It's a very simple scenario. You walk into a game shop, browse the shelves, pick up a game you like, go back home and play it on your console. Simple enough. You're happy, the game shop is happy for the sale and so are the game developers.

Somehow this scenario went all wrong somewhere. You're holding the game you want to play in your hands right there in the shop, the cashier is right there and your console is sitting at home waiting for you. However you sadly put the game back on the shelf because it's region locked and your console can't play it. The result: lost sale. Bad for the retailer, bad for the developer and definitely bad for you.

Of course you can go and look for your region's copy of the game. Depending on the game and your luck you may or may not find it. But now a layer of (unnecessary) complexity has been added to the simple equation of Have Console + Have Game = Play Game.

Now add to that the game titles that sometimes ship a small number of copies and you have to play a game of monopoly before the actual game. You have to pay a fortune to buy a rare game used and an even bigger fortune to buy it new. Yes, this doesn't affect the majority of game titles nor does it affect all consoles (hand helds included), but why should it affect any at all?

Is region locking really worth enforcing even with the risk of losing potential sales for a game?

Merry christmas and happy new year everyone! I hope you all get to enjoy it!

I'm spending the new year at my family's house, so I'll have access to a PS3 again. Feel free to add me on PSN (Mav_Destroyer) again. I bought a bunch of new games with me to play so I'll be on quite often.

Hope to see you all soon.

Now we all know about DLC with it's pros and cons, how it could be used to enhance a game or encourage greedy behaviour from companies. However we can all agree that DLC as a feature is something new and was made possible this gen with internet enabled consoles and faster internet connections.

Depending on the DLC it could add value to a game and keep it relevant and interesting for months after that game has been released. We can say that DLC is a feature that adds more content to an already released game (whether said content is good, bad or worth the price is not the focus here) and as such is an enhancement to gaming since the previous generations.

Well then what about ULC? What does ULC even mean? Let me explain, I noticed that in this generation some games seem to be losing value as time goes by. ULC or what I call Unloadable Content is the opposite ofDLC. Where DLC adds new content to a game ULC is when content from a game expires or becomes obsolete.

This especially affects games with online multi-player features. At some point a few years after a game is released, the devs or publishers decide to take down the online servers for whatever reason (reduce budget, no one plays it anymore, etc) thus making part of the game no longer playable.

Examples of this are Chromehounds, Metal Gear Solid Online, The Club and it almost affected Demon's Souls as well.

So some players pay full price for a complete game only to have a part of that game taken away after a few years. What if someone bought a game a bit late (granted not at full price) only to have the online features for that game shut down a mere few weeks after his/her purchase? What if this happened to a fully online multi-player game like Warhawk? I know it's very unlikely now but will we be able to still play these games say 10 years from now like we do with "retro" games nowadays?

Now I'm not blaming the companies for doing such thing, running servers is costly and if very few players still come online compared to when their game first released then there's no point in continuing to do so. However this is still a problem and technically these games are losing part of their value over time.

In a manner of speaking, ULC loosely reminds me of on disc DLC. The content is there on the disc and you paid for it but are unable to access it for some reason or another.

What are your thoughts? Are there any other forms of ULC you have encountered in other games? Will this be a problem for future games?

Edit: There's seems to be a glitch with the blog where it's sticking random words together without spaces. I'm trying to edit and fix it but it won't let me. Just to clarify, I know how to use the space bar.

Edit 2: seems to have been fixed. If you see any more mistakes please let me know.

Hi all,

It's been over a year since my last blog. I've come back to GS after a long break but I'm mostly active on the forums or commenting on GS articles. Wonder if I should get back into blogging? It could be hassle sometimes and I have a hard time keeping up both with news and with your blogs so I apologize about that. I think getting back into blogging will help me fall into a routine and stop wasting so much time on useless stuff. I want to improve my writing skills as well so I'll be posting more serious stuff.

See you all soon

Yo whats up everyone?

Guess what? I've moved to the UK! I'm gonna be staying here for about a year to finish my masters degree, pretty excited!

Well, hope everyone is alright and doing ok.

see you soon

P.S: anyone know a good mobile service provider in the UK? I need to buy a mobile line and I'm stumped :[

Really not very happy with Sony at the moment, went to get my PS3 and my cousin's PS2 fixed at the maintenance center and was turned back with both consoles un-fixed and very disappointed.

The desk rep didn't seem very interested in doing his job and simply told me the PS3 can't be fixed. When I started getting angry he suddenly remembered that they they don't have spare parts for the PS3 so had a replacement program instead. I could replace my "out of warranty" PS3 for a brand new one for around $330. That didn't sound like a very good bargain to me since 1) I'll trade in my launch 60GB PS3 for the new PS3 slim and I prefer the older model, 2) they are unable to restore or provide me with a backup of all my files on the old one's hard drive and 3) I could just go ahead and buy a new one myself for almost the same price + extra controllers or games included in it.

So I passed on the offer and asked him to fix the PS2 instead. He told me the Lense needed to be replaced and it would cost me $90 which is ridiculously expensive, I might at well just go and buy a new PS2 as well.

I pretty much gave up on Sony, I don't want to have to deal with their maintenance center again. I found an other alternative, this local game shop told me they can fix both playstations for much cheaper so I'll give that a try, both consoles are out of warranty anyway. And If all else fails, I'll just buy a new PS3 and install the old one's HDD into the new one. I'd really hate to lose all my game save data :(

lol the funny thing is I was considering buying a new Sony Vaio Laptop, well that option is out the window now. I'm sticking with Toshiba :twisted:

Heard the terrible news on TV. And I know I have quite a few friends here from the UK so guys please stay safe and take care of your selves.

I know how horrible it is to live in such a violent and insecure situation since we went through the same over here during the revolution.

Here's hoping the police get everything under control and this whole ordeal ends without further violence.

I can't see anything from my albums and my banner and header just went *poof*

has this happened to anyone else or is it just me?

Wishing everyone a happy ramadan :)

its rare for the lunar month to start at the same day as a normal month in the calendar.

anyways, looks like i just leveled up to radical ninja

lol i bet if i was a bit more active i'd be a much higher level by now, well i'm not complaining :P

Also, been play some FF Dissidia 012. Decided to give the game another try, I gotta say the best thing about this game is it made me curious to play the FF games I've never played and nostalgic enough to re-play the FF games that I have already played. I'd have to say Squall is my favorite character so far

well see you all soon

WOW

yes its been quite a while...whew! How is everyone doing? Been quite busy myself with life, personal issues and the chaotic situation here in the country but meh. I just have to move on.

I missed all of you and the gamespot community, just lovely to see you all again :)

On the gaming front: I haven't been playing much lately though I've been following up on the latest news (or trying to). My launch PS3 has finally died it seems, gonna try one last attempt to fix it. If that doesn't work out then I might have to buy a new one though I'm not happy with that idea, especially since my PSN account is still closed due to the PSN hack fiasco. PSN is just refusing to reset my password so its impossible for me to sign in. So I've lost my save files on the PS3 and my account on PSN, just sucks.

On the other hand, pretty excited about the PS Vita, might invest in that instead of a new PS3. The 3DS I'm not so sure tbh though at the moment it has the better games.

Well enough of that. Looking forward to talking to all of you again :D