So Atlus and Arc System Works are releasing this new game called Persona 4 Arena, a fighting game based on; you guessed it; Atlus's own Persona 4.
So what's so special about it? It's going to be the first region-locked game on the PS3.
As some of you may know, the PS3 is a console that; up until now; was mostly region free. This basically means you can buy games from different regions and you are able to play these games on your console without modifying it or having to buy a console from that particular region.
So what does this mean? It's of course too early to tell, but this could be the start of a new rather unfavorable trend. Atlus says this isn't going to be the case, but whose to say another developer won't follow suit and do the same thing? There are some gamers who are, understandably, rather hostile on the issue. To many of them (particularly the European and Australian communities), importing is one of the only means of being able to play some great games that they would otherwise be unable to play.
Why did Atlus make this decision? Their apparent reason is because since this game will share all of the same features in each of the regions (including dual-audio dubs), they felt that others would simply import the Japanese version to save some money and thus Atlus USA wouldn't get as much. While it does make some sense, it still just doesn't seem to be very fair. I'm not even all that interested in the game (after all, I've not played a single Persona game ever), but it just seems to me to just be a pretty big *beep* move to force anyone interested in the game to buy their own version of the game.
Before anyone says so, I don't see this as a matter of saving a few bucks by importing. Rather, I never really saw the point of region-locking in the first place. What difference does it make if I bought something from one region or another? The companies involved are still getting your money either way. What if I liked the features of another region's release of a game better then my own region? What if this game I was interested in playing never came to my region for one reason or another or if it's simply taking too long to be localized? Don't get me wrong, I'd gladly support any games I'm interested in or whatever if they do come to my shore. But as a consumer, I'd much rather have my options open rather then having things be way more complicated then it needs to be.
So what are your opinions on this (or even just region-locking in general), BombermanBoard?
You know what would solve that problem nicely Atlus? Not putting the english dub/translation on the japanese version.
like whats was pretty much always done in the past. how many people in japan want to hear the english dub of a game that was developed in japan. Thats a pretty niche audience.
Derp
as for the vice versa the majority of americans purchasing would probably want the dub and just buy the US version. People buying the japanese version wouldn't be able to read or hear the story so they wouldn't want it anymore, but it is a fighting game so they'd probbly lose alittle money but not all that much. they are kind of a niche company to begin with.
You know what would solve that problem nicely Atlus? Not putting the english dub/translation on the japanese version.
like whats was pretty much always done in the past. how many people in japan want to hear the english dub of a game that was developed in japan. Thats a pretty niche audience.
Derp
as for the vice versa the majority of americans purchasing would probably want the dub and just buy the US version. People buying the japanese version wouldn't be able to read or hear the story so they wouldn't want it anymore, but it is a fighting game so they'd probbly lose alittle money but not all that much. they are kind of a niche company to begin with.
You know what would also work? Companies in general could also do a better job at releasing localized stuff within an acceptable time frame. Most who want their games do not mind waiting a little longer, but they do start to mind when it takes months for it to even come around (again, the PAL regions are pretty notorious for this). If companies actually did this, there would be little reason to even bother with region locks in the first place. A scenario where everybody would win, pretty much. But only in a perfect world...
_________________ The Local Video Gaming Lunatic
Recent stuff I'm into:
Watching: A Certain Scientific Railgun (ep.14, stalled), Hoshi no Kirby (ep. 71, stalled), Nazo No Kanojo X (ep. 8), Acchi Kocchi (ep. 8)
Reading: nothing
You forget how stupid/greedy the masses are. By that theory, the more expensive version would have to come out first so there would be some incentive for that group to buy that over the cheaper version simply cause they want it sooner. most translation projects on the scale of a videogame take at least a few months depending on the type of game. With these dipshits that think they're entitled to a release at the same time as japan or earlier (double lol) means that the company would have to work out a deal with japan to license it BEFORE they release (meaning it'd probably be waay more expensive since japan basically has to sit on their release since its done already) and the licensee cant even see any sales figures beforehand since they don't exist yet.
Considering that, if the project flops... Well, the licensee is screwed bad...
The only real way to make your idea work the way you intend would be to release it everywhere at the same time for the same price... and with how unbalanced the countries' economies are I don't think that will be possible for quite a long time.
Yeah, I know. Although there have been a quite a few games (admittedly the more popular ones like Resident Evil and such) that have been released in the three major regions within the same time frame. Again, only in a perfect world...
_________________ The Local Video Gaming Lunatic
Recent stuff I'm into:
Watching: A Certain Scientific Railgun (ep.14, stalled), Hoshi no Kirby (ep. 71, stalled), Nazo No Kanojo X (ep. 8), Acchi Kocchi (ep. 8)
Reading: nothing
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