Region-free PS3 356
An anonymous reader writes "IGN writes that "In a QA session following the platform keynote address at GDC 2006 this morning, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios President Phil Harrison confirmed what was heavily demanded for import gamers all over the world and yet previously thought unthinkable for a major corporation: the PS3 will be region-free for gaming." There's no chance that the MPAA members would allow the same for movies but at least it's a step in the right direction."
Not THAT surprising... (Score:5, Insightful)
About fucking time. (Score:5, Insightful)
No matter why this was done, whether to make sure mod chips don't have any legal functions or to really do something useful, it had to be done. Region locks are attempts to suppress international trade and competition. They have been ruled illegal in some countries and are not protected by any DMCA-like laws. There should have been some fines over region locks but well, knowing the corrupt governments we have it'd end up being 5.95$ total.
A lot less than meets the eye (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:2, Insightful)
A duplicated of the disk with backup written on it, but official.
there's the backup.
Here's hoping (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, but this is a good thing. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:2, Insightful)
Its simple, offer free replacment for scratched disc.
And chipping PS2's is now illegal, or at least selling/buying the mod chip(in most countries), so should be no problem getting it so that chipping the PS3 is also against the law.
Older games? (Score:5, Insightful)
If older games are region-free, the good word of mouth import gamers will be giving Sony will be strong enough to carry over into other markets I think.
I might be very happy.
Re:A lot less than meets the eye (Score:3, Insightful)
PAL/NTSC are bunk terms anyway, with HDTV being a de-facto output on all these next gen consoles, surely 720p is 720p regardless where on the planet you are standing?
Personally I still think there will be PAL PS3s and NTSC PS3s, meaning that us poor sods in Europe get games later than Japan/US, again
-Jar.
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
The day Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Ford and everybody else tells me I just rent the games, software and music, just rent the playsations computers, ipods and cars. Thats the day they can make restrictions.
But as long as they sell me stuff I'm taking for granted it's mine and I will do whatever I please with it (With possibly the exception of spreading copies of copyrighted material). If what I do is not legal they can call me a criminal. I don't care. I don't see myself as a criminal.
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
three words (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wow, has Sony started to LEARN? (Score:2, Insightful)
Believe me, they are still the same old rootkit slinging, DRM-pushing, grandma-jailing, DCMA-humping, RIAA-loving Sony they've always been.
Even this move is probably just a ploy to make mod chips even less legitimate, as the first poster said. Call me cynical but companies don't make moves unless they believe that it will increase their revenue somehow. They are planning to make more money off of you in some way, don't ever doubt that.
Sounds nice... (Score:2, Insightful)
Is Sony being charitable? (Score:3, Insightful)
After all, why worry about the technical hassles of DRM when you can sue the pants off of somebody trying to sell Japanese games in the US, US games in the EU, etc?
BlueRay region shared by USA and Japan (Score:4, Insightful)
Japan and USA to share BlueRay region codes [qj.net].
Import games and movies here I come!
Re:A lot less than meets the eye (Score:3, Insightful)
It's actually the other way around. The US, Canada and Japan are pretty much the only places that use NTSC. Almost everything else (a few exceptions) uses PAL.
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:5, Insightful)
This solution does not account for what happens if $GameProducer:
These are the reasons "Fair Use" allows for us to make our own backups. We as the owner of the product need to be the ones in charge of taking care of our stuff, not some distant third party who sees it as an expense they wish they didn't have.
~Rebecca
Re:three words (Score:5, Insightful)
It's this sort of "forget about it, I don't care" mentality that is allowing corporations to steadily erode our rights. It gives the corporations the artistic license to experiment with new and whacky control schemes and see which ones stick and which ones cause a backlash.
I'm willing to bet that they'll try this exact same stunt again, or at least something similar to it, later on. They'll wait for the political environment to change a little more, maybe do a better job at testing and bug-fixing, and suddenly it'll be on all the disks again and people will think it's "normal". Just as CDs are twice as expensive as audio tapes and people consider that "normal". Or that region restrictions are "normal".
If people were actually paying attention and fighting back as they did with the rootkit debacle, there wouldn't be the problems there are now with things like DMCA, region-coding, etc.
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:2, Insightful)
They should sell games not disks. That way if you bust your copy you could receive a new one thru mail paying as little as manufacture and shiping costs.
Re:Wow, has Sony started to LEARN? (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, but maybe they could think about doing that by pleasing their customers, eh?
While I see your point, I hope you are wrong :-)
Re:three words (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Yeah, but this is a good thing. (Score:2, Insightful)
There are, however, some very compelling bad reasons. The main being that intellectual monopoly products are not priced in free market competition, but priced depending on disposable income of the consumer group.
Without regions, the price for revenue maximization will be set for a global consumption group, which will create a less evenly distributed market cover.
This is an inevitable artefact of intellectual monopoly legislation (and any monopoly legislation), and until, and unless we get such legislation removed, we will continue seeing attempts to impose such artificial barriers in the pursuit of maximum revenue.
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Backups shouldn't be fair use. (Score:1, Insightful)
In case of a book, you are purchasing an OBJECT.
A license is not dependable on a physical object, but grants you a right to use. The object/CD, is only there to help transfer that right to use. Hence, if it's broken, there should be a cheaper replacement than buying a new license.
-b0fh
Re:A lot less than meets the eye (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Backups shouldn't be fair use. (Score:3, Insightful)
"You don't get to make a backup of books, art, or other physical media that is non-electronic"
This looks like a good starter. Of COURSE I can make a backup of these. You see, I own them, this entitles me to back them up should I so desire. Of course, how I go about it is left up to me. I could certainly scan in the book to store on my computer, and depending on the medium of the art I could take a hires digital image or scan.
"We no longer live in the age of VCRs eating tapes though, and on the rediculously rare (relative to tape eating) chance that your device does damage your disc, the player manufacturer should be responsible for procuring you a replacement. "
You're right, we live in a the age where companies actively look for ways to make our old recordings obsolete with the newer players so we have to rebuy it all over again. Add to that the pathetically short lifespan of CD and DVDs and there is a damn good chance your media will become worthless just as quickly as it did with VHS.
"If, however, you roll over your favorite video game CD with your office chair (not I know anybody who has ever done that...), why should you have more right to a replacement than the guy who had his paperback fall out of his jacket pocket into the toilet on a bus (not that... well, you know)?"
The answer to this one lies in the depths of property law, and while IANAL, the difference seems to be that while you actually OWN the book, the trend these days with software and music etc. is to sell/rent you a license to use it. This makes the physical media irrelevant. So if I don't actually own something, but only have a license from the company to use it, then if I break it they had damn well better get me a new physical copy for nothing more than the cost of the physical media and shipping. They can't have their cake and eat it to, despite their best efforts.
"DRM should never prevent you from doing something with your media that would have otherwise been legal under copyright law, but I'm not convinced that there is a good reason for the law to allow backups."
If you can't think of any good reason for the law the allow backups, perhaps you are not qualified to debate this since in order to debate something correctly you need to have a thorough understanding of BOTH sides of the matter, which you CLEARLY do not.
Please don't take this response in a negative tone...I just wanted to point out that there are serious holes in your logic and attempted to patch them up.
Re:Wow, has Sony started to LEARN? (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't care if they're only after money. Sony is a company. It's what they do. What I do care about is how much I benefit from this.
Re:Not THAT surprising... (Score:3, Insightful)
The disk they sell you most definitely is yours.
The software contained on that disk is legally owned property of the company that sold it to you.
So, you can do anything you want with the disk. You can paint it, tie a string through the center, and wear it as a necklace for all they care. But the software contanied on that disk isn't in any way shape or form yours. You are simply granted rights to use that software in the way the company wants you to.
But feel free to play DVD frisbee.
The thing that frustrates (Score:5, Insightful)
IMO, it should work one way or the other:
If they're licensing the content, then if the physical media is destroyed and you can't exercise your license, there should be some way to either get some money back (since you've lost the use of the "perpetual" license you were sold) or to replace the media so you can exercise your right to the license.
If they are selling a physical object, then you should be able to duplicate its contents freely, in case the object is destroyed.
The way things are right now, the content distributers have all the rights, and the content purchasers are in a sort of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" bind. Duplicate your content, and you're a piratical anarchist. Don't, and it's quite likely that you'll be out of luck when the physical object is damaged.
This is currently a problem for me. I bought Civ 4 to play on my Windows game machine. I played it for about three months before the CD got scratched. While the scratches were my fault (I failed to take into account how much dust was accumulating in the PC) now the $30 game that I purchased is unusable. Since I purchased a perpetual license, is it OK for me to download an iso of the game CD and burn it so I can play? Not according to the game publisher.
I'm not talking about what is currently legal. I'm making a point that the way things stand right now, a lot of people are frustrated with the seeming one-sideness of content distribution as it's implemented right now.
You obviously don't have children (Score:5, Insightful)
You obviously don't have children. After buffing the scratches out of the Finding Nemo DVD for the fifth time, I was ready to go back to VHS. Then I discovered DVD Shrink. The original stays in the case and when the kids scratch the copy too badly to be played, I throw it away and make a new copy. Consumers need the rights to protect their property.
Re:Backups shouldn't be fair use. (Score:2, Insightful)
Remove the "get to" and you're fairly accurate. It's time-consuming, the result is usually inferior and generally not worth it unless you do it in volume, which would fall outside personal backups. Also, typically if a work is valuable the value is inherently contained in that instance of the work - a first edition, a signed book, an orignal painting, an antique and so on. Also, you have insurance which will cover against the biggest losses. Maybe nobody has bothered to make a fuzz over a right noone is or would be using?
If, however, you roll over your favorite video game CD with your office chair (not I know anybody who has ever done that...), why should you have more right to a replacement than the guy who had his paperback fall out of his jacket pocket into the toilet on a bus (not that... well, you know)?
You have a very warped perception of what the CD, as in the thin slice of plastic that something is written on, represents. If you compare the price to a blank CD, you see I pay essentially nothing for the disc, only for the information that's on it. The disc itself is detachable, replacable and infinately less durable than the content which could be moved around losslessly in perpetuity.
To me, not being allowed to replace the media is like not being allowed to replace the windshield wiper on my car. If I ask them, they say "Ford cars and Ford windshield wipers go together, replacing it with a generic wiper is against the law." "Ok, where do I get a new wiper?" "It's included with Ford cars." It just so happens that the car (content) is intangible and the wiper (disc) is tangible, but it is none the less insane.
Re:You obviously don't have children (Score:2, Insightful)
I hate when people say that.
Are you implying that I wouldn't take a principled stance as soon as it was less convienient for me?
need a reason? (Score:5, Insightful)
I am. Why? Because
a) it's technically possible to do
b) *I* can do it myself
c) It's not specifically outlawed
Re:Backups shouldn't be fair use. (Score:2, Insightful)
Use the appropriate dicipline to teach your children not to mishandle your media, or don't allow your children to handle the media. Why are people so afraid to dicipline their children these days? Your kids should be scared to death of damaging your stuff. They'll grow up just fine, and they won't hate you. You can start *really young*.
What do you do when your kid spills whatever you put in their sippy cup all over some book you left lying around? Or scribbles all over it with a crayon?
Re:A lot less than meets the eye (Score:2, Insightful)
The number of PS3 owners without a 60Hz compatible television will be negligable. Nintendo have already released at least two games (Metroid Prime 2 and the Zelda bonus disc) which only contained a 60Hz version of the game, and it did not seem to impact sales.
Besides, the quality of most 50Hz conversions is dreadful. There are a lot games which suffer from the 17.5% slowdown and borders - to patch a game to the PAL format in this way takes mere seconds, and has been going on for years with the PAL/NTSC selectors found at the start of many warez releases on the original Playstation. It would take a miniscule amount of effort to add a 50Hz/60Hz selector to a game, and anyone playing on an old enough TV to not support a 60Hz signal isn't likely to complain about borders and slowdown. In fact, they're very unlikely to buy a PS3 in the first place.