Regionalization Comes to the XBox
Computer juggernaut Microsoft are up to their old tricks again, with the announcement that not only will the Xbox 360 DVD player be region locked, but the video games themselves will not be open for cross-regional play. Unwitting consumers could shell out extra cash for multiple versions and all the while Bill & Co. will be giggling madly (you know Bill giggles, he looks like a giggler) from his command post, counting his shekels like the Merchant of Venice.
I really don’t see this being a popular move for Microsoft, even in hardcore M$ circles. Bootlegging Japanese games to deprived North American audiences is becoming quite the norm, as the strange and often vastly entertaining Asia only releases are gaining in appeal. I suppose this is Microsoft’s attempt to cut off this kind of cross-continental trade (or at least make it profitable), but an unhappy, jaded group of gamers is not exactly what the launch of a brilliant piece of hardware should produce and I hope for the sake of the Xbox 360 that it makes up for this inconvenience in other areas.
Rather than seeing them abandon the platform however, I would anticipate there being several on-the-sly hardware developments or software patches that would allow for games from any region to be played on any Xbox 360. These programs, such as DVD Region Free, already exist for computer DVD drives, and it shouldn’t be too much of a jump to convert the programming to mesh with the Xbox console. People are more than willing to spend money on games and consoles, but may start to balk if they feel that they are not getting their money’s worth.
Microsoft officianados are not so easily cut from the flock though Microsoft should begin to be more aware that their consumer base can only be pushed so far before ‘Revolution’ rips into its ranks.
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