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Australian Commisssion Defends Playstation Mod-Chipping

Posted by chrisd on from the region-coding-is-bad dept.

newt writes "The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is intervening in a court case to defend Sony Playstation owners' right to modify their consoles to play imported games. The ACCC is submitting a friend of the court brief, arguing that Sony's regional playback controls are unlawful. This has implications for DVD region zoning too: The ACCC has previously published its concerns about DVD regioning, and its latest press release about this case reiterates the problems presented to Australian consumers by Sony's practices."

8 of 287 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by gillbates · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The more I think about it, the more it seems that the United States is the only industrialized country which actively takes rights away from its own citizens.

    It would seem that the U.S. is no longer the defender of the free world - for a country which values freedom so much, we are doing less than others to protect it. Why is it that Australia, the EU, and Russia (yes, our former enemy) are going to bat to defend the liberties of individual citizens while our government is actively taking them away?

    I used to be proud to be an American.

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    1. Re:Why? by starduste · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not sure of the other countries, but in Australia, we have no rights given to us in the Constitution. Therefore, we have hundreds of civil groups, telling us *why* it's important the government does not take away our freedom. On the other hand, in America, those groups simply claim that the government can't do that (whatever that may be) because of the Constitution - hence some people simply say "oh well, doesn't seem too important anyway". Because we are constantly told why it's important in Australia, we value those freedoms much more, and create a huge uproar when politicians try and take it away.

  2. Call me stupid, but... by lorcha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... when I purchase a piece of hardware, can't I do whatever I want with it? Recognizing that it might void the warranty, of course...

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  3. Whats the point of region limitations anyway? by deviantonline · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I have never really understodd this. Why do video games and dvd's only play in certain parts of the world? What is the rationelle behind this?

    As far as I know, VHS can be played everywhere (pal/ntsc versions) and computer software isnt limited to specific regions, so why are DVDs and Video Games?

    Anything else limited this way? I can understand that diffrent countries have diffrent ratings and what not, but the fact that digital formats can block usage in diffrent regions of the world seems like a backwards thing to be doing in this time of freedom and what not.

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    1. Re:Whats the point of region limitations anyway? by Teun · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No it does not make sense, nobody forced the US studio's to release their movies 6-12 months later in other countries.
      This has no influence what so ever on the income of the studio's.

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    2. Re:Whats the point of region limitations anyway? by Howie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How many of them are actually using imports? In 99% of all cases, the mod chip is used to play pirated games.

      Actually, in the case of the PS2 there are huge delays between a game's release in the US and other markets... Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Ico are all games I would play as imports, since I still can't buy them in the UK even though they came out in the US last year. I don't give a rat's arse about DVD playback, since I have a perfectly decent DVD player that doesn't require a game pad, and is already multi-region.

      Your argument that DVD imports stop the studio from arbitrarily delaying the release of movies is at best circular, by the way. Harry Potter and LOTR both show that studios can release simultaneously worldwide if they want to.

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  4. DVD region encoding [only slightly OT] by bovril · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder how long DVD region encoding would've lasted if it was the USofA that had to wait months for titles to be released (if at all)?

    I want my Hollywood revisionist history epics now, dammit!!!!

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  5. I wouldn't consider Australia better than the US by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...in this regard. Sure, they're on the "right side" in this one particular case. But Grand Theft Auto 3 is illegal in Australia, while it's the best-selling PS2 game in the U.S., where it's perfectly legal.

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