Rumour: Firmware 3.50 Allows Region Locking
Region free console? Don't bank on it.
Published: 12:15, 25/10/2010 by Staff.
23According to French site PS3Gen it appears that the latest software development kit (and by extension, the latest firmware) allows developers to region lock their games to individual countries. The option’s always been in there to lock games to a region, but it’s never been used, despite Midway thinking about it for Stranglehold.
It’s not clear what the image is from below, it could just be the Netflix application which doesn’t run on a European PS3 anyway, but it looks like the site has delved into the SDK a little and the results could be interesting for those that bought a PS3 based on its region free gaming capabilities.
From what we can gather from the French, it looks like there might be different regions that drill down deeper than just the US, Europe and Asia. The site mentions the three we know about, but then has a ‘region 4′ for England (yes, I know) and others for Mexico, Oceania, Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Russia. There are 31 potential regions.
PS3Gen has another screengrab on the site that hints at a ‘region deny’ flag for games, and then shows a range of allowed regions.
We’ll keep an eye on this one.
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25/10/2010 at 12:19
Member since: Feb 2009
Could this be something to do with music games like Singstar – which are affected by different music licences across Europe?
25/10/2010 at 13:19
Member since: Forever
It does not stroke with the Import section the US store got for PSone titles?
If you search the internet you see the region lock is already in the 3.30 firmware but not enabled..
25/10/2010 at 12:20
Member since: Jan 2010
Damn it, I got Resistance 2 over 3 weeks early because I imported it from America, I guess I wont be able to do that again! =(
25/10/2010 at 16:36
Member since: Aug 2008
I have never imported a game, but its nice to know i could. The PSN is just as bad with content locking.
The thing i don’t understand with region locking games and movies, is in this day and age, with the internet around, it will only take a day or two longer ordering things from the US than it would getting it from somewhere in the UK, leading to frustration. The sales factor of it is another puzzler… Surly, for example, if GT5 was released in the US in November but not until January in the UK, then blocking people buying the game from the states seems stupid as its money not in the Sony bank account asap.
What was the main reason for region locking in the first place? why did companies feel that forcing people to wait for there products was a good idea?
25/10/2010 at 12:21
Member since: May 2010
if region 4 becomes real, I’ll just have to sell my PS3 :/
25/10/2010 at 16:11
Member since: Nov 2009
If region 5 becomes real, I’ll just have to buy 1 more PS3. I hope it’s all false alarm, otherwise it’ll be a huge fail, like PSP Go.
25/10/2010 at 12:22
Member since: Forever
The biggest win for region free gaming was God Of War Collection when it took SCEE over 6 months to release it over here and most people who wanted it imported it.
I wonder if this will have greater rammification on PSN titles, pretty much everyone uses the US store for day early access to free content like AAA demos and stuff don’t they, plus the fact that some stuff just doesn’t make it to our store like the recent Sonic demo for example.
The lack of region locking on the PS3 has really benefited us in UK/EU, if it changes I will be disappointed.
Back in the day I was a big importer of games to play on my Megadrive where I’d physically hacksawed the cartridge port to allow the slightly different shaped Japanese cartridges to fit. I’m really interested by the US Import Store where they get imported versions of simple Japanese games, I wish they’d launch that on the EU store, but I don’t think there’s the demand for it as people are happy to miss out on some amazing shmups & stuff
25/10/2010 at 12:53
Member since: Apr 2009
Demon’s Souls says hi
25/10/2010 at 12:27
Member since: May 2009
I don’t think they will start to region lock games, it’s simply to big a system seller. It’s likely an region lock for very specific games og apps.
25/10/2010 at 13:20
Member since: May 2009
I agree, there will be a very big backlash for Sony if they did.
25/10/2010 at 16:02
Member since: Oct 2008
That hasn’t stopped them before.
25/10/2010 at 12:39
Member since: May 2009
What’s the whole point of region locking? I mean there haven’t been any problems because of it, right? :/
25/10/2010 at 17:29
Member since: Sep 2009
Wasn’t there a story a few months back about people in an Asian Country going on ‘gaming holidays’ to a neighbouring Asian Country and getting things really cheap, to the extent that Sony stopped selling the PS3 in the Country they were visiting?
I can’t remember the details now, but it would explain why they have decided to add an extra level of region detail in their region locks…
25/10/2010 at 12:41
Member since: Nov 2009
Jesus Christ why can’t they actually just give the gamers something of benefit in these firmware updates!? Do not include Twitter and Facebook as these just make my blood boil.
25/10/2010 at 12:53
Member since: Nov 2009
Unify PS stores or at least the content instead, this is going in a completely wrong direction. I’ll be really dissapointed if region locking becomes a standard for PS brand in upcoming years.
25/10/2010 at 13:08
Member since: Apr 2009
This could be bad news for residents of the UAE, seems a lot of games get banned over there. If there’s truth to this, and developers start utilising it, it could mean UAE gamers can no longer import banned games, as they’ll be unplayable.
Hopefully this isn’t the case…
25/10/2010 at 13:10
Member since: Sep 2008
Could this stop UK users signing in to US accounts? That’d be bad.
25/10/2010 at 14:38
Member since: Aug 2009
Very bad!!