It may be difficult to comprehend now, but it was only two years ago that many in the video game world had given Nintendo up for dead. Despite the early success of the DS handheld, the company’s Gamecube had finished in distant third vs. its same generation competitors. And with the next generation of consoles dawning, the XBox 360 was lighting up the charts and the Playstation 3 was about to become reality. Then at E3 2006, Nintendo unveiled the Wii and the rest is history.
While nothing unveiled at this week’s Siggraph conference in Los Angeles will have that level of mainstream consumer impact, the event may feature a similar underdog story that will have far-reaching consequences for the business of video game development.
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Courtesy of Apple
Perhaps the title of this article is misleading a little. The real question is why are extended trailers for movies, known as the sneak peaks only available for US users of the iTunes service? The most recent example of this is how iTunes has just had added a 7 minute, 100MB long trailer added for the upcoming movie Get Smart starring Anne Hathaway.
The catch is while you can watch it if you have a US iTunes account if you are anywhere else in the world or don’t have a US credit card you’re out of luck. Considering it’s a promotional piece to make people want to watch the movie and the movie comes out all over the world and not just the US it makes no sense to have regional barriers in place stopping other people watching the video when it could lead to additional revenue.
There are other items such as free tracks from bands to promote their upcoming albums which are also banned for non-US users and then there are free episodes of television shows from the major US networks also included which are blocked to outside users. The question remains why would you add a regional block to an advert for something which is to be sold in all countries. Perhaps this shows just how paranoid about legal restrictions the film companies are now becoming and the entertainment industry as a whole.
What does this mean for you? If you’re in the US not a thing. If you’re outside the US a whole load of problems and steam coming from your ears after being short changed.
Posted in
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Microsoft have released a statement on their website regarding the future of
Windows XP after the end of June deadline when retail boxed versions are
to stop being sold.
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April 2009,
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