The Japanese sure love Shmups on the PSN Store PSP / PS3

[the7k]

Sony are sticking with the region-locking of PS1 and PS2 games due to licensing reasons.

It's highly unlikely we'll see them offer Japanese-only titles here. Those that did see western releases are probably not considered worthy by some suit at SCEA/SCEE.

I wish they'd take a leaf out of Nintendo's book, and consider going cross-region with older titles. See the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console "Hanabi" festivals, and the once-obscure Japanese games that get western releases.

Luckily, you can play PS1 games that are downloaded from other regions on the PS3 - just not physical copies.

As for releasing JPN games in the West... It's probably more the publisher's decision than Sony's at this point. I think Sony has come to realize they can't just deny shit like they used to, although I may be wrong. I think the reason Battle Fantasia and Agarest are limited to digital downloads is that SCEA doesn't like seeing retail releases without English dubbing.

[MrPopo]

So is MS buying the rights to all the new SHMUPs in hopes it will win over the Japanese public? Or is Sony blocking 2D style games like they did in the PS1 days?

There's actually a good discussion on the shmups.org board. The general consensus is that the 360 came out first and Microsoft made a point of courting the shmups devs, all of whom are fairly small. At this point a large portion of the shmup fans already have a 360 to fuel their hobby, so ramping up on the PS3 would cost the devs money that they probably wouldn't make back easily. And then there's Milestone, who seem to be sticking with Nintendo.

[wip3outguy7]

Ahhh... I hadn't seen that discussion.

[the7k]

Also, I wonder - could part of the reason for us not seeing JPN PS1 Classics on American stores be due to ESRB ratings?

Getting a game rated by the ESRB isn't free, so I'd think it'd be a lot easier and cheaper to just port games to the PS1 store that have already been rated.

[Breetai]

Just pirate these games. Sony deserves it.

I'm pissed off.

[Hobie-wan]

Just pirate these games. Sony deserves it.

I'm pissed off.

Regardless of one's opinion of Sony, the developers don't deserve it.

[Breetai]

Just pirate these games. Sony deserves it.

I'm pissed off.

Regardless of one's opinion of Sony, the developers don't deserve it.

True. I'm just bitter at the whole recent PS3/PSN fuck-up on Sony's part. Very pissed off. I tried playing Soldier Blade on my PS3 last night (it's a bloody offline game!) only to get an error message.

Ironically, I just went off on some guy yesterday for pirating PS2 games.

[shallowgamer]

Just pirate these games. Sony deserves it.

I'm pissed off.

Regardless of one's opinion of Sony, the developers don't deserve it.

True. I'm just bitter at the whole recent PS3/PSN fuck-up on Sony's part. Very pissed off. I tried playing Soldier Blade on my PS3 last night (it's a bloody offline game!) only to get an error message.

Ironically, I just went off on some guy yesterday for pirating PS2 games.

What's going on with PSN? Other than the usual gripes??

[Hobie-wan]

What's going on with PSN? Other than the usual gripes??

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=19676

[GSZX1337]

Ironically, I just went off on some guy yesterday for pirating PS2 games.

Umm, why? Who the hell cares about the PS2 anymore? The last time I gave a shit about the PS2 was when Thunder Force VI came out. I'm still waiting for it to come to PSN/US PS2 (when it does, my pirated copy of TFVI is going right in garbage).