Uncharted demo is region "locked"
by Jem Alexander 
{ Nov 8th 2007 at 6:00PM }
Uncharted is due out on the 19th of November in America, with a European release of December the 7th. As a result SCEE will be waiting for a couple of weeks before releasing the demo to the EU Store, in order to maximise profitability. Until then, we are at the mercy of SCEA who may or may not resolve the "issue" by sneaking up a "fixed" version for eager Europeans to enjoy.
If this is an intentional region-lock, then this doesn't bode well for the future of the PlayStation Store and those of us with dreams of a single, worldwide store sometime in the future will be sorely disappointed.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
shane @ Nov 8th 2007 6:05PM
ultra fcuking lame!!!
Hannibal @ Nov 8th 2007 6:18PM
Putain de connerie !!!
( a little word from france ... )
Solace @ Nov 8th 2007 6:19PM
"Region Locked" implies that this was a conscious decision.
considering the history of the console and games, i'm sure this was a mistake rather than something intentional.
accidents happen, and it's not like SCE"A" is going to test to make sure it works on SCE"E" consoles.
people need to lay off the "OMGWTFBBQ!!11!!!!1!" hyperbole.
Solace @ Nov 8th 2007 6:19PM
"Region Locked" implies that this was a conscious decision.
considering the history of the console and games, i'm sure this was a mistake rather than something intentional.
accidents happen, and it's not like SCE"A" is going to test to make sure it works on SCE"E" consoles.
people need to lay off the hyperbole.
Damian @ Nov 8th 2007 6:22PM
The problem Sony have got with this one is that, given you're not "officially" supposed to use a store outside your territory, it probably doesn't leave them in a position to comment.
Educated guess: not deliberate. That "insert disc" thing is a bit too random. Sounds like a bug.
Best thing Sony could do is bring forward the EU release of the demo and pretend that was intended all along...
Hyams @ Nov 8th 2007 6:24PM
Meh. R&C is coming out tomorrow, we Europeans can play that until the EU demo is released.
Andy @ Nov 8th 2007 6:29PM
That sucks. Ha
Mak @ Nov 8th 2007 7:07PM
I find it hillarious people are blaming Sony. They were the ones who broke the licence agreement and faked accounts to get it, really puts all blame in THEIR court.
Adam @ Nov 8th 2007 6:39PM
I have a Japanese PS3, but a North American PSN account as my main account. The Uncharted demo downloads, but will not display anything, not even a Region Locked message. It shows only a blank screen and resetting the PS3 is the only way to get out of it. A big letdown for all of us with international machines who legitimately should have access to North American PSstore material. Likewise the new Information Board function will only display things in Japanese, and instructs users to switch their settings to Japanese to enjoy the function. Just a small heads up for anyone with an Asian PS3 as well.
elephant_stone @ Nov 8th 2007 6:40PM
This is the worst news I have heard all year. F***ing sony! Just when I had regained faith in them and thier "controversial" firmware 2.0!
Jason B. @ Nov 8th 2007 6:56PM
Anyone try putting a disc in the system to try and see if you can bypass it? The Timeshift demo has a little bug in it where if you eject a disc in the system while the demo is on it will tell you to insert the game disc. I'm thinking that uncharted could have the same issue. Doesn't hurt to try it out.
Secura @ Nov 8th 2007 6:59PM
The demo is really good in my opinion. I feel sorry for the other regions. :( I am most definitely buying this game first day.
stirlo @ Nov 8th 2007 7:02PM
:'( i hope this is a mistake, the only reason i haven't been whinging about the LAME/way too late eu/Aussie psn updates so far is the fact we can get stuff from teh other stores..
If they keep up the region locking stuff, it only gives modchip people an excuse to start developing one.
( in australia a case against a ps2 modder was thrown out of court as it was proven that the chips legitimate use was to play imported games, and Sony couldn't argue against it as they would then be admitting to price fixing )
Shinogu @ Nov 8th 2007 7:02PM
Region locking doesn't occur after booting the software up. There's the standard high pitched noise then a notice about the software itself being region locked after trying to access the software, whatever it is. The XMB is visible the whole time.
In short, it's buggy demos. Donmai, and try a re-download (1200 megs, ouch).
Neftali @ Nov 8th 2007 7:11PM
I have a Japanese PS3, but a North American PSN account as my main account. The Uncharted demo downloads, but will not display anything, not even a Region Locked message. It shows only a blank screen and resetting the PS3 is the only way to get out of it. A big letdown for all of us with international machines who legitimately should have access to North American PSstore material. Likewise the new Information Board function will only display things in Japanese, and instructs users to switch their settings to Japanese to enjoy the function. Just a small heads up for anyone with an Asian PS3 as well.
by Adam
... i could have wrote this, i am in exactly the same situation!!
Kiddie @ Nov 8th 2007 7:16PM
ratchet and clank doesnt come out tommorrow in australia.. it comes out in ONE WEEK! and this demo thing is outrageous i say! you can tell this was done deliberately and i bet you were going to see it happening to more and more demos now too. man i really dont want to be limited to just the aus network in the future that place is bloody depressing.
Adam @ Nov 8th 2007 7:29PM
Kotaku has confirmation that the demo is region locked on purpose, rather than this being a bug.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/uncharted%7C-drake.s-fortune/yes-the-uncharted-demo-is-region-locked-320678.php
Adam @ Nov 8th 2007 8:02PM
The message on the main PlayStation blog is a litte bit mixed. They say that they wanted US players to get it first since that's where it will be launched first, but then call the fact that the demo won't work on PAL/Asian NTSC machines a bug.
http://blog.us.playstation.com/
Broken Haiku @ Nov 8th 2007 8:45PM
Mine didn't display the message, I just got a black screen, and when trying to force a quit game, the console freezes up and reboots.
Vincent @ Nov 11th 2007 1:40PM
I don't understand why they go with this. Yeah it'll be released in US first, doesn't mean there won't be European players willing to import it before it's released in their country. Why release a region locked demo if the game itself won't be?
I hope not many companies and games follow this trend, my Japanese PS3 gets here next week.
optimusprime @ Nov 8th 2007 10:09PM
Guys this is obviously a bug, and not intentional. Why else would the error message say "Please Insert The Game Disc"? In the Playstation blog, Sony producer says so, and apologizes for the mistake. No need to get up in arms about it.
Zombie Huggles @ Nov 8th 2007 10:34PM
Sorry for you guys that didn't get a taste of the game, its fun, but a bit short. I know it's a demo and the game comes out...what? Next week...but still, I wanted to explore just a little more. At least R&C gave us the first level. Ah-well, the A.I. is dangerous, you can't hang back and take them as they come, you have to get confrontational and grab that spare ammo that litters ground after a quick fight, crazy!
Kiddie @ Nov 8th 2007 10:58PM
ive managed to calm down a bit after reading the playstation blog. the initial response wasnt very helpful but if you look 40 comments or so down, the guy makes another post:
"Hi guys and gals,
We hear you loud and clear. Wanted to chime in here and let you know that we have shared your frustration with the Naughty Dog team and we are going to see what we can do. I will be back tomorrow with an update, but in the meantime I hope you can be patient and bear with us. As you have learned through communicating with Evan and Amy on the blog, Naughty Dog is a studio that listens to gamers, so I hope to have good news for you soon.
Thanks,
Sam"
RPGJock @ Nov 8th 2007 11:28PM
The last blog says it was on purpose and it looks like there will be no fix for it.
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/11/08/uncharted-drakes-fortune-demo-update/
Ithilis @ Nov 8th 2007 11:37PM
That really sucks. Though it's worth the wait, guys. This is the first PS3 game that has thoroughly impressed me.
I haven't had a chance to play R&C yet, though.
Kxpuc @ Nov 9th 2007 1:44AM
erm off topic but...anyone else notice that the PSN store changed, you can do a Buy Now option to instantly add the lowest amount of money to wallet (if you don't have enough money) also you can stream video's while downloading it
upsetened @ Nov 9th 2007 2:55AM
MY revenge on SONY and Naughty Dog over this "bug" (not buying that!) will be two pronged:
Revenge#1
Today I have the choice of purchasing CoD4 on either of my consoles. I was going to buy it for PS3 as I prefer PS3 however ,my revenge over the uncharted demo will be that I will be purchasing it for 360.
Revenge#2
To punish Sony and Naughty Dog I will be purchasing a pre-owned copy of Uncharted- that way neither of them will see a single penny.
This is my revenge for what they did to me. This is my revenge against the travesty that is SCEE and the way Europeans whp paid more for their PS3s are treated like dirt by Sony always last in the line getting the leftovers and stale crumbs after the Americans have gorged themselves into obesity They get everything first and cheaper, the list of games missing from the Europe store is an insult. Blast Factor advanced research for example- still no sign and there is not much localization work with that!!! Im sick of SCEE lies and excuses and incompetence I am sick of paying more and getting it last. Sony want to ask themselves why thay treat their most loyal market like dirt.
bobo @ Nov 9th 2007 3:11AM
You are 100% right, upsetened! I support you!
Michael @ Nov 9th 2007 3:12AM
sux like a nuclear driven vacuum cleaner. I just wanted to start downloading ...
Tony @ Nov 9th 2007 3:20AM
The ONE game I was looking forward to above all others, and they do this....
I'm sure it's going to be a blinding game, but come on ND, this is idiotic.
Michael @ Nov 9th 2007 3:30AM
@21: I'm sure thats NOT a bug. A program does not check for itself, which region it is started in. There has to be an algorithm, checkin the region and then displaying an error message & not starting the game. Maybe the errortext given was selected to pretend its a bug.
JackMichael- @ Nov 9th 2007 5:42AM
What amazes me is that Europe and Japan are better markets for the PS3, just waiting to be taken, and we keep getting pooped on!!! America is practically lost to the Xbox360, yet Sony keep pouring great games and online content into that area before the areas that actually matter to them.
Sony really need to get their priorities straight.
I really don't understand why they just didn't start of with a worldwide store, instead of having separate ones for different regions.
Popfrogs @ Nov 9th 2007 7:37AM
@32: I'm glad they have separate stores. Who wants to wade through all the retarded Japanese/Hong Kong videos of some unknown singer that sucks just to get to their demos? Not me.
upz @ Nov 9th 2007 10:50AM
"Who wants to wade through all the retarded Japanese/Hong Kong videos of some unknown singer that sucks just to get to their demos?"
Hey! That's not some unknown singer, that's Sammy! Oh wait...she does suck...and she's ugly. Touche, salesman.
Solace @ Nov 9th 2007 8:33PM
Looks like all you conspiracy nuts can put your ludicrous theories to rest.
Check out the latest blog post - they fixed the code.
I think a few people on here (but mostly on the official blog) owe NaughtyDog & Sony an apology and/or thanks for fixing this so quickly.
Tidux @ Nov 9th 2007 8:51PM
update gals and guys,.
they have fixed the problem for s just diwnload it again and it will work=)tested here in sweden,.!