The controversy surrounding region-locking video games is a complex one, and one that’s never helped consumer choice. I’m against it. I’d doubt any players are for it, and most tolerate it, and certainly no one saying it’s fair. At the same time, Nintendo’s reasons for locking down their own systems–and for quite a long time, mind you–may be no less valid.
Hanzala from eXputer: "The cruel hammer of Nintendo has fallen. Farewell, 3DS and Wii U, you surely brightened my life and many others; you won't be forgotten."
Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"
Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”
Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever
Nice one ☝️
It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.
Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.
1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.
2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.
I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.
Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.
@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.
What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.
Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.
And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.
Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.
With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.
Zeref
So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.
They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.
Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.
This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.
No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.
Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.
Replies(3)Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?
Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.
Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.
If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.
Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.
But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.
That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.
Anyone remember games for windows live.
I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.
I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.
You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.
"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."
Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.
"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."
Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.
You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.
Yay steam
Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.
How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?
Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.
Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?
Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.
That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.
Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.
Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.
The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point
I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.
Danish from eXputer: "Nintendo has historically gone against player-made content and emulation of its games. This has done much to harm the company's image."
They need to stop announcing these mods and fan remakes until they're finished. Finish it, upload it, and then if Nintendo dmca's it tough shit. Once it's online, people can share it around, even if the original download gets taken down.
True, but most modders need constant admiration during the process to motivate them.
Yup, once it's a torrent nothing can be done Nintendo is helpless at that point. But it would be wise if they just had a site on the dark web, it's also easy to use with Tor and no one will bother you.
This is all coming from the mouth of short-sighted fandom and grifting madness.
No.... it wont. There is a clear defined reason why they don't. This is nothing new. Make your own shi7 from your own original ideas especially if you are trying to capitalize of it it. Duh.
Yeah, hire people that have zero respect or understanding for an established process. Wow. Yep. Totally makes sense.
Those guys that made that sonic game got a gig from sega or something along those lines and that game was dope as hell. One of the best sonics as of late.
Nintendo might have their reasons, but their region-locked hardware certainly kept me from purchasing a WiiU last year when I was in Hong Kong, because I knew it would cause problems once I got back to Holland.
Also, I seriously doubt the 'problem' of people importing from the other side of the world, including all the extra costs and fees (import-tax, handling fees, shipping fees), is big enough to warrant region-locking in the first place.
Just keep it open, and only a select few who are extra motivated to go through all that trouble to import a game, for example because it's censored in 1 region, while uncensored in another, will do so.
Anyway, region-locking should disappear completely, as far as I'm (a potential) customer) concerned...
I'm sorry but have to disagree entirely with this article. Nintendo is merely holding on to their Kyoto traditions. If you don't know what I mean, someone can explain this better than I but, there is a kind of stigma attached to old companies. Most of them are based in Kyoto, and almost all of them are slow to change. Their reluctance is like trying to move a skyscraper with your own strength.
The fact that Microsoft and Sony don't region lock pretty much eliminates the reasons of money and "work" for regional branches that was used in the article. Nintendo has been the only platform holder that has consistently, gen after gen, posted a profit up until now, whereas MS and Sony always initially post losses and eventually hope to post profits. This means Nintendo has always had room to be flexible, they simply never chose to whereas MS and Sony didn't, but have chosen to.
There is no legitimate reason to prevent gamers from being able to play games outside of their own country. It's a greedy move designed to get people to buy multiple copies of games if they are going to travel, and there are cases, such as happens quite frequently with Sega, where fans are punished by not getting a game because the company won't release it outside of Japan (for stupid reasons) and so they'd want to import, but region locking prevents that.
Gamers would have been willing to legitimately pay for the game even via imports in that example, but it's all in vain.
As for local laws and everything, Nintendo can't be held responsible for people who purchase products from outside of their country regardless of local rating laws, but I can definitely see them caring too much about their image.
TL;DR There's no legitimate reason to prevent gamers from being able to legitimately purchase and play games. Region locking is good for no one.
Is this an article about Region-Locking or just someone looking to tell me that my opinion and choices don't matter because they deem them irrelevant?
Anyway, I couldn't disagree more with this article. For one thing, there are plenty of popular (albeit niche) games that never make it to the West, some of which have infinitely stronger following than the crap NISA / IF likes to publish. These are titles like Phantasy Star Nova, Phantasy Star Online 2, previous Miku titles (Sega apparently saw the light and is bringing them over now, but there were still 3 titles that never crossed over), Jump Super Stars, Jump Ultimate Stars (regarded as one of the best DS games, not that it matters), Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Taiko no Tatsujin series (I played this more than anything on my Japanese Wii, PSP and DS), God Eater 2, many Gundam titles (some of which were actually good), Captain Rainbow, several Monster Hunter titles (or at least the PS3 version of 3), various Tales titles, multiple Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku) titles and many more. Admittedly most of these I can play because the DS (and all previous Nintendo portable systems were region free), PS3 / 4 / PSP and Vita are region free, but these are a lot of strong titles I would be completely unable to play if I didn't have a Japanese system. I mean, these might not mean much to you, but there are many people on this site that would kill for a English release of Phantasy Star or Yakuza 5.
With that being said, I also think your two points sort of run against one another. If this stuff is so trivial like you make it out to be, then what difference does it make if someone is well aware they can simply import it? Especially since importing has steep fees, low resale value and a significantly smaller base due to the limitations (such as the ability to read Japanese). Furthermore, many people make this a big issue because it's actually shockingly easy to implement and wouldn't require a lot of effort to do so. If memory serves, all they would need to do is either add the drive codes to the existing set or more likely simply enable them.
The world is a global village now, thanks to the internet. People talk to each other and travel more. So region locking is something that doesn't make sense in today's world.
My main reason of detesting region locking is that I travel around the world a lot. So if I'm in the U.K. when a new game launches I'd rather buy it there. Why am I being restricted to buy from my own country. Plus let's not mention the huge market in third world countries that would afford to buy new games but due to lack of proper distribution and crazy pricing thanks to local government tax policies, few games ever get sold.
I am not against or for it. I just dont care.
But if region free what the point of having international version or firm.