo was the director of Fallout's 1988 predecessor: Wasteland

KyRo5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Obsidian should take over the FO IP. They're do far better with it than Bethesda who hasn't made a great game for almost 15 years

Duke195h ago(Edited 5h ago)

I disagree. Part of these games is the support for the mod community. If they move to releasing a "next game" every 2 or 3 years, the modding support plummets and the franchises turn into just another run of the mill RPG.

Make the games good enough to withstand the test of time, to keep people coming back to them and expanding on them with mod support.

--Onilink--2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

I dont think anyone is saying they need to come out every 2 years (not to mention almost no game is released that quickly anymore)

By the time Fallout 5 comes out, it will be more than 15 years since Fallout 4 came out (same with ES6 coming out 15 years after Skyrim). Even if you want to use F76 as the metric for the most recent release, that one came out in 2018. It will be a miracle if F5 comes out before 2030

The point is that for a studio that doesnt seem to operate with multiple teams doing several projects at once, that their projects normally take 4-5 years as a minimum, and that now they even added Starfield to the rotation, it becomes a 15+ years waiting period between releases for each series, which doesnt make sense. Imagine that Nintendo only released a mainline Mario or Zelda game every 15 years…

They either need to start developing more than 1 project at a time, let someone else take a crack at one of the IPs or significantly reduce their development times

Duke191h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Why should someone else take a crack at one of the IPs? Look at what happened to Final Fantasy as a recent example - there is pretty clear FF fatigue setting in because they are now pumping out titles in the franchise every few years. Pumping out more games faster doesn't always make a series better.

There are plenty of options to make new games, not just create more titles in the same universe at a faster pace.

mandf2h ago

Yeah I’m going to say it, who cares about the modding community when making a game? Half the time developers only tolerate modders because they fix there game for them.

Skuletor4h ago

Yeah, let's all advocate for smaller gaps between series' releases, then we'll probably get headlines about how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven. Let them cook.

SimpleSlave3h ago

"how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven" So every Bethesda game then? Got it.

Listen, I would agree if this was about From Software or something, but Bethesda?

🤣

C'mon now. What timeline are you from?

Skuletor1h ago

Think about it, they're already bug filled messes on their current schedule, can you imagine how much worse it would be if they rushed things?

Duke191h ago

I mean you aren't wrong. People are going to complain about anything

isarai3h ago

Hows about you focus on quality, just a thought 🤷‍♂️

Sciurus_vulgaris2h ago

Bethesda [or Microsoft] would have to reallocate internal and external studios towards fallout and elder scrolls titles. Bethesda has the issue of developing 2 big IPs that are large RPGs on rotation. If you want more Fallout and Elder Scrolls, development will have to be outsourced.

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