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Topic: Australia considers banning the sale of region locked gaming consoles.

Posts 21 to 26 of 26

Birdman

OptometristLime wrote:

Birdman wrote:

I read a few months ago that Adobe is so expensive in Australia that it's actually cheaper for an Aussie to fly to the US, buy Adobe there, then fly back to the US, than buy Adobe in Australia, so I think this could be a reaction to that, however absurd this seems.

Okay... seriously, some punctuation is needed; it sounds like you're saying fly to America and back (buying a copy at both stops).

Yeah, my stream of consciousness writing style for forum posts can get fairly at time, especially when a list of actions comes into play. This article is the one I'm referring to in my original post; it's a few months old, and I'm not sure if it's still accurate (I hope not).

Upon further analysis this morning, it seems like the ban is to help prevent restrictions that can drive up prices on software in Australia. You know, if it's cheaper to buy a European copy of a game and ship it to Australia than buy a copy in an Australian store, why not let consumers have that choice? I'm not sure how well that would work, but I guess some people think it would drive down the price. Ok then.

Exactly.
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SCRAPPER392

Mellowkarp wrote:

@SCAR392 Shipping isn't the only problem, y'know. You also need to factor in advertising, server hosting for online games, getting a rating from the Australian Classifications Board, plus a lot of other costs even if you're releasing digitally.

Plus, most games are on discs now. I highly doubt that all our discs and game cases are pre-made overseas and then get packaged and sent to Australia. That would be horribly inefficient.

I know there's more to it than just shipping, but that seems to be the main problem in this case.
I'm pretty sure everything Nintendo makes is manufactured in China. The difference is that they're shipping less consoles to Australia since the population is smaller, yet they're still paying a similar ammount if they send more consoles anyway.
New Zealand counts as shipping to that area as well.

It all depends on how much it costs to import from regions outside of Australia. It's a given that all this stuff is coming from China, bro.
They're just not sending that many to a small population, but are still paying high price so they have to charge more.
This is one of those cases where digital is the best option for getting media to a far location, so it makes sense that the Australian government is suggesting more flexible control over your digital purchases.
They suggested resale, but that could be an issue when someone resales for $10 vs. the $30 "new" MSRP on an online shop, because no one would buy stuff from the company anymore and just go "used" from users who have already bought it. That's why a trade option would be better. No one spends any extra money on a fair trade.

Qwest

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Prof_Clayton

SCAR392 wrote:

Mellowkarp wrote:

@SCAR392 Shipping isn't the only problem, y'know. You also need to factor in advertising, server hosting for online games, getting a rating from the Australian Classifications Board, plus a lot of other costs even if you're releasing digitally.

Plus, most games are on discs now. I highly doubt that all our discs and game cases are pre-made overseas and then get packaged and sent to Australia. That would be horribly inefficient.

I know there's more to it than just shipping, but that seems to be the main problem in this case.
I'm pretty sure everything Nintendo makes is manufactured in China. The difference is that they're shipping less consoles to Australia since the population is smaller, yet they're still paying a similar ammount if they send more consoles anyway.
New Zealand counts as shipping to that area as well.

It all depends on how much it costs to import from regions outside of Australia. It's a given that all this stuff is coming from China, bro.
They're just not sending that many to a small population, but are still paying high price so they have to charge more.
This is one of those cases where digital is the best option for getting media to a far location, so it makes sense that the Australian government is suggesting more flexible control over your digital purchases.
They suggested resale, but that could be an issue when someone resales for $10 vs. the $30 "new" MSRP on an online shop, because no one would buy stuff from the company anymore and just go "used" from users who have already bought it. That's why a trade option would be better. No one spends any extra money on a fair trade.

Is it just me, or does this post have nothing to do with banning region-locked consoles in Australia?

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SCRAPPER392

@Prof_Quackton
No, TBD thought the same, but it actually does. Read the article in the OP and everything I posted will make more sense.

Qwest

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Magikarp3

@SCAR392 Actually, I was mostly talking about costs involved with releasing games. I know that getting consoles to Australia is always going to cost more, and there's no alternative to shipping them here either. Digital distribution is well and good, but I can't just download a console into my living room y'know. (oh boy would that be sweet though)

Your trade idea is interesting, but I wouldn't want it to replace retail and digital copies. If I see a game I want, I don't want to have to go through the process of arranging a trade and waiting for the exchange to be approved - I'll just walk to the store, pay an extra ~10 dollars and play it straightaway

At the moment I think the best thing the Australian government can do is support our own videogame industry. If we get some local talent up and running and video games stop being seen as either timesinks or crime simulators which our children need to be protected from (which is what comes up nearly every time video games are mentioned on our news), then maybe more of our population would get interested in games. Thus, releasing stuff in Australia would be a far less risky venture and we won't need to pay these high prices anymore.

ah who am I kidding, that's never going to happen.

Edited on by Magikarp3

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SCRAPPER392

@Mellowkarp
You didn't understand what I said about trading.
I'm talking how if you could download a game, then trade your digital game for another equal trade. Say I buy Assassin's Creed 3 on the eShop, and I decide I want to trade it for Tekken Tag Tournament or something else of relatively equal value on the eShop.

Nintendo could set it up where people can anonymously trade licenses online.

Nintendo could give a trade list online so you can see what games you can trade for that are equal in value online, then charge say, $5-10 for trading licenses.

I.E.
I want Tekken Tag 2, you want AC3, we both bought the digital version. Let's trade, we both pay Nintendo $10.

If I don't like a game you like, and I like a game you don't like, it makes more sense to trade for a small price than be stuck with something we don't want.

EDIT: This is important and relevant to the topic, because Australia wants more options when it comes to digital media as stated in the article. The options we COULD potentially have going digital could sway the digital vs. physical front, because if digital is the preferred option, less product would be shipped overseas.

The consoles themselves, controllers and things like Pokemon NFC figures would still be shipped around, but media itself could be sent digital.
Discs costs $20-40 more in Australia if I understand correctly. It's totally obvious that it's because it's a disc, but digital doesn't offer anything over that. The point is that it can.

EDIT2: Region locking doesn't have apply to digital sales as much as physical releases do, because it's all isolated on Nintendo's Network, with the only thing going on at retail is buying a prepaid card without an ESRB/Pegi rating on it. That's just part of it.

Edited on by SCRAPPER392

Qwest

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