US Uncharted demo locked

By Tom Bramwell Published 9 November, 2007

No joy for PAL gamers.

Sony has released a demo of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for the US PlayStation 3 Store - but you might as well leave your console off, because your fake US account won't work for this one.

"As many of you in Europe and Japan may have already learned, today’s demo is currently only available on the North American PlayStation Store, and will only work on PS3 units in that territory," SCEA line producer Sam Thompson wrote on the PlayStation Blog.

"Other territories are currently putting the finishing touches on the localisation aspects of the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune demo, and will release it in their respective PlayStation Stores in due course."

So, only those of you with actual, genuine US PS3s should bother grabbing the 1.17GB demo for the moment.

Also on the US Store today is a College Hoops 2K8 demo, downloadable Guitar Hero III content (the same as the Live content from yesterday), the MotorStorm Devil's Weekend add-on and a range of videos and Call of Duty 4 wallpapers.

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 (59) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • mattigan #1 4 years ago

    Ah the shape of things to come

  • Artemis_Matsas #2 4 years ago

    Grrrrrr... Thanks for that Sony $%#$^&*#^$(@@#(#

  • Arwin #3 4 years ago

    Yes, I noticed. It is teh suck. Hopefully we get our version soon, and it won't take as long as Tekken Online to get here (shouldn't, as the full game is out within a month anyway).

    But now that Tekken Online is here .... YOOOOHOOOO!! Much better than VF5 online, it's lobby is awesome, great to be able to watch the other fighters while you wait your turn, be able to invite friends to your room, all sorts of rankings, etc. Lovely!

  • Steroyd #4 4 years ago

    @ mattigan no it isn't, the title for this is wrong and misleading it's not locked it's a bug that only works on US PS3's otherwise I would have got a message to fuck off and get the European version rather than "please insert disc".

  • Steroyd #5 4 years ago

    I'm pissed off about that to. >:(

  • mattigan #6 4 years ago

    Hmm yes a bug. I forsee more of these 'bugged' demos mysteriously making their way straight through QA and onto the US PS3S

  • Retroid #7 4 years ago

    /Slowclaps Sony

  • MrGilder #8 4 years ago

    Oh come on people - the way the comments section exploded over at the SCEA blog makes me feel ashamed..

    Who cares, it's only a demo we will get it soon enough - it's not like they're holding back a cure for cancer...

  • septimus #9 4 years ago

    Bastards.

  • Kenshin001 #10 4 years ago

    So did anyone try the new Motorstorm content or Tekken online?

  • drumbaby #11 4 years ago

    Gamers look forward to things like this for weeks in advance. If you're going to region lock stuff when the norm is to have demos region free, then at least have the decency to let people know in advance. Sure, it's no biggy in the grand scheme of things, but it's a total jip dl'ing 1.2 gb only for it to be recycle bin fodder and to make one think that one's PS3 is potentially borked too.

    Must try harder, Naughty Dog, in your basket.
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/07 @ 10:04

  • Beano #12 4 years ago

    "Other territories are currently putting the finishing touches on the localisation aspects of the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune demo, and will release it in their respective PlayStation Stores in due course."

    Arrogant prick!

  • Steroyd #13 4 years ago

    Hmm yes a bug. I forsee more of these 'bugged' demos mysteriously making their way straight through QA and onto the US PS3S

    It is possible they only tested it on US PS3's hence why it only works on US PS3's. >:(

    Who cares, it's only a demo we will get it soon enough - it's not like they're holding back a cure for cancer...

    Waiting a week when I know I can get the demo NOW is Bullshite BULSHITE I tell you. >:(
    It's the reason my US account even exists.

  • mendo #14 4 years ago

    You know what's funny? The demo actually has the Italian language (a friend of mine with an american PS3 downloaded it). So it's ready for Europe too, but not availble here.
    Good Job Sony!

  • bioreit #15 4 years ago

    I think the worst thing is that they actually let you download it, but then it won't work.

    What about peeps on a lower-bandwidth broadband account? I know quite a few with a 2 or 5 gig limit and wasting nearly 1.2 gig would be a hefty chunk of their monthly allowances.

    @ Steroyd

    It isn't a bug - the region-locking is intentional. The bug is when PAL/Japan PS3 owners try to open it and it asks to insert disc. The region locking is still intentional, as stated by Sam Thompson here:

    [link url=http://blog.us.playstation.com/20 07/11/08/uncharted-drakes-fortune-demo-update/
    ]http://bl og.us.playstation.com/2007/11/0...[/link]

    Ok, he doesn't say "region-locking was intentional" precisely, but saying

    "we wanted to be sure that we gave our North American PS3 players the opportunity to try out the demo prior to launch. Other territories are currently putting the finishing touches on the localization aspects of the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune demo, and will release it in their respective PlayStation Stores in due course"

    seems pretty clear-cut to me.

    Regardless, this is most definitely an annoyance - I'm not a PS3 owner, but I have a friend who is and this was a game I was looking forward to trying out.

  • Stormflood #16 4 years ago

    Funny. Gamers (like myself) who have created a US account with fake addresses and details are expecting an apology from Sony because a demo not officially available to us doesn't work on our machines.

    Anyhoo, it was a bug, not an intentional lock, so I'm not burning any effigies this time.

  • jonsaan #17 4 years ago

    Tekken online is fantastic whoever was asking. I played quite a few matches and only saw lag once and it was barely there then. Awesome.

  • thebaron #18 4 years ago

    what a bloody joke - why region lock a demo - it's just crazy I tell you - crazy.
    It only goes to fuel peoples hatred of Sony.
    It's about time we got some good games on the PS3!
    Going of topic a bit here but...

    My games usage:

    XBOX 360 - 55%
    PC -20%
    PS3 - 15%
    Wii - 10%

    Come on Sony - must do better!
    If I have to buy a game on either PS3 or XBOX 360 - the 360 will win because of XBOX Live and Achievements - The PS3 needs HOME to work and they need to get it right. Having to come out of a game to send/receive messages - rubbish..

  • Steroyd #19 4 years ago

    Boireit how is that clear cut?

    All it tells me is that they only QA tested it on US machines, what bullcrap region locking gives you a message "please insert disc" from a downloadable demo no less.

    It's not intentional.

  • zuljin #20 4 years ago

    @mendo
    "You know what's funny? The demo actually has the Italian language (a friend of mine with an american PS3 downloaded it). So it's ready for Europe too, but not availble here."

    Absolutely hilarious. I think you'll find Europe consists of more than just the UK and Italy.

  • AZA #21 4 years ago

    I think this may become a common thing since Sony are none too happy with people making fake accounts as it violates the TOS for Sony's online.

    But still a fore warning would have been nice, ah well guess some people learned the hard way
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/07 @ 10:50

  • phatb0y #22 4 years ago

    I don't really care about the demo. The game looked pretty shit from all the videos I've seen so far anyway. However, if this does turn out to be region locked (and having seen the 'error' message first hand it does whiff of a region lock) then it sets quite a nasty precedent for releases from now on.

    One of the benefits of the PS3 & PSP has been region free gaming. God knows I've pissed away enough money on JAP/US consoles and games in the past, and not having to do this for this generation of consoles has been a blessing. But this *could* be a big step backward to the old days of open wallet surgery because the likes of Sony are too lazy, greedy and inept to have true simultaneous releases.

    I wish Sony (SCEE in particular) would pull their fucking finger out. Compared to Live the PSN Store is pretty embarrassing and to start region locking content would be the icing on the cake.

  • TILT #23 4 years ago

    I think this may become a common thing since Sony are none too happy with people making fake accounts as it violates the TOS for Sony's online.
    I don't know where you got this information from, but to me, Sam Thompson on the Official PS Blog sounded remarkably relaxed about europeans downloading US stuff. He even --- kinda -- promised to fix the issue in his reply, to enable europeans to download the US demo. Which, to me, also implies that it really wasn't a region lock.

  • Gurgeh #24 4 years ago

    The trouble with fake accounts is that Sony (or MS or Nintendo) can make money by giving local distributors exclusives. Let's say that SomeGameWeekly mag pays Sony to put a demo disk on the cover for Uncharted in the UK. That mag isn't going to be happy if people can just download it from the US.

    Hopefully this knocks the "PS3 is region-free" idea on the head. It's only as region-free as Sony and other publishers allow it to be.

  • GamesConnoisseur #25 4 years ago

    /Slowclaps Sony








    /...still slowclapping Sony

  • oreillymj #26 4 years ago

    Part of the problem here is that Sony like most other large global companies have regional offices.

    Those regions have to report earnings and generate profits to justify their staff numbers and fund development etc...

    Now SCEA is in charge of a huge region made up largely of English or Spanish/Portuguese speaking locals, so localisation isn't a big deal.

    SCEE is a different matter with about 15 languages to cope with and a whole heap of regulations to deal with across the region (e.g. the strict controls on blood/violence in Germany)

    When you buy content from outside your region you are skewing the finance model, so although the entertainment division as a whole makes money, the revenue from the individual regions would not be accurate.

    So while SCEA's priority is to get games/demos on shelves ASAP, they are really shafting SCEE who have quite a bit more work to do. Also, it's certainly not in SCEE's interest to be so far behind the U.S. as it then causes this shift in revenue out of their territory.


    But really all this does is show how unprepared Sony was for the internet connected console age.

  • NinjaWilliams #27 4 years ago

    Oh well, such is life...

  • Skeletor #28 4 years ago

    So the game itself is regionfree but the demo isn't...makes perfect sense...not;-)
    @Gurgeh
    Forcing people to buy a mag to get the demo is a pretty shitty move. The idea behind a demo is that it's free and easily available. They want us to buy their game and not the other way around.
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/07 @ 11:56

  • GamesConnoisseur #29 4 years ago

    I understand the economies of regional market, THIS is free demo and Sony had previously made non-region lock out a big thing.

    Just another of their many promises, that are all falling off like leaves from a tree in autumn.

    Whether intentional or not, in practice the door is SLAMMED in our face, we have allowed ourselves to be ripped off in Europe (ignore taxation, the price difference until recently was disgusting) and yet we are supposed to be very important to Sony?

    SCEE please come forward and explain this to your loyal customers?

    /stopped slowclapping and instead go and play on X360 and refusing to look at forlorn PS3.

  • Garulon #30 4 years ago

    "you're going to region lock stuff when the norm is to have demos region free, then at least have the decency to let people know in advance."

    Not crowing about how region-free your console is for months on end would have been a good move too.

  • TriggerHippie #31 4 years ago

    Are you still a PAL gamer if you're using a HD tv?

  • bioreit #32 4 years ago

    @ Steroyd

    It seems clear cut to me, because a guy who actually worked on the game actually said that Naughty Dog actually made an actual demo for actual North American PS3 owners. He also went on to say that the actual demo for actual Japan and PAl region PS3 owners was still being worked on.

    This leads me, quite reasonably I think, to believe that Naughty Dog have made specific demos for specific regions, which only work in said regions. Therefore, the North American demo is released and ONLY works in North America, which, to me, means that the North American demo is region-locked.

    With regards to the error message, the bloke from Naughty Dog doesn't say that that's why the demo doesn't work - he just says that any PAL/Japan PS3 owners who try to play it will get that error message.

  • InsertCoins #33 4 years ago

    Well, it seems like Sam is on the move in favour of the Eurogamers. Naugthy Dog Team is 'working' on the problem

  • Hughes. #34 4 years ago

    The mind-bending stupidity of it... oh wait, it's Sony.

    Anyway... Sam thompson who is "line producer" of the game, apparently has responded to the frothing fury of non-US gamers here

    Quoth him : "Hi guys and gals,
    We hear you loud and clear. Wanted to chime in here and let you know that we have shared your frustration with the Naughty Dog team and we are going to see what we can do. I will be back tomorrow with an update, but in the meantime I hope you can be patient and bear with us. As you have learned through communicating with Evan and Amy on the blog, Naughty Dog is a studio that listens to gamers, so I hope to have good news for you soon.
    Thanks,
    Sam"

    So maybe they can patch the demo, or unlock it, or something. He seems cautiously hopeful.

    Edit: InsertCoins beat me to it.
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/07 @ 13:06

  • Garulon #35 4 years ago

    "Are you still a PAL gamer if you're using a HD tv? "

    Yeah, there's a "PAL" on the front of all PS3s sent to Europe. It's so Sony know where to send the extra-castrated ones to.

  • Steroyd #36 4 years ago

    Boireit... of course demo's are made for specific regions why the damn hell do demoes arrive onto the UK store after the US store, if I were to play US demo's on a SDTV with the cables that come out of the box it'd be black and white, alternatively if a US owner tried to play PAL's slightly higher than SD resolutions they'd get a black screen and would need a HDTV to play it, it's the devs job to make sure the game is working properly for it's intended audience and these discrepencies don't occur.

    It's NOT region locking damnit! >_

  • GamesConnoisseur #37 4 years ago

    Boireit... of course demo's are made for specific regions why the damn hell do demoes arrive onto the UK store after the US store, if I were to play US demo's on a SDTV with the cables that come out of the box it'd be black and white, alternatively if a US owner tried to play PAL's slightly higher than SD resolutions they'd get a black screen and would need a HDTV to play it, it's the devs job to make sure the game is working properly for it's intended audience and these discrepencies don't occur.

    It's NOT region locking damnit! >_

    Okay fair enough, it is more to do with SD 480i/576i NTSC/PAL, but HDTV owners anywhere in world would still be able to play US/JAP/EUR demo IN 720p or 1080p? Then should give them the option if happy to try but understand only available in language it is produced in (without localisation).

  • bioreit #38 4 years ago

    @ Steroyd

    Are you saying it's because of the PAL/NTSC difference? Your 'it would play black and white' bit makes no sense - the Uncharted demo doesn't play at all.

    Also, HD resolutions are neither PAL nor NTSC - there are the same numbers of lines and pixels in all regions, just as you do not get 'American' SVGA or 'Japanese' XGA resolutions.

    Lastly, if all (most?) games on a PS3 are region-free and haven't achieved that wondrous feat through simply dumping PAL and NTSC versions of said games on the same disc, then why would a downloadable demo not be subject to the same achievement?

    The only logical conclusion is that Naughty Dog have region locked the demo.

  • cawley1 #39 4 years ago

    I don't know why people on here are so pissed at Sony for this one - clearly if you have a UK machine and set up a US account (complete with false details), you should do so in the understanding that some stuff might not work!

    Having said that as I am in the UK with a US system I am playing Drake's now, and loving it!, but I fully expect that stuff from the UK store may not work with my system in the future...

    It is the main concern for anyone who imports and has been the same right back to the days of the Megadrive, so if you want to play games early - get importing!

  • cawley1 #40 4 years ago

    Had to break off at the end of the last post as I just got back from HMV with Ratchet & Clank and was worried it would be region locked...
    It's not!

    Another joy of a region free console (if you use HD) - being able to walk into a UK store for the first time since the mid 90's and pick a game off the shelf (or a second-hand bargain) and take it home to play, without having to resort to sky high import store prices, or foreign store shipping delays!

  • Garulon #41 4 years ago

    "Another joy of a region free console (if you use HD) - being able to walk into a UK store for the first time since the mid 90's and pick a game off the shelf (or a second-hand bargain) and take it home to play"

    Um, I do this all the time and have done since 1995. There's even stores full of games that you can pick off the shelf and take home to play. In fact, I did this a couple of weeks ago with The Orange Box. Am I missing something?

    Ohhhh you have a US system, never mind. Yes, being able to do that is quite a plus, offset by N and Microsoft selling the same physical console everywhere in the world, wheras Sony refuses to let us have The Good Stuff and instead flogs us castrated gimped shit.
    Edited by 2 at 09/11/07 @ 16:25

  • Steroyd #42 4 years ago

    bioreit my point was that they've got to localise it for each region you coming to that conclusion from that quote isn't "clear cut"

  • penhalion #43 4 years ago

    You should all be very greatful to those on the PSN forums who exploded about this. Sony promised region free gaming and that's what we should all now expect. If we let it slide when they region lock demos then how long will it be before that import copy of Ratchet or Uncharted gets region locked.

    Most bad things in this world happen because people choose to keep quiet about the small things. If you stop the small violations, the larger violations can't happen. How many wars and atrocties does it take to hammer that message home for christ sake!

    Incidentally ou can always spot the potential colabortors in any conflict. They are the ones defending he small violations (the ones readily bending over to take it in the rear in fanboy speak!).

  • gaselite #44 4 years ago

    "Most bad things in this world happen because people choose to keep quiet about the small things. If you stop the small violations, the larger violations can't happen. How many wars and atrocties does it take to hammer that message home for christ sake!"

    Haha

    Don't you fucking dare to try to conceive an anlogy between nameless 'wars and atrocities' and the region locking of a demo for a fucking video game, for christ's sake.

  • drumbaby #45 4 years ago

    Now unlocked!!!

    Dl'ing new version NOW!!

  • Steroyd #46 4 years ago

    Yeah it sure is Region locking IS THAT WHY SONY NOW FIXED IT SO IT WORKS ON NON US SYSTEMS!?

    How would you like your crow served raw, 30 minutes in the oven, or fried?

  • bioreit #47 4 years ago

    @ Steroyd

    I eat mine raw.

    Answer me this: Does the old demo of Uncharted work on a non-US system?

    If not, then the old one was still region-locked - they just put a new, region-free demo up in its stead.

    And come on, this guy really expects us to believe that "We just didn’t know people from other territories could connect to the US PLAYSTATION Network Store and download demos"?

    I'm sorry, but they got caught out and suffered a backlash and now they're fixing it as though it was meant to be that way after all. Just like the Rainbow Six: Vegas content that all along was supposed to be free, we just charged you guys by mistake.

    Balderdash.

  • bioreit #48 4 years ago

    @ frod

    Look - there's no logical explanation why any untested bug would make a PAL/Japan PS3 not play a US demo. If it was the differences between PAL and NTSC, then it would play on an SD tv in funny colours, while on an HDTV it would just play, seeing as there are no differences between HD resolutions in different territories. It wouldn't ask you to insert a disc.

    Why would a demo ask you to insert a disc because it happened to be on a PS3 in the 'wrong' region? It makes no sense!

    The PS3 was created region free, yes? Which means people actually have to make it locked to a region (except for PS1 and PS2 games). So unless they did something deliberate to the demo, it should have worked on ALL PS3s.

    Maybe the bug that Sam Thompson was talking about when he mentioned the "please insert disc" message, was that it should have said "wrong region" instead. Then, after the furore, they back-pedalled and said the reason why it didn't work was down to that bug, which they have now 'fixed'.

  • bioreit #49 4 years ago

    @ frod

    Least you're a bit more polit this time around.

    poke poke poke poke poke poke

    /Thinks frod needs to learn when people are having fun...

  • Steroyd #50 4 years ago

    Holy crap Bioreit,

    Maybe the bug that Sam Thompson was talking about when he mentioned the "please insert disc" message, was that it should have said "wrong region" instead. Then, after the furore, they back-pedalled and said the reason why it didn't work was down to that bug, which they have now 'fixed'.

    Let's just sum this up you got served, and now your grasping for straws, it was not intentional FULL STOP.

  • Feanor #51 4 years ago

    This comments thread delivers in spades.

  • morriss #52 4 years ago

    Not locked anymore!! \o/

  • bioreit #53 4 years ago

    @ Steroyd

    Allow me to refer you to my last post to frod.

    What makes your comment even funnier is that it was posted after mine to frod, which means that you really have no excuse.

    But please, pray continue - it's like having a personal jester :-)

  • NinjaWilliams #54 4 years ago

    Stop whining, its fixed now, go get the bloody demo!!!! lmao

    So offcial line is: It was a bug, its now fixed and the PS3 will still reign supreme and remain 100% region free for gaming! Now bugger off and play it, its the weekend already!!!! lol

  • Artemis_Matsas #55 4 years ago

    Downloaded the demo yesterday, and i am stunned!!! If the demo is only a small taster of the actual game, then it's worth it's money and even more!!!
    Guys, what was your impression?

  • drumbaby #56 4 years ago

    Wow, this demo is amazing. It's fun to play, and a technical marvel. The gunplay is just so addictive.

  • db3 #57 4 years ago

    Nothing particularly outstanding about the demo, but it looks pretty and feels like a nice game.
    I certainly prefer dictating the pace rather than feeling rushed in COD4.

  • 3william56 #58 4 years ago

    Sooo... all those whiners going to apologise for the hysterical spoilt brat reaction to a simple bug which accidentally stopped folks who shouldn't have been able to access it anyway?

    /tumbleweed

    Thought not.

    Naughty Dog did very well - graciously apologised, and sorted it pronto even though they didn't have to. Haters, learn please.

    Stunning demo. Looks amazing, animation is top notch. After one play through, I've got to admit I didn't get on with the controls a bit - the sensitivity of picking up ammo seemed tricky, and the first person aiming was hard on moving targets, but then I suck at FPSs. Would have preferred a Syphon Filter control scheme - is there an auto aim or lock on I'm missing? Also the sequence in the demo - albeit a fraction of an intro level was a bit plain and an obvious linear corridor. But there's obvious major talent at work here, and I reckon this is going to be a stunner when it's out.

    PS3 games like busses - never one when you want one, then six come at once. :/

  • phatb0y #59 4 years ago

    I still say was a region issue. I haven't been interested enough to see what ND have said regarding the 'fix', but the whole fiasco is mighty fishy. Yet another great PR exercise for Sony though. The PS3 is a proper train wreck, it makes you wonder whether its under some sort of gypsy curse.

    Oh, the demo? Decidedly average. It looks nice enough, but there doesn't seem to be anything there that makes you go 'Wow!'. Personally I'm all Tomb Raider'd out so this would have to be something really special to warrant any real enthusiasm.

    Roll on MGS.