Uncharted demo unlocked

By Tom Bramwell Published 12 November, 2007

Moaning works!

Naughty Dog has very kindly fixed the problem that stopped us all playing the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune demo on the US PlayStation Store, so now we can all use our pretend accounts to grab it.

"We're really sorry about what happened and didn't anticipate this at all. We just didn't know people from other territories could connect to the US PLAYSTATION Network Store and download demos ... now we do!" co-president Christophe Balestra wrote on the official PlayStation Blog late on Friday.

"We absolutely did not plan the demo to be region locked. As soon as we figured out the problem existed, Sam Thompson called me and I jumped into my car, drove to the office and fixed it right away. It’s an honest mistake and we didn’t try to prevent anybody from enjoying the Uncharted demo. I feel even more sorry because most of the people who experienced the problem are in Europe and I’m European myself," he added.

Hurrah for Naughty Dog then, and hurrah for Uncharted, actually. The full game's out on 7th December, and Sony has also said to expect the official UK demo to arrive on 22nd November, which now seems entirely irrelevant. Watch out also for the Eurogamer review in the coming days. To whet your appetite, here is an exclusive extract from Kristan's conclusion: "bits of all your".

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 4 years ago

    If I knew moaning at the US blog would take care of Euro affairs I would have bitched and moaned earlier.

    Got a backlog of stuff to moan about. :)

  • Darren #2 4 years ago

    Well done to Sony/Naughty Dog for fixing it so quickly. After all it already worked on US machines, for whom it was intended, so they didn't have to fix it for us Europeans as we're not supposed to get the demo until the 22nd (although I don't understand why).

    The demo was terrific too and well-worth downloading.

  • smoothpete #3 4 years ago

    Bits of all my what?

  • Res #4 4 years ago

    I loved the demo. The character aiming felt abit off (too far to the side) but I soon got used to it and it seemed to fix itself if you are attached to some cover.

  • TILT #5 4 years ago

    Wow. I honestly didn't expect that. Sure, they said they would have a look at it, but then to actually fix it... nice move.

  • DanWhitehead #6 4 years ago

    "Uncharted rampages through your house, then grabs the shattered bits of all your favourite chairs and rearranges them into an offensive effigy of Isambard Kingdom Brunel"

  • drumbaby #7 4 years ago

    Best demo evah.

  • Big_Cheese #8 4 years ago

    Well done Naughty Dog. That demo rocks!!!

  • zedzee #9 4 years ago

    If Sony stopped treating UK/Europe as a second class citizen, then no PS3 owner would need a 'dummy' US account and resort to desperate measures.

    The guy from Naughty Dog said he didn't know UK/European gamers can download from the US PSN.

    Well, he should try living where he was born for a bit and see how frustrating it can get when the whole world is playing what you're having to wait a month or more for to do the same.

    Nice of them to fix it but I bet it's a one-off, because Sony will slap their wrist for being kind and generous to UK/Euro gamers.

    Shouldn't EuroGamer be focusing on WHY Sony is delaying such things for UK/Europe? After all, they're called EUROGAMER, right?!

    Edited by 1 at 12/11/07 @ 10:26

  • betahoven #10 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • killyourtv #11 4 years ago

    they didnt know europeans could access the US store? I'm not having that.

  • Rash' #12 4 years ago

    Well done to NG for going out of their way to fixing the demo. Like many have said already it did seem alittle to focused on the combat side of things but that didn't detract any enjoyment I had with my playtime through it. At this moment I'm going to have to agree with Edge that the signposting is a little off. It took me a while to find the exit to the last section.

  • jonsaan #13 4 years ago

    The main character runs like he has something up his bum.

  • Aretak #14 4 years ago

    "It took me a while to find the exit to the last section."

    If you press L2 Nate will look at where you need to go.

  • zedzee #15 4 years ago

    @ betahoven:

    Because if you care to read Sony's license agreement for PSN, you will notice that you have to comply with their rules and regulations, which include that you are not allowed, officially, to be on anything but the European PSN.

    So, any vendor making a US-only demo/download should not really be making it to work elsewhere and although Naughty Dog were allowed this time, I'm betting that it won't happen again.

    Also, Sony seem to have their own reasons for delaying releases for UK/Europe on just about everything to do with the PSN, so they'd not allow developers to dictate what content is on there and when it goes on there.

    Sony might even go as far as tightening up this part of their license (for both consumers and third party developers) and PSN code to check for the PS3 model, before allowing it on to the US PSN.

    But if Sony would just release stuff over here at the same time as every where else...

  • Apostle #16 4 years ago

    Like they really didn't know all us EU guys have been conecting to the US store since launch! I find that hard to believe. I think the only reason they fixed this so quickly is to gain some respect back after the backlash to FW2.0. People were going crazy on the blog, I've never seen so many replies, so quick.

  • zuljin #17 4 years ago

    @zedzee
    PS3 has been out nearly year in Europe, and its been plainly obvious people make accounts for other regions. I reckon if they had a huge issue with it they would have stopped it by now.

    If anything games have become more multiregional, since the only game that wasn't multiregion was Icon early 2007.

  • Steroyd #18 4 years ago

    So, any vendor making a US-only demo/download should not really be making it to work elsewhere and although Naughty Dog were allowed this time, I'm betting that it won't happen again.

    There was a bug in the Demo and Naughty Dog fixed it, just like any other buggy demo...

    So are you saying Sony is going to stop anyone else from fixing their own demos?

  • mattjohnston #19 4 years ago

    The reason they have seperated the US content from the European content is because the UK isn't the only country thats in Europe. If they had released a European demo, it would have needed to have been translated into about 20 different languages, as opposed to just English. Thats usually why we get games a bit later, its why theres a different US store and its why they don't really care when Europeans create phony US accounts to get stuff off that store. Sony has always said they wanted the PS3 to be as region free as possible, and it mostly lives up to that promise. Creating a false US account is neither hard, nor a burden, and its worth it to get all the demo and other content much earlier.
    Edited by 1 at 12/11/07 @ 12:16

  • Steroyd #20 4 years ago

    The reason they have seperated the US content from the European content is because the UK isn't the only country thats in Europe. If they had released a European demo, it would have needed to have been translated into about 20 different languages, as opposed to just English.

    Except the demo in the US store is already translated into 20 different lanugauges, I could play Drakes Schicksel if I was German.

  • mattjohnston #21 4 years ago

    well then, it'll be due to the overly long European certification process. Thank our green-blooded German zombie friends for that one.

  • betahoven #22 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • Steroyd #23 4 years ago

    A couple of weeks ago Sony put on the PSN store a behind the scenes of Naughty Dog, and it was very interesting to find out they have so many multilingual people of different languages, I wus like :o wow they're so awesome.

  • TheWretched #24 4 years ago

    The "german" Demo is not cencored... So no green blood for Drakes Schicksal either.

    Usually, Sony does not censor games here (except the one bit in GoW, where you had to sacrifice a human... now it is a skeleton^^). Not even "bloodier" games like Killzone where cut down to get a lower rating (KZ got a USK18 rating).

    I find it rather nice from Sony and ND, that they fixed the demo. I mean, they didn't have to do it, but they did it either way. I just hope, they get up to speed in Europe (i.e. releasing SCEA games here on time, not some 4 weeks or even more (i.e. Lair, which I couldn't care less about, after all those reviews) after they were released in the US)

  • symmetry #25 4 years ago

    Drake Fortune steals little "bits of all your" friends and family, stir-fries them in a large wok and forces you to eat them with a funnel and a plunger.

    8/10

  • Stormflood #26 4 years ago

    Could be:

    Take bits of all your most hated games...

    But, hopefully:

    Take bits of all your favourite action-adventure (Tomb Raider) games...

  • McLovin85 #27 4 years ago

    jesus, people bitch when they don't have the demo and now people bitch when they have the demo. there's just no pleasing some people. get off ur high horses and just enjoy the demo that ur bitching achieved.

  • zedzee #28 4 years ago

    Three questions:

    1. Did the buggy demo (before it was fixed) of Uncharted also affect US consoles or just UK consoles?

    2. What happens when an on-line game, say PixelJunk Racers, appears on the US PSN for, say, $5 but over here, it's sold for, say, £8? Will UK PS3 owners be allowed to buy it and download it from US PSN site, because it's cheaper?

    3. So if language conversion, PAL conversion, EU licensing, BBFC ratings and so on are being touted as the reasons for delays to release games, on-line games and demos , why isn't Sony respecting UK/Euro gamers and doing a world-wide and simultaneous release, by making other territories wait for a change?

  • GamesConnoisseur #29 4 years ago

    Good demo but was expecting a bit more actually, I think cos of the preview clips, was hoping to do a bit of 'tomb raiding' with sunken galleon in underground lake or such!

    Agreed that aiming getting some used to, plenty of covers for 'Gear of War' style gun fights, ended sooner than I would have expected for 1200mb demo! Still salivating for more.

  • Arwin #30 4 years ago

    favorite games! ...

    at least, that's what I would have written (also)

  • djed #31 4 years ago

    'tis a nice demo!

  • Steroyd #32 4 years ago

    Good demo but was expecting a bit more actually, I think cos of the preview clips, was hoping to do a bit of 'tomb raiding' with sunken galleon in underground lake or such!

    I think people respond more to the gunfights than puzzle solving, as evident as to what tops the charts these days.