Diminutive Diatribes: Why Region Locking is an All Around Bad Idea

Region locking.  It's been a part of gaming since it's rebirth in the late 80s at the hands of Nintendo.  The pins in the original NES cartridges were of a different number than those in Famicom carts, so neither could play the other's games.  And really, this has kind of boggled my mind.  Our industry has a history of region locking that...largely doesn't make any sense if you look at it objectively.

Region Locking: Making you buy asinine add-ons to play your games since the 1980s

            First, what is region locking?  Well, it's basically a system put in place, either through hardware or software, that prevents video games from one specific region of the world, such as the US, Europe, or Japan, from working on the same game systems from a different region.  US games don't work on Japanese consoles, European games don't work on US consoles, Japanese games don't work on European consoles, etc.  This might have made a bit more sense when it was first envisioned, as in order to prevent another video game market crash, Nintendo created some software lock out procedures to make sure they had quality control of video games.  They didn't want bootlegs being produced with minimal effort and flooding the market.  This is likely how region locking became a standard feature in gaming consoles and, to be fair, it made sense at the time.  After the Atari crash, no one wanted to deal with another market where several hundred games, many of low quality but still sold at full price, were released every week.  However, it's twenty five years later.  I think it's time for the game industry to move on.

Ah, the NES lockout chip.  Tool for building monopolies, controlling quality of games, and preventing imports...this was in the 1980s.  Why have we not moved forward?

            Region locking has understandable roots, but why has it been maintained?  Honestly, I couldn't tell you.  To me, it's never made much sense, other than that's how it's always been.  From a business perspective, it actually does far more harm than good.  The games industry has an unbelievably diverse amount of tastes, genres, and preferred types of games.  Trying to cater to all these needs is not in the current game industries best interests.  AAA games require so much capital that they tend to try and appeal to the broadest possible audience, while niche titles which can't afford a worldwide release, thanks to translation costs or what have you, are only released in one region.  However, think about this for a moment.  If you, as a developer or a publisher, have a game that you cannot release in another language, but there is still interest from the gaming community, who want to play the game regardless, does it not make more sense to have a console that can play your game, thus giving these gamers a reason to buy your game from you?  Set up a service, or work with already existing services like PlayAsia, and sell your games directly to the consumers who want them.  You still make money, since copies are being moved.  And, if interest is enough that you want to make a release in that language, chances are good that even if the gamers bought the import copy, they will still buy the new, translated copy just for convenience's sake so they can have English menus or hear the dialogue spoken in their own language.

Originally scheduled for a US release, Grand Knights History remains a Japan only title.  C'mon, Vanillaware!  Partner with Amazon Japan or Play Asia and bring it over to us!  Even untranslated, this game looks gorgeous

            This is simple.  No matter who buys your game, you are still moving copies...however, region locking is an arbitrary limit on how many copies of your game can ever be sold.  If, for example, a Japanese game is released for the Wii, which is still region locked, and that game is only sold in Japan, that limits your possible customers to the Japanese public.  True, that's several million people, but not everyone will want to buy your game.  Your market share is drastically crippled by this action.  Now, think about what happens if region locking were removed and your game could be bought online from Amazon without the insane shipping costs or extraneous fees.  Your potential customer base goes from maybe a few million Japanese Wii owners to several hundred million Wii owners world wide.  And no, not everyone may want to buy your game, but if removing region locking got you one hundred thousand more sales, wouldn't that be worth it?

Everyone loves the Wii, right?  Not importers...this machine is near impossible to import for due to region locking.  You'd have to buy a Japanese Wii

            Largely, console makers have been waking up to this fact.  Portable gaming consoles like the PSP and the Nintendo DS are region free, allowing gamers to pick up Japanese or European DS and PSP titles and play them, offering free publicity and sales to these niche titles.  The same could be said about the PS3, which uses region free discs.  This is actually how Demon Souls, and by extension its sequel, Dark Souls, got a US release.  There were so many people importing the game that From Software, the developer, took notice and gave the title a proper US release. 

An Asia only release of Demons Souls got an American release because people were importing it like crazy.  That's the thing!  Make it easier for us to get copies, translated or not, and we will give you money!  It was so popular it even got a sequel, Dark Souls

            However, there are still pockets of resistance that...really don't make any sense.  The Nintendo 3DS uses region locking on it's online services, so you cannot buy Japanese games on the Eshop unless you have a Japanese 3DS.  This is easily one of the stupidest decisions you could make about the 3DS.  For starters, there is no overhead with digital games.  No manuals, cases, or discs need to be made.  If an American gamer wants a Japanese game on the Eshop, that is basically free money that you are saying you don't want.  Likewise, the PSN and Xbox Live put similar restrictions on buying digital content from Japan or Europe.  The question I have to keep asking is why?!  Those products are not subject to refund, so quality control shouldn't be an issue, they are delivered over the internet, so there is not an issue of production, it is basically free money!  And as recent as 2013, the Xbox One at it's announcement said that it would have region locking.  Why would you do that?!  You still get royalties off the games sold, so why would you limit your market like that?!

A step in the right direction, but why would you restrict digital content, Nintendo?  That's even EASIER than cartridges to just give a free pass to on region locking!

            Video games are a global market now and no longer just defined by region.  Game and console developers need to recognize this fact and embrace it.  Embrace the idea that you can sell a game in a foreign language to people not native to that country.  It will improve your sales so so much.  Look, the simple fact is that right now, importing is something of a niche market.  You know why?  Because the steps needed to be an importer are a lot of trouble.  With the NES you need a converter to play Famicom games.  With the SNES you have to make changes to your console.  With the Playstation or PS2 you need mod chips and with each of these consoles, sometimes this doesn't work and you need a Japanese or European console to play those games on it.  It's a lot of hassle.  That's why you don't see the kind of sales I'm saying you COULD have.  But selling games is just like squashing piracy.  If you provide a better service, customers will beat a path to your door.  If you make it as easy as buying a foreign game online, or even in a store, and just plopping it into a gamer's machine with no hassle, you will see a huge increase in your sales.

So long as this screen remains, you will be flushing hundreds of thousands of sales down the toilet, game industry

            I think this may be one of the last great hurdles for the game industry to get over.  They got over censorship, they managed to deal with digital distribution, they've even gotten to the point where they no longer need to directly compete with one another, as Nintendo's Wii and Wii U pursue a different market from the PS3 or the Xbox 360.  Now, they need to get over this last hurdle and not fear letting foreign games outside the borders of their home countries.  Just like some US gamers will be entranced by Umihara Kawase, some Japanese gamers will jump at the chance to play Spyro the Dragon in its original English.  Region locking is an all around bad idea, games industry.  You keep playing the pauper and saying that pirates or used games are killing you...when really, you've shot yourself in the foot for years thanks to region locking.  You want more sales?  Remove region locking and watch as the numbers start to climb.

Americans aren't the only ones removing region locking would benefit.  Some western properties are just as popular overseas as eastern properties are in the west.  Food for thought, guys

            The fact is, in this day and age, after all that the game industry has been through, I should not have to say this.  But I do.  There is a huge market for import games that is being ignored by the game industry at large.  The only way many of us get Japanese or European or Brazilian titles these days is through Steam.  Games like Recettear or Class of Heroes are Japanese games the US wouldn't touch, but a few savy developers translated them and brought them over for Steam players to enjoy and they have reaped the rewards of their efforts.  Personally, when I was in Japan I bought five Japanese language DS games brand new because they weren't for sale in the US and I wish I'd bought more.  Let me make this clear, games industry.  Stop region locking.  You hurt not only us, but yourself when you do so.

Month of Characters: Top 10 Villains I Hate For All The Wrong Reasons:

Well, anyone who knows me could probably guess that this was coming.  We have tons of great villains in games.  Well rounded villains who are relatable, lucid ones who are charming and brilliant, and the most scummy ones who you hate because of how evil they are.  However, here's the thing...when the story does it's job right, you hate the villain because that's the way it should be.  When the story screws up, you hate the villain because you want to smack the game designer and go "What were you thinking?!"  These are 10 villains I utterly despise, but for all the wrong reasons.  Needless to say, there will be spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING!!!

Satan(Castlevania Lords of Shadow)

I've talked about this one before, so do I really need to go on?  Satan as the final boss of a Castlevania game?!  I mean, c'mon...where's Dracula?!  But, for completeness sake, let me explain, again, why this is such a stupid decision.  First off, he's never been introduced, mentioned, or even hinted at throughout the 30+ hour game and we're supposed to care about fighting him at the end?  Bull crap.  I know lots of games sometimes do the fake out, where the main boss you've been fighting gets killed off and a new guy appears, but it does not make it any less stupid.  Also, if Satan is the head baddy, why would he kill one of the Lords of Shadow?  Because he kills the Lord of Necromancers right at the end of the game.  Finally, by killing the Lord of Necromancers, Satan ACCIDENTALLY SAVES YOUR LIFE.  Gabriel Belmont had been used and tricked by the Lord of Necromancers all game and had unwittingly come into contact with a possessed artifact that the Lord of Necromancers could use to kill him.  In fact, after you create the item you've been looking for the whole game, the God Mask, he uses the possessed artifact to start to kill Gabriel and take the mask as his own.  Then Satan kills him and suddenly, your possessed artifact no longer has a master, so bam, you're saved and you defeat Satan to win the game.  Evil would have won if the prince of darkness had butted out.  Just pathetic storytelling.  I mean, I was told for over 30 hours that the three Lords of Shadow were my opponents.  In fact, it's in the title!  Yet Satan comes out and just goes "Fooled ya!  I'm the final boss!"  That is just stupid to the utmost degree.

The unholy one is a banished servant of the divine.  He holds no power, despite believing himself deserving of greatness and is worth more pity than fear.

Geldoblame (Baten Kaitos series)

For most head scratching appearance, let's give it up for Emperor Geldoblame.  Throughout most of Baten Kaitos, he is manipulating powerful forces to gather together the pieces of an ancient god and use them to control the world.  Then he gets killed, betrayed by his partner who is smarter and more nihilistic than he is.  It was a satisfying end for the tyrant, out witted and with his ambitions in shambles.  Then, at the end of the game after the players have killed the elder god which was summoned and their homes which had been floating in the sky touch down on the earth, he appears again.  Geldoblame's giant head made of stone pops out of the ground and attacks the players in a battle they pretty much can't lose.  Why?  Why did this need to be here?  He had his moment, died for his hubris, but now we have to fight him again?  Why?!  Oh, so the whale can come here and restore the ocean or something, whatever, alright...it just feels wasteful and stupid.  Geldoblame was a decent villain...until he came back from the dead as a giant stone head.  Then I scratched my head and started hating him.

The emperor held great power and ambition, but was ultimately brought low by his own desires.  Despite that, he clung to life and the memory of the tyrant was replaced by the memory of a pitiful ghost who could not let go of his greed.

True form of King Allant (Demons Souls)

I hated Demons Souls.  For a lot of reasons.  But that aside, what annoyed me probably the most is the final boss, which is basically a slug-like form of King Allant, the man who unleashed catastrophe on his kingdom and basically started the game.  He sought power and unleashed a monster which merged with and ultimately corrupted him.  He's pathetically weak and can be slain in a single blow.  Now, I know why that is and I know why we should hate him.  We should hate him for his greed and arrogance and ultimately pity him, for in trying to gain power he doomed himself to a cursed half existence as a monster, alone in the chamber of the beast he made a deal with.  But really, I was so annoyed at all this.  I'd cursed, sweated, and struggled through the other dozen or so bosses, each a nightmare unto themselves, and my final battle was against the "False King" a truly wicked bastard who killed me a number of times before I dropped him.  And then I am told I must go fight the real monster, the mastermind behind the whole event, and it's just Allant after become a slug like monster?  What a freakin disappointment!  This, especially, after fighting my way through hundreds of lives to reach the ending.  Dark Souls, its sequel, has you fight the specter of a god who, despite having lost much of his power, can rip you apart if you're not careful.  Not the hardest boss in the game, but not easy, either.  A climactic battle is what players want, since it makes the ending we fought so hard for that much sweeter.  But for just being completely pathetic and ultimately leaving a bad taste in my mouth after such hard work, I hate King Allant.  He's the epitome of pathetic.

The hanged man was once a king.  However, his intense desire for power and his fear made him weak, pitiful, and ultimately destroyed him.  All that remains is a shell.  To slay him is a mercy.

Barthandelus (Final Fantasy 13)

I.  DESPISE.  Barthandelus.  He comes right out of nowhere, has motivations which are not only selfish, but utterly stupid, he's been spying on the party for most of the game, manipulating them, and wants them to destroy him and all of creation.  Why?  Because the creator of the Fal'cie went away and they're throwing a fit, so they want to call him back through mass genocide.  Worse is that Barthandelus kind of makes the entire story irrelevant, since the players are basically in the palm of his hand from the start and guided by him throughout the story.  However, this opens a huge number of plot holes.  How could he have predicted the players would be turned into L'cie with the power to destroy all of creation?  How could he have orchestrated it all when everyone's actions were a comedy of errors?  Why, if he wanted you to destroy him, do HIS soldiers try to corner and kill you for the first FORTY HOURS?!  I mean, what would have happened if we'd lost?  If YOUR soldiers actually cornered and killed us?  Did you ever think of that, Barthandelus?  For that matter, why doe HE fight the players?  He's basically a mechanical god, with immense power, yet he wants the players to kill him and destroy everything, right?  So, why does he fight?  Why not just lay down and take it?  The character is so bland, stupid, and frustratingly cliche.  Even if you forgive the plot holes, let's just examine the situation closely for one moment.  Despite watching over humanity for millenia, ruling them in luxury, and basically being worshipped as a god, Barthandelus wants the main party to set off the apocalypse by killing him just so he can call his creator back and "Start over".  Say that out loud for a moment.  Then, join me in saying, "Barthandelus, you are made of stupid."

The world ruled over all as a god since time immemorial.  However, even this was not enough for him.  He desired to return to nothing and start again, if only because he was bored, with no thought to those he would hurt or his children, which he would betray for his own petty desires.

The White Witch (Ni No Kuni)

This one is so easy it's kind of sad.  Ni No Kuni is subtitled "Wrath of the White Witch."  But despite the fact that the we see the witch "controlling things as a puppetmaster," she doesn't really do much and is pretty irrelevant to the story until the last...3-4 hours?  She runs a shadowy council and seems all intimidating and kills our hero Oliver's mom, but...she isn't the main villain.  Oliver and company don't even know she exists till she announces herself.  The main villain for most of the game is Shadar, the Dark Djinn, who has a much more tragic and satisfying backstory, far better reasons for being the villain, and a pay off at the end which is incredibly satisfying.  By the time I got to fight the White Witch, I felt like saying "Why are you here?  Bring back Shadar!"  She and her council are the final bosses, but they feel like they shouldn't even be in the game.  I mean, the plot could've been altered slightly to not include her and everything would've worked out fine.  Oh, White Witch...why do you even exist?

The priestess watched over the world from her gilded seat, unwilling to save it but more than willing to condemn it.  However, her vanity was such that she would not even rule it...instead giving that honor to her servant.  None know the priestess.  None care for the priestess.  The priestess need not be.

Maximillian (Growlanswer 2: The Sense of Justice)

Maximillian is actually a pretty interesting villain, but ultimately he feels shoved in at the last minute and has to be compared to the much more interesting monster named Gevas.  See, you meet Maximillian at the start of the game, you become friends, then, on a routine military expedition, you and he discover a cave with an ancient mask that he takes to go research.  Maximillian wants to rid the world of war and believes anything toward that goal is just.  At the end of the game, he finds that the mask is a subjugation artifact and that he can use it to mind control people into not fighting. And, for the sake of justice and free will, the player must stop him.  Here's the thing, though.  For most of the game, a character named Arrieta, with a dual personality, has acted as the main villain.  When cornered, she reveals herself to be possessed by Gevas, a world crushing monstrosity that the heroes of Growlanswer 1 fought and defeated.  Now it's returned and we have to fight it.  And after it's dead, we then go fight Maximillian.  To me, that just seems kinda pointless.  Not only did we defeat the ultimate evil, but we did it and the game didn't end...it only ends after we defeat Maximillian?  Lame.  Maximillian's plot and his final boss status seems kinda thrown in at the last moment, but they were alright.  They'd be fine if they didn't have to compare to Gevas, which we'd already beaten.  I hate this battle because the comparison just kills any tension, as Gevas was a far more final boss.

Judgement holds his answer as the truth above all others and will bring an end to the cycle of death and rebirth.  He seeks to end war, strife, and power, though his means be unjust.  The sad truth is that while he may judge, he holds no power compared to the vast will of the world.

Wilhelm (Xenosaga 3: Also Sprach Zarathustra)

Wilhelm is more baffling to me than hateful.  But, in a series with a ton of great villains, including the space pope, a man who blows his own head off, steps on it, then regenerates it, a body snatcher, and a space samurai, we have Wilhelm as the grand mastermind of some vaguely evil scheme.  Wilhelm is a CEO of a technology corporation in the far future, who looks to be about...age fifteen, tops, and has no emotions.  Or if he has them, he doesn't use them.  Wilhelm is boring.  And I have no idea why I'm fighting him, save that he's trying to...destroy the universe?  I guess?  And Wilhelm is the main villain.  He has private shock corps made up of better fallen villains.  He pisses me off because I have no reason to fight him, no reason to be invested, no reason to even care.  He's not even in the final battle.  He uses "The circle of Zarathustra" which I have no idea what its supposed to do, with a kid named Abel in the center, to try and kill the party.  Wilhelm seems about as bored as I am.  That's why I hate him.  The best thing a villain can be is memorable.  Some are memorable for good reasons, some for how lame or annoying they were, but they are still remembered.  The worst thing a villain can be is boring because no one will remember them.

The hermit does not indulge to enter the world.  He is content to stay back, emotionless, uninterested, holding his philosophy above all others.  There is nothing he has to say.  There is nothing he has to teach.  He may as well return to solitude.

Yu Yevon (Final Fantasy 10)

This villain is a thief.  As annoying and poncy as Seymour Guado was, he was still a pretty cruel, sadistic, nihilistic, evil villain, and fitting for the final boss role.  But no.  Instead, after fighting our way inside the colossal monster, SIN, which has rained untold destruction on the world, after putting Jecht to rest and outwitting the REAL villain, Seymour, we fight...a giant tick.  Yu Yevon was a summoner who formed the core of SIN by corrupting the summoned beasts, Aeons, and using them as an armor for its soul.  But Yu Yevon itself is nothing without the Aeons.  I doubt very much that its even capable of thought, much less malice.  It's a villain that was thrown into the final enemy slot because...I don't even know.  Players cannot lose the battles with Yu Yevon, no matter how weak they are.  What makes me so angry at this boss is that, despite how stupid he looked, Seymour was clearly the main villain.  And Square could have made him the final boss.  SIN was always a threat, yeah, but Yu Yevon wasn't really controlling it, just hiding inside it.  Yu Yevon is a pathetic waste of a boss, because he barely even exists and doesn't affect the story at all, save for stealing the final boss status from Seymour, who rightfully deserves it for all his dickish behavior.  Yu Yevon as a boss is a nonentity.  It's something that exists without reason.  That's even worse than being boring. 

The fool is a blind, deaf, idiot, dancing to his own tune, oblivious to the whims of others.  He may infuriate or annoy, but it matters not.  He is all sound and fury, ultimately accomplishing nothing, save for being a nuisance.

Xemnas (Kingdom Hearts 2)

Ultimately, I feel like miscasting was the downfall of Xemnas.  He's not really a bad villain, but he's so bland, generic, and boring that I can't help but yawn.  He uses his light saber swords, fights Sora and Riku, then disappears into nothingness, blah blah...we had so many other more interesting members of Organization 13 who could've taken the number 1 spot.  Saix was interesting and his relationship to Axel would've made him a moving final antagonist.  And his death, where he laments his lost heart and asks where it has gone is pretty heavy, for a villain dying.  If not him, why not Xigbar, who actually fought the original Keyblade masters in Birth by Sleep?  He seems more capable than Xemnas.  But no, Ansem's nobody had to be the final battle.  It depresses me because you do so many cool things in the battle, but Xemnas as a villain is so blah.  He's just there.  He doesn't make an impression like Xehanort did, doesn't have any really good lines and is constantly being one upped by his subordinates.  Xemnas.  So boring his battle almost killed me by putting me to sleep.

The nothingness holds no substance or value.  Merely a cheap copy of the truth, it has no reason to be here, save that it was recognized.  Though the idea of nothingness may intrigue others, it is without any lasting power.

Zachariah Comstock (Bioshock Infinite)

Originally, I had intended to include Demon King Malladus from Legend of Zelda: Spirit tracks...however, then I played Bioshock Infinite.  Literally the week before this post was to go up, I discovered one of the most frustrating and annoying villains I've ever seen in a video game.  Zachariah Comstock, the "prophet" of Columbia, a floating city in the sky.  I hate Comstock because, as a villain, I just want him to go away.  Not kill him, mind, I just want him to leave the story.  He is a loud, annoying, narcissistic, psychotically religious hypocrite with none of the charm and intellect of Andrew Ryan or the warped ideals of Sofia Lamb.  Comstock has NOTHING of value to say, but keeps going on and on about how he is the chosen one, how he will cleanse the sodom below, how everyone who is against him is against god, stock religious super villain nonsense.  And he seems so insecure, frequently building monuments the size of islands to his greatness when he cannot fight himself.  He's a frail old man who uses machines and his zealots, who are idiots for following him by the way, to do his dirty work for him.  At the best of times, he seems like he's using religion to his benefit, like any number of scam priests in stories.  At the worst of times, he seems pants on head insane, believing whole heartedly that stealing a baby from an alternate dimension, raising her in isolation, and frequently beating, torturing, maiming, and brainwashing her as an adult is somehow god's will and will save the world.  Comstock isn't compelling, intelligent, or even very well spoken.  He's an insane religious zealot with an inferiority complex.  Worse yet is that his character, when we learn the truth, makes absolutely no sense, as he actually didn't used to be Zachariah Comstock, but was another person.  A smart person.  A capable person.  A person who WASN'T pants on head insane.  Comstock ruined Bioshock Infinite for me.

The heirophant's arrogance knows no bounds.  He believes himself divinely blessed by god and will justify any atrocities in that name.  He says nothing of merit and is insecure in his own power.  Only a fool devoid of thought would follow his words.

            And there you have it.  These characters fail for a number of reasons, most relating to story and writing, sadly.  Any number of them could have been unforgettable main villains who embedded themselves in people's minds as amazing, well spoken, scary even, if they had a better script to work with or if the story was more refined.  Place Maximillion before the huge final boss battle...have Seymour Guado kill Yu Yevon and take his place inside SIN.  Have Satan at least HINTED at to some extent in the game.  Give Comstock ANYTHING interesting to discuss beyond how awesome it is to be a racist Catholic white man with a god complex.  These villains weren't brought low by our heroes.  They were brought low by the scriptwriters, the translators, and the story boarders who failed them.  Failed to make them compelling and instead opted for shock value or to cop out near the end of the game.

            There you have my month of characters.  Each of the character lists show an important aspect of the games industry, some that need to be focused on, like making compelling villains, admirable heroes, or great worlds to explore, and some that need to be stopped, such as making the villains so depressingly generic or unsatisfying.  Bear in mind, these characters are all just from my experience.  If you want, share in the comments some of your favorite heroes, villains, power fantasies, or characters you just can't stand and why.