QUOTE(ShadowElitePro @ Dec 4 2005, 03:09 AM)
Ya thats pretty cool. But why would M$ or the game companys do that?
A better question might be, "Why are games regionally coded in the first place." Region free games increase product availability, potential audience size and deter piracy. (As an English speaker living in Japan, and I can tell you right now that a lot of non-Japanese here in Japan have modded their US/Japanese systems only for the purpose of being able to play games from outside their region. Once they find out they can now play copies, they buy significantly less games, as they can get free games.)
The worst part is that the language difficulties localizing English to/from Japanese games means that many games are never released due to the potential market not outweighing the cost of changing the language. Best example: Not many Xboxes sold in Japan, so not many non-blockbuster US titles were sold in Japan because the user base wasn't there. Catch 22, no games, no customers, no customers, no games.
At the same time, region coding can be useful. One major reason for region coding is that it allows companies more control over their investments and geographic.
Say a company knows it's worth the time, money and effort to develop, market and sell a game in the US, but doesn't know how it will be received in the EU or Japan. Because of the costs of localization and marketing, they'd rather not take that risk. They can sell the rights to publish the game to another company to increase their revenues, and the other company can try to make a profit by publishing the game in their region.
This is quite possibly the case with Konami publishing Activision's Xbox 360 shooter Call of Duty 2 in Japan on February 16, 2006. Clearly Konami has more reach and knowledge of the Japanese market than Activision.
It is probably more attractive to a foreign publisher if the original game is region locked, as they are assured noone in their region can play the game without buying the game made specifically for their region. (excluding imported systems, mod-chips, etc.)
[Ironically, it seems Activision has traditionlly published region free Xbox games, and rumor has it that their Xbox 360 games are also region free, so maybe that's not the best example...]
One other reason for region coding is pricing. Without regional locks, as currencies fluctuate, astute gamers could import or buy locally to spend as little as possible. Game companies, which are in business to make a profit, would like to have as much control over their margins (read: the amount you pay for each game) as possible, and segmenting markets through regional locks is one way to acheive this.
Regardless, importing will always be a niche activity, but I believe the move away from region coding will only be good for the industry as a whole. (The GBA, DS and PSP have always done fine) Then again, this is the opinion of a guy who lives in Japan and wants to own an Xbox 360 hockey game. (The odds of a hockey game EVER being released in Japan...
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QUOTE(Sheytan @ Dec 4 2005, 03:08 AM)
It's the publisher that can decide if they want their game to be region free not MS.
Is like DVD's like region 0 works on all DVD players is the same thing for the games
As one final note, there has been no confirmation from any gaming company whether or not the Xbox 360 plays region free games. I have busted my ass trying to get an answer: MS says their game systems are regionally encoded, that's their official answer. Sega says, "Please check with MS to see if their North American consoles work with Japanese games." (I asked if the US game [Condemned] was region free, allowing it to run on a Japanese console.) Activision says their technical support is only limited to answering problems with US games on US systems, and none of the other publishers or developers would get back to me.
The EU launch hasn't given any clear answers, and even YK doesn't have any official answers yet. The truth is it while it probably is the same as the original Xbox, there is no confirmation yet...so buyer beware.
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Topic: CVG Confirms most Xbox 360 games are Region Free (Read 307 times)