Sony to 'block PS3 Euro imports'

Prozac the Robert · Post by **Prozac the Robert** » 2006-10-23 05:54am

Heh, watch the joke console get more funny.

Sony to 'block PS3 Euro imports'
Sony has said it will use the "full scope of the law" to block the importing of PlayStation 3s (PS3) into Europe before its official release.

The much-anticipated games console goes on sale in the US and Japan next month but is not out in Europe until 2007.

Last week a British judge ruled that Taiwanese import/export firm Lik-Sang could not sell the Japanese version of Sony's handheld PSP in Europe.

The case sets a precedent for would-be importers of PlayStation 3 consoles.

A spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) told the BBC: "The law is clear, and grey importing PS2, PSP or PS3 into the EU, without the express permission of SCEE is illegal.

"Therefore, we will utilise the full scope of the law to put a stop to any retailers who chose to do this."

Critics of Sony's approach feel that the electronics giant is preventing gamers in Europe from getting their hands on PlayStation 3s early, even if they have to pay a hefty premium.

The spokesman said: "Ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards."

He pointed out that the Japanese or American PS3 models would not play older European-sold software for the first two PlayStations, would not play EU Blu-ray movies or DVDs, and would not be covered by a warranty.

The decision to delay the release of the PS3 in Europe - due to stock shortages of vital components for the machine's Blu-ray player - came as a blow to players in the world's second-biggest games market.

The machine will be released in Europe in March, while it goes on sale on November 17 in the US and November 11 in Japan.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/t ... 076354.stm

Published: 2006/10/23 09:07:55 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-10-23 06:44am

...customer safety standards? A PS2 has customer safety standards!?

I'd be more impressed if the thing for however much I love it, didn't break and need replacement every 6 months. Now this is the excuse for not selling to Europe huh? Have fun with the shallow grave, Sony!

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2006-10-23 07:50am

Nephtys wrote:...customer safety standards? A PS2 has customer safety standards!?

I'd be more impressed if the thing for however much I love it, didn't break and need replacement every 6 months. Now this is the excuse for not selling to Europe huh? Have fun with the shallow grave, Sony!

I have of the first PS2's. It still works like a charm.. I must be one of the lucky ones.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2006-10-23 08:47am

And Sony loses another couple of sympathy points it had from me. Oh, wait they can´t lose any more they already are in the negative range. Fucking twats.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-10-23 09:23am

So Sony is using the same strategy as when Cartman had his own themepark?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-10-23 10:43am

So, it's finally official. Sony actually is trying to become the single most hated gaming company for the decade. They must have been butthurt over everyone lining up for the Wii booth and not enough people lining up for their PS3.

Edward Yee · Post by **Edward Yee** » 2006-10-23 11:10am

I'd hypothesize that Sony was actually trying to "reverse-psychology"-ize people into buying more PS2's by making the PS3 so bad in comparison, but then Occam's razor (if I got it right) tells me that that's the most convo-stupid-luted way to go about it...

The spokesman said: "Ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards."

He pointed out that the Japanese or American PS3 models would not play older European-sold software for the first two PlayStations, would not play EU Blu-ray movies or DVDs, and would not be covered by a warranty.

I would also point out that if the Japanese or American PS3s are backward compatible with American or Japanese-sold PS1/PS2 software (or whether it's truly region free and makes this question irrelevant), that in itself should legitimize a European gamer's (hypothetical) desire to play Japanese and American games with no piracy involved in either hardware or software.

Come to think of it, whatever happened to the promised region-free; for games but not for Blu-ray/DVD movies?

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2006-10-23 11:30am

I am suddenly reminded of this...

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-10-23 11:40am

Edward Yee wrote:I'd hypothesize that Sony was actually trying to "reverse-psychology"-ize people into buying more PS2's by making the PS3 so bad in comparison, but then Occam's razor (if I got it right) tells me that that's the most convo-stupid-luted way to go about it...
The spokesman said: "Ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards."

He pointed out that the Japanese or American PS3 models would not play older European-sold software for the first two PlayStations, would not play EU Blu-ray movies or DVDs, and would not be covered by a warranty.
I would also point out that if the Japanese or American PS3s are backward compatible with American or Japanese-sold PS1/PS2 software (or whether it's truly region free and makes this question irrelevant), that in itself should legitimize a European gamer's (hypothetical) desire to play Japanese and American games with no piracy involved in either hardware or software.

Come to think of it, whatever happened to the promised region-free; for games but not for Blu-ray/DVD movies?

From the sounds of it, it's only "region-free" if you live in Japan or the US. If you live anywhere else you're boned.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-10-23 11:46am

As if I need one more reason to hate Sony, they oblige anyway.

Balrog · Post by **Balrog** » 2006-10-23 11:56am

I guess Sony's taken the Trek B&B "We don't care, the fanboys will buy it anyways" approach. Can they really shoot themselves in the foot any more?

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2006-10-23 11:59am

Balrog wrote:I guess Sony's taken the Trek B&B "We don't care, the fanboys will buy it anyways" approach. Can they really shoot themselves in the foot any more?

What's sadder...or funnier, is people will still gobble all of them up and Sony will likely sell out come this holiday season.

Edward Yee · Post by **Edward Yee** » 2006-10-23 12:11pm

From the sounds of it, it's only "region-free" if you live in Japan or the US. If you live anywhere else you're boned.

Am I incorrect to assume that EU in this case is Europe proper instead of designating PAL? (I believe incorrectly since PA covers much of the rest of the world. I'm mainly used to "NTSC-U/C," "NTSC-J," and "PAL" from PS2; I believe that China has its own region code.)

Balrog, I've been seeing the same mentality too.

The reason for my "reverse-psychology" almost-hypothesis was that in comparison, the PS2 is so much more worth getting due to existing game library, import (unmodded U/C or Japanese PS2 + original U/C or Japanese games = totally legal play for Europeans... right?) of both the totally legit and not kinds, backups already playable, much cheaper (despite the price in Euros as of now being US$164, referenced here, it's still cheaper than a PS3 with the price of that here), and with no compatibility issues*, there's nothing that forces me to upgrade...

* Only thing that my PS2s (first a SCPH-30001, then my SCPH-750xx) won't play, for some odd reason, are official Ring of Honor Wrestling DVDs (I think I'm getting DREs), even though they can play burned video DVDs fine.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2006-10-23 12:23pm

The regions arent anything to do with different technological standards like NTSC or PAL, they're a digitial rights construct added to the whole stack of shit to try and get more money selling the same thing to the same folks again and again...

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2006-10-23 12:41pm

Nephtys wrote:

I have of the first PS2's. It still works like a charm.. I must be one of the lucky ones.[/quote]
You are. After I owned mine for a year and a half, I had to get it fixed because of the well-known "disc read error".

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-10-23 01:07pm

I don't get how a company can legally block someone from selling a physical product that they legally own to someone in a different part of the world. That strikes me as utterly outrageous.

Edward Yee · Post by **Edward Yee** » 2006-10-23 01:35pm

I don't get how a company can legally block someone from selling a physical product that they legally own to someone in a different part of the world. That strikes me as utterly outrageous.

I agree, and I don't feel that good about the technological end (region) of restrictions either.

Redleader34 · Post by **Redleader34** » 2006-10-23 01:44pm

The EU will not be pleased at this. If the would not tolerate Microsoft, then I could easily see the SU walking into Sony's offices and serving them a subpoena.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-10-23 03:37pm

General Zod wrote:So, it's finally official. Sony actually is trying to become the single most hated gaming company for the decade. They must have been butthurt over everyone lining up for the Wii booth and not enough people lining up for their PS3.

They're trying to out-evil Microsoft.

I mean come on, Sony are making Microsoft look good! World=Broken!

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-10-23 05:36pm

And the EU has given MS a good bollocking over their work practices. I hope they open a whole new can-o-whupass on Sony.

Lost Soal · Post by **Lost Soal** » 2006-10-23 06:02pm

General Zod wrote:
Edward Yee wrote:I'd hypothesize that Sony was actually trying to "reverse-psychology"-ize people into buying more PS2's by making the PS3 so bad in comparison, but then Occam's razor (if I got it right) tells me that that's the most convo-stupid-luted way to go about it...
The spokesman said: "Ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards."

He pointed out that the Japanese or American PS3 models would not play older European-sold software for the first two PlayStations, would not play EU Blu-ray movies or DVDs, and would not be covered by a warranty.
I would also point out that if the Japanese or American PS3s are backward compatible with American or Japanese-sold PS1/PS2 software (or whether it's truly region free and makes this question irrelevant), that in itself should legitimize a European gamer's (hypothetical) desire to play Japanese and American games with no piracy involved in either hardware or software.

Come to think of it, whatever happened to the promised region-free; for games but not for Blu-ray/DVD movies?
From the sounds of it, it's only "region-free" if you live in Japan or the US. If you live anywhere else you're boned.

Note the bolded part. Its said the older games which are already region coded, while for the new releases it specifies ONLY the movies and DVD's as being region encoded, not the games. New games probably still are region free.

And the EU has given MS a good bollocking over their work practices. I hope they open a whole new can-o-whupass on Sony.

Well the Eu will first have to overturn the Judges decision. The can't give Sony a bollocking since they are now "complying" with UK law, and would be breaking it if they allowed the Playstations to be sold. MS on thew other hand were themselves breaking laws.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2006-10-23 06:23pm

wautd wrote:So Sony is using the same strategy as when Cartman had his own themepark?

Yes, except instead of rollercoasters and ferris wheels the park only has sex crazed prisoners who want ass.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-10-23 06:57pm

Lost Soal wrote:
Note the bolded part. Its said the older games which are already region coded, while for the new releases it specifies ONLY the movies and DVD's as being region encoded, not the games. New games probably still are region free.

Huh? By definition if the PS3 was region free, then that would be specifically the hardware itself. It shouldn't matter if the discs you put onto it were region encoded or not, or else it's not really region free, is it?