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Microsoft: No Xbox for You!
Markel writes "According this this story in the Sydney Morning Herald, Microsoft is very concerned about a man having been acquitted after allegedly selling [mod chips for a PlayStation]. So concerned in fact, that they are saying: change the law, or they will have to reconsider selling the Xbox in Australia. Not selling the Xbox is well within their rights, but putting it in a (I paraphrase slightly) "change the law or we'll .." context seems assuming a bit too much. I guess well see how many of our MPs are XBox gameheads."
The trial in question was actually about a man who sold PS2 mod chips to allow PS2s to play imported and copied games. Not some magical chip that allows the Xbox to play PS2 games.
:)
Excellent editing there.
Nintendo, Sony, and other companies over the years have had to deal with mod chips and people who like to mod their hardware. Last I checked, these companies are not having financial difficulty because of modding.
What bug is up MS's butt?
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
...couldn't Microsoft just be saying this to try and kick up sales of the Xbox? If the government refuses to change its position, then there'll probably be panic buying of Xboxes before MS withdraws them from Australia.
Note to M1-ers: a curt but otherwise insightful message is not "Flamebait" or "Troll".
I don't think they'd change their law for a GAME console
Maybe in 20 years from now we'll all need to move to Australia to have some rights
"The majority is always sane, Louis." -- Nessus
http://slashdot.jp
Why should australia care if MS sells the XBox there? Are they in such a horrible financial situation that not having the third place console out of three consoles sales wise would hurt them that much? Or do people over there just play THAT many games? Sheesh, talk about ego on the part of Microsoft.
...can we convince this man to sell mod chips for Windows, Office, Passport...
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I think they have every right to do this
I don't think anybody is claiming that Microsoft doesn't have the right to sell or not sell XBox's wherever they please. However, this does not translate into the right to buy a law to suit their needs.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
If I was an MSFT shareholder, I would find this news troubling to say the least. "Here at Microsoft we believe marketshare and expanding the Xbox community comes after making sure 1 or 2% of Austrailian users aren't using our product to play the "competition's" games." To quote Randolph Duke from Trading Places: "SELL! SELL!" *boggle*
As an early post said the article is wrong. The guy was selling mod chips for the PS/2. He had nothing to do with the Xbox.
So what Ballmer- go pack up your Xbox and leave- and take all that lost revenue with you. The Xbox has had an unspectacular launch in Australia with retailers even refusing to carry the stock because Microsoft was screwing them on the margins (e.g. Harvey Norman).
I believe six of then are called Bruce
Help fight continental drift.
they are $199... just ignore that PS2 logo on the side of the box, its the only box i had left. OH, and you'll need these 'special' xbox controllers. (the ps2 logos on those were misprints from the xbox factory, don't worry).
here is now it work, plug in your xbox, now plug in this 'mod chip' to the same power strip, and they will communicate using WiFi... put your PS2 games, in the 'mod chip' after plugging it in, and plug the 'mod controllers' into the 'mod chip' everything should work fine out of the box.
ENJOY,
i take orders at my website below -|
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
After the launch of a Telstra mobile computing device, Mr Ballmer said the decision affected Xbox's business model, which relies on subsidising the hardware console in return for a royalty on every game sold.
The criminal law related to murder is bad for my business model as a hit man, which relies on accepting payment for people I have killed.
This is a hollow threat. Microsoft is simply going to *completely* concede the Australian video game market to Sony and Nintendo because they aren't getting their way.
Oh no! Please don't deny me your library of inferior games, Microsoft! Whatever would I do?
Only common sense. Selling Windows is a profitable business, so there is no reason NOT to sell Windows. Existance of alternatives does not change anything. Selling XBOX is not profitable (money are made on games), so refusing to sell XBOX if money can't be made on games is reasonable.
What I don't understand is what is the big difference between Australian and imported games? It is probably the same games, the same royalties are being paid, and so on. Australians, can you explain this to us?
MSDOS: 20+ years without remote hole in the default install
If the disk was damaged or faulty, you'd return it under warranty.
Welcome, traveler, to our dimension! I hope you enjoy your stay here. What other strange customs do companies practice in your homeland?
To forbid the sale of anything Microsoft owns. Or at least make it look like they are going to. I bet Microsoft will be the one backpeddling then!
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
They are going to "reconsider" selling the xbox? They need every possible market to sell this money-loser. It would be stupid to lock out a whole market of potential buyers. Are they going to sit back and let Sony and Nintendo take over? If this were true, Sony would want to lose this modchip case, it would end up helping them in the end.
I just don't buy it.
This is a prime example of when someone should call Microsoft's bluff.
Any law changes they make should be set to expire in a year, when Microsoft will have discontinued the X-Box and they'll be $49.95 at Toys-R-Us. I wonder if I will be able to interface my IntelPlay(R) Microscope to an X-Box?
PS/2 + modchip = CanPlayThirdPartyGames
Canon + adapter = CanUseThirdPartyLenses
Could this be that a country has recognized that a PS2 or an Xbox or other high-tech toy is really not any different from a toaster? Sunbeam has no say over what we do with a toaster after we buy it. If we choose to turn a toaster into a robot, or modify it into a rotisserie oven, that's our right. We can modify it in any way we choose to. If I were to offer a modkit to turn a toaster into a rotisserie oven, that is my right, but more importantly, that is the right the consumer has under common law. Current IP laws are in direct conflict with this, how it ends is any ones guess, but it is an interesting fight.
Do the words "significant non-infringing use" mean anything to these people? It's their own fault really. If companies would drop this price-fix^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hregion-coding nonsense so that the only real use of modchips was to play copied games, I might have a tiny bit of sympathy for them, but not as long as they keep sneaking in these extra restrictions that have nothing to do with copyright. Don't let the door hit yer ass on the way out, MS.
The decision in the case (Kabushiki Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment v Stevens [2002] FCA 906) is available here
This was the first attempted prosecution in Australia under the changes introduced in the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000, and Sony has vowed to appeal the above adverse decision to the full bench of the Federal Court.
If the disk was damaged or faulty, you'd return it under warranty.
I don't chip my consoles, but I can cite a personal experience where I did something similar on my PC.
Around the time Diablo II came out, I snagged a copy relatively cheaply at a blowout store in my area. Because I was pretty busy with work, I put it on a bookshelf and forgot about it for about a year and a half.
When I finally got around to playing it, I found out that someone had opened the box and keyed one of the discs. I was able to play the original game just fine, but when I bought and installed the expansion, it couldn't verify that the disc was valid.
Under Blizzard's support policy, I would have to mail them the disc and $10 for a replacement, because of the length of time since I actually bought it, not having the receipt anymore, etc.
I'm not willing to pay again for a product I own, so I used CloneCD to dupe a friend's disc.
Granted, the vast majority of the people who chip their consoles do so to pirate games. However, there are a lot of legitimate reasons to do so also - playing imports, situations like mine, running unlicenses/homebrew software, and so forth.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
"Change the law or no native australian Xboxes"... thats what it sounded like. Everyone will import them from US or Japan, and play games on them, with the modchips that let them do so.
Someone at Microsoft didn't think this one through. Austrailia appears to be well on the ball regarding the rights of its citizens to access content they've purchased. The ACCC (http://www.accc.gov.au/) routinely stands against region restrictions in various forms, whether its games or dvds.
Will they budge? Who knows. This is all saber rattling on Microsoft's part, since whether or not they cut XBox sales in Australia, they'll still get the (well, negative amounts of) money when consumers start importing.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
I just saw the last shred of journalistic integrity go down the fucking drain here! XBox mod chip to play PS2 games my ass!
Why not just let the trolls post stories about free RAM with links to goatse.cx?
Slashdot Reader: Oh wow, free ram OH MY GOD THAT IS SO SICK MY EYES MY EYES THEY BURN ARrrrrr....
Damn it.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
MS is probably willing to go to great lengths to keep the XBox market alive. They just reported huge earnings and have something like $30B cash so they can comfortably lose money on the XBox for years until they gain market share. For them to give up just because something didn't make economic sense right now wouldn't be like Microsoft. Look at their history, for crying out loud.
And if they do pull out just to spite you, well, no big loss. PS3 will probably be out before you could change your laws anyway.
From the article quoting Steve Balmer:
"If there are aspects that are not allowed, it would encourage us to require a change in the legal framework. Otherwise, it wouldn't make economic sense."
If the legal frame work of a given locality doesn't support your business model, don't use it. In the past few years we've all seen a bunch of crazy business models crash at full speed into the solid wall of reality. What Balmer is proposing here makes even the worst dot-bomb plan look sterling. Even groups like the RIAA and the MPAA can claim that "times and technology have changed" when they go to try to change laws. In this case MS is the newcomer to an existing markeplace that has had to deal with the problem of mod chips for quite some time. I suppose that this just shows that you don't have to smart to help run a multi-gajillion dollar company.
Hopefully the "change the law" business model doesn't become as popular as the "put it online and they will buy it" model was. If this takes off one can just imagine the headlines: "Company fails to buy law, declares bankruptcy." If that wouldn't be grounds for a mismanagement suit on the part of investors, I don't know what would be.
Never disturb your enemy while he is busy making a mistake.
Mandatory Princess Bride quote...
... And Australia, as everyone knows, is peopled with criminals and criminals are used to having people not trust them...."
BTW: There really is a print version of "The Princess Bride", in an abridged version by William Goldman, (Because the original by the esteemed S. Morgenstern is much too long and horrible to read.)
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
Refusing to sell windows would probably be a credible threat. It would
put a pretty severe short-term kink in your economy if every company had
to transition for Linux (or whatever) overnight. Refusing to sell a third
rate video console has minimal negative impact...it might even be a positive
benefit to society.
www.sjbaker.org
What's broken is regional lockouts. I do not support using mod chips to play burned games, and I don't know if those are even available now that xbox games come on DVD. There is no reason I find acceptable to keep me from playing Japanese or European games on a North American system. Companies should bring games to all three markets in a timely fashion. Too many games never make it to certain markets, mod chips actually increase sales of those games for the market it was released in. Plenty of games get brought to NA with awful voice acting in place of the great Japanese. I'd far rather play the Japanese version, especially when the Japanese version has an English subtitles option.
Great PR move! Multi-billion dollar American company issuing threats against a soverign nation. I'm sure that having their legislature kow-tow to arrogant foreigners will go over really well with Australian voters. Ballmer needs a clue. Threats are GWB's job. Steve is just a song and dance guy.
----------
Manifesto for the Peoples of the Third Millennium
In Oz, it's essentially illegal to enforce region coding, which this stoush seems to be about. It's considered anti-competitive. Similarly, a company cannot stop a product from being imported into the country, even if it already sold there (no anti-grey marketting laws). So basically you could still get your xboxen if you really wanted to and MS can do fuck all about it.
It's interesting to note that Visa and Mastercard are thretening similar action if the Reserve bank doesn't back down on some reforms.
One day, when we get rid of all the evil corporates, Australia will be the perfect place to live.
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I really don't think they're going to ban the X-Box in Australia. (Just like they're not going to ban Windows in China, which is reported to have a very high piracy rate.) They're just fluffing hot air to manipulate opinion.
On the other hand, maybe some of these 'Microsoft sanctions' we've heard about would result in a laughable embargo against Australia. Gooooo Balmer!
It's no surprise to me that Microsoft is becoming more and more aggressive with it's dealings in Australia. They just recently lost their single biggest customer (Telstra). That deal is not finalised and it will be at least a couple of years before it has true impact, but the tide is turning here... against Microsoft.
The legal precedent in question took the nature: "If I buy a car, am I allowed to re-fit the engine?" The law granted that unless Sony gave a lifetime guarantee they had no further right to any single PS2 once it was legitimately sold to a consumer. The consumer had full rights to do whatever they wanted to that one instance of hardware because it is their property.
Personally, I back the argument in question and say that Microsoft should get a new business model (or make good on their threat and stop selling their shite here).
The Australians have not taken well, in the past, to companies not selling copyrighted materials there (because of the way the US and the Brits divided up the market), and passed a law to deal just with that. IIRC, it says, if you don't distribute your copyrighted material to Australia within [whatever the fairly short time limit is], anyone in Australia can print it. I haven't followed the progress of the law or British publishers' compliance with it, but to me it seemed a very good way to deal with a stupid situation that was created by companies that just didn't care when the Ozzies got to read the latest books.
Given that precedent, I don't think the Ozzies would take well a threat from Microsoft not to sell the X-Box there, and a similar law could be passed. And if the Ozzies got really pissed, they could probably just make Linux the preferred gov't software. And tax MS software. And be very unpleasant to MS otherwise. Lord knows, someone should be.
Lets not forget the ability to now play VCD's, DivX's and making the DVD player region free and also accept larger Hard Drives, none of which is illegal in Australia.
If and when I buy an XBox, I'll probably have about two games for it. It's primary function will be to act as a media station for my loungeroom, and for that it needs a modchip. I could care less about most XBox games, that is what my PC is for.
And those are the reasons the modchip was not declared illegal, and why MS's posturing will fall on deaf ears.
Nobody is claiming the intellectual property rights on behaving like a 3 year old ...
---- "Logoff! That cookie shit makes me nervous!" - A. Soprano
Also, there are a number of other laws that contribute to this - reverse engineering is a legal right, so someone can build mod chips in Oz (where do you think the majority of Samba core developers are?). In addition, our local consumer & competition board are investigating the whole region locking thing. From the various news reports going around, it seems like they are about to make region locking illegal because it is classed as anti-competitive. If that does happen (probably >80% chance given previous actions of Prof Fels) then mod chips will most definitely be legal in Oz.
Life is complete only for brief intervals in between toys or projects -- John Dalton
Wrong!
Lets see. Here's a list of upcoming Xbox exclusives. Exactly the same count as PS2. Which also has 38. Again, these are EXCLUSIVES.
Lets not forget DOA3 and Halo. Halo alone is worth the price of the console right there. If I had to choose between Halo and 50 PS2 games, the choice would be clear.
Again, I'm not defending piracy or Microsoft. I just tried to point out that Xbox is not a bad console as some of the users make it out to be.
Keep in mind there are good reasons for the region coding. The games do have to be programmed differently if they are going to be run on NTSC or PAL. The European GameCube has different video out formats than the US/Japan one does.
Another reason Nintendo releases at different times in different regions is they have a policy of only releasing a game after translating it to the local language, which takes time (some companies release English language games all over Europe). That's why THQ published Conker's Bad Fur Day in Europe instead of Nintendo - Nintendo didn't think it was worth the cost to translate it, but THQ thought the sales potential of an English language version was worth it.
It really is sad that some great games don't make it to other regions. Americans at large _still_ think that the Sega Saturn was a fruitless platform, when some of the best games of that generation are Saturn exclusives.
Ever since I was young, reading about all the games released in Japan for the Famicom and PC Engine that would never make it to the NES & TurboGrafx-16, I've always wished that the American arms of Japanese game companies wouldn't pick and choose on behalf of the American market which games to release, particularly regarding sequels. The infamous example: Secret of Evermore is _not_ as good a game as the game that should have been released here in its stead, Seiken Densetsu 3 -- sequel to Secret of Mana.
As an American, my heart has to go out to the PAL region gamers. Not just is availability of most Japanese titles more limited than in the U.S. (with the odd notable exception), but the quality of the gameplay often suffers because games weren't programmed with the PAL video standard in mind, or the translations from the European publishers can be very bad (from what I'm told).
< tofuhead >
It is still the dark of night.
I've seen a few outraged posts about the ps2 on xbox error in the writeup. Out of curosity, if you chipped your xbox, would you be able to run a playstation emulator under xbox linux? ;-)
Maybe msft should rent xboxes if they really don't want people dicking with them. Or they could just pour each one full of epoxy, so it's just one solid brick
Not such a valid reason these days, since the vast majority of modern TV sets (and lets face it, how many people likely to buy a PS2/Xsux/Gamecube *really* will be using an ancient television?) sold in Europe are more than capable of displaying NTSC signals. Makes sense really since the TV manufacturers don't have to make everything twice.
Additionally, how the images are output to TV at hardware level has nothing to do with the game software at all.
It's just another excuse to fix prices.
--
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
Couple of items.
1) Now is a really, really bad time to be telling us what to do about our own laws. We are in a state of mourning over the Bali Terrorist attack. A foreign company telling us to change our laws will go down like a lead ballon. The desires of a company to sell products is right at the bottom of important things list.
2) The regional encoding is likely to illegal under the Trade Practices Act (similar to the US Anti-Trust law by wider ranging). Currrently the ACCC (the statutory authority assigned to oversea compliance with the TPA) is taking DVD producers to court over this very issue. If the ACCC wins then regional encoding of games will also be illegal.
Microsoft is threatening to not sell the XBox in Australia due to a guy being acquitted for making mod chips. Now just above Australia, is China. Wasn't there some crazy stat that 78% (2000) of the software in China is pirated and Microsoft is still selling there? If I was a Microsoft share holder I would be concern on the focus of Microsoft. I think less XBox mods are going to sell compared to copies of Office or XP.
Now we'll have the australian hackers back working on Linux for PCs again instead! Woohoo!
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
That is possibly why the guy in australia got off. Their gov was doing an 'investigation' to decide whether sony was guilty of price fixing. Which they are; the whole idea is that people in different regions are willing/able to pay different amounts for a produce. They want their prices for each region to be as high as possible, without going over that region's consumer price limit.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
Sorry for the late post, but I just saw this article and I have to wonder if it isn't a bunch of crap on Microsoft's part. Let's say Australia calls the bluff, and doesn't do a thing. Is Microsoft seriously NOT going to sell Xbox in that market? And miss out on the chance to purchase that much more mindshare? Please. It would just be a bigger incentive for the modchip makers.
Microsoft is just full of itself, and trying to spread FUD like usual.
-ZOD-
No, those are pretty shitty reasons for A GOVT. PASSING LEGISLATION TO ENFORCE THEM.
Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft couldn't give a damn about the issues you stated. They want region encoding so they can charge outrageous prices and those people not have any other way to import games cheaply. By what you said thier logic, in one sentance is "well, you know someone somewhere might have a PAL tv and buy an NTSC disk: therefore we will create regions based on language/hardware and then further divide them arbitrarily (which look suspiciously based on what the price they can charge), try and force govt to enforce them all for the consumers safety!" yea right.
Region encoding is not bad in and of it self: the problem is legislation that FORCES you to abide by them. Give me one good technical reason why I should not be allowed to play, under any circumstance, a game from japan on my US console (all the technical reasons you stated have no effect on this: both ntsc, maybe I speak japanese, and I can mail order it). Techinical reason: none Thier reason: profit. They found they could not techinically force it so they have legislated it (and while they have every right to try and maximise profits govt should not pass laws only deseigned to maximise thier profit).
------- Sorry about the spelling, I suffer from two problems. Dyslexia makes it difficult to spell well, lazy makes it
The games do have to be programmed differently if they are going to be run on NTSC or PAL.
Oh really? PAL has two variations: the 625-line, 50-Hz PAL used for European TV, and the 525-line, 60-Hz PAL/M used for Brazilian TV and for European video games. PAL/M gives exactly the same pixel count (about 720x480) as the NTSC signal used in Japan and the USA. Thus, NTSC-style games on modern PAL consoles will run in PAL/M mode. (Older PAL consoles often halted the CPU during the extra scanlines of PAL, resulting in a slower game.) Not only do almost all PAL TVs multisync to both PAL and PAL/M signals, many can also display NTSC signals.
Another reason Nintendo releases at different times in different regions is they have a policy of only releasing a game after translating it to the local language
Then why not simultaneously release in the United States and the United Kingdom?
The real reason for region coding is the fact that different companies may own the copyrights or the exclusive licenses under copyright on a given work in different countries. For instance, Peter Pan fell out of copyright a long time ago in the United States, but the United Kingdom has passed a statutory perpetual copyright on the work and on all derivative works. The region lockout is intended partly to enforce parallel-import restrictions on works in markets where they don't have copyright clearance.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Ms is just looking for any excuse to stop selling the xbos these days huh?
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
Amazing.
Razor companies sell the handle as a loss-leader, making up huge profits on the blades. Sure, some third-party blades that fit the handle come out that are cheaper, and the original company complains somewhat, but the vast majority continue to buy the "genuine article", and life goes on.
Ink jet printer manufacturers probably don't make a dime on the printers themselves: the profit is in the ink carts. Yes, some people buy refill kits, but still the vast majority buy the real replacement cartridges. Token complaining aside, the printer maker is happy.
The same is true, I'm certain, with the X-Box. There aren't that many modded systems out there to make more than the tiniest dent in actual sales of X-Box games. In a sane political environment, Microsoft would whine a bit but really, there would be nothing they could do, as the console belongs to the citizen and it should be none of Microsoft's business what anyone does with it.
Microsoft, however, has the advantage of being on the "right" side of the WIPO treaties which forbid all this "digital theft", and effectively remove a person's right to do what he/she wants with their own property. The USA was a "leader" in this: by passing the DMCA in 1998, they were easily the first Western nation to ratify this crap into what is now international law.
Most countries that signed onto the agreement haven't yet ratified it, but most are getting close to doing so.
Seems the Australian court system wasn't told how to rule properly on this issue. Ballmer thinks that a nudge may be required to make sure Australia is in line. Must be nice to have that kind of influence.
Look at the tomato! Isn't it sad? He can't dance! Poor tomato!
So Sony's business model was "fucked up" too, eh? They're the ones who kicked the "sell console below cost and make it up in games" business model into high gear and now they're on top of the industry. Think before you rant.
Just to expand on this a little...
The reason that regional encoding in general is viewed so dimly in Australia is simply because as a small market, Australia frequently gets hammered on prices relative to the rest of the world.
So, regional encoding looks like it's really set up to be price gouging to Australians.
There's been several investigations into, eg why CDs cost so much more in Australia than in other countries, or at least used to, before the exchange rate bombed.
Of course, this is the great thing about the internet. You can find the price of anything in nearly any market.
Frequently governments find this troubling, because it means they are missing out on sales tax, duties etc.
For corporations, I've heard of situations where they simply go and set up a subsidiary in the country which offers the cheapest relative price and do a corporate wide deal.
Consumers don't have that luxury, but Oz seems to have some resistance built up re this nonsensical price fixing by global corporations.
So does Anonymous Coward have good karma?
Lets just take this apart a little to see the stench inside shall we?
From the article:
Microsoft would be forced to reconsider selling the Xbox video game system in Australia
Now the spin:
Take the word 'forced', for example. Why exactly is that word in there? Who is forcing them? Is the force economic or social or some other force? Have they been given some sort of order that they must follow? How exactly does one force a large company like microsoft to do anything?
What they are saying is that they are forced to decide. Forced really adds little here because it is the deciding that actually matters and that is why decide is clearly the right word choice here, not forced. Indeed.
More from the article:
, or seek changes to the law, following the acquittal in July of a Sydney man
And the spin
Now they take that little bit of momentum gained from the poor use of 'forced' above and add to it. Here they polarize the issue. When one polarizes an issue, they generally have one good choice, which is the one they want you to identify with, and that other bad choice. Simple isn't it. Just change the law and things will be good because things can either be good or bad, and none of us wants bad so lets work together for good huh? Sounds reasonable doesn't it?
It's not. They limit all the avaliable choices to exactly two. The one they want, and the one that nobody wants. Realistically there are many other options avaliable to them, but that complicates things just a little. Can't have that when you are trying to sway public opinion about complicated things. Keep it simple, that way it's easier for everyone to see your point.
More from the article:
alleged to have sold chips that modify a Sony PlayStation 2 to play imported games
And the spin:
Alleged? Where do we normally hear that word? We hear that word when we refer to someone who we think committed a crime. This is a negative word, not a positive one... ever. Can you remember the last time you heard the word 'alleged' in connection with something good? I can't.
Now that's a pretty decent piece of spin because of what comes next. What is that you ask? The actual crime! In this case it happens to be selling chips that allow people to play imported games. There is so much wrong with this I almost don't know where to start.
Playing import games is legal for one. implying that this is a crime is clearly a deception no doubt about it. None. A simple thought exercise cuts right through that one. Here is mine:
You are in Japan playing a game you find interesting. You buy it, legally mind you, and bring it home. It does not work. You are frustrated to learn that the company who was happy to sell you the game is also responsible for the fact that you cannot use it at home. What to do? Return it? Wrong answer, you see you opened it when you tried to play your legally purchased game so thats out. IMport an entire console? Too expensive, besides you have one already and are trying to be a loyal customer, but too much is too much. What's left? Several things, but the most obvious is a mod chip. Simple easy and legal.
So this linking of crime and mod chips and import games sounds a lot like drugs. Shady people sell you some thing that is in poor taste. Playing import games is in poor taste, who does that? It all adds up to making the whole thing look bad. Which it clearly is not.
From the Article:
, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said yesterday.
And the spin:
None of this would be worth discussing if it came from a nobody, but it came from a chief executive. Now that's somebody. Not only a chief executive, but one that runs one of the largest companies in the world. Maybe we all better think this one over because a guy like this would not just bring this up over nothing would he?
The very title conveys a certain level of creedence to this whole thing, but for a minor point. The company he runs is in the middle of the largest anti-trust litigation known. Doesn't this put just a little different light on things?
From the article:
Mr Ballmer said the decision affected Xbox's business model, which relies on subsidising the hardware console in return for a royalty on every game sold.
Now the spin:
This actually is a true statement with regard to the business model. They need to sell games, or take a loss on each console. Saying the legal decision affected that business model though is clearly false. Someone who buys an xbox who also imports a game paid for both. How does this break the model? Games are sold as are consoles. Clearly this is worded to imply that the alleged selling of chips will affect Microsofts ability to make money.
Now the truth here is, mod chips can do this, if they allow users to run other things, but in this case, the users are running the things they are supposed to be able to run anyway; namely, import games. So, Microsoft does not like mod chips because there is a possibility that they could be used in ways that could harm their business model, but they can't say that so they imply it.
From the article:
Microsoft has slashed the retail price of an Xbox from $649 to $399, which resulted in increased hardware sales and more game software sold.
And the spin:
This is a fact. They have lowered their price to compete with SONY. According to them it is working, and it likely is, but this is something they choose to do. Having it mentioned here just adds to the negative connotation alrealy implied with the 'alleged' crime discussed earlier. Another point worth mention here is that SONY has been dealing with this the entire time and seems to make lots of money. Why can't Microsoft?
They have no real basis for a statement against another nations legal system just because they have to keep their price low in order to boost sales of their product. This is a pretty arrogant stand to take --if you look though the spin.
From the article:
But Sony, which saw sales of PlayStation 2 titles decline 19 per cent in the same period, still dominates, selling 28 per cent of all titles, against Xbox's 7 per cent.
And the spin:
This paints the picture of the perfect underdog. Everyone wants an xbox don't they? If these criminals are allowed to sell mod chips then some people just might not get one. They might have to settle for a SONY instead. You can carry that little piece farther if you want, it's easy.
From the article:
"Given the way the economic model works
And spin:
Note the use of the word 'the'. This is clever because it implies that there is only one economic model. What they should say here is, "Given the way our economic model works". Again subtle word use to shift blame from them to another entity; namely, the Australian legal system.
From the article:
, and that is a subsidy followed, essentially, by fees for every piece of software sold, our licence framework has to do that
And spin:
This is a complex way of saying we need some money for every game sold. Fair enough, but the alleged crime mentioned above does nothing to hinder that, so why bother with this whole affair in the first place. Is there something we are not seeing? If so, why hide it. Everyone would be a lot better off knowing what is is.
From the article:
"If there are aspects that are not allowed, it would encourage us to require a change in the legal framework. Otherwise, it wouldn't make economic sense."
And spin:
Basically they are saying here, if they cannot do what they want, then they don't want to do it at all. Sounds like the reasoning of a three year old plain and simple.
Essentially what is happening here is this.
Microsoft is saying that they want income from every xbox both from the sale of the actual box, and the games following that.
They say that a chip intended for users to play imported games hinders that in some fashion, but decline to discuss exactly what that is exactly.
So they basically throw down their gauntlet and say, either play the way we want, or we won't play at all.
What exactly is anyone supposed to realistically think about this? Should we support a change to another nations legal system because they tell us that the law there might hinder them from making the amount of money they want to make, or that the think they should be making with nothing but implications to that end?
Spin Indeed.
Blogging because I can...
Really? I think that the VAST majority of Australian posters here have made the point that parallel importation is LEGAL in Oz and that region-locking is ILLEGAL. If I have an early DVD player or an XBox or PS/2 that is region-locked, I have to chip it before I can play the games/DVDs I have legally imported from outside Australia. This is hardly piracy.
I am not Australian and I do not own a game console or a stand-alone DVD player. I DO own a combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive in my PC. I DO have libdvdcss installed so I can (sometimes unsuccessfully) try to play legally-purchased, original DVDs on my PC because I am Microsoft-free by choice. If a DVD refuses to play on my system, I return it to the store as a defective product, because they NEVER show "system requirements" on the outside of the packaging, thereby breaching, at minimum, the implied warranty of merchantability under the Uniform Commercial Code.
NO vendor is entitled to tell me that I MUST use Windows or any other particular software product AFTER the purchase. In fact, they have a duty to inform me, the purchaser, of any special requirements BEFORE the purchase so I can make an informed decision whether I want to make the purchase or not.
For Rosen, Valenti or YOU to accuse me of piracy in writing is libel and I demand a retraction.
utter rubbish
Everyone who makes this argument right now is a flaming idiot. Unless you plan on buying every single game for a particular console, and judge each console totally on quantity, then there is no longer any cause to complain - ALL THREE CONSOLES HAVE GOOD GAMES ON THEM...THEY EVEN HAVE MORE THAN A FEW.
Here are some highlights from my current collection.
PS2: Final Fantasy X, GTA3, Gran Turismo 3 and several more that *I* like but may not be big-time favorites.
Gamecube: Rogue Leader, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Beach Spikers, Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee, Super Smash Bros. Melee and more.
XBox: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dead to Rights, Morrowind (yes, it's PC too, so the hell what?), Jet Set Radio Future, Sega Soccer Slam, Project Gotham Racing and more -- not to mention that cross-platform games are generally nicer on the X than the others (in addition to being generally nicer on the GC than the PS2).
In short, all of you schmucks who keep yakking about how there are no good games for console need to help yourselves to a hot cup of shut the fuck up. While YOUR favorite game (GTA3 fans, Mario fans, Halo fans) might not be on a particular console that doesn't mean that there isn't anything else on it.
Companies should bring games to all three markets in a timely fashion. Too many games never make it to certain markets, mod chips actually increase sales of those games for the market it was released in. Plenty of games get brought to NA with awful voice acting in place of the great Japanese.
Yeah, who ever told them "If you'll delay it, they'll wait." Because I for one won't. When a europe release dates are delayed, but the game's already released in US, it's not that difficult a choice to make wether to download it from the net or not.
Same goes for ID with their q3 linux release. Morons released it more than a month later than the windows version and had the nerves to complain how poorly it had sold.
And with regional DVDs... you would think they'd learn but now. Why should I care though, they're just shooting their own feet.
1 Earth is warming, 2 It's us, 3 it's royally bad, 4 we need to take action NOW
Another reason Nintendo releases at different times in different regions is they have a policy of only releasing a game after translating it to the local language, which takes time (some companies release English language games all over Europe).
Nani? And this prevents... uh... what? A misinformed gamer from buying an out of region game and going, "Ah crap! This one's in french! How am I suppose to play it?!" Cuz now when he pops that french disc in his console it just won't boot? "Ah crap! This one is busted! And trying to return broken software sucks cuz the store treats me like some kind of pirate!"
What it prevents is a gamer who knows Japanese from directly buying Japanese games, especially those games that are never released in his region. And preventing sales is good... uh... why? I need to mod my console to play legally purchased games... uh... why?
Back in the day we used to buy Super Famicom games for our SNES. We were told we needed to buy a $20 'converter' which plugged into the SNES and would allow you to play the Famicom games by plugging them into the 'converter'. I was shocked and outraged when it was explained to me that a SNES had the same hardware as a Super Famicom and that the 'converter' didn't actually do anything. The reason you 'needed' the converter was because you couldn't directly plug a Famicom cartridge into a SNES because Nintendo had added a pair of little plastic tabs which prevented you from inserting it completely into the console. After using some pliers to snap off the plastic tabs the cartridge inserted and played just fine.
A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.
Hi all. I'm an Australian. I know many people here who have purchased a Microsoft X-Box. Most of them did so as a result of the not-so-recent price drop.
I would just like to point out that Microsoft will not remove the X-Box (and games) from the Australian market. This is nothing but the usual FUD that many have come to expect (actually, it's synonymous with) from Ballmer, Gates, and Co.
The reason is simple. To do so would be a massive public relations nightmare for Microsoft in Australia. Sure, we are but a country of 20 million people. A drop in the proverbial population bucket, if you will. But the point still stands.
If Microsoft pulls the X-Box out of Australia, they can kiss-ass-goodbye to ever competing (on an even par) with the likes of Sony in the Australian market, ever again. There would also be a carry-on effect for their other products.
This is nothing but fear-mongering on the part of Microsoft.
It would be interesting to see buyer reactions to Ballmers comments, especially in the leadup to the Christmas buying period, if the mainstream press in Australia was to make his comments public knowledge to all.
This is cutting off their nose to spite their face. "Our business will be damaged by mod chips therefore we're going to destroy our business first.", has to be the most hollow threat ever.
NTSC, PAL and SECAM don't have resolutions at all.
NTSC, PAL, and SECAM specify a number of scanlines for a signal, the timing used for each scanline, the bandwidth of the main carrier, and the bandwidth of a color subcarrier. The Nyquist theorem guarantees a sample frequency given bandwidth or vice versa, and multiplying that by the length of a scanline gives a pixel count per line. Thus, you have a HxV pixel count, which is what computer users typically call "resolution".
Will I retire or break 10K?