Xbox One is going to be region locked


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As the details of the Xbox One continue to trickle out following the May 21, 2013 unveiling and the subsequent deluge of facts (some real, some not), we have one more piece of information to confirm about the console: the Xbox One will still feature regional locks.

?Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale,? A rep from Microsoft confirmed to Digital Trends. ?We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One.?

No surprise here. Region locks are nothing new, especially for video games. Different parts of the world have different rules regarding what content is acceptable, both from a moral and a legal standpoint.

Brazil, for example, has incredibly high taxes on video game software and hardware. Whether or not those taxes are fair is another conversation, but without region locks people would simply circumvent the law and order their games and hardware from a foreign vendor.

While that might sound like a good thing for Brazilian gamers, it would create mind-bendingly complicated legal problems. All of that can be prevented by a simple piece of software that is already considered part of the industry standard.

Source: http://www.digitaltr...e-region-locks/

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Wait, I thought Blu Rays aren't region locked?

Just like DVDs they can be region locked or region free.

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Region locks exist because countries don't trust or support their own import & customs departments.

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Region locks are really annoying but in fairness even Steam has them to some degree.

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Region locks are really annoying but in fairness even Steam has them to some degree.

cheaper prices in different parts of the world, but i can see get someone from neowin to gift me a game at a much lower cost then here in NZ. Can save 10-30$

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X360 has them so why should we care about this news.

Why did you post then if you don't care? Some people like to know everything they can, and just because the 360 has region locking does not mean the Xbox One was going to. Movies usually always get locked, but games aren't always region locked.

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theres several way to enforce region lock:

The old/classic way:

If games are try to be played on wrong region specific console, it halt.

To circumvent this, gamers are usually buy another region console, paired with mulit standard TV-set.

The new way:

This new method is NOT to replace the old way, BUT to augment it. Its done by connecting to the Internet.

The connected server will know your IP-address,

which then will know your ISP, and your country are now, the result will reported back to your console.

So even you use another region console, the console will know about it, and will block your gaming experiences.

The old way circumvention method is no longer effective.

See, this why MS insist XBOX-1 must connected to the internet once in a while. ;)

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All they're doing is following the law, evil MS, how dare they!

In all seriousness, if a country wants regions locks for games then in order to sell your content there you have to follow the rules. Some places have banned some games, due to violence etc, region locks make sure those banned games don't make it to the market from outside.

Now it could be, as with other things, up to the developer to pick if their game is locked or not. Even the 360 had a few games that were region free IIRC.

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All they're doing is following the law, evil MS, how dare they!

In all seriousness, if a country wants regions locks for games then in order to sell your content there you have to follow the rules. Some places have banned some games, due to violence etc, region locks make sure those banned games don't make it to the market from outside.

Now it could be, as with other things, up to the developer to pick if their game is locked or not. Even the 360 had a few games that were region free IIRC.

Germany still uses european region code so not really. the region codes are for market differentiation not because of bans. unless others decided to be as idiotic as Nintendo and apply German laws across all of europe ;)

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OMG it's going to be region locked?! No other console has ever been region locked before. This is unprecedented.

/cancels preorder!

Pre-orders PS4!

turns out it is region locked as well!!

/nooooooooooooooooooooooo

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How can it be the law in some countries if the PS3 is region free?

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Wow region locking, how original.

In effect this news is "MS does what 99% of other media outlets do!", not news.

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theres several way to enforce region lock:

The old/classic way:

If games are try to be played on wrong region specific console, it halt.

To circumvent this, gamers are usually buy another region console, paired with mulit standard TV-set.

The new way:

This new method is NOT to replace the old way, BUT to augment it. Its done by connecting to the Internet.

The connected server will know your IP-address,

which then will know your ISP, and your country are now, the result will reported back to your console.

So even you use another region console, the console will know about it, and will block your gaming experiences.

The old way circumvention method is no longer effective.

See, this why MS insist XBOX-1 must connected to the internet once in a while. ;)

You could use a proxy... just like watching a different countries netflix. Oh, and if the device itself is region free but locked based on a server check.. then you save money as you don't need to buy another regions device.

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Looking at the post or the comment by the MS rep, it really doesn't say anything about region locking and only that they'll do what they have to legally in order to sell their content in a country. Now is they're another quote not posted or something because honestly that comment they made could mean anything.

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This is probably the least annoying thing I've heard about the One because I haven't imported games since the PSX, Saturn era. All in all though, I think the entire Xbox One unveiling seriously needs a "do over". I've hear more about what I'm not allowed to do with it vs. what I can do. For a company full of intelligent, rich people, they're about as out of touch and idiotic as can be. Hell, I don't even care about what games are coming out for it at this point.

This console is shaping up to be first and foremost, a device created for the sole purpose of easing the minds of paranoid, controlling content creators who are apparrantly one financial crisis away from sleeping by trash cans.

"Comsumer choice has no place in the living room" - Quote extracted from the brain of some imbecile at Microsoft.

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