Game News DX:HR is going to be region locked

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Deus Ex: Human Revolution; Eidos Montreal

<p>You'll be glad to hear that Square Enix has found a way to protect their customers (from better prices) and generally <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/17/deus-ex-human-revolution-is-region-locked/" target="_blank">make gaming more secure</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Oh dear, someone isn’t supporting our No Oceans campaign. Square-Enix have sadly region locked the boxed retail versions of the PC release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution across Europe. Retail copies sold in the UK will only activate on UK Steam accounts. It’s a similar story for copies sold in Russia/Poland, and the rest of the EU makes up the third European region.<br /><br />What possible motivation could Square-Enix have for restricting the range of choice that their European customers have when it comes to deciding where to buy their game from? Well I had a poke around, and for gamers in France, for example, the cheapest price I’ve been able to find for Human Revolution is €35.99 (or £31.51), whereas they would be able to import a UK copy for £23.49 + £4 shipping, a total of £27.49 (or €31.40). Looking at the pricing of buying Human Revolution direct from Steam, the UK price is £29.99 (or €34.25) and the Euro price is €44.99 (or £39.38). This region locking protects Square-Enix’s policy of international pricing, and prevents customers who are in the EU from being able to avoid the price hike of ~30% Square Enix may or may not have decided to bestow upon their region.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Thanks <span class="postbody">skuphundaku.</span></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/17/deus-ex-human-revolution-is-region-locked/">RPS</a></p>

 

[FatCat]

Like i give a fuck , TPB isn't region locked.

 

[Spectacle]

Like i give a fuck , TPB isn't region locked.

You stole my line!
I was going to buy this thing if the forum reactions were good but I can't let my money support this kind of bullshit. Pirate Bay it is!

 

[Black]

Why must publishers always do the stupidest things?

 

[Angthoron]

It's Steamworks, no surprise there.

 

[Konjad]

Doesn't matter to me, because Polish price will be lower than in the rest of EU, so I'd buy it here anyway.

 

[M_I_C_K_E_Y_M_O_U_S_E]

I intended to buy this one. Well, I guess now that they've done this I'm obligated to "buy" the TPB version and avenge some random poor ignorant bastard who payed too much or imported it not knowing it would be unplayable.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

So... what stops someone from changing a region setting or using a proxy? Derp, your restriction has now been defeated by a 7 year old. At this point it really feels like developers don't care about the whole trying to protect their game anymore, just trying to get as much cock up their customer's ass as possible.

 

[the_unshaved_masses]

Guess I will now be cancelling my "Augmented Edition" pre-order and ordering for TPB instead. See you guys there!

 

[pocahaunted]

It's like they're trying to make the pirated version more attractive on purpose.

 

[hakuroshi]

It's like they're trying to make the pirated version more attractive on purpose.

So their claim on lost sales to pirates would have actual substance.

 

[Dantus12]

My retailer has no clue about this.
Is this even legal ?

Well digital then, just strange:

Please note this affects PC BOXED RETAIL only. The region locking exists because they couldn't get all languages onto the DVD.

What?
How does one lock the UK versions?
-------------

 

[Gord]

I should thank SE, really.
They are making it easier for me to avoid the game (which I do because of in-game ads) with every piece of news.

 

[FaChoi]

Pirates will fix it.

It's like Squeenix really want this to fail.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Some poor bastard will still have to buy it to get it into the Bay of Pirates though. Looks like they're trying to prevent even that guy from spending money.

 

[pocahaunted]

Don't worry, factories usually have some poor bastard willing to donate inventory to the Bay of Pirates.

 

[villain of the story]

I'm also just finding out now that the PC version is actually a straight fucking port (eg. not co-developed in-house with special consideration given to the differences between platforms and also not tested in-house), by a certain Nixxes Software BV who seems to specialize in rather terrible ports of rather shitty games.

My personal experience with a few of their ports suffered from poor controls above all (which were also apparent in the leak, which I was hoping would have been resolved in the final build), despite other technical issues.

That and now the region-lock, well, Squirt Enix has squirted in the eye of the PC crowd. Cancelling the pre-order. Too bad because I really enjoyed what little I had played of the leak but fuck this shit.

If you are in EU, there is a chance there might be something you could do about Squirt Enix finger-banging you with region-locking.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The future of Thief 4 looks even more bleak after this.

 

[SoupNazi]

Why would you be concerned about the controls and port when you already played the leak and enjoyed it?

Who the fuck cares about 5€?

Suck it haters, I'm keeping my preorder. I bought it on Steam in the first place anyway.

 

[villain of the story]

Also, Squirt Enix/Eidos forum puppets practicing deliberate misinformation:

Some misinformation happening, making those who have bought the game confused and worried unnecessarily. 99.9% of users are totally unaffected by this in any way shape or form, and those who HAVE bought the UK box copy from outside the UK are aware of region locks as most online activated games get region locked.

Does this guy have any idea what EU even is or how EU works? When pressed about it, he tries to weasel out by linking to a Q&A thread and noting consumer responsibility to inform self before a purchase, whereby contradicting the official position on the issue:

Q: What about international orders?

A: Try game.co.uk with shipping to other countries.
Beware of platform. 360 games can be region locked, and PC and (usually) PS3 games are not.
Try also, http://www.play-asia.com/ and http://www.shopto.net/

 

[racofer]

Like i give a fuck , TPB isn't region locked.

 

[skuphundaku]

My retailer has no clue about this.
Is this even legal ?

In the EU it's not legal because it contravenes to the free movement of goods between the member countries, which is one of the main points of having the EU in the first place.

Well digital then, just strange:

Please note this affects PC BOXED RETAIL only. The region locking exists because they couldn't get all languages onto the DVD.

What?
How does one lock the UK versions?
-------------

"The region locking exists because they couldn't get all languages onto the DVD" is a load of bollocks. As if nobody ever bought a game, or any other form of media for that matter, in a foreign language and not having all the EU languages on the disk is reason enough for region locking.

As for how it's done, the lock is done through Steam. For example, the UK version can't be activated on Steam unless you're in the UK. I hear something like this happened with Brink as well. Also, they have done stuff like this before, in Germany, where CoD2 and CoD:BlOps were censored and, in order to not be able to import them from somewhere else, the only version that you could activate was the German, censored, version. And all of this is possible by having the retail editions of games packed with Steamworks so that you need to register it on Steam in order to play. And, most likely, it happened in many other cases but nobody or almost nobody noticed. Congratulations to all the Steam apologists! Your tireless efforts are really making the world a better place!

 

[Gord]

Also, Squirt Enix/Eidos forum puppets practicing deliberate misinformation:

I don't know if the guy is an official spokesperson of SE or Eidos, but honestly their information policy so far has been less than stellar.

First they insisted that the game won't just be an console port (what it is), then the issue of in-game advertisement (there still isn't any official statement on this, even after reviews have clearly stated it to be present) and now the whole region-lock thing.

Is "being a dick to your customers" part of Publishing 101?

 

[villain of the story]

Why would you be concerned about the controls and port when you already played the leak and enjoyed it?

Because the leak looked and played like shit (shoddy graphical performance, control input lag and interface lag) despite all the things I enjoyed, and getting things as fundamental and simple as controls and interface so bad in the final build is simply unacceptable to me.

What I saw of the game in the leak isn't FUCKING GREAT(tm) to begin with, it merely hinges on the quality of presentation, the story, the events ie. some really cool stuff that they have managed to put into the game and this is after putting up with technical issues plus the popamole bullshit like cover system with visibility cheat and free passes in the form of cinematic take downs already. So when I say the leak was good, it was good despite the heap of shit and I that managed to find something worth paying for in the core of the game, so that the minds behind those parts can get their due and maybe do other similar games in the future.

But if I'll have to put up with the shit I did in the leak on the mere wishful thinking that at least the technical aspects of it would be fixed, but instead be mistreated like a piece of shit who is ready to jump any piece of bone the people higher up are willing to throw with so much contempt, then it just isn't fucking worth it. It's like continuing a relationship with an abusive partner because there are a few good things between the two of you. It might be good but you know what? Bearing with that shit is simply not worth it.

I'll just fucking pirate it and be happier that I'm not supporting some assholes thinking they can get the best of me while enjoying their shit ridden but decent piece of game. Not that it's any relevant in the bigger picture but this is about dignity, we aren't talking about people dying of fucking starvation in some shithole like Somalia or what have you, to forfeit such concerns.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

I'm also just finding out now that the PC version is actually a straight fucking port (eg. not co-developed in-house with special consideration given to the differences between platforms and also not tested in-house), by a certain Nixxes Software BV who seems to specialize in rather terrible ports of rather shitty games.

they seemed pretty ok: http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/deus-ex-3-u ... 766p1.html
3D/EyeFinity/custom FoV/keyboard+mouse centric

meh, at $24 + $6 shipping how bad can it be ?!

 

[villain of the story]

Since when do you trust anything you read on GameSpy. Fucking pigs will eat anything.