Things aren't as equal as the were a year or two ago. Back then, the PSN Store satisfied every country, and the content distributed was always on the fair side. However, it seems that recently the minor differences have become more apparent, but before I tell you about that, I have to tell you about myself. You see, as a kid, games were the newest and coolest way to play. I got my PS1 only days after release, soon after, it became my family's way of passing the time. I remember the days, when I used to play Wipeout with my dad on the worst split-screen ever, sort out puzzles in Tomb Raider, collecting gems in Spyro the Dragon, and being scarred for life in Silent Hill. So as you can imagine, those were great times. There was nothing like the "cutting edge" graphics, or the "wide library" of the Playstation One, from then on, I knew I was hooked on games. ;)
However, after years, time took its toll, and many of these games were lost. I recovered a few of them, including the first game I've ever owned. Then I realised that they won't last forever, so you can imagine my joy when I found out about the Playstation Store - think about owning my favourite childhood memories digitally, so they would never become damaged or lost! Another thing I should mention is that I'm from the UK, and it didn't take me long to figure out that it differed from other PSN Stores around the world. Perhaps the main comparison people make is between the US and UK Stores, as unfortunately, the US store has way more content than the UK one, but seems so similar. I thought to myself: "Why?? Surely if someone like me in the UK wants to buy a product, that is only available on the US store and not the UK one, will be unable to make a transfer, and Sony will lose money!" That's when I noticed that the PS1 Classics for the US store featured almost all of my favourite games that I wanted for my digital collection. I am a retro gamer: I play PS1 games quite a lot on my PS3, almost as frequently as I play my PS3 games. Spyro, Silent Hill, Tomb Raider, they were there, including others I wouldn't have thought twice about buying. Sony are losing a lot of money this way, and I know I'm not the only one who wants content from other PSN Stores, even if it is the Japanese Store, or the American Store!!
I have looked into solutions for this predicament, and there is one way to fix it: I gotta make an account for the specific country I want to gain store access from. A bit of a hassle, but I'd do anything to get my treasured childhood memories back! I guess my main beef for this is that many people would not know to do that, and therefore are unable to spend LOTS of money on the PSN Store. If I hadn't found out about this method, the PSN Store would've lost probably £100+!!! Many of the European PSN games that are also available in the US have been withdrawn from the store recently, for reasons unknown. Sony have NO motive whatsoever in seperating the content available between stores, we've all established that it can do nothing but put them at a loss, and us at a loss: no one wins. PSN games don't even have regional locking either, so that isn't an issue. I see two outcomes: either Sony can announce the "new account trick", and recommend it to people like me, or they can pull their act together and make it NORMAL. I'm not dissing them, it's just that this was a touchy subject for me, as no one loves their good ol' PS1 like I do :D
When Sony leave out consumers like me, god knows how much they are losing! So, to show you my concern, here are the releases between the PSN stores, so you can see the grave differences between stores. Think of each game that is available in one store, but not the other as 10 to 15 bucks (doesn't matter what currency you use lol). Then THAT is how much money Sony is losing every DAY. Wow.
Downloadable PS3 Games - http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
Not too much difference...
Downloadable PSP games - http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
USA and Japan definately have the upper hand there...
PS1 Classics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
Japan > USA > UK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
Japan gets EVERYTHING, USA and UK get nothing.
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It's not their fault, they have to go through Laws before they can sell...Gosh idiots these days.
1. the Japanese and US stores are one Language and one set of laws thus making content arrive faster in all cases.
2. In the EU sony has to deal with 20+ languages and every country in the EU (as well as the Aussies, New Zealanders and UAE)single countries individual laws.
3. For a old titles to be re-released in a digital form the license has re-done and sometimes publishers don't want to thus no title ever coming to the store.
4 As for new titles refer in the most part to point 2 for your answer.
access to stores that by licensing you shouldn't (they could IP block like they do for video) this is a problem for you?
I'd say its pretty damn good that SONY leaves this loophole in.
PBR
I understand there are different laws in different countries, but, why dont SONY makes just one big store and end the multiples? i mean, if i can access every store out there...
UAE HAVE THE LEAST GAMES AND THE LEAST CONTENT
SO WE ARE BEING FUCKED HERE