Talk:Regional lockout

message: i changed the heading of the "Benefits" section to "Advantages for Producers."  it was absurd and laughable to have "Allows items to be launched at different times in different places, without allowing people to obtain the item 'ahead of time' by purchasing from abroad" and "Allows price differentiation between markets, thus increasing the potential revenue from worldwide sales" listed simply as "BENEFITS". they're obviously the advantages for the producers. if somebody wants to make a section for "Benefits for consumers", go right ahead, if you can possibly think of any.  but don't forget this is an encyclopedia, not a jokebook. --which is why i changed the subheading. 128.119.236.133 01:51, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: "benefits"

message: I have added articles about effect on society and economic.
For the other part of the article, I truly believe that the clear advantages for consumers can only be pointed out by consumers, and the clear advantages of region locker's can only be pointed out by region lockers or manufacturers (which do usually not speak the truth on places like this, because they are biased with their NDA's and economic interests).
--Thedogg 04:31, 7 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I have toned down the section on social impact. This is an article in an encyclopedia, not a manifesto against regional encoding, no matter how tempting it may be to make it such.
I would suggest that there are negative consequences that are more than consumer inconvenience: region coding is anti-multicultural.  It prevents someone, say, originating in China or India, who is living in, say, Australia, from watching Bollywood and Hong Kong cinema unless it has been deemed popular enough to have a local release (and potentially "sanitised" for the local market).  By "sanitised", I could point to anime as an example of how foreign cinema is frequently bastardized with bad translations (sometimes made up on the spot rather than translated and overdubbed with stereotypical US-accents in a stereotypical US-cartoon style without regard to the style and content of the original work), reduced production quality (video/sound) in the name of "localisation".  Of course, this is probably more ignorant than malicious, but it is still something that has no place in the modern world.  I would also note that Australian authorities are primarily concerned about region encoding as a mechanism for creating and enforcing "price-fixing cartels". Paul Coddington (talk) 06:36, 27 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Effect on society and economic 

message: IMHO, the DVD region lockout is unique enough that it deserves its own article.  It's very difficult, I think, to have a coherent discussion about DVD region lockout when it is mixed in with other things like games.  There are a lot of DVD-specific issues like the RPC Phase I and Phase II requirements of the CSS license and the entire relationship between the CSS license and region lockout for DVDs.  I think that, ultimately, this will probably give this entire article a lot more coherency if its separated from gaming issues.
--Code65536 03:19, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Splitting the DVD region lockout from this article 

message: I understand that the idea of regional lockout comes from wanting to vary prices in different countries (presumably due to different currencies), and so make more income. However, especially with video games, you have the issue of games that are not released in some countries, which are given regional lockouts to prevent people from those sountries from playing them, even though the game isn't available there. This, aside from being horreundously unfair, contradicts the whole purpose of regional lockouts.
It can be argued (quite strongly in fact) that this encourages piracy, especially emulation (which, ironically, the companies that cause this are firmly opposed to). This isn't mentioned in the article so far, and I really think it ought to. --12:58, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  The idea sometimes contradicts itself 

message: I have removed the reference to the European Union being one region, as since the acession of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (which as former USSR states use region 5) there have been two separate regions in the European Union.
:Since entering the EU, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania now use two regions.  Because these countries have very large Russian-speaking populations, plus the close location of Russia, there are many Russian language DVDs imported into the Baltics.  Russia is nominally region 5, though most Russian DVDs have been released region-free.  (This is now just beginning to change, but still not on a widespread basis.)  The vast majority of the EU, however, is region 2.  So, DVDs in Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian, plus DVDs imported from other EU countries, are released in region 2.  Therefore, the best thing to do in these countries is to buy a region-free player to ensure that Baltic, EU, and Russian DVDs can all play with little problem.  In fact, I've noticed recently that even some HOLLYWOOD films (at least as sold in St. Petersburg, Russia, very near the borders with the Baltic countries) are now being released in region 5 in Russian, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian, which makes me begin to doubt that these same films are being released by the Hollywood studios in region 2 - yet further incentive to buy a region-free player in the Baltics. Ericdn (talk) 18:41, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: So is regional lockout now a barrier to free trade in the EU?
technically yes, but it would require a test case before a court, or a directive from the commission.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.27.191.227 (talk) 03:11, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: EU

message: Should there be a mention on this page that while the DS will play games from any of the three main computer game regions (EU, US & JP), games from different regions are not compatable with each other for multi player link up?  JP Godfrey (Talk to me) 13:37, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Nintendo DS

message: Hi! I'm kind of new here, and I just came across this article. Near the bottom it said that you can cut off the pins that block a PAL or NTSC-J N64 cartridge from being inserted into an American system, you can play it. Well, I did just that. However, when I put my game into the N64 and turn the power on, nothing happens. I cleaned it many times and nothing happened still. I tried other (American) games, and they all worked. Why is this happening? Is it because I have an older TV that doesn't support PAL hookup? Should I move to a different TV? What's happening?
Marikthechao 23:13, 7 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Error: PAL game not working in NTSC system 

message: I seriously think criticism like that on this page needs to be cited, because right now it seems like someone just came on and wrote down why he/she is against region coding.  Anyone else in favor of adding the template? -Unknownwarrior33 19:23, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: That sounds reasonable.  Majin Izlude talk 13:47, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

text: ....well the criticisms are all true, aren't they? It's not a matter of citing sources, it's a matter of common sense and taking ten seconds to think about things.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.195.119.74 (talk) 08:53, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

text: On Wikipedia, it doesn't happen, period. Anything that is supposedly "common knowledge" will be mentioned in some work somewhere. It's common knowledge that the sky is blue, but here, you have to have a source referring to it as such. Similarly, Gamefaqs is a forum, and cannot be used as a source, as there is no peer review. I hate recommending policy, but you might want to ready Wikipedia:No Original Research and Wikipedia:Verifiability. — trlkly 09:52, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Criticism 

message: I added the contradict-section template because the article states that the sixth-gen consoles are region-locked, while the tagged section says:
:PlayStation 3 will be region free for gaming, according to Michael Ephraim of Sony of Australia.  Sony Computer Entertainment has abandoned the practice of regional lockout. However they are hunting importers and import sites like Lik-Sang. Publishers will have the choice to release region free PlayStation 3 games.
-- VGF11 03:30, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The PlayStation 3 is a "seventh-generation" console, rather than sixth, so that is not a contradiction.  However, I'm leaving the contradiction notice because I don't understand how the PlayStation 3 will simultaneously be region free and also allow publishers to have the choice of region free releases.  Phlake 11:49, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Contradiction 

message: I have read rumors of a requirement for NAVSTAR Global Positioning System receivers in players for some format in order to ensure that players exported from their intended region do not function. Can anybody find a source to back this up? --Damian Yerrick (☎) 20:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: i doubt it is true, but i dont think that it would be alloed to be sold in countries that prohibit region lockout from being enabled (though it didnt stop harvey norman from selling us one a while back), or the company would be required to set it so that if it detected that it was in a place that prohibits region lockout, it would allow all regions to be played. The problem with that is that such devices might not be alllowed in some countries due to different laws regarding products and the transmission/reception of certain signal types. --Alphamone 06:18, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  GPS requirement? 

message: Well before I goto Bic Camera and buy that Japanese PSP or PS3 game, I want to know if its really region free. I read it in all the articles (although the articles reflect back as far as 2004) but if thats the case, then why do all the Japanese PSP and PS3 games have the region 2 symbol and a sign above the barcode which says "FOR JAPAN ONLY"? Keep in mind, as far as the PS3 games are concerned, the regions are still numbers and not letters like Blu-Rays are.
from: ryanyomomma
:PSP and PS3 games are essentially region-free, meaning you can play Japanese games on an American system and vice versa.  There haven't been any region-locked games for the PSP/PS3 systems and the only things that are still locked are essentially the movie-playing aspects of the systems.  Also, the staff at Kotaku and Joystiq have been able to download games from PSN sites from other regions and play them without any issue, especially the PS1 games from Japan.  Thing is, PS1 and PS2 DISC games are still region-locked on the PS3.  I have a Hong Kong region PSP at the moment and I've bought a range of Japanese, Hong Kong, and American region PSP games and they all work fine on my PSP.  I'm also picking up a number of Japanese PS3 games to play when I get back to the US. (Psychoneko (talk) 17:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I forgot to mention this.  The reason why they now include those "region number" tags on the cases is to make it easier to tell people which PSN server/region they should visit to collect their DLC or which region server they need to connect to in order to play online multiplayer games.  So if you have Killzone 2 (region 1 - America) and you're in Hong Kong, you need to connect to American servers in order to play the game online.  (Psychoneko (talk) 17:42, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

text: Just encountered what may be further proof that a PSP is indeed region locked. I just bought a South-East Asian PSP Go (PSP-N1006). I am unable to get the comic reader to appear on it. I have upgraded the firmware to 6.20, downloaded the comic reader from the official site, and followed the instructions. Further search online shows that the problem is that the reader is region-locked to US PSPs. In fact, it fails to even display an Extra menu item in the XMB. I'm not happy about this. I paid a thousand and ninety-nine Malaysian Ringgits for this thing. And oh: http://kotaku.com/284371/stranglehold-on-ps3-+-region-locked . Now will people believe me when I say that there are region-locked PS3 games in the world? RAM (talk) 16:11, 5 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  PS3/PSP really region free? 

message: This section has got its facts completely wrong.
As a gamer living in the UK I can tell you that every home console retail game is released between £40 and £50, NOT £25 as in the US which this article claims, and this has NEVER been the case EVER in the 20 years I've been playing and purchasing games here even from the day of the Atari 2600 and NES all the way to the current generation of home consoles. I've edited accordingly. A simple trip to Amazon, or GAME's websites to check new games' prices will confirm this for you, even with their online discounts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.111.154.117 (talk) 17:28, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Australia 

message: It is stated in the article that PS1 and PS2 are being sold with preinstalled modchips in Hong Kong. What about PS3 and Xbox 360, since there are no means to circumvent regional lockout in these consoles at the moment? 85.249.167.223 (talk) 11:34, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hong Kong 

message: I deleted this from the Blu-Ray section:
"Like their DVD counterparts, BD players can be imported from another region."
You can import any of the things on this page, so this seems unnecessary.
:I agree with the deletion.  There's no reason that I can see why BD players should be singled out for their ability to be imported from another region, while everything else can be, too. --Ericdn (talk) 18:51, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unnecessary 

message: Older generation consoles. Are they region locked? Because I want to buy Resident Evil 4 on my Norwegian Nintendo GameCube. Like for example, if I buy any Nintendo GameCube game from the British Amazon site, will it work on my Norwegian GC? And I have a Japanese PS3 which Norwegian games work just fine on it, but does anybody know if my Japanese PS3 will play British PS3 games? Thanks TK(film) (talk) 18:16, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Questions 

message: I've been searching the internet looking for proof that it's true that BattleZone is really region locked, but I can't find any. Does anyone have proof or know by first-hand experience? It seems really strange that only 1 PSP game on the planet is region locked. --- Akadewboy (talk) 00:42, 3 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Any proof that BattleZone is really region locked? 

message: The sentence where it says that DLCs are region locked is wrong. I have a Japanese PS3 and I downloaded a DLC for my copy of Army of Two and it worked fine. TK(film) (talk) 19:32, 20 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, just the region of the game and region of the DLC must match, more exactly it's the game code (BCES...). Console can be from any region.--87.174.101.138 (talk) 19:59, 16 June 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  Well, I know this comes a bit late, but now we have one confirmed title- Persona 4 Arena for the PS3 is confirmed to be region-locked. RAM (talk) 17:40, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wrong about PS3's DLC region locks 

message: I find the following (the first sentence in this article) difficult to understand:
Regional lockout is the programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed on the version of the same device marketed in another country.
It doesn't make any sense at all.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.45.192.100 (talk) 20:19, 9 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Clarify... 

message: I would take steps to ensure region-free playability if I published games. For instance, I would go out of my way to ensure that all of my games are on 3-in-1 media (NTSC/PAL/SECAM). Did anyone mention SECAM here before? The Russian laments, "Было бы здорово, если бы мы могли играть без SECAM игры у нас в России!" T3h 1337 b0y 02:28, 6 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  I HATE regional lockout 

message: I'm removing the broken section link notice from the talk page, as the link in question seems to have been removed some time ago. Evil oatmeal (talk) 20:22, 3 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Broken Section Link Notice

message: The article says: "All PlayStation 3 games except for one are region free.[4][5]", but I see nothing at either of these linked pages that says there is a non-region-free PS3 game, or what it might be.  If so, what is it?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.185.161.246 (talk) 15:42, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
replies: text:  Persona 4 Arena. Look it up. RAM (talk) 18:08, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Which PS3 game is region locked? 

message: Imagine if everything was region encoded...
* This CD was released in another country. You cannot play it here.
* This book was written in another country. You cannot read it here, even if you speak the country's language.
* This cat was born in another country. You cannot pet it here.
* This toilet paper is encoded for anuses in another country, and cannot be used for wiping in this country.
* This shirt was made in another country. It cannot be worn here.
* This water was bottled in another country. You cannot drink it here.
* This oxygen is encoded for another country, and you cannot breathe it in this country. *dies*
* This death is encoded for another country. You cannot die here. *goes to jail*
* This jail was built in another country. You cannot go to jail here.
See the problem? 108.66.234.28 (talk) 18:56, 24 October 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  The problem... =

message: I remember for some web-based Japanese games (Kantai Collection springs to mind), a form of region locking was imposed in checking that the player's computer's time zome was set to GMT+9, the time zone most/all of Japan falls under. While there are many regions which can't/don't employ it, are there more examples, and does this belong on the page? 2601:603:4E00:4170:CAD:540B:D723:4DBD (talk) 00:13, 21 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Time Zone Region Locking 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion:
* 
You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 00:51, 15 May 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion 

message: I don't believe Way of the Samurai 3 on the PlayStation 3 is a region locked title. I have been able to run the PAL release on an NTSC-J PS3 system. But maybe I am missing some information and perhaps there is some configuration for which this game does not run?
106.68.158.126 (talk) 04:47, 20 June 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Way of the Samurai 3 (PS3)