The Rev Hates Nintendo Thread or is it the other way around?

[mjmjr25]

Am I the only one who likes region locking? It has certainly made my time in the hobby considerably more enjoyable.

[TheRev]

Am I the only one who likes region locking? It has certainly made my time in the hobby considerably more enjoyable.

Yes Clearly something is wrong with you.

[3DSStrider]

-had Gunpei Yakoi killed, and paying off who they can to discredit people who are catching on.

So rear ending a truck counts as getting murdered now?

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Bravely Default is getting localized and is due sometime in 2014.

mjmjr...how did region locking improve your experience? I thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything. I understand why region locking is done, but don't understand why a consumer would want it.

[pepharytheworm]

Bravely Default is getting localized and is due sometime in 2014.

mjmjr...how did region locking improve your experience? I thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything. I understand why region locking is done, but don't understand why a consumer would want it.

It makes you have to get other region's version of a console. Having a Famicom is awesome and not as cool if you could play them normally on a NES and looked like normal nes carts. Even with an adapter it looks exotic. Now it doesn't matter so much since consoles and the games look almost the same in every region.

[mjmjr25]

mjmjr...how did region locking improve your experience? I thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything. I understand why region locking is done, but don't understand why a consumer would want it.

Would developers cater to our cultural wants if they only had to produce a game one time? If a game was released, in most cases in Japan first, and we could import it and play it natively - would there be a US release - or would there be only one physical release? I think in time, large retailers (walmart, amazon, etc) would import that first release due to demand and there really wouldn't be a cultural specific (artwork, in game touches, music stylings, etc) game anymore, it would be ---- this game is being released, and it is being released one time.

There are differences, sometimes subtle, in games I own (same game) but across different regions, and I have an appreciation for the subtle differences, whether it be "this version doesn't have blood", "this version starts you out w/2 lives instead of 3", "this version is easier", "this version has this outfit as homage to....?", etc.

The region locking, up to now, has at least ensured we have uniqueness to our games - I think eventually that would change.

This reason doesn't even begin to touch my enjoyment in collecting different region hardware - w/o region locking, it wouldn't really be a thought. There are more reasons for me, but those are two big ones.

[TheRev]

-had Gunpei Yakoi killed, and paying off who they can to discredit people who are catching on.

So rear ending a truck counts as getting murdered now?

Who do you think paid off the driver to do the hit?

[tintinmayo]

-had Gunpei Yakoi killed, and paying off who they can to discredit people who are catching on.

So rear ending a truck counts as getting murdered now?

Who do you think paid off the driver to do the hit?

What's the actual story on Gunpei Yakoi?

From what I remember reading, he rear ended a truck but what actually killed him was two passing cars that hit him while they were checking the damages?

[ZenErik]

mjmjr...how did region locking improve your experience? I thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything. I understand why region locking is done, but don't understand why a consumer would want it.

Would developers cater to our cultural wants if they only had to produce a game one time? If a game was released, in most cases in Japan first, and we could import it and play it natively - would there be a US release - or would there be only one physical release? I think in time, large retailers (walmart, amazon, etc) would import that first release due to demand and there really wouldn't be a cultural specific (artwork, in game touches, music stylings, etc) game anymore, it would be ---- this game is being released, and it is being released one time.

There are differences, sometimes subtle, in games I own (same game) but across different regions, and I have an appreciation for the subtle differences, whether it be "this version doesn't have blood", "this version starts you out w/2 lives instead of 3", "this version is easier", "this version has this outfit as homage to....?", etc.

The region locking, up to now, has at least ensured we have uniqueness to our games - I think eventually that would change.

This reason doesn't even begin to touch my enjoyment in collecting different region hardware - w/o region locking, it wouldn't really be a thought. There are more reasons for me, but those are two big ones.

I see what you mean, but I feel that a lack of region locking would not change this. Or are you saying that original DS, PSP, PS3, Vita, region free 360 games, etc. do not have that certain uniqueness or charm to them? All region free systems. Or in the case of the 360, sometimes region free.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

mjmjr...how did region locking improve your experience? I thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything. I understand why region locking is done, but don't understand why a consumer would want it.

Would developers cater to our cultural wants if they only had to produce a game one time?

Yes. Every seventh-gen system, except the Wii, has been region free and there's no indication that our tradition of localizing games is in danger.

tl;dr - Businesses treat each region differently because they want to make money, not because of region lockout. "Unlocked" systems haven't changed the way games are sold and are unlikely to in the future.

Some games are still touched up, translated, adapted, and rebalanced for every region they come out in. Some games are still the same everywhere. Region coding is a non-issue for most gamers. They buy what's available in their country, regardless of whether importing is a viable option. Publishers will continue to use whatever cover art they want. They'll keep tweaking games in minor ways because they thought it would appeal to the target region's collective mindset. Why wouldn't they? They want to move copies. In this area, region coding is also a non-issue.

Wal-mart selling imports? Never. There won't be demand without awareness, and awareness comes from advertising. If there's no advertising, there's probably not enough demand to justify selling an import on mainstream retail shelves. Word of mouth alone isn't reliable enough for that kind of business.

Collecting hardware - I definitely understand the draw. I once thought about collecting every Game Boy variation (and quickly gave up ). It's great that we got a SNES and SFC and that one is chunky and the other is curvy. That's all in the past, though. Since the fifth gen, consoles have looked the same everywhere. Each region gets its own special editions and colors, regardless of lockout. The pink PS2 is cool because it is pink, and I'm lusting over the Hatsune Miku Vita because of Hatsune Miku. Region free is a big draw in that case

So, import consoles are very cool, but what does lockout have to do with it?