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Only 1 PSN account per Vita - Cancel your preorders :(
- Thread starter mehdi_san
- Start date
Nora Kisaragi
Banned
so what i'm getting from this topic is...the vita isn't region-locked, but you have to lock your region in to play it? so basically, it's region-locked
EDIT: No video out? Whaat? :l
EDIT: No video out? Whaat? :l
rollingstart
Banned
You can't just switch it through the PS3 anymore like with the PSP? because it would be pretty bad if you couldn't.
And this is something that could potentially change with a firmware update, right? I mean, I don't remember PSN even launching with PSP. Sony seems less prepared to release the Vita than Nintendo was with the 3DS. In all the ways competition can be good, it's when cutting corners like this gets to be a problem.
if it's like the PSP, then only for digital (PSN) content. If you import the physical copy of a game, you can play it on your North American machine just fine, assuming that's unchanged from the PSP. It screws you if you wanted to go digital only and play other region's games.
And this is something that could potentially change with a firmware update, right? I mean, I don't remember PSN even launching with PSP. Sony seems less prepared to release the Vita than Nintendo was with the 3DS. In all the ways competition can be good, it's when cutting corners like this gets to be a problem.
if it's like the PSP, then only for digital (PSN) content. If you import the physical copy of a game, you can play it on your North American machine just fine, assuming that's unchanged from the PSP. It screws you if you wanted to go digital only and play other region's games.
Coloress_Kafka
Member
What's stopping someone from buying a Japanese game cart and using it on a US Vita?
It looks like the following is the case:
- retail games from any region can be played on any Vita
- once you buy Vita, it will be locked to one particular PSN account
- you can only purchase and play digital content for that account on it, and switching it requires a system reset
So it's effectively region free in terms of retail games, and semi region locked in terms of DD. (Semi since you can still eg. use a US account from the EU)
antiquegamer
Member
Heh, it's gofreak what were you expecting. Of course if this handheld was a Microsoft product he would claim how absolutely evil they are and how MS is setting back the industry.
That said though, I think being a portable system I can see why this is really not deal breaker. In my household at least we don't generally share our portable system. I can see the argument regarding region lock contents but then again switching profile to circumvent region lock is probably not something that is a "feature".
So people who take it to Japan, or Europe can buy a game on a cartridge. If they were to sign in to PSN, they'd be granted by the same storefront anywhere in the world.
charlequin
Banned
I think inasmuch as shooting the shit about a purely luxury hobby on the intertubes is ever useful, establishing what a legitimate bare-minimum standard for account management looks like on a new device released in 2011 is moreso than excusing an obviously suboptimal one.
I lol'd IRL.
Except there are no region locks for retail games.
And you can change your account (and thus, your region) but its bothersome
I know that I only need one account, just like the PSP.
And with the Activation Management, it'll be easy to switch to any accounts.
This is a shitty piece of news. I have PSP games bought from both EU and US PSN stores and it's already annoying having to switch around the way it is right now on PSP. Vita making it even more of a pain in the ass annoys me enough to lower my interest in getting one at launch, since I know I'd be buying games from both EU and US again for Vita too.
charlequin
Banned
Where were you when I was bitching about this like a year ago!
CouchMaster
Member
At least 3, so I can buy physical copies from 3 different regions and not have to worry about DLC incompatibilities.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
VITA titles are also on PSN. So that make PSN purchase from different regions hard. Especially since there are offers on games in different region at different times. One could save a lot of money when buying games while there is an offer. It´s consumer friendly. This, not so much.
Sony does IP checks for services like that. For example, I can't browse the US PSN Video store because I have a Canadian IP.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
time to buy a 2nd vita
Interestingly enough, no video out and now this are basically my only real problems with Vita.
And the annoying thing is that both are probably decisions taken for stupid "product positioning" reasons, and not any real problems with implementing the objectively better solutions.
And the annoying thing is that both are probably decisions taken for stupid "product positioning" reasons, and not any real problems with implementing the objectively better solutions.
Dead Prince
Banned
no they just canadian IP. everywhere else is fine.
I counter that through VPN but I agree few of us know about it and they could have gone this way again.
How are my "equivalencies" false when Sony allows me to do exactly what I want with PS3 digital games?
I guess I should just give in and buy all the content twice since I'm being so unreasonable by fanboy standards. And meanwhile, maybe I should start buying two online passes to play the same disc online on different PS3s.
DangerousDave
Member
But if there are DLC, you are fucked.
Wrong.
Oh please: pot, kettle. You only ever appear in Vita threads when there's bad news to lol at
And if seamless account switching with full foreign digital catalog access is 'the bare minimum standard' for a modern handheld, then I'm not sure I'm the one lacking perspective. Because that's far from the standard today.
Of course I'd love switching to be seamless and for it to be a perfect digital importing setup. But as a compromised system it still compares pretty well overall.
charlequin
Banned
The memory card thing is a positioning issue too, whether it personally bothers you or not.
What I think is really fascinating about this is the fucked-up priorities it reveals: Sony presumably want this system to be successful, and the people actually engineering its hardware and software have (wisely) focused intensely on its online experience as a major part of its product offering -- but at every turn, the digital aspects of the system have been sabotaged by clunky and poorly thought-out positioning choices that will guarantee a weak, underperforming digital marketplace.
Not a huge DLC supporter, but I get your point.
AkimbO_Arcana
Banned
yup, pre-order canceled.
Not all games will offer patches or DLC, but just in case... that may make importing less tempting indeed.
That's exactly why I called it "annoying". They apparently did a really good job with the hardware and OS engineering this time around, only to have it undermined by stupid management decisions. Must be painful if you worked on the system, and I can empathize.
I'm not sure if region locking is much of a reason for an "underperforming digital marketplace" though (even though I wish it would be), considering that Steam, iOS and Android are all region locked. But I guess you were talking more about the memory card pricing in this context.
Dead Prince
Banned
the future is DLC. there's no denying it. devs have to make money somehow.
charlequin
Banned
Oh please: pot, kettle. You only ever appear in Vita threads when there's bad news to lol at
Are you sure you're not thinking of Nintendo digital download threads? I think that would actually be accurate.
On its own I don't think this particular thing will be a meaningful drag on the online marketplace, no, it's just representative of the relative importance of the two: Vita is legitimately region-free for physical games but effectively region-locked for digital ones.
(The shrinking system-activation count was the other recent decision that suggested to me that someone at Sony who doesn't care about their digital ecosystem is making a lot of these decisions.)
It seems the initial reveal was too good to be true... now they're starting to let little things out that, together, really affect the system... I mean, it'll still be awesome, but some things are out of place.
iceatcs
Junior Member
Oh well. At least it didn't affect me too much because I haven't bought import for long time.
I hope it made Sony get better timing for PSN store, not to keep other regions too long.
But there are far many PSN games from Western developers then it should be fine for me. Shame for Japanese who might have to wait for PSN to import there.
I hope it made Sony get better timing for PSN store, not to keep other regions too long.
But there are far many PSN games from Western developers then it should be fine for me. Shame for Japanese who might have to wait for PSN to import there.
charlequin
Banned
This is the same obnoxious thing Nintendo did with the 3DS: reveal all the good stuff upfront, then dribble out the obvious crowd-displeasers over the next year in the hopes people won't be paying too much attention.
I mean, obviously I get that companies are going to want to put forward the best face of their products, but I feel like both of these current handhelds are sort of historically unusual in terms of just how many decisions were made about each that involved purposely worsening the system in some straightforward, concrete way in order to preserve bullshit market-positioning points, hedge bets, or avoid dealing with difficult issues.
drkOne
Member
Buy physical, you'll still be able to "gameshare" freely.
And what the fuck is up with your attitude?
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Are Nintendo/Sony even interested in selling me a handheld this generation?
Holy fuck this is shit. I sink a lot of money into the PS3's JPN store and I'm sure I would have done the same for the Vita.
Holy fuck this is shit. I sink a lot of money into the PS3's JPN store and I'm sure I would have done the same for the Vita.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
Ohhhh, damn. I didn't get what the big deal was at first, but yeah, this sucks. :-\
RocketDarkness
Member
Just wait 'til more companies take Arkham Asylum's lead and make major features day-1 free DLC with the online pass system.
already on my PSP if I want to play games bought on UK PSN I have to be logged in with that account. Which is a shame, because my US PSN account has my preferred username and friends lists. So on the PS3 I log in with my US account but play my UK games. Couldn't do that on the PSP and won't be able to do that on the Vita either.
'factory reset' sounds more extreme but at least the physical cards are region free so just buy digital from your local region, and physical for imports.
'factory reset' sounds more extreme but at least the physical cards are region free so just buy digital from your local region, and physical for imports.
Yep. The 3DS and Vita have both suffered from this drip-feed of negative information on the run up to launch. Like you say, both companies want to stress on the positives of the product, but it's the little (yet important) things that put me off sometimes.
The TOS clearly state that using fake data and accessing other regions is not allowed. Microsoft restricted all access by IP check a year after launch in Germany for example.
What? It's 100% legal.
(Well, except if you're importing a game into a country where it was banned I guess)
get2sammyb
Member
The problem is, people tend to overlook the reams of positives in favour of honing in the few negatives. At the end of the day, this isn't really a big deal when you factor in all the great things Sony have done with the PS Vita in the first place.
I understand the disappointment, I just think threads like this get blown out of proportion sometimes.