News: Resolved - PS2 Region

[Dart]

I find it staggering how some people can be so dismissive about the notion of not playing PS2 without your friends from PlanetSide! As IronMole mentioned - as a part of an international gaming clan I don't think we're the vanishing minority Raymac et al seem to assume. These restrictions will hit many clans, both ones you know from PlanetSide and many that would've been new to the game.

I feel much like Wargrim. I will do everything possible to ensure every member of of my clan can play PS2 together. Even if it requires circumventing the established 'locks'. If we cannot, I will not play PS2.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Dart

I find it staggering how some people can be so dismissive about the notion of not playing PS2 without your friends from PlanetSide! As IronMole mentioned - as a part of an international gaming clan I don't think we're the vanishing minority Raymac et al seem to assume. These restrictions will hit many clans, both ones you know from PlanetSide and many that would've been new to the game.

I feel much like Wargrim. I will do everything possible to ensure every member of of my clan can play PS2 together. Even if it requires circumventing the established 'locks'. If we cannot, I will not play PS2.

I'm not completely unsympathetic to the bonds of gaming clans. I think the brinkmanship rhetoric of "I won't play then" is a bit disingenuous, but I could be wrong. If who you play with is THAT much more important than what you play, then that may be the case. Personally, I'm more excited about the game itself, and I'm sure I'll meet new people in the game and have great times with them.

[Boomzor]

In the spirit of Wargrims post, and to what Dart and similar said.

Passionate advocates of your game is the best advertisement you can get. Disillusioned fans won't promote anything. Resentful ones will be straight up counter productive.
In this day of social media, that should mean something.

The branches sprouting from the network that started back in 2003 has grown quite a bit in those years. Don't underestimate that.

[Shogun]

i guess this is all just about pro7 wanting to be the only one in europe to sell the cash-shop items or (for other games) subscriptions.

by locking us servers for european players you force them to use the pro7 account and therefore the pro7 cash shop.

but where is the problem when you make all servers compatible to all accounts/launchers? just iplock the accountcreation to prevent european players from creating an account outside of pro7s influence.
and let soe accounts with a ps1 history use the soe account if they wish as a token of gratitude.
this will leave pro7 with all new eu players (and their money), all veterans will have the option to choose whom they trust more, and everybody can choose where to play.


and on the subject of clans/communitys not being important or relevant... :
i personally think ps2 is all about clans and will draw in big clans from other games! the vast majority of players will be organised in outfits because being an always solo player will not be as fun as playing the game in the intended way. and big clans are very often international.

[Fenrys]

Wargrim, please post that to the official feedback forum here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/stati...id=11500038790

I'm willing to post it for you with your permission?

[Dart]

Originally Posted by Raymac

I'm not completely unsympathetic to the bonds of gaming clans. I think the brinkmanship rhetoric of "I won't play then" is a bit disingenuous, but I could be wrong. If who you play with is THAT much more important than what you play, then that may be the case. Personally, I'm more excited about the game itself, and I'm sure I'll meet new people in the game and have great times with them.

See Ray, and please don't take offense to this, but the fact that you consider it disingenuous rhetoric simply tells me that you've never been part of a real gaming clan and in that case, in my opinion, you're missing the most enjoyable aspect of online gaming. For many of us who we play with is far more important than the game. That is the point of a clan. It's the acknowledgement that these people - the ones I've found here - are the ones I want to do my gaming with. Across different games even across different platforms. This is my clan.

I'm willing to bet you could take any of the leaders of any established clan and ask them whether they'd be willing to really invest in a game if it was at the exclusion of the community they'd built and they'd give you the same answer as I will; no chance.

[jakaul]

Originally Posted by Raymac

I'm not completely unsympathetic to the bonds of gaming clans. I think the brinkmanship rhetoric of "I won't play then" is a bit disingenuous, but I could be wrong. If who you play with is THAT much more important than what you play, then that may be the case. Personally, I'm more excited about the game itself, and I'm sure I'll meet new people in the game and have great times with them.

I'm sad you haven't found a group that can be as close as ours (Delta Triad). I think that would give you a better understanding of the negativity we have towards this. We're talking about 8+ year friendships that have developed and grown through these games. I can only speak for myself, but I'm better friends with most of these people than tons of people I went to high school with. Most of us played PS1 for years after we really loved the game because of the people we played with...not people, friends.

For a large number of us, playing with each other is more important than playing the game. Maybe we're the minority. But even the minority counts for something...

[Sta]

http://www.prosiebengames.de/prosieb...-online-entert

Translated into eng by moi:

The starting signal for 2012 has been shot. Today, ProsiebenSat.1 Games has announced its newest milestone on a press conference in munich. The game publisher from Unterföhringen cooperates with Sony Online Entertainment
(SOE) and secures by that the exclusive licences for 8 Online Games of the U.S. game developer studio all over Europe.

It's about big Games like DC Universe™ Online, EverQuest® II, Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™, Free Realms®, Magic: The Gathering – Tactics®, Pox Nora®, the upcoming PlanetSide® 2 and the continuation of the EverQuest® franchise. With this long-standing, strategic partnership is the subsidiary company of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group positioning itself as one of the biggest game publisher in Europe.

Dr. Christian Wegner, board of New Media and diversification of ProSiebenSat.1 Group: " On our way to become a digital entertainment powerhouse is the game business one of the most important growth drivers. The cooperation with Sony Online Entertainment brings us one determining step closer to our goal to become one of the top-3 provider in Europe."
Arnd Benninghoff, executive committee of ProSiebenSat.1 Digital, added:" We like to offer our gamers real blockbuster games. Because that's exactly what they expect from us as one of the leading TV companies in Europe: premium TV content, premium online offerings and premium gaming entertainment."

"We've found an ideal partner in ProSiebenSat.1 Group to reach a larger target group in EU", explained John Smedley, President Sony Online Entertainment. " We're sure that the combination of strenght and media power of ProSiebenSat.1 Games and our expertise in the development of creative, qualitative games and entertainment offerings will catch the fancy of players in new, fascinating ways which will create the requirement for an outstanding success in Europe."

[Shnipah]

"We've found an ideal partner in ProSiebenSat.1 Group to reach a larger target group in EU", explained John Smedley, President Sony Online Entertainment. " We're sure that the combination of strenght and media power of ProSiebenSat.1 Games and our expertise in the development of creative, qualitative games and entertainment offerings will catch the fancy of players in new, fascinating ways which will create the requirement for an outstanding success in Europe."

Well with this article http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/22/20-th...1alaplaya-deal/

This articule concerns me greatly

[Raymac]

Dart, jakaul, I appreciate your pity, but yeah I've been in close knit clans before. I've been gaming for a long time. So I am sympathetic to your positions. I just have never ONLY gamed with my clan. I always hope to find a solution that works for everybody. I can also see how something like this can be a deal breaker for some people. I just don't see it as a deal breaker for the vast majority of gamers, but I concede that I may be off base.

[Wargrim]

Originally Posted by Fenrys

Wargrim, please post that to the official feedback forum here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/stati...id=11500038790

I'm willing to post it for you with your permission?

Go ahead, i dont feel like also registering over there.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Shnipah

Well with this article http://eq2wire.com/2012/02/22/20-th...1alaplaya-deal/ smedley obviously did jack all research into this company.

I'm sure Smedley knows more about those guys then an EQ2 blog. He likely has access to far more information so he probably knows all about that company, warts and all. What he is saying now is just typical PR speak.

There's this assumption that Pro7 will suck, which may be true. However, they may not suck. In fact, it is possible they may give better service than SOE. (don't flame me for that, just throwing it out there)

The more I consider it, the better it would be to give players the option to choose which server they want to play on, but I just don't know how feasible that is under an exclusivity deal.

[ThGlump]

Originally Posted by Raymac

There's this assumption that Pro7 will suck, which may be true. However, they may not suck. In fact, it is possible they may give better service than SOE. (don't flame me for that, just throwing it out there)

You are welcome to go and make pro7 account and play under them. Ill take SOE account instead of you.

[jakaul]

Originally Posted by Raymac

Dart, jakaul, I appreciate your pity, but yeah I've been in close knit clans before. I've been gaming for a long time. So I am sympathetic to your positions. I just have never ONLY gamed with my clan. I always hope to find a solution that works for everybody. I can also see how something like this can be a deal breaker for some people. I just don't see it as a deal breaker for the vast majority of gamers, but I concede that I may be off base.

It wasn't pity, I just wish everyone could share the experience of meeting a diverse, awesome group of people that you consider friends even if you haven't met them in real life. I also think that experience would help with the understanding of why this is so much of a deal breaker for a lot of us.

No, I don't have the thought that we're the vast majority. However, as was noted earlier, there are TONS of gaming clans from FPS games that are likely checking PS2 out. A larger portion of the ones I've experienced were multi-national groups and will likely feel much the same as the PS1 outfits regarding a region lock. So, the "vocal minority" is larger than I think anyone realizes currently.

Here's my major problem currently - they put this shit out there without any real clear answers other than the normal dumb FAQ stuff. Radar and Matt are trying to pacify the troops with vague answers (no offense intended, I truly think both want to do the community right as best they can), but this is a HUGE DEAL to lots of us. While to many (such as you), it might not matter, the game will lose players it very likely didn't have to lose because of this. And that's not good for you or us.

[Dart]

Originally Posted by Raymac

I'm sure Smedley knows more about those guys then an EQ2 blog. He likely has access to far more information so he probably knows all about that company, warts and all. What he is saying now is just typical PR speak.

There's this assumption that Pro7 will suck, which may be true. However, they may not suck. In fact, it is possible they may give better service than SOE. (don't flame me for that, just throwing it out there)

The more I consider it, the better it would be to give players the option to choose which server they want to play on, but I just don't know how feasible that is under an exclusivity deal.

I'm not generally a pessimist and as the game which is closest to my heart, I'd dearly like to see the second incarnation of PlanetSide exceed everyone's expectations. However regarding Pro7Sat.1, there is information out there regarding their reputation for appalling customer support if you do a little digging Ray. Maybe they will entirely revolutionize their practices and provide a first class service but at this stage I think it'd be rather naive to expect that. As I said in a previous post, hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

And regarding choosing which server we play on, there are several options which have already been mooted in this thread. You can bet we'll get no support from SOE - not necessarily because they wouldn't like to but basically because you can be virtually certain their agreement with Pro7 would prohibit it. So it'll essentially come down to just how diligent Pro7 are in forcing the "exiles" (Euro gamers who've found a home on US servers) to play on their servers and whether or not we can find a workable solution to circumvent whatever measures are in place.