Copyright law change will hit PS2 sales hardest
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Dec 22, 2004
They foresee sales dropping from Jan 1, when the amended Copyright Act makes it illegal to sell the special chips - known in the industry as mod chips - that allow gamers to modify consoles for games from the United States.
Such popular titles as Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as well as the consoles for them will then have to be bought in the US. The situation is similar to that of DVDs which are 'region-locked'.
What it means is that all three major makes of home consoles sold here - the PS2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube - will not be able to play titles sold in the US and Europe.
Mr Sunil Harthiramani, managing director of The Gaming World, expects his business to shrink by 30 to 40 per cent when the ban starts.
He is a distributor for PS2 games and has already removed his products from several Toys 'R' Us stores.
As for the other two console makes, the effect is less pain- ful.
GameCube does not use the mod chip but a software disc called Freeloader, available in most local shops, to play games from all regions.
With Xbox, modifications are rare because 99 per cent of Xbox game titles suited for local consoles are released in English.
The PS2 is worst off because the console from Sony shares the same region code as Japanese PS2s, so the games that can be played on it are mainly in Japanese.
Retailers often modify the consoles on the quiet, charging customers between $70 and $150 for the change.
The new law has put console makers like Sony and retailers of videogame consoles in a dilemma.
Sales of consoles and titles for them have been rising in recent months. For instance, the Xbox has seen growth of more than 90 per cent against the the same period last year, said Mr Alex Chua, home & entertainment division manager for Microsoft Singapore.
Mr Harthiramani, who has been in the videogame business for 14 years, estimates that up to 40 per cent of his customers modify their consoles to play original games in English and 'only a very small percentage play games in Japanese'.
Mr Lim Shiow Kheng, managing director of Seow Choon, another major wholesaler and retailer of games, agrees with Mr Harthiramani.
He is expecting his sales to halve: 'The markets in Taiwan and Hong Kong are more receptive to Japanese games. That is not the case here.'
Sony has declined to comment on the issue which Mr Harthiramani says has a simple solution: Sony should introduce a console that plays English games.
Pointing to Microsoft's Xbox, he said: 'It understands that Singapore is an English-speaking country and made sure that its games are in English and priced reasonably. These factors make original games sell.
*Extracted from The Straits Times Interactive. View the original source here -
we've said it again and again.. the way to promote piracy is to area-code their damned consoles...
who wants to buy another console if i wanna place a NTSC/UC game when i have a NTSC/J set? -
Exactly... They should at least allow a mod chip to play universal games, not pirated though. Sony should release a universal model that can play all games irregardless of it being from US or Japan.
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lol there's no PS 3 la...the latest coming out is PS X..which is nth more than jus can play games online...btw is it true tat original PS 2 can play PS 1 games?
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the PSX was out long ago...
the PS3 is the next generation...Originally posted by $e@wEeD:lol there's no PS 3 la...the latest coming out is PS X..which is nth more than jus can play games online...btw is it true tat original PS 2 can play PS 1 games? -
I think you're referring to PSX2? PSX2 will not be launched in Singapore so soon as the sets launched in Taiwan and Hong Kong have faults, they tend to 'burn' due to overheat.Originally posted by $e@wEeD:lol there's no PS 3 la...the latest coming out is PS X..which is nth more than jus can play games online...btw is it true tat original PS 2 can play PS 1 games?
There's a PS3, to be launched in Mid-2006. -
true. i sent $150 just to mod it to play original Pal, ntsc/j games. why must they region lock it?
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Modify it to play other region original games? No pirated games?
By region-locking it, they do not want modification chips to be added on, so that pirated games cannot be played... But it's absurd. I mean buy a PS2 to play US games, and buy an Asian set juZ to play Japanese games?
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will ntsc u/c set be available here in the future? or solely ntsc/j sets?
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yeap i dun play pirated ps2 gamesOriginally posted by aRcTiC_sTaR:Modify it to play other region original games? No pirated games?
By region-locking it, they do not want modification chips to be added on, so that pirated games cannot be played... But it's absurd. I mean buy a PS2 to play US games, and buy an Asian set juZ to play Japanese games? 
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i've seen them being sold in smaller shops..
but why pay so much again?
i've already got a NTSC/J set!Originally posted by jasmine17:will ntsc u/c set be available here in the future? or solely ntsc/j sets? -
What's the difference? Spend $280(Is that what you paid?) on a PS2 Set, $150 to modify it to play original games.
$400 for a set to play pirated games, and the games cost around $10/each. Same quality as original games. -
Actually, I've got 2 sets... A modified NTSC/J set and an Original Unmodified NTSC U/C set bought from Australia...Originally posted by jasmine17:will ntsc u/c set be available here in the future? or solely ntsc/j sets?
Other than the unmodified set being unable to play Japanese and pirated games, what's the difference? Only for different regions right? Any experts here? Comments? -
Can anyone offer assistance to my previous post in this thread?
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no difference...
they're coded to play certain codes only... but that can be defeated with the mod chip...
that's all..
so i don't see why people like Sony and Microsoft should kill themselves with area-coding... -
Hmn but the US set costs more than the Asian set right?
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that's coz they have to import it specially from the US...
asian sets are coded NTSC/J so it's the normal imports...Originally posted by aRcTiC_sTaR:Hmn but the US set costs more than the Asian set right? -
Oic! Looks like my US set is redundant in this case.
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oh well... could try to sell it on e-bay
Originally posted by aRcTiC_sTaR:Oic! Looks like my US set is redundant in this case. -
well, we'll stick to playing computer games then
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Nah I'll probably give it away rather than to sell it and make a loss.
Prefer PS2 games though... -
PSX2 is in Singapore already. It's a reduced-size version of the PS2, which cannot be modified. That means that the Asian set will be able to play original Japanese games only! Will you buy a PS2 at such a time?
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Pirated PS 2 games more expensive now... $_$