XBox Xbox and its region coding

[Tipsynaruto]

I got a quick question. Can ANYONE please tell me why the fuck does xbox games have region coding? I love my xbox 360, but its little shit things like this that pisses me off. i am missing all my fav rpgs T.T ITs all fine and dandy for the Americans because a lot of the games coded for japan are also coded for America, but its a big bitch for me since my one is PAL!

 

[Marill]

Because the people who publish RPGs hate Europeans and Australians I'd of loved to import Magna Carta from the US as the PAL version here is daylight robbery, but like you I'm stuck with PAL. Don't get my started on the Wii and it's rpg collection

Sorry I don't have a real reason, all I can assume is it loses the PAL branches that distribute them (or not) over here, cash if they were region free and everyone imported. But they can easily remedy that by releasing the games over here about the same time as America *shrug* With the euro and pound being worth crap all, and the VAT/taxes in England at least it's probably not worth it to them to release them here *roll eyes* so yeah, making the xbox (and Wii) region free would be the cheaper solution for everyone *sigh*

I'm curious as to the real reason though.

 

[Tipsynaruto]

ARGH! This is gay. i really am missing out on a lot. As you said, a lot of those rpgs are friggin way too expensive. Besides, region coding would turn people off, y'know. That is one thing th PS3 got right. The next xbox better not have region coding. i wanted magnacarta 2, tales of vesperia, Last remnant, Star ocean..... so many games..... Looking on gamespot really pains me as i see all these mad ass games that i cant play.

 

[Marill]

Where are you from? Just wondering.. you might get away with Star Ocean in some places.

I live in the north of England and I've seen Star Ocean for about £20 in some shops (Gamestation for example), I stupidly got it preowned at 35 when I got my xbox tho :/

Everything else you mentioned costs a bomb. The Last Remnant I just bought last week for £15 preowned, again Gamestation. Tales of Vesperia cost me £37 on release and the price is still that in the shop I got it, and 44.99 everywhere else Magna Carta is still 44.99

It is a huge pain as me and my sis planned to import FFXIII from America to save some money, but because of this we'll probably have to pay at least £45 for it. Where she lives (the Canary Islands) new Xbox games go for about 60 Euro's 0_0

As for the Wii the two new rpgs out this month (one of which was released in American ONE YEAR AGO) will have limited releases, and prob will cost me a bomb. If the Wii and Xbox are going to be fussy about importing, then they need to sort themselves out: change the prices, don't make us wait so long and not send out 2 copies of the game to Game/Gamestation who'll charge as much as possible. People will be less inclined to import if one or all of these problems are sorted.

 

[SapphireStar]

There is a website called Game Asia:
http://www.play-asia.com/

It tells you want games can play on which region consoles. I got Japanese version of Lost Odessy from Ebay after learning from this site. It truly is a pain in the arse the price they charge for RPGs in England. Its disgusting how the rare and cult games are beyond expensive and shit sport games or GTA are £20. Its not fair on the "geek" players.

 

[Marill]

Hey, thanks for the link. It'll come in handy
Magna Carta is NTSC only though. I'm hoping that it'll be stuck in a Game/Gamestation sale for the Boxing Day+ sales

It truly is a pain in the arse the price they charge for RPGs in England. Its disgusting how the rare and cult games are beyond expensive and shit sport games or GTA are £20. Its not fair on the "geek" players.

Nail on the head. It's been peeing me off for some time now. They must think we're all willing to pay more for these games than the casual players, it's not fair really.

 

[SapphireStar]

I bought a copy of MC2 on my first day at GAME, sadly no other copies have been sold or second hands come in. But yeah, give it round crimbo when people will be rushing in with stuff they dont want for the new year titles. But be warned, second hand RPGs that come into GAME are roughly £42, 2 aquid cheaper then the new price. Sucks for us RPG players.

 

[Apparent Amarant]

Couldn't you buy an extra Xbox 360 from America on Ebay or something for like $80 US.(The one without the hard drive and like $120 USD for the on with) Then you could just import most the games that cost a lot there? It may not be worth it unless there are actually a lot you want to do it with. I don't see any legal issues with it. If the hard drives are transferable then it could easily be worth it. I love the Xbox 360 but they seem to be extremely unreliable. I don't know anyone who plays them a lot and hasn't had to use their warranty or get a new one yet. Why would microsoft make such an unreliable machine?