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Sony planning on replacing PAL games on PS Plus with NTSC versions

ParaSeoul

Member
You know what I miss? When Sony used to get things right from the start.
You mean most of what they do now.
bored kanye west GIF
 
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Anyone with sense knows that they're in a tough spot due to PAL languages and the NTSC versions usually not having those languages due to space constraints.

They're doing the right thing by offering NTSC options, but I'm sure in some cases they have to relicense the games because they were never originally sold in those regions.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Not replace, it will be an option. They still need to have the PAL versions there for the language options (which I don't give a shit about, but I think in some countries it might even be legally required - or maybe that's just Canada).

I wonder which games will NOT get the NTSC option. That will decide whether I even consider Premium or just stick with Extra. I'm not playing those busted 50fps@60hz versions.
 
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Esppiral

Member
Someone please tell them that you can play most pal games at 60 Hz vía Emulation tweaks and most games run fine, no need to lose the pal language localizations
 

ParaSeoul

Member
Someone please tell them that you can play most pal games at 60 Hz vía Emulation tweaks and most games run fine, no need to lose the pal language localizations
It doesn't matter too much nowadays but there were games back then with better PAL versions than NTSC versions.
 
Not replace, it will be an option. They still need to have the PAL versions there for the language options (which I don't give a shit about, but I think in some countries it might even be legally required - or maybe that's just Canada).

I wonder which games will NOT get the NTSC option. That will decide whether I even consider Premium or just stick with Extra. I'm not playing those busted 50fps@60hz versions.

I'd imagine it'll be easier for games that they own the rights to and more difficult for the ones that they don't. The question is whether there be a cost associated with it and the answer is most likely.

Sony is essentially licensing SKUs for their subscription service and this will be two entirely different SKUs.

The question also begs whether these games need to go back up for review by PEGI rating boards for consumption in PAL regions.

Does Europe end up with fewer games because the cost of the program is prohibitively more expensive?

Does Sony patch the PS5 at some point to support native 50hz and is this the better solution long-term than paying for additional licenses?
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
And what about languages? Would NTSC versions have the Spanish language of the PAL version?

Unlikely. localization config varied by region, with the PAL version almost invariably having the largest number of language options - typically EFIGS (English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish). PAL builds also took the longest time to QA and had the heaviest memory requirements due to the additional string support and a requirement to select within the binary itself.

People forget that there was zero system-level support back in the day. Everything down to the bitmaps for the character sets needed to be coded into the binary/release package.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Great stuff. Now make that PS1/PSP/PS2 library worth talking about.

Id love to see the PS3/Vita library of classics on PS4/PS5. They done it before, lets do it again
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
- GT7 microtransactions
- PAL games
- Extra fees for people who purchased PS+ at a discount
- Closing the PS3/Vita stores
- Not being able to upgrade Horizon

How much backtracking can one company do in 12 months or so? Why do you even feel the need to defend them?
Really comes down to how much pushback they get from gamers. And all of those had that so they 180'ed.

If gamers didn't bring it up on forums or reddit, their initial intentions would had stuck.
 

Kuranghi

Member
Most NTSC versions don't have the extra languages used around the world.
The best situation would be to offer both versions. Hell even Nintendo does this right.

Which is weird really, you'd think they would have Spanish at least when more than 10% of the population speaks it at home. I suppose it because traditionally games came out in USA first, so the FIGS was done after that, but maybe that makes no sense in terms of release timeframes.
 
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