PlayStation Home – Region Locked!?!

Firstly, let me start this post with “What an absolute Joke!”

Sony’s PlayStation Home service – which has been constantly beset with delays since launch – is going to be ‘region-locked’ according to a Sony rep at E3.

While users will be able to visit any of their online friend’s private apartment areas in Home, all the public zones in the virtual world are to be restricted by the geographical area you live ‘IRL’ (in real life).

It’s another blow to PlayStation fans who were hoping that the service would be finally rolled out this year, which is also looking increasingly unlikely.

If you want to meet up with your pals from abroad, then you’ll be able to invite them into your apartment, but warping into the game space to bowl or play chess is not possible.

This is allegedly to make sure that each region receives an ‘experience most suited to their tastes’ as well as, no doubt, to keep advertisers happy.

Sony is obsessed with regions, sadly the world is not divided up into neat little lines. I understand the core principals of delivering advertisements based on location, obviously its pretty pointless showing someone in Europe an advert for a Japanese Company and its one thing to do that, but it is completely another to not let you play with anyone from outside your region!.

What is the point of Multiplayer? I know Battlefield Bad Company has a lot of US players mixed with Europeans, if it was all one region we probably wouldn’t get a game going.