A story of love and hate

[This article was originally written on october 3 2012 on our old site. I am reposting it with some updates on our current site because i believe the information it contains to still be relevant] 

Have you heard about a Nintendo DS title called professor Layton……who am i kidding of course u have, unless you have been living under a rock for the past 5 years. For those of you who may not know professor Layton is a beautiful game in both an artistic and mechanical way. The title was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007 by a Japanese video game development studio called Level 5. I’d like to point out that guys at level 5 are not new to the game of development and have been around since October 1998. They have created tons of great titles like Jeanne d’arc and dragon quest VII, yet i didn’t know of them till Layton.

Now for all the great game level 5 make that arrive here in the west there is equally about the same amount of them that don’t reach our shores. This here is my problem; now don’t get me wrong I’m thankful for the level 5 games that i get to play. They are by far some of the best gaming has to offer but the few that have not made it over to western shores leaves me to wonder; what is with those blokes at level 5?

Take Inazuma eleven for example. This 2008 DS title may finally see a western release in the form of a 3DS compilation remake (update: still no word yet on a EU or NA release on this remake that was released in Japan December 27 2012). The original 2 entries of the Inazuma eleven series a game that has an anime by the same name was released in both Europe with english voice overs and text and it’s original japanese. the third was only released in Japan. The strange thing here is why didn’t level 5 release this amazing series in the NA region. Is it that level 5 think we over in the west do not deserve or are not capable of enjoying all the awesome they create? Are we that backwards that a game release in Europe with English voice acting and text can’t just be shipped to the west and sold the same damn way? It is things like this that prevent the video game industry from progressing and surpassing other industries.
Console manufacturers want to push online and downloadable content, because it costs developers less to distribute their games, because there is no need to manufacture cases, booklets, Disc and shipping costs. these are all limitations of a physical world, and so are regions. If developers want to reach their biggest markets they need to cast aside these region restrictions and push video games further. It will not be an easy process removing region restrictions, because as you may know different Countries have different laws and restrictions on what can enter their country. This however can be done, if enough gamers push for this change, we elected our public officials and we should be able to demand what changes we believe is better for us the citizens.

Honestly i think sometimes we humans make things more complicated than they need to be. If one wanted to play Inazuma eleven on the DS, you would have had to import it from Europe (thank god the DS is not region locked). Sadly the new 3DS titles or even the Inazuma eleven games on the WII are unfortunately region locked. Level 5 however is not the only Japanese developer guilty of not sharing with some of their IPs (*cough Namco Bandai), it’s just i care more about their work more so than others.

In closing is there any title/s that you yourself may have been craving to play that is/are not available to you in your region?
Leave a comment below and remember this has been “Q?’d for your pleasure”.