racketboy.com

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

I think I'm done with this thread.

TheRev wrote:

3DSStrider wrote:

TheRev wrote:-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?

Where do you get your information?

I seriously hope TheRev is joking around with the Gunpei Yokoi conspiracy shit.

AppleQueso wrote:I seriously hope TheRev is joking around with the Gunpei Yokoi conspiracy shit.

I hope he's not.

Nobody talks about the Nintendo Gai

The most powerful Yakuza Clan in all Japan.

Valkyrie-Favor wrote:

mjmjr25 wrote:

Valkyrie-Favor wrote: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.

I'd disagree, in fact i'd argue it already started to happen. For awhile I think RPG's would continue to have multiple releases, but eventually there would probably just be an option in the menu to select the language you want.

There have been quite a few releases that were JP only this last gen, that likely would have sold well enough to warrant a release in the US, but because the system is region free, it wasn't deemed needed: Vampire Resurrection, JoJo's All Star Battle, Jump Super Stars, Mamoru Kun, Initial D, all the Naruto games on NDS, most shmups on psp.

There are dozens more, like the Bleach or Pro Yakyuu series, etc, that I wouldn't mention as i think those would likely be JP only, regardless of region locking, but the ones above typically had installments in the past were released in the US as well, but as they are low on text and they system is region free, only had one release. I think this may become the norm.

As for Wal-Mart selling imports, if they are the only release being made available by Sony or Microsoft, they're no longer imports, they are the only games being made.

Another sell for region locking and my personal enjoyment, I wouldn't have discovered tons of games for SAT mostly, but other systems as well, if they hadn't been found while importing or researching other certain JP games. If the SAT had been region free, most of those titles would have been more commonly found in the US, but the cost of importing a system or buying a mod-chip kept those numbers suppressed, and i've personally enjoyed the hunt of finding an obscure (and enjoyable) JP only game.

mjmjr25 wrote:As for Wal-Mart selling imports, if they are the only release being made available by Sony or Microsoft, they're no longer imports, they are the only games being made.

It's not quite as simple as that though. As you probably know, the price of new games and all media in Japan in general is far more expensive than it is here due to the difference in average income/living costs and other things. New PS3 games are often $20-30 more than a new release in the US, and that's locally if you're in Japan. Pile on the markup that Japan would put on exporting their games to the US, plus the markup retailers would need to charge to turn a profit, and you'd be looking at new releases twice the cost of a "normal" new game here. There would be a very clear distinction between what games have been imported and what ones haven't.

The localization process is more than just translating, it's also a process to adjust the price to a different market. This really goes back to why region locking exists in the first place.

What is with the useless animated pics on this page? Not really funny and does not contribute to the discussion. Seriously, they slow down the page load when the server is slow.

brunoafh wrote:The localization process is more than just translating, it's also a process to adjust the price to a different market. This really goes back to why region locking exists in the first place.

THIS. I hate region locking, but from a business standpoint it makes sense. The same reason why DVD movies are locked; price difference or the contract with the owners is limited to certain parts of the world.

mjmjr25 wrote:Another sell for region locking and my personal enjoyment, I wouldn't have discovered tons of games for SAT mostly, but other systems as well, if they hadn't been found while importing or researching other certain JP games. If the SAT had been region free, most of those titles would have been more commonly found in the US, but the cost of importing a system or buying a mod-chip kept those numbers suppressed, and i've personally enjoyed the hunt of finding an obscure (and enjoyable) JP only game.

A great point! Part of the fun of finding an elusive import, discovering a different game. I think this is where I even have a one up on the Japanese only games at a local import store, since most customers do not have that import modded option on their consoles. You are right, I think the hunt is almost as much fun as actually buying the game. The grass is always greener for the next search.