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Originally region locking was more a byproduct of TV's having different output standards (NTSC vs PAL). But we're talking back in the 8bit era (and to a lesser
by laumars 9y ago
Originally region locking was more a byproduct of TV's having different output standards (NTSC vs PAL). But we're talking back in the 8bit era (and to a lesser degree, 16bit as well).
Which might explain why most handhelds were never region locked.
- ac29 9y agoRegion locking tended to occur between the US and Japan frequently, despite them both using NTSC.
- laumars 9y agoIndeed. Though that was sometimes used to switch languages. eg the same Streets of Rage Genesis cart will display English text when the console is set to NTSC-US but would display Japanese text when set to NTSC-J
- dtech 9y agoI don't buy that. DVDs were region-locked with multiple PAL regions, later consoles which didn't have that problem were and are region locked. It's about price differentiation between different regions.
- laumars 9y agoHence the "originally" part prefixing my post. I absolutely agree it later become a monetary thing (bare in mind DVDs came a long time after the time period I was discussing) but many early consoles didn't have region locking and some that did, did so because games timed for NTSC consoles would have ran slower on PAL systems due to the difference in refresh rates between PAL and NTSC (50Hz and 60Hz respectively). You can see this in effect whenever you play games on a modded Mega Drive (for example). That all said, some NTSC games were still released for European markets without changing their timings. Sonic is one example of this - it runs slower, the music plays slower etc. For that reason I usually play Sonic on NTSC console rather than the PAL one (yeah, I have a whole room full of old computers and games consoles. It's sad but I love it).
- slantyyz 9y ago> It's about price differentiation between different regions. I thought the DVD region locking had to do with the old school movie distribution rights systems that were in place. i.e. Fox would sell the rights to their movies to multiple companies in different regions for redistribution outside of North America. Allowing a person in one region to buy a DVD from anywhere would mean that those regional rights holders would otherwise lose money on their investments.
- slantyyz 9y agoI always guessed (a guess not based on facts) that it had more to do with music licensing rules and how those work geographically, since most games have music?
- boomboomsubban 9y agoMusic was generally composed by an employee until the CD era, so the licensing rules would be basically the same as the game art.
- boomboomsubban 9y agoThe 8bit region locking was started by Nintendo, and it was trying to combat piracy and unlicensed games. The Famicom released without protection in 83, but they changed it internationally as a response to the video game crash.