Deathsmiles IIX Question

Postby **VideoGameCritic** » May 25th, 2012, 6:15 pm

I noticed Deathsmiles IIX (Japanese Import) on sale at Amazon

Will this work on my American Xbox 360?

Shogun1 · Postby **Shogun1** » May 25th, 2012, 6:53 pm

I searched and it is not region free. There are several shoot'em ups on the 360 that are region free though. - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dvideogames&field-keywords=Xbox+360+Region+Free

JWK1 · Postby **JWK1** » May 27th, 2012, 12:04 am

Critic, you can purchase the game on XBL for $30. As I understand it, this is the only way to play the game in regions outside Japan. Sucks, because I loved the original and would like to have a physical copy of this one.

Postby **VideoGameCritic** » May 27th, 2012, 11:31 am

[QUOTE=JWK]Critic, you can purchase the game on XBL for $30. As I understand it, this is the only way to play the game in regions outside Japan. Sucks, because I loved the original and would like to have a physical copy of this one.[/QUOTE]

First off, I don't think I would ever invest $30 in a downloadable game. If I'm going to pay more than $10, I want to own the thing.

And even if I wanted the game that bad, I would resist purchasing it on principle alone. I don't want companies thinking that posting it on-line is as good as selling it on disc.

Adamant1 · Postby **Adamant1** » May 28th, 2012, 6:12 pm

Critic, for further reference, online store Play Asia has an excellent compatibly guide up here:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-xbox360_compatibility_guide-49-en.html

It lists every regional version of every 360 game (there are four standard regions, Europe, America, Japan and Asia), and tells exactly which regional models each game is playable on. There's no real system to 360 cross-regional compatibility, so this guide is a real lifesaver for importers.

Postby **VideoGameCritic** » May 28th, 2012, 6:56 pm

Thanks Adamant - that will come in handy.

Which leads me to the question - why do publishers do this region garbage in the first place? What are they afraid will happen?

Greisha1 · Postby **Greisha1** » May 29th, 2012, 1:15 pm

[QUOTE=videogamecritic]Thanks Adamant - that will come in handy.

Which leads me to the question - why do publishers do this region garbage in the first place? What are they afraid will happen?

[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure ... maybe they think an "American" / "European" division of a company should get the profits from said region?

Or perhaps it's a carryforward of region-specific consoles/software in the past. (However, you would think one standard console build would be cheaper in the long-run compared to having differences for each region.)

They do the same thing for DVDs ... but not CDs. Famicom carts don't work in NESs without an adapter, but Game Boy games were region free. Huh?

Gilly1 · Postby **Gilly1** » June 6th, 2012, 8:08 pm

First off, I don't think I would ever invest $30 in a downloadable game. If I'm going to pay more than $10, I want to own the thing.

And even if I wanted the game that bad, I would resist purchasing it on principle alone. I don't want companies thinking that posting it on-line is as good as selling it on disc.

[/QUOTE]

Interesting, that's my cut off too. $10 if it's a download. Put it on a disc and we triple that easily.

Blueguy1 · Postby **Blueguy1** » June 6th, 2012, 11:03 pm

[QUOTE=videogamecritic]Thanks Adamant - that will come in handy.

Which leads me to the question - why do publishers do this region garbage in the first place? What are they afraid will happen?

[/QUOTE]

Good question, and I think I have an answer to that.

See, the reason they do it is that they feel that the market for retail 2D shooters these days is very small. In America, at least. In Japan, these things will sell better, which is why they probably sell those exclusively there.

But imagine a 2D Halo or a 2D Call of Duty. People would probably love it, considering those franchises are huge. But publishers automatically assume that it's only 3D games that sell. There's still a viable market for 2D gaming, as proven by the Wii's blockbuster 2D games from 2009 and 2010. The reason they don't sell as much is because money for advertising isn't as much as, say, a typical first person shooter.

That's my two cents on the issue.

Leo1 · Postby **Leo1** » June 7th, 2012, 11:58 pm

I believe he was asking why companies region lock games. I've heard several reasons behind it (Particularly so they don't have to worry about price parity), but I still don't really see the benefits.

Even if games were cheaper in another region, it seems like the cost of importing would most likely erase any potential savings and discourage the practice. All region locking seems to accomplish is annoying a small diehard percentage of their install base.

I love that the Playstation 3 is region free. Wish they all were that way.