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Sony finally bothers to announce the PSP for Europe


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The PSP will at last get its European launch on the 1st of September at the expected price of ?178 (or 249 euros) for the 'value pack' [The Spider-Man 2 UMD offer will be repeated]. In silly money that makes the European pack around $340 so er... should I ever decide to get one I think I shall be importing thank you very much.

 

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=8231

 

Daniel

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Although in the UK it's going to be a mail-in gift instead of packed in like the US.

 

How very cheap. They force you to buy a more expensive bundle, and then don't bundle everything! I assume the rationale is the same as mail-in rebates, enough people don't bother following through with the paperwork/mailing that it makes it worthwhile.

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I was trying to figure out the reasoning behind that too, and I couldn't really think of a worthy excuse. The only thought that did come to mind is that UMD movies may not be available in Europe for quite some time perhaps due to territorial multi-language issues and that owners wouldn't be able to buy Spider-Man II off the shelf, but it too is a rather baseless guess.

 

If Videogames Plus in Canada, who sell the ValuePack for ?155 including Gretzky NHL, included Wipeout or Lumines as the bundle game instead I?d probably import one on a whim.

 

Daniel

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Sony was good enough to go on the record to Eurogamer to stress again that no PSP games will have regional lockout, stating that it is in fact a technical mandate to developers not to put region locking on titles.

 

They also said wireless play will be fully compatible between various regions though suggested due to "language, system issues and quality assurance procedures" in a multiplayer situation gamers are best off each having a game from the same territory.

 

UMD movie regional locking is, according to Sony, up to the content providers themselves.

 

http://eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=58810

 

Daniel

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Sony was good enough to go on the record to Eurogamer to stress again that no PSP games will have regional lockout, stating that it is in fact a technical mandate to developers not to put region locking on titles.

 

From what I've heard, technically they support game region lockouts, but it's a TRC that you do not support it.

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They also said wireless play will be fully compatible between various regions though suggested due to "language, system issues and quality assurance procedures" in a multiplayer situation gamers are best off each having a game from the same territory.

 

Colin Berry from the Wipeout Pure team confirmed a while back that a US copy of Pure will (a) work on other region machines, but (B) won't play networked games with other region copies, due to language support issues. But then, the situation is the same on the GBA, so I can't say I was surprised.

 

If you want one, import it. Personally, I'm not bothering purely because I'm broke.

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Oh I'm honestly in no rush. It'll be way beyond the 1st of September before I consider getting one regardless of whether I import one or get a domestic model, and it will take a good number of PSP games at E3 to even convince me if I've any great reason to own one in the first place since the current games that do appeal I can count off on one hand.

 

Isn't there also a wild rumour Wipeout Pure may be enhanced somewhat for Europe?

 

Daniel

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  • 1 month later...
The slightly scary part is the bit in the lawsuit where they're also demanding a list of names and addresses from Play-Asia of everyone who was sent one.

 

You're kidding? My god that is sick (and I mean sick, not "sick" as in "cool" however the hell that silly term came to be). What are they going to do? Charge those buyers the extra ?80? I was so close to wanting a PSP as well but Sony have now escaped so far up their own arse they can count me out of a sale. If ever I do get one in future it’d still be an import just to piss them off, unless they’re going to arrest people at airports next too.

 

Daniel

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Whats next people in Europe cant by stuff from North American Sellers on ebay?

 

Sony have eBay running around closing down all the PSP auctions on the UK site apparently (when they aren't busy stopping people unloading spare Live 8 tickets, I presume). People who have won auctions that escaped the net have been sent emails requesting they don't go through with the sales, too.

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What can they feasibly do in court though? It baffles me what rights they actually believe to have here. It's a universal product, surely any sane ruling would be in favour of the consumer and blast Sony for bringing this on themselves by giving planned European PSP stock to the US for the North American launch, seriously delaying the European release and delivering it at a higher price.

 

Daniel

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sony has won what, we can safely assume, is the first of many planned court injunctions against a retailers selling PSPs to Europe. Nuplayer is the first to be hit with the order.

 

Following a series of delays in the case, Mr Justice Lawrence Collins last week ruled that Nuplayer had no arguable defence against Sony's claim that the retailer was infringing trade marks.

 

He issued a summary judgement ordering Nuplayer to pay substantial costs and damages, and to hand over any remaining stock along with details of profits, suppliers and the names and addresses of customers who purchased five or more PSP consoles.

 

You can read all abaaaaaaad it here.

 

Sony's going after Lik-Sang next.

 

Daniel

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  • 3 weeks later...

Lik-Sang goes public on their dealings with Sony in regards to the importing row:

 

This lawsuit comes as a total surprise to Lik-Sang.com, given that the laws of Hong Kong are clear when it comes to parallel trade. Hong Kong's legislation is based on the fact that allowing parallel and free trade will restore natural competition and benefit consumers with lower prices. Hong Kong, one of the pioneering countries respecting worldwide exhaustion of trademark rights, allows free trade once an item entered the market for sale.

 

The company running Lik-Sang.com, Pacific Game Technology (Holding) Limited, is fully registered and operating in Hong Kong and has no ties with the UK. The company is currently looking into available options to combat Sony's cynical attempt to disrupt the successful online business again, gain total market control, and garner publicity.

 

http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3666

 

Daniel

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