Concerning Downloadable Content Packs.

[Echthroi]

There isn't really that much for me to say here, other than this:


So...They make an AMERICAN TEAM, but...you don't make it available for AMERICANS?!

What is up with that?!?! The packs still aren't available in America. Wikipedia says it is unlikely that they will EVER be released in America due to "poor sales in the region". The sad part is, isn't it just a download that you pay for? Now see I just don't understand that. I want Mirage so bad, but noooo. I don't live in Europe so too bad for me. :brickwall

I didn't WANT my first real post to be a complaint, but I think something needs to be done about that, and I don't know who to rant about it to. Finding contact information on the people who could make it happen is IMPOSSIBLE.

[Darkdrium777]

http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4403

Particularly near the last pages

[Echthroi]

I knowww. Yeah I saw that as well. I've seriously looked allll over everywhere trying to figure out wtf the problem is. I think it's still imperative that this thread stands for the release of the North American portion, or any other region deprived of this. Hahaha. If anyone has any contact information of the people responsible in any way for this, then some of us need to demand this more and more until it is done. I really find that necessary!

[Xavier]

Echthroi, Wipeout Pulse is going to be released for the PS2 next week, and hopefully that game will also be sold in North America. Rumor has it that the downloadable stuff will be built into that game, so don't give up hope. It's perfectly justifiable to be hopping mad at how they handled the DLC in the PSP version, but there might be at least some way to enjoy it. While even a PS2 game with the DLC doesn't totally absolve them, it's better than nothing.

[Chill]

That's when you have the question (will the game be playable online?)... cause I know most americans that play Wipeout would love to take that extra content online if they have it, but they just may not...

[G'Kyl]

Rumor has it that the downloadable stuff will be built into that game

It's not rumor, btw. As far as I know that's the official word from Sony.

[Echthroi]

Well that would be good to hear. Mirage is probably one of the most artistic models that I've seen, to be honest. It's just ridiculous that they make all this extra content, promise Americans that they will get it...and then not release it. What's even more frustrating, is that all it is, is a download, and nothing more than that. It wouldn't matter where you were as long as you have an internet connection. So is it just me, or am I missing something about this? lol. Nothing should be that hard to release, when all it would do is float over the internet for people to buy and download. It makes no sense to me.:bomb

[Darkdrium777]

There's no reason other than the fact that it would take server space for practically no income. Because no localization is needed (Europe has all the main languages of America and even more), and you're right it's only a download...

[Echthroi]

Yup. As if it would kill them these days to put something that totals around 38MB on what I'm sure is a HUUUUUGE server. haha.

[komatos]

There isn't really that much for me to say here, other than this:

So...They make an AMERICAN TEAM, but...you don't make it available for AMERICANS?!

What is up with that?!?! The packs still aren't available in America. Wikipedia says it is unlikely that they will EVER be released in America due to "poor sales in the region". The sad part is, isn't it just a download that you pay for? Now see I just don't understand that. I want Mirage so bad, but noooo. I don't live in Europe so too bad for me. :brickwall

I didn't WANT my first real post to be a complaint, but I think something needs to be done about that, and I don't know who to rant about it to. Finding contact information on the people who could make it happen is IMPOSSIBLE.

This is was bugs me also. And to make matters even worse, back when the old version of the Playstation Store was up and running, and you could more easily browse what each country's version of the PS Store had available, I remember seeing that under the Europe/UK section such countries as the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Dubai had access to the Wipeout Pulse DLC and North America (US, Canada) didn't. You gotta be kidding me, right? Sony feels that they're likely to sell more Pulse DLC in Dubai/UAE than in the US/Canada? Yeah, right. There's probably less Wipeout owners in those countries combined than there are in my state (Michigan) alone. And to add insult to injury, the price for Pulse DLC in Dubai/UAE was in US$. Lol. What delicious irony to us lonely besodden Western Hemisphere Pulse-less DLC'ers.

Sorry for the rant, it just really frustrates me. I'd like to have my DLC for Pulse, and am more than willing to pay the money they're asking (about $20-25 US for all 4 packs from what I remember on the old PS Store descriptions). I'd even be willing to PayPal a forum member here the money (plus a few extra bucks to cover your PayPal fees) to be able to download them to play on my US PSP. Especially since the packs have already been shown to work worldwide on cross-country versions of Pulse.

Just expressing my frustration at the year-old lack of DLC, when Pulse was released later in North America (February 2008 as opposed to Sept./Oct. 2007 for Europe). I'm especially interested in trying the 4 new tracks, and Icaras, but also wouldn't mind flying Auricom and Mirage once in awhile.

[Echthroi]

That's absurd at a VERY high magnitude. It makes no sense at all. To be honest, Sony in my opinion is just constantly shooting themselves in the foot with everything. An example would be the number of exclusives they've lost. They put so much into that PS3, that nobody wants to code for it. Which I find a bit funny and it serves them right for 'trying too hard'.

The games that WILL be coded for it, are going to take so long, that in the end, if the game isn't successful, then they will end up losing even more money. Especially if they have to kill the baby on a potentially good game, because coding for it took up too much time.:rolleyes:

Again, that's just me saying this. I don't work for them so I wouldn't know, but that's what it looks like from what I've been seeing lately.

[Xavier]

Komatos, I'm right there with you.

The idea that a public company can pick and choose who's allowed to possess their products is, to me, totally morally abhorrent. Even the region coding, nasty as it is, doesn't completely shut people out -- I bought a second PS2 (used) in addition to my Japanese original to play my North American games on, and pick up games for it when I'm back in the US. I've had friends in the UK pick up games for me (such as Pulse on PSP). But the DLC is ridiculous: if you don't live in the EU and have a credit card issued there, "your money is no good" with Sony.

Europeans, if this were the opposite situation, would you be as angry as the North Americans are? (I know you had to go through a lot of hassle to get US/Japan-only games even 5-10 years ago, but at least you could acquire them if you visited those countries or knew someone there.) There are many Americans still alive today who can remember an era when there were stores that black people couldn't enter, and things like this. This kind of history is our national shame. No store today could refuse a paying customer because of where they come from.

Sony, on the other hand, is a Japanese company, and in Japan this kind of behavior is still seen from time to time, and the public doesn't get outraged about it. (Then again, the Japanese public is much less activist about injustice than in many other countries.)

I've only been to Europe briefly and don't have in-depth knowledge -- is it, or was it, possible in the EU (or UK) for a shop owner to refuse to sell their products to certain people, just because of who they are?