KachoMakura
Banned
Feindflug said:
I don't see why the Halo 3 Beta would be region coded. MS owns the IP.
Edit: Surely they don't mean content is blocked period even if it's not region coded? That would suck, sorry. :-(
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360 May Dashboard Update will implement content restriction to different territories
- Thread starter glimmerman
- Start date
I don't see why the Halo 3 Beta would be region coded. MS owns the IP.
Edit: Surely they don't mean content is blocked period even if it's not region coded? That would suck, sorry. :-(
so this means like I wont be able to download Forza2 demo?????halo3 beta???
I am a xboxlive customer since xbox1.
already payed my 2nd year subscription to 360 live
you can go and fackin' check all the tens of thousands of shitty m$ points I've bought,
and all kinds of sh1tty dlc I have bought with my credit card, which you happily accepted in the first place.
the fact that your stupid multi-trillion company does not support my country YET, is your fackin' incompetence problem!!!
now you're telling me that after all this time, your improvement for my country is to CUT a service I already went in all kind of difficulties to use in the first place?
**** YOU MICROSOFT!!!!! **** YOU MICROSOFT!!!!!
and just because I want this message to be clear enough,
If this is true, you guys are more STUPID than anyone could have guessed.
I DEMAND YOU POSTPONE YOUR STUPID-ASS PLAN, UNTIL YOU CREATE OFFICIAL SUPPORT FOR GREECE!!
.
arne, che & stingles:
you guys are community managers for m$. and you do what you have to do really well. (communication)
I dont think its difficult to understand what the problem is here, especially for Greece.
stingles & che especially are related to two of the biggest franchises on xbox brand,
both having xboxlive releases very soon.
can you please
a) verify that the above sh1t is correct, and
b) propose a path of action to solve this BEFORE it becomes a mess of epic diastasis?
you guys are community managers for m$. and you do what you have to do really well. (communication)
I dont think its difficult to understand what the problem is here, especially for Greece.
stingles & che especially are related to two of the biggest franchises on xbox brand,
both having xboxlive releases very soon.
can you please
a) verify that the above sh1t is correct, and
b) propose a path of action to solve this BEFORE it becomes a mess of epic diastasis?
arne said:Demos, patches and especially Arcade titles are subject to the same set of contracts and licensing deals that movies and TV shows are. That's why one publisher for a title here in the US is not the same publisher as in Japan (like Oblivion I believe). And why some arcade games aren't released in every region possible (like Japan unfortunately, or Australia for TMNT). In many/most cases, I think these deals are outside of MS's hands... I mean, I don't see why MS would be privy to distribution negotiations of a third-party, but I could be wrong there too.
The issue will be convincing these publishers that they can further monetize the IP they are licensing, they might not see it that way yet for those countries/regions.
On top of that, even if it's just digital code, there's various local laws and deals that have to be dealt with... such as, I'm sure, export/import licenses from the various countries unless the server and data already resides in that country to begin with (local server), among other things. Using an "international" credit card in other services I'm sure is against the TOS/EULA and while they might not be strict to enforce it, it's because of the same reasons. iTunes definitely works this way, they just don't IP lock it, but the same rules/reasons apply.
I don't pretend to know everything here, this is way over my head. I'm just trying to look at it from what a corp might have to deal with.
My time checking out the Japanese marketplace is also coming to a close...
Where is the "free reign"? you have offered a service and we, as customers, have payed for it, benefiting Microsoft and their associates, I find it quite a normal and reasonable model. The other is the non reasonable model, a situation where everybody, except maybe a few local companies, loose something.
And I doubt there is any law that charge the "importation" of digital code. In that case I would be charged for any type of digital data, like the one coming from the server where is hosted NeoGaf right now.
Is your channel of distribution, yours and none else. You should impose your model and vision about downloadable content ( a vision that is more profitable for your company and for their more important associates, the ones that provide the original content). What you has described is the status quo, a technology/content company as Microsoft with a so important proprietary channel of distribution should have vision and enforce better ways of operating, educating other companies in the process.
I could understand you have not the strenght to force the hand of big media companies over your rules, but for videogames? for arcade service? I doubt you are so desperate for content that you really need to to impose a hard lock to comply with companies like Ubi Soft or even EA.
You should clarify all this, and you should contact about this with your superior because is important. At least there is something I´m missing, you are going to loose the revenue from thousand of players that are situated on countries with no MS Live support, you are gonna to screw a considerable part of Japanese users that can´t rely on their own local service and is going to generate a big and negative reaction.
I am completely sure you are able to limit the lock to media content, the technology is able to do it.
This sort of regionalisation of content is so so dangerous. It's already worrying me when I try to go to the occasional website, and be told I cannot access it because it's not available in my region. This isn't really what the internet should be all about. It might be naive, but for the purposes of content and distribution, rights etc., the internet should be treated as one 'region' onto itself.
I can see MS's predicament in that they feel they can't turn a blind eye to this stuff. But I kind of wish they would (and I kind of really hope other companies continue to do so).
The only alternative is to equalise content across regions as quickly as possible. If there's an issue about whether it's worth going through the motions for single countries (like Greece), then perhaps efforts should be made to group countries together. For example, to treat the EU as one block.
Also, from the perspective of the EU, isn't there an issue there about preventing Greek citizens from buying things from other EU marketplaces/stores?
I can see MS's predicament in that they feel they can't turn a blind eye to this stuff. But I kind of wish they would (and I kind of really hope other companies continue to do so).
The only alternative is to equalise content across regions as quickly as possible. If there's an issue about whether it's worth going through the motions for single countries (like Greece), then perhaps efforts should be made to group countries together. For example, to treat the EU as one block.
Also, from the perspective of the EU, isn't there an issue there about preventing Greek citizens from buying things from other EU marketplaces/stores?
Morbid Angel
Member
Feindflug said:
Great. Xbox Live is not available here and now this. Thanks MS.
-1 purchase.
Acosta said:
QFT! I understand about the problems with the video marketplace but I can't understand why we won't be able to get the content that all the other PAL countries get (here in Greece for example) for their PAL games, it's not that we're trying to download some US or Japanese only content...What I'm saying is that we get the same games the same dates with the UK - why is it illegal to access their marketplace and download the DLC. Our copies are identical to theirs - same region, english language.
Feindflug said:
There's not, that's the point.
As an EU citizen, I can go to any store anywhere in the EU, and AFAIK, they cannot refuse me service based on my nationality or residency. And there's no issue of tax. I thought the freedom of movement of goods and services was one of the principles of the EU.
That being correct, I'd wonder how legally sound it is for Microsoft to refuse, say, a greek citizen from accessing the UK marketplace.
I'm not a lawyer, I may be totally wrong, but these sort of limitations based on nationality seem to go against what I thought the EU made provision for.
gofreak said:
You're correct. I'm not sure if electronic distribution is treated differently (I don't see why it should be). A greek downloading stuff from the UK marketplace should technically be the same thing as a greek ordering a DVD from a UK store. So yeah, blocking off content could spark something interesting...
Patrick Bateman
Member
Xrenity said:
You can't change your nationality on your existing XBL-account. He will have to make a new one.
of course they could.trmas said:
I understand hollywood movie rights etc, and I really dont care for a restriction on that.
it might even sound reasonable.
but game demos and arcade and dlc is another thing. take this away and I might ask if its worth 50e for whats left ..... -> p2p
the most outrageous part though is the official support:
I already have my 2nd subscription to 360 live gold, and before that I was a customer on xbox1 live too.
I sure as hell did not buy my 360 contraband! :lol neither of the two I own.
I bought them from a large retailer, mediamarkt, on day 1 of the microsoft official launch.
I also did not buy contraband joypads, recharge pacs, vga cables, steering wheels, cameras and all that. they where legal transactions.
I bought them from large retail stores, that had them in prime product placing too. there was no contraband under the bench stuff.
I've even bought some games from these same stores, and even some from abroad, either within EU or from the States. not contraband either. never told me that. not even once.
and of course billing.microsoft.com validated my credit card which I've been using to buy stuff form their online service for quite a while.
now, good online services are mainly what m$ pimped the 360 for. I agree, they're super.
but how many years does it take a giant like microsoft to name xbox live "official" in my country?
they seem to have the other aspects of the xbox merchandise business running very good a long time ago.
and now, IF those m$ guys blogs are correct, - instead of getting news like "hey Greeks, we FINALLY are starting 'official' xbox live support for you"-
we got "hey, Greeks, you're contraband and cannot download anything more from xbox live." WTF??!
I really believe that this is misinformation. it is very bad to be real.
DCharlie
And even i am moderately surprised
if this extends to games too then this is not going to end well... this does basically do what Bebpo was complaining about - if you want to play the content from XBL, go live in that country....
For people living in Japan like me, i've been able to get UK downloads because i still have a UK credit card. Live is one of the reasons i'm not changing to a Japanese credit card. Also, i want to play my games in English - how the hell is that going to work with Asian releases....
Arne , MS Community managers, etc... this is a bad move. This is going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of the very people who have been flag waving for MS. If this goes through then MS are basically going to lose that support... okay, it's not going to change the world for MS, but a big chunk of the hardcore are going to be very upset. For those of us in Japan, it basically renders XBL semi-pointless and suddenly makes the PS3 look a lot more attractive.
I'm sure it's not as straight forward as "can't do it, can do it" but this is not going to be good, especially when you couple this news with the substandard state of XBL globally compared to the US.
I dunno guys, this is just sending a very strong, very loud, very negative message to everyone.
and as for those people in places like Greece, seriously... i can't even begin to express how bad this is. What sort of message is this sending?
if something is wrong, or anyone has misunderstood this, then can one of the community guys please clarify this as soon as possible?
For people living in Japan like me, i've been able to get UK downloads because i still have a UK credit card. Live is one of the reasons i'm not changing to a Japanese credit card. Also, i want to play my games in English - how the hell is that going to work with Asian releases....
Arne , MS Community managers, etc... this is a bad move. This is going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of the very people who have been flag waving for MS. If this goes through then MS are basically going to lose that support... okay, it's not going to change the world for MS, but a big chunk of the hardcore are going to be very upset. For those of us in Japan, it basically renders XBL semi-pointless and suddenly makes the PS3 look a lot more attractive.
I'm sure it's not as straight forward as "can't do it, can do it" but this is not going to be good, especially when you couple this news with the substandard state of XBL globally compared to the US.
I dunno guys, this is just sending a very strong, very loud, very negative message to everyone.
and as for those people in places like Greece, seriously... i can't even begin to express how bad this is. What sort of message is this sending?
if something is wrong, or anyone has misunderstood this, then can one of the community guys please clarify this as soon as possible?
Chittagong
Gold Member
Arne:
Just want to go chime in my thoughts on this as well: restricting content availability it's a very bad move for the Xbox brand and community you are building.
If you are to create a global community of loyal Xbox fans, you need to allow the community to have global discussion points. Many people are very mobile these days, living in different countries which means being tied to a single country is not possible. Other companies are moving to an opposite direction in availability of digital content. Sony has even completely removed region locking from games on PS3 and PSP.
Now, I know how these things usually go:
Studio X gets complaint from a jealous European distributor about content being available in their region
Studio X promises to take care of things, calls their Business Development Manager at Microsoft
Business Development Manager flags this issue at monthly report under Key Risks
Topic is escalated to management team agenda
Management team decides to tell platform team to implement restrictions
Community team and Platform team complain
Business Development argues that studio support is lost otherwise, mgmt doesn't risk it
Platform team reluctantly implements locks
Major community backlash
Now, as a community rep you have an important mission: gather sufficient evidence of the backlash into a .ppt and come up with the platform team with a story on why this harms the Xbox brand. Have community people join Business Dev people in meeting studios to explain the new dynamics of a digital world and community creation - studios are hopelessly lost in this topic.
Just want to go chime in my thoughts on this as well: restricting content availability it's a very bad move for the Xbox brand and community you are building.
If you are to create a global community of loyal Xbox fans, you need to allow the community to have global discussion points. Many people are very mobile these days, living in different countries which means being tied to a single country is not possible. Other companies are moving to an opposite direction in availability of digital content. Sony has even completely removed region locking from games on PS3 and PSP.
Now, I know how these things usually go:
Studio X gets complaint from a jealous European distributor about content being available in their region
Studio X promises to take care of things, calls their Business Development Manager at Microsoft
Business Development Manager flags this issue at monthly report under Key Risks
Topic is escalated to management team agenda
Management team decides to tell platform team to implement restrictions
Community team and Platform team complain
Business Development argues that studio support is lost otherwise, mgmt doesn't risk it
Platform team reluctantly implements locks
Major community backlash
Now, as a community rep you have an important mission: gather sufficient evidence of the backlash into a .ppt and come up with the platform team with a story on why this harms the Xbox brand. Have community people join Business Dev people in meeting studios to explain the new dynamics of a digital world and community creation - studios are hopelessly lost in this topic.
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
Thoren said:
Same here, I want to play this game but I am not crazy enough to get a Japanese XBOX 360
DieH@rd said:
I don't think there's such a thing as "eu marketplace". If there was, there wouldn't be an issue for people in Greece etc. My impression from this thread is that different countries in the EU have different marketplaces...but not all of them do, thus with these restrictions, if you are in a country without its own marketplace, you won't have any marketplace.
Of course, effectively it means the same thing for people in Croatia etc. if they do not have their own specific marketplace.
DieH@rd said:
There is no 'eu marketplace'. There is a UK one, and various different ones in different countries. In Greece there is none, thus apparently with this update, they will not be able to access any marketplace, just as in Croatia or Hungary or any other country without a specific marketplace.
DieH@rd said:
To reiterate, though, this isn't an EU/non-EU thing. Greece is part of the EU, and it seems it will be affected just the same as countries like Croatia et al. I'm sure there's probably other countries in the EU without an official Xbox Live presence.
I looked up those countries that are supposed to have Live, and it would suggest that these EU countries do not:
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Estonia
Greece
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Romania
Slovenia
(I don't know how reliable this is, though, because the list on Wikipedia included Greece..but apparently it doesn't have an official Live presence). Maybe someone like arne can clarify what countries have their own marketplace.
DieH@rd said:
There's a wiki here, but I don't know if it's 100% accurate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live
I also am not sure if all countries with Live have a marketplace.
DieH@rd said:
http://aceybongos.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!34EFB79E92974FD2!4205.entry?_c=BlogPart
according to this guy, we can still continue to pay the service to play p2p, but we will not be able to download anything from that service. he says no marketplace.
it MUST be wrong.
edit: too late, already answered above
OK, i found this on Wikipedia on Xbox Live page...
Xbox Live is currently available in 37 countries and territories:
Austria
Australia
Belgium
Canada
China
Chile
Czech Republic
Colombia
Denmark
El Salvador
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Ireland
India
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Zimbabwe
Brazil, Hungary and Poland are scheduled to be brought online during the first quarter of 2007
-----------
.PNG/800px-Xbox_Live_World_Map_(January_2007).PNG)
-----------
So, no Russia? No Middle East? No Mexico??? Greece is on the list... [but they dont have they own marketplace]
Xbox Live is currently available in 37 countries and territories:
Austria
Australia
Belgium
Canada
China
Chile
Czech Republic
Colombia
Denmark
El Salvador
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Ireland
India
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Zimbabwe
Brazil, Hungary and Poland are scheduled to be brought online during the first quarter of 2007
-----------
-----------
So, no Russia? No Middle East? No Mexico??? Greece is on the list... [but they dont have they own marketplace]
Oh, this is rich. According to one of the official MS blogs, content you've paid for and had licensed to you can no longer be downloaded. I bought a bunch of TV shows and deleted them to free up extra space. Oh, guess what, I CAN'T RE-DOWNLOAD CONTENT I LEGALLY OWN ANYMORE AFTER THE MAY UPDATE!
Yeah, MS, I'll be sure to buy lots more DRM'ed content from you in the future. Thanks for the two-day heads-up, so I'll have 48 hours to re-download everything I bought from Video Marketplace. Oh, that's right, THE FILES DOWNLOAD LETHARGICALLY SLOW SO IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO GET THEM ALL.
I can't believe Microsoft would do something so insipid that I'd consider buying a PS3, but it's finally happened. Staggering.
Yeah, MS, I'll be sure to buy lots more DRM'ed content from you in the future. Thanks for the two-day heads-up, so I'll have 48 hours to re-download everything I bought from Video Marketplace. Oh, that's right, THE FILES DOWNLOAD LETHARGICALLY SLOW SO IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO GET THEM ALL.
I can't believe Microsoft would do something so insipid that I'd consider buying a PS3, but it's finally happened. Staggering.
scarybore
Member
I thought Hungary was already on it as I have seen a few of em on Lost Planet, I sometimes like to go see what a certain flag is by checking their Gamertag and a few have said Hungary where country of residence should be.
Either way, this really sucks for anyone who moves around a lot. Would make much more sense just to block off the movies section.
Either way, this really sucks for anyone who moves around a lot. Would make much more sense just to block off the movies section.
Hey guys just a heads up. I am from Cyprus and I have contacted the US xbox live support as they do have an international number. I did it twice. Last night and today. Two different supervisors told me the same thing. It is region restricted not country restricted and it is mainly for the US video marketplace. Things that are available in all areas like say the forza 2 demo(coming soon) will be available to anyone. Just what i was told.
Someone's claiming on B3D that it'll be up to the publisher to decide if content is restricted like this or not. Has that been officially clarified? If not could someone at MS clarify please? Will access be restricted in a blanket-like fashion, or will it be applied selectively?
itsgreen said:
I originally registered my Live account in the USA on an American console with an American credit card with an American billing address. I'm an American, but it clearly is my fault in moving abroad. I guess I'm just going to have to pack up and return to the USA now. Myself, MrSingh, Dcharlie, Cormacaroni, JohnTV, are going to have a mass exodus out of Japan.