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Xbox To Use Region-Locked Peripherals
Cutriss writes "This newspost over at National Console Supply Exchange seems to leave all the potential Xbox controller-importers in the dust. Apparently the US Xbox will only allow peripherals with a specific USB ID to connect to the console, thus locking out the use of Japanese controllers, which will have different USB IDs."
Update this doesn't mean all peripherals
will be region encoded. Apparently Joypads will
work on both sides of the pond.
Playstation made it so you couldn't play japanese playstation games.
I don't see the big deal, here. If Japan wants to sell controlers, they'll make them with the appropriate "US" USB settings.
Or people will make an adapter, like the modchip.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
* Addendum at 02:28PM EST *
A lot of e-mails have poured in from other sources and developers these past few hours. A call from an Microsoft employee also came in. The Japanese X-Box joypad should work with USA consoles. We'll confirm this tonight once our suppliers test the joypad with some USA games we shipped them earlier this week. If all is well, then our shipments of Japanese X-Box joypads won't go to waste after all.
Microsoft will be installing QuarterSlots(TM) into their controllers, to make sure that the players have actually bought the controllers and USB keys legally.
"It isn't fair!" claimed Joey, who says that "Mom wont even give me fifty cents for a game on the X-Box", even after he bought it with his "christmas money".
Microsoft will be handing out the controllers free, but will be requiring that they be brought back into the stores to empty out the quarters that have been filled inside. A microsoft spokesperson commented: "Hell, 50 bucks of change a day gets heavy, you know. You wouldn't want to hold that in your hand, would you? See, we're just making it easier on the consumer!"
but is there a SANE reason for not allowing the use of these imported controllers?
Other than "A Machine We Control Totally", that is.
Is there some kind of incredible controller for the Xbox that is only available in Japan (as the original response controllers for the PSX were)? So that Microsoft doesn't want people to have them because of some other kind of interesting occurance? And how long until someone either finds a way to change the USB ID in the controller firmware, or an enterprising company decides to make their own US-based USB ID controllers that match a local controller that isn't USian? Fairly soon, I would guess.
Brazil has decided you're cute.
But I'm not very keen into it. I wonder if this kind of thing will slip over into the PC world? I somehow doubt it since most hardware companies are interested in selling to the max number of customers (think motherboard mfrs like Asus).
Locked hardware is almost criminal. Unfortunately we're all boned.
I know you may want one, but the only way to get companies to stop doing this kind of thing is to vote with your wallet. Otherwise, where is their insentive?
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
The XBOX is a game *console*. It's perfectly reasonable to maintain a closed standard. What MS is trying to do is make sure they get their licensing fees from "official" peripheral manufacturers, instead of having their profits dried up by cheap Taiwanese knockoffs.
When another company does things to try and protect their market share, it's reasonable. When Microsoft does it, it's inherently evil. Remember, Microsoft does *NOT* have a monopoly on the console market, and has to claw it's way into contention.
I'm not a Microsoft fan by any means (MacOS, MacOS X, and Linux all run my household servers/desktops), but I do own an XBox.
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
First hand account. Japanese controller works with US Xbox.
QTools allows you to modify the ID of USB devices. This has been used for a while to get non-3Com USB ethernet devices to work with the 3Com Audreys that 3Com created and dropped last year. http://www.klsi.com/drivers/index.htm - look for qttoolsinstall.exe
So you're telling me that the new japanese PleasureVibe erotic force-feedback controller I got off Ebay won't work when I get shot on Halo? God damn that Microsoft...
--
Any people who are more familiar with USB than I am? Is this a feasible idea?
Xbox To Use Region-Locked Peripherals
True, maybe the Japanese controllers will work with the MS consoles, but we need to look beyond the immediate future here.
Hmm, let's think here...
Well, at any rate, it sure makes me nervous. Think about when they start selling region-locked Ethernet, or region locked hard drives, etc. add-ons for the Xbox. Region locking in general is a way for large companies to restrain trade contrary to international agreements. It was never a problem before recently because either (a) nobody thought of it (doubtful) or (b) the technological means to do it weren't around until recently.
DVD's have recently proven (in some people's minds, anyway) that "consumers" (if we're all consumers, who the hell is producing, btw?) will put up with this region locking restraint of trade nonsense. And it's a well known fact that the courts are so far behind in their understanding of technology that they won't figure out what's going on until nobody even remembers the way things used to be. I mean, "Microsoft" and "restraint of trade" -- who would have ever thought of those two words in the same sentence? :-) IOW, this doesn't surprise me in the least.
At least I know which gaming console I won't be buying anytime soon, though! :-)
---Have you crashed Windows XP with a simple printf recently? Try it!
Look, nobody could argue that MS has monopoly power in the gaming console market. Therefore, antotrust law doesn't even enter into it.
This is perfectly fine if you think about cheap knockoffs that don't give Microsoft Licensing fees. But I think about my PSX with Dance Dance Revolution. Obscure peripherals like dance pads, light guns (nowadays), etc. Might be produced in Japan and not in the US, meaning XBox owners won't be able to play some games with the peripherals they desire. If this happens however, I guarantee a mod-chip inside of a couple months. And a perfect mod chip inside of 6.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
After all, it's no longer "Universal", is it? Perhaps it could be called RSB, for "Regional Serial Bus", or perhaps NSB for "National Serial Bus".
Seriously, I can only see one or two reasons why someone would want to implement this region locking:
First, I doubt a domestic company would want to take tech support calls for foreign-made equipment. And, yes, you know some clueless fool will call MS up, waste their time, bitching about why his Far East ContollerPad isn't working. Worse, perhaps they aren't tested to similar standards and could pose a threat to the Xbox. Who knows?
Second, and this is the more insidious one, they might do this because of internal competition, the same reason DVD region locking is used. Regional branches of the same company making the same product may have wildly divergent pricing and release schedules. Since Asia usually gets the cool toys first, the North American division wants to protect its turf by preventing imports of the Asian goods until they can get around to marketing the product domestically. While that makes good business sense, it's typically used to hide a serious case of "head up the ass" when the domestic vendor is slow to put out new products.
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The UID is proprietary information (similar to a password) and reverse engeneering it is against the law according to the DMCA.
Hold it. The letter of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act specifically permits acts of circumvention that are part of legitimate reverse-engineering for interoperability. From 17 USC 1201(f)(2):
Judge Kaplan made an idiotic mistake in completely ignoring this paragraph.
Will I retire or break 10K?