[Hool]

Something that just downright annoys me is the fact that sometimes games get released in one country but not the one I live in. One prime example of this is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x released as a launch title for the original Xbox. I was excited for this one as it had several previews in magazines before the Xbox launched, and what happened? It never showed up on the launch. I contacted Virgin Games (they got bought buy another branch and remained to GAME) and asked them when it was going to be released and they gave me the cue card response of "Our books show it as blah, blah and blah". It soon fell off my radar and I came back to it recently after watching a YouTube video of it, and in fact I soon found it its cause of not coming out at launch. It was never released in the UK or Europe or Australia. It was only released in the US.

And this is what annoys me, I have to mod my PAL Xbox just to play one NTSC game. And why am I going mad about a game probably no one knows about? Well Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is one of my favourite games of all time. To have a graphically updated version of both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater in one package was a dream come true back then and to have it not released in the UK is what just pisses me off.

What surprises me is the fact that the levels in the game are unique in a way that they are not present (in their graphically updated form) in the new Tony Hawk games. The levels themselves have higher resolution textures, better draw distance (In fact, you can the School 2 level you can see from one end of the level to the other without that white fog in the way), higher poly models and some new features not present in the PSX, Dreamcast or PC versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.

You've probably heard about this fiasco with current games in this generation such as Pandora's Tower and The Last Story, but why does the industry do this to us gamers? Do they not see that they can earn more money if they release games in all regions? I guess we will never know.

-WheatleyNukem

*EDIT* Oops, the forum title got messed up. I've got to fix that, sorry.

[Mikko]

WheatleyNukem, on 03 March 2012 - 07:59 AM, said:

why does the industry do this to us gamers? Do they not see that they can earn more money if they release games in all regions?

They probably had a good reason to expect it would not sell enough in other regions to make up for the costs. The video game industry is not a charity and they should not be expected to throw money away any more than you're expected to throw money away.

[Stabs]

I hate games <period>

bunch of dumb downed faggotry these days

guess why i drink an take copious amounts of drugs now, but that's me fuck dying old

please give me a handgun and a ton of self rihtouse uni fags

[thatguy]

DanM, on 03 March 2012 - 08:27 AM, said:

I hate games <period>

bunch of dumb downed faggotry these days

guess why i drink an take copious amounts of drugs now, but that's me fuck dying old

please give me a handgun and a ton of self rihtouse uni fags

Oh so you only enjoy games that are dosed with ACID? Games aren't dumb downed these days. That is not the definition you use. What you wanted to use is 'today's games aren't hard enough' or 'too user friendly'.

[Kathy]

Mikko_Sandt, on 03 March 2012 - 08:11 AM, said:

They probably had a good reason to expect it would not sell enough in other regions to make up for the costs. The video game industry is not a charity and they should not be expected to throw money away any more than you're expected to throw money away.

If they're not planning on releasing some title in other regions then they could have at least released it as region free.

newsom said:

What you wanted to use is 'today's games aren't hard enough' or 'too user friendly'.

Are you a telepathist?

[Mikko]

Helel, on 03 March 2012 - 10:13 AM, said:

If they're not planning on releasing some title in other regions then they could have at least released it as region free.

As far as I know, this is up to distributors. If every unit was purchased directly from the publisher/developer, games would probably be region free, but as it is now, they have to rely on distributors.

[DN4ever]

There''s a way to play NTSC games via PAL consoles without modding by using a special disc and a little effort. I had a PlayStation 2, and wanted to play a NTSC Burnout 1. I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the website (I'm drunk) but it worked and xbox too. It included a disc to boot your console with the correct data and then all you had to do was to cheat the tray open with the included opener and change the disc and then play the game. But if you're seeking for a way to play NTSC in PAL, those boot discs actually DO work.

[rasmus thorup]

I think you are talking about swapmagic DN4ever, i have that and it works great. Instead of using that annoying opener, i just "modded" my ps2 so it's now open. Though i don't think swapmagic works on xbox. Worth googling right?

[DN4ever]

Yes yes swapmagic it is. Thanks rasmus thorup. Worth googling it is.

[Mad Max RW]

One of the top reasons studios don't release their games in certain countries is they hate dealing with censorship laws. It costs money to retool their game for every stupid guideline, and they know the uncensored version will be pirated anyway.

[Jeff]

Mad Max RW, on 03 March 2012 - 07:43 PM, said:

One of the top reasons studios don't release their games in certain countries is they hate dealing with censorship laws. It costs money to retool their game for every stupid guideline, and they know the uncensored version will be pirated anyway.

I heard Australia has really strict laws for gaming. Some games have actually been banned from there.

[Kathy]

Jeff, on 03 March 2012 - 10:58 PM, said:

I heard Australia has really strict laws for gaming. Some games have actually been banned from there.

They've almost put behind this crap. Germany on the other hand...

[Hool]

rasmus thorup, on 03 March 2012 - 12:57 PM, said:

I think you are talking about swapmagic DN4ever, i have that and it works great. Instead of using that annoying opener, i just "modded" my ps2 so it's now open. Though i don't think swapmagic works on xbox. Worth googling right?

SwapMagic is for PS2. The only way to play NTSC games on a PAL console is to either have: a mod chip or to softmod it using Splinter Cell and some other equipment.

-WheatleyNukem

[Martin]

Or a PS2 emulator.

[scaryred24]

I know this response is rather late so here's it goes...

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x is rare and isn't cheap. only like 10,000 copies were ever made in the US and did not get gold certified by Microsoft, nor Tryeach and Neversoft. (In North America, the Gold Certified reissue is called Platinum Hits) It was rather obscure, like it had unused levels like rooftops (a proof-of-concept of Tampa from THUG1), Oil Rig (Nearly identical to the one in THAW), and The Junction (an unused level from THPS1 Beta E3 build and secret level on THPS2 Windows 98called [The] Freeway. I't did have 2 other odd features, like THPS2x had LAN support while THPS3 had dial up and broadband connection only for the PC, Mac, and PS2 because back then there was no such thing as Xbox live until like another 10 months from the November 2001 launch date in the US, and the fact that the Skater Maker (or THPS4 talk, CAS) wasn't at anyway sexist, unlike all the other releases and ports because they introduced a female profile. The game right now is like a little less than $80USD on Ebay.

Spoiler

I bought the game one for a very unusual price tag of $2.99USD back in 2007 at a somewhat distant Gamestop, but was later stolen and somehow was traded in for like $76.00 worth of meth. I was so pissed when that person finally confessed to me.

Its actually not worth the money or time to go out of your way to get just like THUG2 Remix for the PSP and THUG1 and 2 for the PC because THUG2 didn't really click in to me and THUG1 is an Australian exclusive.

[Hool]

scaryred24, on 15 April 2012 - 09:44 AM, said:

I know this response is rather late so here's it goes...

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x is rare and isn't cheap. only like 10,000 copies were ever made in the US and did not get gold certified by Microsoft, nor Tryeach and Neversoft. (In North America, the Gold Certified reissue is called Platinum Hits) It was rather obscure, like it had unused levels like rooftops (a proof-of-concept of Tampa from THUG1), Oil Rig (Nearly identical to the one in THAW), and The Junction (an unused level from THPS1 Beta E3 build and secret level on THPS2 Windows 98called [The] Freeway. I't did have 2 other odd features, like THPS2x had LAN support while THPS3 had dial up and broadband connection only for the PC, Mac, and PS2 because back then there was no such thing as Xbox live until like another 10 months from the November 2001 launch date in the US, and the fact that the Skater Maker (or THPS4 talk, CAS) wasn't at anyway sexist, unlike all the other releases and ports because they introduced a female profile. The game right now is like a little less than $80USD on Ebay.

Spoiler

I bought the game one for a very unusual price tag of $2.99USD back in 2007 at a somewhat distant Gamestop, but was later stolen and somehow was traded in for like $76.00 worth of meth. I was so pissed when that person finally confessed to me.

Its actually not worth the money or time to go out of your way to get just like THUG2 Remix for the PSP and THUG1 and 2 for the PC because THUG2 didn't really click in to me and THUG1 is an Australian exclusive.

Well browsing through EBay I found this:
http://www.ebay.co.u...7#ht_1277wt_905

I'll be purchasing it soon when I get the cash. THUG 2 Remix is good and the most definite version of THUG 2 available. I was surprised how they fitted the whole game of THUG 2 on the UMD with bonus levels thrown in, though they weren't of the best (except Atlanta, which is my favourite) and the Create-A-Park was removed with something else was removed too. I don't remember ever having a level called "The Junction" included with THPS2x, off the top of my head there was:

THPS2:
Hangar
School 2
Marseille
New York
Venice Beach
Skatestreet
Philadelphia
The Bullring

THPS 1:
Warehouse
School
Mall
Chicago Skatepark
Downtown
Portland Skatepark
San Francisco
Roswell

THPS2x:
London Club
Construction Site
Tampa Skatepark (Later re-used in THUG but expanded)
Subway, New York
Skylines, Detroit (Used in GBA version of THPS2)

I think that's it, Freeway was used in a beta but was scrapped due to it being too open with nothing much to skate. But the portapotties and the metal bars where recycled into objects in the Construction Site level in Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX.
-Wheatley