Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

If a game sells more as an import it just means people wants the original imported version more than the localized one. So if anything it tells NOA they suck at localization and that they should include the features importers are looking for. And if it's just a release time issue then it's telling Nintendo not to be stupid and release worldwide at the same time.

In the case of Xenoblade localization wasn't an issue, it had dual audio. Its just that NoA - not unlike SCEA - just had some bullshit pristine release schedule they didn't want disrupted. You know, because sitting on the best JRPG this gen to keep it clear of Zelda and Rhythm Heaven Fever was so necessary.

That aside, where VOs and Nintendo are concerned, pushing for a worldwide release is a terrible idea. Even if Metroid Other M had dual audio, the story was still garbage. No amount of voice talent anywhere could have saved it save for not rushing the Treehouse on localization. It's like Nintendo's Heavy Rain, without the awkward creepy sex scenes. And an actual game inside it.

[Firewind]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Turns out Arena will be the first Region-locked PS3 game. No reason has been issued to Atlus USA, so they can offer no reason at this time.

EU importers are pitching a fit, but honestly, they only have to wait til August 31st for the EU version. All versions have Dual Audio so I don't see what all the fuss is about.

How long did I have to wait fit Xenoblade and The Last Story? Five to eight months after its release in Europe, was it? Who's getting Fire Emblem first?

Yeah, cry me a damn river. I have plenty to play while waiting for stuff like this.

Okay I'll bite.

You do realise that 5-8 months is nothing to wait for a game to finally release in your territory. Try waiting 16 months like with Persona 3 (FES came out in the US before the basic P3 came out in the EU IIRC) and 9 months with Persona 4. How about damn near 2 years for P3P. Devil Survivor has been out for 3 years on the DS and 1 on the 3DS and we still have no idea as to if it will actually come out here. And that is just Atlus games.

Tales of Vesperia? PS3 version was out in Japan before we got the 360 version with nothing extra for the wait.

FFXII? Nearly a full year after US release we finally got it with the "International" Version coming out pretty much straight after in Japan.

FFX? Not only was it a full year after Japanese release before EU & AU got to play this but the Japanese got a rerelease before it even came out here.

Same thing with FFVII actually, except the EU version was identical to the US version and didn't get any of the 4th disc International Version stuff (at least FFX got it)

We didn't even see FFXI until 2 and a half years after the original Japanese release due to Sony not releasing the HDD here.

Oh! Guess which two regions got not only BlazBlue but also the PSP version before the original even came out in the EU?

What about all of the Japanese gamers that want to play great Western games but have to wait as long as European gamers have to wait for Japanese games? Face it, the US has it all good.

Note that during this time you have to follow the news and development of the game while avoiding spoilers from other people who have the game because they didn't have to wait over a year for it. Plus when you finally get it and excitedly discuss the game online the reaction you get is lukewarm at best from most communities who have moved on to the next game.

Yeah but as I understand it, EU tends to pirate a great deal more than other territories, which unfortunate fuels publishers with a reason to region lock, not mention importing puts sales somewhere else than where you as a fan would like them to be seen.

Massive generalisation here though you don't really know that market too well. The countries that tend to pirate a lot such as Poland, Greece and Russia (and only two of those countries are in the EU) pirate not because of region locking, but because various forms of DRM and idiotic developers/publishers/hardware manufacturers. In Poland it's actually illegal to have an XBox Live account according to the ToS. Due to it requiring a foreign e-mail address which Microsoft will instantly ban you for because "lulanti-piracy", you simply can't use a console without hacking it in Poland (which gets the console completely locked out)

In Greece video games were still semi-illegal for a while which lead to a huge black market.

Russia is just Russia, there's way too many to police over too large an area to enforce anti-piracy measures.

Germany has draconic laws when it comes to video game ratings (no blood, gore or decapitations at all or a game is banned. And let's not even get started on games featuring Nazis) so German gamers tend to import from Austria or the UK or simply pirate.

And also do you really think that Europe pirates games more than South America, Africa and Asia? There's probably more pirating going on in North America than Europe.

Put it this way: if I imported Xenoblade, I have no reason to buy it again. If I dont buy the US version, that tells NOA they were right and we don't want games like that, yet we do.

If I import Persona 4: Golden I will get it for 50% less than I would from anywhere in Europe plus I wouldn't have to wait for 8-12 months for it to come out as a full priced game.1

If I don't import Persona 4: Golden than my PS Vita would be a $400 paperweight because there's only like, 2 games out for it in Europe. Plus I have to pay over $60 for the game

Same thing with Arena except I'm forced to pay those prices for the game because I have no option of importing it and it's going to be a wait another 2 months for the game.

Tell me, what incentive do I have to you know, not import if the console or game is region free? Region locking the game just gives me more incentive to keep playing what I am playing until the price drops to a more reasonable level, or more incentive to buy a cheaper rival game.

In the case of Xenoblade localization wasn't an issue, it had dual audio. Its just that NoA - not unlike SCEA - just had some bullshit pristine release schedule they didn't want disrupted. You know, because sitting on the best JRPG this gen to keep it clear of Zelda and Rhythm Heaven Fever was so necessary.

Europe has been putting up with this bullshit from KOEI and then Square Enix, who Published Atlus games for a very long time for years

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Ray already gave general rundown of all that noise.

If the distributor is the issue, they're who needs to be the target.
If its the laws, laws need to be the target of change.

Australia just got some of their bullshit draconian laws on games turned around, I might add.

Publishers can also clearly be an issue, which means they need to be the target. But shouldn't that mean targeting a SE or EA game rather than a small third party dev that gets published them? To take this point further, Atlus is a video game studio that exists with a cell phone company, making Index Corp. the real party of blame, not Atlus or Atlus USA.

It's not like Blizzard where they have a more direct line to Activision, which is why I'm far less forgiving toward them.

And people can downplay it all they want, but Atlus facing loads of piracy in every territory, every publisher has the right to have anti piracy measures, whethere they're effective or not is semantics, but they're clearly enough to upset people which speaks to thier effectiveness on some level.

Personally I think the region free ride is over. 3DS locks, Vita makes it such a hassle it might as well be. Those two platforms are a taste of the future. You can either sit on your ass and complain or push for change at the sources of the problem.

Sadly, gamers tend to be all talk, unless the ending of a trilogy isn't satisfying.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Persona 4 Arena: Atlus statement clarifies region-lock -Destructoid

Atlus USA stated this came to be due to the US and Japanese versions are releasing two weeks apart, have dual audio and it's its essentially to prevent Japanese gamers from importing the US version. It's worth noting Japanese gamers get dinged harder at home than any other territory does.

It's actually a lengthy statement, vastly more forthcoming than Nintendo would put out on the subject or EA ever would about the online pass. Well aside from rolling out a developer to go "poor me."

This seems to be an Index Corp. decision, but Atlus USA says its a one time deal.

It's another good reason to stop pushing for dual audio and a simultaneous worldwide release, too.

[Raydeus]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

You wish. Dual audio is a must.

Localization delays are fine as long as they don't take more than 3 or 4 months, but that's different from taking years to release in other regions while blocking imports with retarded cheap tactics.

- - - Updated - - -

PS > Also, if people prefers to import over buying games locally then maybe you are being very stupid about something as publisher. Whether it's pricing or features or others it's an indication you are doing something very wrong. Trying to tie the hands of gamers will only lead to loss in revenue one way or the other no matter how much you try to force your consumers to consume your product as you deem appropriate.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

You wish. Dual audio is a must.

Voice over, in general, has never been a "must."

I miss the days where stuff like this didn't complicate a release and cause so much inane bitching. As much as its enhanced some games, its not something all games need or benefit from.

Probably why I'm looking forward to SMT IV more than most games. Strange Journey and Nocturne didn't need acting at all. There will be no pleas for DA, they'll all just have to read.

Also, if people prefers to import over buying games locally then maybe you are being very stupid about something as publisher

Money I understand. Putting language and presentation preference over the game itself? Nope.

[Raydeus]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

If voice over is not a must and you miss the days of no voices at all then it's logical to conclude there should be no need for dubbing and games should include only original language voices.

Subs and general text can do the job better than any localized dubbing ever could. It would be cheaper and save quite some time since you would only need to translate text, not to mention virtually all Japanese games already feature subs by default.

[Icemage]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Persona 4 Arena is Region-Locked Because the Dollar is Weak Against the Yen

So apparently the North American version costs about 1/3 less than the Japanese version due to exchange rates, and Atlus is worried that Japanese consumers will import the game en masse since the NA version will most likely have the English and Japanese voice work (at least on the PS3 version, not sure about the 360 version... not that anyone in Japan would import the 360 version anyway, amirite?).

The real losers here are the people in Europe, who have no option but to wait for whenever in 2012 the game ends up releasing in.

Japanese consumers aren't paying any more for the game than any other game on the shelf and get it a week early, and North American buyers are only behind by a week and have the lower price anyway. Who wants to bet that the EU price is going to convert out to be not only the most expensive, but also the latest?


Icemage

[Raydeus]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Ouch.

I think I'm just going to skip the game. I was already doubtful about playing it, and seeing this kinda stuff really triggers my boycotter instincts.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

The real losers here are the people in Europe, who have no option but to wait for whenever in 2012 the game ends up releasing in.

The statement makes it sound like its late August/Early September. August 31st was what I heard originally.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Zen United: Our Intention Is To Keep The Persona 4 Arena Delay To A Minimum | Siliconera

EU version is being published by Zen United this year, they don't have a solid date set beyond that. Dual Audio supported in that version, too. So two to four month wait at most.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Looks like Teddie is getting not one, but two alternate playable appearances in P4G which are:

- Human Teddie
- Crossdresser Teddie



Also, power rangers:



There's also Velvet room assistant costumes (Elizabeth, Theodore, Margaret), a MIB kind of theme, bathing suits, bathhouse suits, yukatas, kimonos and all that jazz.

[Aeni]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

Persona 4 Arena is Region-Locked Because the Dollar is Weak Against the Yen

So apparently the North American version costs about 1/3 less than the Japanese version due to exchange rates, and Atlus is worried that Japanese consumers will import the game en masse since the NA version will most likely have the English and Japanese voice work (at least on the PS3 version, not sure about the 360 version... not that anyone in Japan would import the 360 version anyway, amirite?).

PS3 and 360 version should be the same price in Japan ... 7,500 yen (roughly, including sales tax) It's 4,800 yen for Japanese to import the game from the US. That is not an insignificant savings (a difference of roughly $35) I think anyone in the US wanting to import this game from Japan is an idiot considering what Atlus has already spelled out ... therefore, arguments regarding this particular instance of the region lockout has no merits.

And please, no region is entitled to any release of any game ... same goes for movies and music.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

I think one would import the Japanese PS3 collector's edition from Japan if they had a Japanese PS3. I actually know of someone on the Atlus forums that did. US and UK don't have collector's editions to my knowledge.

[Aeni]

Re: Persona 4 coming to Vita, Persona fighting game to PS3/360

I think one would import the Japanese PS3 collector's edition from Japan if they had a Japanese PS3. I actually know of someone on the Atlus forums that did. US and UK don't have collector's editions to my knowledge.

I completely forgot about the Collector's Edition, so you are very correct. But with or without any kind of lock-out scheme, when you import a hardware device, you knowingly do so at great risk to yourself, either due to intangible legalities surrounding the whole issue, potential technical hurdles or pitfalls or even future changes to the policies governing the development and distribution of the software that is used on the device. I'm not taking sides here and I acknowledge that some players will likely have their pooch screwed over this, but you're right, simultaneous releases and multiple audio tracks do not make good bedfellows.