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Sony have spent a lot of time and money developing a machine that allegedly cannot be chipped or the protection got around. However, reports from Japan say that a company has already created an external chip cartridge (similar to the PS and DC ones) to play import games. The question is not why Sony thought they could outfox crafty chip creators, but why they would want to do this in the first place.
Obviously there is the issue of Piracy. Piracy can be seen as both harming and helping the industry, it causes a dent in the wallets of games companies (and only a fool would argue that they already make too much money) but it helps console companies to shift consoles (as they become more popular when people realise they can get their games for free) although this is still a problem in Sony's case as they are relying on software sales for profit.
Okay, so with Piracy out of the way, which Sony can try but will never succeed in stopping, there is the issue of import games.
Most people buy import games because they either can't wait to get them in europe or they simply can't get them in europe. Instead of stopping this, Sony should realise that it is a problem concerning release dates and lack of software. They can certainly speed the former issue up, but the software that is not available here will not sell in large amounts anyway (Sony believe it's a specialist market) and it would not be a viable marketing plan to ship loads of this software in.
So the question (at last!) is why do Sony bother to protect their consoles against using other region's software? Never understood it and never will. There are arguements as to artificially boosting sales in one country, but they account for a small amount of imported software only.
Obviously there is the issue of Piracy. Piracy can be seen as both harming and helping the industry, it causes a dent in the wallets of games companies (and only a fool would argue that they already make too much money) but it helps console companies to shift consoles (as they become more popular when people realise they can get their games for free) although this is still a problem in Sony's case as they are relying on software sales for profit.
Okay, so with Piracy out of the way, which Sony can try but will never succeed in stopping, there is the issue of import games.
Most people buy import games because they either can't wait to get them in europe or they simply can't get them in europe. Instead of stopping this, Sony should realise that it is a problem concerning release dates and lack of software. They can certainly speed the former issue up, but the software that is not available here will not sell in large amounts anyway (Sony believe it's a specialist market) and it would not be a viable marketing plan to ship loads of this software in.
So the question (at last!) is why do Sony bother to protect their consoles against using other region's software? Never understood it and never will. There are arguements as to artificially boosting sales in one country, but they account for a small amount of imported software only.
A few of my friends do, I've therefore seen various res-evil games and other adventures on the playstation way before their european release. The fun part, so they say, is trying to work out what the hell you are supposed to do!
I also have a friend that is so obsessed with racing games they buy the Japanese and US versions (they are usually different, before you ask) as well as the UK ones.
I also have a friend that is so obsessed with racing games they buy the Japanese and US versions (they are usually different, before you ask) as well as the UK ones.
I never have understood why with all of the big games, that are more likely to be imported, we don't have a worldwide release date. Obviously it's different if the game has a huge amount of translation to be done between Japanese and English, but how many people would import a game that relied heavily on text/speech, knowing that it would be in Japanese, and they wouldn't be able to play it properly?
Sony have spent a lot of time and money developing a machine that allegedly cannot be chipped or the protection got around. However, reports from Japan say that a company has already created an external chip cartridge (similar to the PS and DC ones) to play import games. The question is not why Sony thought they could outfox crafty chip creators, but why they would want to do this in the first place.
Obviously there is the issue of Piracy. Piracy can be seen as both harming and helping the industry, it causes a dent in the wallets of games companies (and only a fool would argue that they already make too much money) but it helps console companies to shift consoles (as they become more popular when people realise they can get their games for free) although this is still a problem in Sony's case as they are relying on software sales for profit.
Okay, so with Piracy out of the way, which Sony can try but will never succeed in stopping, there is the issue of import games.
Most people buy import games because they either can't wait to get them in europe or they simply can't get them in europe. Instead of stopping this, Sony should realise that it is a problem concerning release dates and lack of software. They can certainly speed the former issue up, but the software that is not available here will not sell in large amounts anyway (Sony believe it's a specialist market) and it would not be a viable marketing plan to ship loads of this software in.
So the question (at last!) is why do Sony bother to protect their consoles against using other region's software? Never understood it and never will. There are arguements as to artificially boosting sales in one country, but they account for a small amount of imported software only.
Obviously there is the issue of Piracy. Piracy can be seen as both harming and helping the industry, it causes a dent in the wallets of games companies (and only a fool would argue that they already make too much money) but it helps console companies to shift consoles (as they become more popular when people realise they can get their games for free) although this is still a problem in Sony's case as they are relying on software sales for profit.
Okay, so with Piracy out of the way, which Sony can try but will never succeed in stopping, there is the issue of import games.
Most people buy import games because they either can't wait to get them in europe or they simply can't get them in europe. Instead of stopping this, Sony should realise that it is a problem concerning release dates and lack of software. They can certainly speed the former issue up, but the software that is not available here will not sell in large amounts anyway (Sony believe it's a specialist market) and it would not be a viable marketing plan to ship loads of this software in.
So the question (at last!) is why do Sony bother to protect their consoles against using other region's software? Never understood it and never will. There are arguements as to artificially boosting sales in one country, but they account for a small amount of imported software only.