Tuesday, August 8, 2006

The Pros and Cons of Importing Games.
The desire to play import games is at least a reason I can rationally understand, but cannot condone. Sure, there are games you might want to play that are either released earlier or, quite possibly, not released at all in your region. But sometimes companies have good reasons to either not release a title into a region or release it at different dates. It may be because of the time and cost of localization, marketing plans, ad buys, cultural considerations, or perhaps even because of the impact of piracy in the region. Whatever the case, it’s safe to assume the publisher has thought about it. The good news is that most publishers are developing with multiple platforms, regions, and languages in mind up front, so this is becoming less and less of an argument. (After all, it’s in the publisher’s best interest to sell as many copies as possible, right?)

Okay. This basically means, if a game you want doesn't come out in your region, you're screwed. But that's okay because Microsoft will sell you something in America that isn't quite as cool as the games you wanted. This statement came from someone who works at Microsoft, so that's why I'm picking on them (and if you know me personally, you know the distain I have for my Windows box, but Macs are just too damn expensive).

Well, you know, I'm a fan of Megami Tensei or at least you know now, if you didn't before. People like me–those who like obscure franchises–often get screwed over when it comes to localization. I mean come on, until Persona, how many people actually knew about Megami Tensei? More importantly, how many of you actually learned about it through Nocturne or Digital Devil Saga? And how many of you still don't know what I'm talking about?

Anyway, I import games. The reason I import games is because a large majority of games I actually want to play don't reach American soil. Frankly, I don't like being fucked because I don't agree with the mainstream on what is good. Typically, I only import games that have a low chance of being translated, such as Megami Tensei games. Heck, I had to import Innocent Sin. Eternal Punishment just isn't a complete game on it's own, and I'm sure anyone with eyes can see that (I know at least four people who picked it up but couldn't go past the Sanitarium because it just didn't make sense. Well, two of them were Final Fantasy fan boys, which didn't help).

Bah, this has turned into more of a rant on why I import games. So, let's just break it down.

Pros
1. There are some good games that will never come out State-side.

2. There is sometimes extra content in the Japanese version of games (like the Snow Queen story line in Persona: Be True to Your Mind or an extra yet pointless conversation between Sephiroth and Cloud in the international version of Kingdom Hearts).

3. Sometimes the localization of games sucks. Does anyone remember the whole "All your base..." thing? The game wasn't horrible, but the translation was (I don't actually remember the name of the game, but I remember playing a rom). My other example is once again with Persona: BTtYM. Mark Harrison/Masao Inaba. That is the biggest personification of what was wrong with the localization.

Cons

1. The local branch of the company loses money if you import a game that is going to be localized. Apparently, it isn't much money since only a handful of people import, so that's a weak excuse.

2. It's expensive to import games. If you get a game from a Japanese store and have it shipped to America, shipping is a bitch!

3. You have to get more pieces for your system to make the foreign game play on your system. Then, you have to know what you're doing to attach said parts. If you mess that up, you can royally mess up your console (to the point where it won't play. Trust me, I did that my first time). Plus, the X Box is not mod-friendly at all. You can't easily take it apart, and I don't know enough tech geeks to attempt it. Plus, you can get banned from X Box Live for modding your console, even if it is just to play foreign games.

4. Sometimes, the American version is better. I say "sometimes," since usually if there's an improvement in the American version of the game, Japan will pick it up in the re-release.

Well, this turned out longer than I thought, since I ranted a bit. Sorry, but this subject actually effects me. The fact that you can't seem to mess around with the PS3 is acting as more of a turn off to me. Now, if it were region free, I'd be happy. That's why I like the GBA and the DS.

Well, how many of you guys feel a bit screwed over by the whole region thing? I'm sure I'm not the only one.
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