We don't have much detail on this one, but a brief story on MaxConsole indicates that gamers in the U.S. are unable to use the PlayStation Network to play PS3 games online with friends and relatives serving with military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan:
A writer over at Sony Insider is asking Sony why he cannot play PS3 games over the PSN with his friends who are serving abroad the United States military.
According to the report: If you have a friend who lives in a different country, then its likely you will not be able to add them as a friend on your PS3. The reason why is that if you register your PS3 in a specific country, your Playstation Network is limited to that region. So, if my friend from the United States registers his/her Playstation 3 while they are on tour in Iraq/Afghanistan, then I will never be able to add them as long as I’m a US resident.
The writer says it is time Sony removed the restrictions of the Playstation Network and made it truly global.
The original post is not showing up at Sony Insider. It's unclear whether it was removed for some reason. MaxConsole does mention a work-around:
There is a workaround, but it is weak - if you purchased your PS3 in the USA, registered it there, and then brought it to another country you can still play your friends.
GP: It's ironic that this situation has become an issue, especially since the SOCOM commercial at left suggests that U.S. gamers could play via PS2 with overseas military gamers.
Comments
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
Why would someone tolerate a ping response from the furthest possible destination from their point of origin? Sony probably asked themselves that when they implented regional limitation.
Besides, Sigvatr's right... There's a war going on. And this ignorant frenchie wonders, do they even have the intact-needed infrastructure to support the internet? :S
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
I thought they were fighting a war over there or something but it looks like now they are just chilling and playing games.
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
Something definitely sounds fishy with this post. I currently don't have any friends on my PS3, haven't play online much sinch I got it (djizzo1408 if anyone is interested), so I can't speak from experience. But it makes no sense that you wouldn't be able to add people from outside.
I really would figure this has something to do with military networks. I also gotta take issue with the "Weak" workaround. How is it weak? Why would military people set their regions to Iraq/Afghanistan or Middle East? I would guess they would all say "United States" since that is their permanent home.
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
I believe the writer of this post is mistaken about the region lock on the PSN. I have multiple members on my friends list from England and I am in Kentucky. This may have more to do with Iraq/Afghanistan or military members being on a military network, but it is not region locked for all regions. I even have multiple PSN accounts for Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia so that I can access their PlayStation Stores in those regions.
It may also just be that the game he is attempting to play has region locking for the online portion, which is a decision some developers have done and not something Sony makes them do. All I know is that I play Warhawk and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue with many friends in England and can even voice chat with them in-game (Warhawk only, Gran Turismo doesn't have voice chat yet) or directly from my friends list. While playing Warhawk in public servers I have also found some people in the game voice chatting in French, Spanish, and once even some form of Middle Eastern language. I have also run across many Japanese and French drivers in Gran Turismo.
I believe the author of the Sony Insider post has his facts wrong and this may be why the post is no longer showing up on the site.
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
Indeed, I'm in England, bought and registered my PS3 here; and my friends list has a number of americans, one guy in portugal and another in finland.
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
I have to agree this story doesn't make any sense, I too have multiple friends from other countries. Namely Spain for some reason. I do not see the cause or correlation to PSN.
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
Someone is dead wrong here and I can't figure out how they could be so far off from the truth. There is no standard block towards adding friends or playing with friends online based on console region, physical region or account region. I own a Japanese PS3 and I live in Japan. I have both a US and an American account, and both accounts have friends who live inside and outside of Japan. I have played GTA IV online with people in Japan as well as Americans and lord knows what other strangers who just turned up.
Has it occurred to this writer that the Military may be blocking remote connections for security purposes?
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
Has it occurred to this writer that the Military may be blocking remote connections for security purposes?
That was my first thought before finishing reading the article. And now it's my thought again after reading these comments.
-Gray17
Re: Report: Can't Play PS3 Games with Military Friends in Iraq
"The reason why is that if you register your PS3 in a specific country, your Playstation Network is limited to that region."
Why did they do this? Why cripple the system in such an arbitrary way?
Surely this can only inconvenience people, benefits nobody and adds extra unneccesary complexity to the system.