27/09/2015
Playstation Store: A matter of temptation
Although Nintendo is most pointed at and criticized when it comes to region-locking, they are not the only one indulging generously in it. The Playstation Store is also famously region-locked, each part of the world being allotted a different choice of games.
There are ways around this issue for the dedicated who want games from all regions, granted. They involve creating several PSN accounts with addresses located in the desired regions and feeding them with PSN cards from said regions. As far as the Vita is concerned, this also involves owning one Vita for each account or rebooting your Vita entirely every time you want to purchase games from a different Playstation Store, since each PSN account has to be tied to a specific Vita unit. All in all, this involves a lot of hassle—and that's without even counting the usual chore of needing to have memory cards prepped up and your PSN account(s) conveniently filled up. All that to get mere digital games that can't even sit pretty on a shelf and be gazed at amorously.
Up until now, the tediousness of that process alone was enough to deter me from even thinking of creating other PSN accounts. I created one a couple of months ago to get the three Atelier games, and did so only because they were not getting physical releases; this was already a huge step as far as I was concerned, since I'm usually reluctant to buy digital-only games, and other PSN accounts were definitely not on my radar. Things could have stopped at that, had I not made the fatal mistake of taking a peek at the North-American Playstation Store.
Oh, the delicious torture!! There are dozens of PSP and Vita games there that have never been made available in the European Playstation Store: PSone classics, obscure RPGs, dungeon-crawlers and Japanese Simulation games, you name them. This sheer overabundance made my eyes pop and is haunting my dreams now, and I'm very close to caving in and creating another PSN account to grab all these marvels. On the other hand... I'm very much afraid that I would be biting off more than I could chew by making such a move. I already have dozens, if not hundreds of games to play, and the numbers are inflating by the year. Do I really need another batch of games added to the list at that point? Do I really need my already enormous backlog to be weightened further by games that may turn out to be disappointing? The question is open, and the answer is still pending. A part of me wants these games, and another part of me wants to stop gorging on new games and to concentrate on the ones I already own.
I'd be curious to know if some of you fellow gamers have several PSN accounts and if you've been facing that same dilemma. And while I'm at it, and in case the greedy collector in me wins, which RPGs from the North-American Playstation Store would you wholeheartdly recommend? Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
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Short answer: It's not worth it. If you really want to make another account, at least make a JPN one.
ReplyDeleteLong answer: It's the developer's duty to release the game in every region. Either physical or digitally. If a game that only has a digital release isn't available in your region you have no obligation of buying it: just pirate it and play it on your PSP. For instance, Legend of Mana never got a release either back in the PS1 era or now as a PS Classic and it's made by Square. Square has all the resources to release it in the EU PSN but never did so if they didn't release it here then they don't my money. Simple as that. Also Atlus cancelled the EU PSN release of Knights i the Nightmare, another one that doesn't want European money.
For me, it's simple as that.
For the Vita, I'll just import the hysical edition either from EUA or Japan, I'm not gonna waste money on the PSN edition if I can, for some more money, get a physical edition.
I'm even doing the same for the 3DS since now you can bypass the region-lock.
Well, I'm kinda glad for your answer, because it further tipped the scales towards the "Don't bother" option! =D
DeleteThis whole affair is just too much hassle after all. As you pointed out, publishers and game developers don't bother making things easier for us, not to mention Nintendo and their cursed region-locking, so there's really no reason to play fair with them.
"For some money, get a physical edition": I live by that rule too! ^^ I just purchased an Asian copy of "Moe Chronicles" with english subtitles. One can never get too many first-person dungeon crawlers! If it turns out that I love "Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment", I'll probably buy it physical too, despite the infamous horrible translation. And "Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village" definitely makes me want to give a try to that bypassing trick! =D
Yes, it really is too much hassle. It's their business anyway, if they don't put out the games for people to buy, how are they supposed to buy them? Really, you're better off playing all those PS1 classics on your PSP.
DeleteI'm gonna bet that we'll get Monster Hunter Diary localized and in physical edition both in the EUA and here. Monster Hunter sells, so Capcom will take chances in bringing us that one.
About the physical edition of Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment,I hope you're not thinking in buying the chinese/english version. The price of that one is crazy.
I would love nothing more than to see "Monster Hunter Diary" localized! I'll keep pinning for it, because a game that blends cats, quests and cuteness is a dream game as far as I'm concerned.
DeleteWhich physical version of "Hollow Fragment" I will purchase—if I purchase one, that is—remains to be seen! I will play the english digital version first and foremost, and decide from here. The Asian version is indeed insanely expensive, and the game would have to be a absolute cult classic in my book to spend such a huge amount of money on it... Time will tell! :)