Digital Submission

Not really sure whether this is worth writing about, since my understanding of it is shaky at best, but I am going to have a stab at it regardless.



Isn't region locking a load of contrived horseshit?


My main area of region locking interest is games, I am not hugely into films, and tend to find that even though there is usually an unnecessary gap between releases in different areas, most films tend to be available globally. I don't really know enough about it to have stated that so confidently, but there we go.


My gripe is with games. My first run-in with region-based troubles was with Xenogears. I received a copied Xenogears disc as a young man, which is very naughty, until you consider that it wasn't available in the UK, and hasn't been released here since. Chipping the PS1 was a common occurrence (as I remember, at least), and it seems that as consoles become more complex it has quieted down, although it is sure to be popular amongst certain circles regardless (tech whizzes, criminals etc). Chipping enabled you to play games from other regions, although the main aim was to play cheap, copied games (I imagine).


With the internet now morphed into an all-powerful being, such retro naughtiness as copying discs has quieted down in favour of emulators which can play a huge catalogue of games on a computer, rather than having to muck around with the guts of actual consoles. Official console releases and OS updates are often implementing blocks that are trying to keep pace with hackers/modders/whatever they are called nowadays who are developing these emulations. I discovered this while looking for a port of Xenogears which was playable on the PSP. Playing PS1 games on the PSP has become a very simple thing thanks to the PlayStation Store, which enables customers to buy downloadable versions of the game, fairly cheaply aswell, which can then either be played on the PS3 system or sent to a PSP.


The system is there, officially there, for these ports to be done and for Sony and friends to make money, rightfully so, out of it. I have recently, as I'm sure I've mentioned, purchased Final Fantasies 7 through 9 in this way, and I have enjoyed the experience of playing them through again very much. I was doing some research earlier on, looking into what other RPGs have made their way to the PS store, so that I could enjoy more retro delights on the go. I looked down a frankly gargantuan list of old titles that have been released, which included Wild Arms (1 and 2) and Xenogears. I was delighted. Genuinely fucking delighted. I was excited that I'd get to play these games, and buy them legitimately, since I actually could.


But I can't. Because the duopolising fuckpowers of the trans-Pacific Sony twins (Brett and Shinji) hate anywhere that isn't North America or Japan. The amount of downloadable games released in Japan and the US is so staggeringly skewed compared to the stuff they've put out over here it's actually ridiculacious. There is no issue of physically making and transporting these games, even if a particular game isn't expected to sell particularly well, surely there's benefit of putting it up there? Surely the effort of making a game available in the European store isn't so restrictively high that there's a chance Brett and Shinji will make a loss on it?


I realise there are other issues, such as, in some instances, complicated rights/royalties involved which means that more care is needed with releases in different areas. Also, some areas of the world are slightly more squeamish and so games are modified so that they get, ironically, butchered versions of games with all the scowling digitally modified so that all the characters are smiling a plastic smile. But surely the vast majority of games aren't so steeped in unwieldy small print?


All of which doesn't really explain why there are less games on the European Playstation store. It's likely that the US and Japan are markets which make more money for the bastard twins, but maybe if you put more games on the store you'd make more money.


My argument has collapsed under the weight of its own infantile impotence. I look like a peuce-jowled parody of a South Park internet gamer as I write this. Arse.


Release Xenogears as downloadable content in the UK you bastards. I jest wants to pleh mah geeeem! AH WANTS TO PLEH MAH GEEEEEEEEM!!

XENOSAGA WAS OVERRATED, GIVE ME FEI FONG WONG!

FEI FONG WONG!

FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEI FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG WOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I am old enough to know better.