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Warriors Orochi 3 For PS3 Is Digital Download Only In The US

By Spencer . February 16, 2012 . 6:37pm

Warriors Orochi 3 For PS3 Is Digital Download Only In The USIf you want a boxed copy of Warriors Orochi 3 for PlayStation 3 you’ll have to import it from Japan or Europe. Tecmo Koei will only release the PS3 version as a digital download in North America. Warriors Orochi 3 will be available in stores for Xbox 360 in North America and Europe.

 

The reason why is Warriors Orochi 3 only has Japanese voice acting and Sony won’t allow games without English voiceovers to be released in retail. Well, except the Yakuza series, apparently. Maybe Koei should have invited Kazuma in the game instead of Jeanne d’Arc or Ryu Hayabusa?

 

Warriors Orochi 3 comes out on March 20 in North America.


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  • malek86

    I thought they had mellowed down. Looks like Yakuza was just the exception to confirm the rule?

    • http://twitter.com/seph_luis_br Luis Camargo

       Yakuza is a niche series even in the US, I guess if Koei pressed more Sony could allow it.
      Still is a retarded Sony rule >.>
      Imagine how many games could get a cheap localized version for niche audiences.

      • Gatchaman1

         Like Super Robot Wars OG….

  • haqua

    …Great. This pleases me so much because I can’t digitally download games or import them.  
    Up yours, Sony, even if you have a legitimate reason to do this. /seethingI’MSEETHING
    Cheers to Warriors game number three/four/lostcount I’m going to completely miss out on. But it seems like you’re going to completely die in the US anyway , so I had better just get used to it. No DW8 for me. Welp.
    /pissedpissedpissed
    And I was totally looking forward to this and
    and
    … /sobs

    Edited for less immaturity.

    • PoweredByHentai

      Dood, I switched over to a Tales of Xillia PS3 (a Japan-only hardware) just after Xmas and everything digital pretty much works fine on it.  This is considering that I am using my US PSN account on it.

      PSOne classics?  Check.
      PS2 classics?  Check.  (Used God Hand, GrimGrimoire, Odin Sphere and Ring of Red)
      PSN titles?  Check.
      Digital PS3 titles?  Check.

      I do love the Japanese voice-over pack that you could download and install for Dynasty Warriors 7.  DW4 and DW5′s “COW COW” bullshit turned me off completely to English dubbed Dynasty Warrior games.  I still think that DW3 was the best game in the series; there’s a certain elegance that seems to be lost since then.

      http://i44.tinypic.com/kf0ak8.jpg

      http://i42.tinypic.com/20fyyl0.jpg

      • haqua

        The problem is I can’t buy a Japanese PS3!! That’s way too much money for me at the moment, and I would only play maybe one or two games on it, so it would be nearly useless. 
        I can’t sell it it either because the PS3 isn’t just mine…

        The Cow Pee problem was fixed in DW6 and even more names are changed to better match their original pronunciation in DW7 as well. (Sun Quan is now pronounced more like Sun Chwan, although I believe that’s still wrong.)

        DW3 was pretty narmy, but that made it charming! It’s definitely one of my favorites~ DW5 will still be my favorite favorite, though. We should all know what my least favorite would be. Hint; it’s everyone’s least favorite. :Y

        …I’ll miss you, facial hair Liu Bei.

        • PoweredByHentai

          I’m just saying that you don’t need a Japanese PS3 in order to have stuff work with your system.  As long as you have the PS3 console, you can pretty much get any region’s digital content to play on your PS3 without any issue.

          Yeah, I heard that DW6 fixed the pronunciation problems.  Thing is, I had already bought the Japanese DW6 and played it for about a month or so before I got word from my friend about the pronunciation fixes.

          I miss facial hair LEADERS (as in Cao Cao and Liu Bei).  They make the characters more stately and noble.

          • Testsubject909

            You also forgot Manly.

            On a small note. Apparently, it’s hard to tell, I’d need to double check, but my chinese family name might also be Zhang… But that’s annoying to check. Because to my knowledge, I have two different chinese name pending which type of chinese you speak, and even then there are multiple dialects to keep in mind too.

          • PoweredByHentai

            Well, I’ve already mentioned before that my mom’s side of the family are from Lu Meng’s branch of the family.  So on one hand, our lineage is directly responsible for crushing and killing Guan Yu, and on the other hand, we consider Guan Yu to be a guardian deity.

        • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

          “Sun Chwan” is actually pretty correct; I’ve seen the Three Kingdoms Chinese TV series, and that’s how they pronounce it there.

          Anyhow, why would you need a Japanese PS3 if you already have a PS3? Just make multiple user accounts on it and connect them with various regions’ PSN accounts. Use PSN cards for wallet charge.

          • Testsubject909

            It actually sounds more like Soon Chwan.

          • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

            Yeah, that. Forgot to alter “Sun” phonetically.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rad-Phil/100001043096006 Rad Phil

      They could have taken the jerk route and only release the 360 version here. As much as I don’t like the idea of a non-retail version of the PS3 one, it’s still existing in some shape or form.

      Also I can’t help but feel people are going extremely overboard with their rage. It didn’t stop Aksys with the Agarest series or fighters when they went digital, Koei’s not stopping despite western reviewers trashing the games constantly, so why should this stop it?

      In fact, those that decided all of a sudden to import/not buy is what’s going to stop it. I mean seriously, people have every right to be annoyed and angry about it, but some comments from people act as if they skinned their pets, and then stomped on their graves.

      Won’t even begin to ask on their thoughts on PC gaming, considering a huge portion is digital.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Smolinski/679354776 Dan Smolinski

         ’They could have taken the jerk route and only release the 360 version here.’ Oh man, it’d be reverse DW7XL! Not getting that stopped me from getting further 7 DLC.

      • Testsubject909

        It’s a matter of personal preferences amidst a whole plethora of other matters.

        I bring my games around when I visit friends so a physical copy is most appreciated, also my bandwith is already heavily stressed so large games aren’t exactly something I look forward to. Plus I just enjoy something tangible as both a gamer and collector.

        The odds are, I’ll purchase a physical copy and at one point or another purchase the downloadable version if DLCs are announced or made for it that actually interests me. Otherwise, I’ll have little reason to purchase the digital US format as the physical US-DLC-Incompatible EU version would be just fine.

      • haqua

        Yeah, that’s true. My 360 is dead, so that’d be… Yeah, probably even worse.

        I admit I overreacted—it’s what I do when I get the littlest bit pissed about something! I’m alright now, though. 

        Ugh. I don’t understand why people don’t buy things because they’re mad at the company for doing something they didn’t want. I didn’t want subs only for WO3 since I’m used to playing all of my games in English, but I did intend on getting it. The problem here is that I’m not allowed to buy anything online (Don’t know why @_@), so downloading or importing isn’t even an option! 

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rad-Phil/100001043096006 Rad Phil

          Well I didn’t mean the overreaction to you specifically, just given on other sites and some comments above yours, plus you were angry in a different direction.

          And the point being is that I’m slightly surprised many of you didn’t even know about this stipulation they had for a while, which I find kinda funny because so many relate to Agarest Zero being disc release, BUT they did this with Agarest 1, and also did it with Battle Fantasia when the 360 versions had disc.

          The point i’m coming across was that some of those that were worried about them not giving anymore games over here, by importing, is adding even more to the problem, not the solution.

          The devil’s advocate part to this though, is by making it digital only locks some potential customers out of the sale, given with what some of you stated which is true.

      • OverlordZetta

        In some cases, some of us now CAN’T buy it. Speaking from personally experience, I share an older model PS3 with my brother, and we have space issues as is, and that’s WITHOUT any downloaded versions of full games on there – we strictly use discs, even though a lot of games we’ve missed out on are right there on PSN.

        I’m not saying I won’t get it, because I do really want the game, but if I import it, it means I’m out DLC, and if I download it, it means I’ve got to make a lot of space on my system, meaning I’d have to just delete/reinstall when space became an issue later on.

        • Nemesis_Dawn

          You do know you can upgrade your PS3′s hard drive with any laptop hard drive. Mine’s 500G from the 160g (?) model I bought.

          • Testsubject909

            Be sure to fully backup your content in a FAT32 external HDD. The moment you take out that harddrive from your PS3, you’re officially removing all data.

            Even if you put it back in immediately afterwards, the PS3 will demand a complete reformat, meaning anything on it is erased.

            Take proper precaution of your data and backup data when replacing your PS3 hard drive.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

    Sony being Sony again. It’s so funny that Koei doesn’t want to cover english voices for 120 characters. LOL

    • haqua

      Money issues, I’m guessing. Pretty much Koei’s fault, though.

      • Gatchaman1

         Still mad at Koei for not bringing over the DLC for Trinity Souls of Zill O’ll. That was a crapload of free content!

  • Novac

    Wow, I guess I will just import from Europe then.Im majorly disappointed with this.

  • http://www.facebook.com/strawberry.kurosaki William Hsia

    …a koei with no English VA?…is this heaven?

    • Testsubject909

      Cow Cow disapproves.

      • PoweredByHentai

        I read this and LOL-ed.  XD

        I just sent you a friend request via my Vita.  Was playing some Gravity Daze just now.  :D

        I really love the whole presentation, especially the comic book aspects of it.  It’s like they took a 3D vector mapping of the whole book and overlays.  Taking screenshots takes some getting used to though since you’ll need to push and hold the PS Button first before pushing the Start button, otherwise you will skip through the whole comic book scene.

        • Testsubject909

          Oh, so that’s who that was…  I assume it’s an imported Gravity Daze.

          • PoweredByHentai

            Yeah, the Vita friend system didn’t let me send a personalized request.

            As for Gravity Daze being the import version, obviously.  :D

            http://i39.tinypic.com/243oifc.jpg

          • Testsubject909

            Bastard!

            Bah. I’ll just buy it when it comes out here.

      • http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

         And Cow Pee too.

        ugh…..

  • Barrit

    Really lame! I’d be pissed, but thanks to Europe I’ll just import it!

    • raymk

      Yep that’s why i’m not worried about it either(even though U.S sales will be hurt)  I don’t have enough HD space to download the game or else I wouldn’t care if it was psn only.  Oh well thanks to europe once again for coming through with a disc release just like arcana hearts. 

  • xXDGFXx

    annnnndddd desire to purchase shot. pulse is 0. damn, lost it.
    seriously, why the hell does sony have that requirement to begin with? 

    • PoweredByHentai

      It is NOT a Sony requirement at all.

      Koei is making up some serious bullshit excuse.  Reason why I say this is because Agarest War ZERO is Japanese-dub only.

      • xXDGFXx

        heyyyy, it’s you from kotaku (i think) :D

        It’s not a requirement? wasn’t there another article somwhere that brought this issue before? I believe it was Record of Agarest War that did this.

        • PoweredByHentai

          Yeah, I’m totally from Kotaku.  :D

          Anyway, Agarest War 1 could be any combination of things.  SCEA is really the only division of SCE that is more adamant about keeping sex out of the game.  Even though the game wasn’t anything about raunchy sexy times, I can see how SCEA would find the Soul Breed system to be a touchy matter.  The dub-only aspect being a factor would barely make sense because Yakuza 3 came out a month before the US version of Agarest 1.

  • OverlordZetta

    Well have a nice, big, eff you too, Sony. Some of us bought your stupid machine early and have trouble keeping the DD-only games on here as is combined with all the data that the discs install on our machines – now you’re telling us that you’re going to start releasing full disc games ONLY as DD without even giving us the damn option?

    Go to hell. I mean it, I was stoked to hear we were actually getting this after all of the Koei PS3 titles we’ve missed out on lately, but for me, this is the same as not being able to get it at all.

    I’ve been dying for this game, and I might import it someday, but this is a dick move and total bullshit.

    • PoweredByHentai

      Hey man, Agarest War ZERO is Japanese dub only.

      http://amzn.com/B004Q8NBRG 

      • OverlordZetta

        I fail to see what that has to do with my comment.

  • finalheart9323

    Agarest  Zero came out in just jp voices. I would import also but i want dlc. 
    I hope it’s at least $50 or $40 dollars

  • Testsubject909

    Though I certainly would love to say that’s plain retarded, since I loves me some physical copies…

    I can see the financial benefit from it. But still damnit, we want our physical copies!

    • PoweredByHentai

      No, Koei’s excuse is retarded.  Agarest War Zero throws out Koei’s excuse because that is Japanese-dub only.

  • darkraiders

    Well Sony lost another bit of my respect with that.

    To be honest i didn’t have any intention to buy this game so this don’t affect me but i still think Sony is stupid to have rules like that.

    • PoweredByHentai

      Have you played Agarest War Zero?  Because that is Japanese-dub only and has a retail release on the PS3.

      • darkraiders

        Nop i didn’t i don’t like srpg so i skipped that one…

        • PoweredByHentai

          Well, you should at least give Agarest Wars a try because its combat aspect is awesome though it does take some time to get used to.

  • http://twitter.com/Repede91 Justin Morante

    Wish Sony and Microsoft could be as lax as Nintendo is about these strange regulations.

    • OverlordZetta

      I don’t think Nintendo has games that would be an issue in the first place. That, or they force godawful dubs instead of allowing the option to be there (Arc Rise Fantasia anyone?) making the point moot.

      Hate to say it, I’d take this crap over Nintendo’s horrid online any day even so.

      • WizardoftheBlueOrder

        Wow. Really, you’re kicking Ignition while they’re down? Nintendo had nothing to do with that decision, unless you’ve got a source to the contrary.

        I’d prefer if we got a comment from Sony on this, but I think we’re not going to get anything and will just have to take Tecmo-Koei’s word on it. Not too pleased to hear it though.

        • PoweredByHentai

          Here’s a short list of games that are Japanese-dub only:

          -Fate Extra
          -Hakuoki
          -Agarest Wars series (1, Zero, and 2)
          -Yakuza series (3 and 4)

          By the way, Agarest 2 is coming out this summer, so I am much more inclined to call Koei’s excuse as bullshit.

          • WizardoftheBlueOrder

            Given the number of responses you’ve made, you’re sounding rather fanatical. Calm down, no one’s saying that you’re wrong or dismissing your point. It’s clear that there are obvious counter-examples to Tecmo-Koei’s claim, as you’ve pointed out.

            The fact of the matter is that we don’t know what the situation is. As you’ve reiterated several times, there are a few games that contradict Tecmo-Koei’s claim. But as stated by several members of our community, making this claim up is nonsensical. It DOES hurt sales, it means that they don’t get physical presence in stores, which is where the meat of sales are. (Digital downloading is getting better, but let’s face it, there’s still a large fraction of PS3 owners who are not online. I seem to recall it being something like 25%, but I don’t remember where I heard that.) So why would they make it up?

            If anything, there’s something that we, as gamers, aren’t being told. If we could get a clarification, that’d be great, but again, I really doubt we’re going to get one. Until then, ease up a bit on the leaping on everyone with “Koei is bullshitting us!” responses.

          • PoweredByHentai

            I’m not fanatical or anything.  I just hate it when a whole row of people line up to bitch about something while completely ignoring some glaringly obvious contradictions.

          • Nemesis_Dawn

            Way of the Samurai was Japanese-dub only, right? Whichever the one that came out for PS3, anyway.

          • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/ashgail Ashgail

            Uh oh, Way Of The Samurai 3 had dual audio.

          • PoweredByHentai

            WotS had both.

    • PoweredByHentai

      Except that there are Japanese dub-only retail games like Agarest War ZERO which throws out Koei’s excuse.

      • Ladius

        Still, they have absolutely no interest to do this by themselves if another party isn’t forcing them to do it, which is puzzling considering SCEA apparently dropped that clause last year.

        I don’t know if this excuse is the complete truth, but I don’t think it’s a complete lie either.

        • PoweredByHentai

          I am more inclined to call the excuse a lie because people are also forgetting about Yakuza 3 and 4 being Japanese-dub only.

  • Blesmi

    This makes no sense though, because Agarest War Zero and 2 both are JP VA only yet they have physical releases.

    • forweg

      Exactly, there’s no reason those games could be released with JP-only voices but this couldn’t. There’s something fishy about this.

    • PoweredByHentai

      I think you meant Agarest War 1 and ZERO.  Agarest War 2 isn’t due to come out until this summer.

      I’m just waiting for Aksys to announce a Limited Edition set for Agarest War 2 so that I can cancel my existing regular pre-order on Amazon.

      • Nemesis_Dawn

        Agarest 1 didn’t get a physical release in North America. Agarest 2 will be getting one.

        • PoweredByHentai

          Yeah, I seemed to have totally misread Blesmi’s comment.

  • MrRobbyM

    “Sony won’t allot games without English voice overs to be released in retail”

    Shame on you, Sony. This makes some sense in a business aspect, but also horrible for some games/devs.

  • http://twitter.com/salarta salarta

    … Digital download only in the United States? What the dick?!

    Looks like I’ll be getting the European version of this. Oh and of course Sony is stupid as hell in cases like this one.

    • PoweredByHentai

      No, that is Koei spouting some major bullshit.

      Record of Agarest Wars ZERO says hi.  That only has Japanese dub on it for its US release and it had a RETAIL PS3 release as well.

      • Ladius

        Maybe it’s a case-by-case process instead of a complete turnover in SCEA’s policies? I don’t think they have anything to gain with a digital-only release on the platform with reportedly better sales for their games.

        • PoweredByHentai

          Except that Agarest War 2 is also Japanese-dub only and that game is coming out this summer.

          I would say that Koei is bullshitting on their excuse.

          • Ladius

            As I said, it could be a case-by-case situation (deals by publisher, personal contacts or whatever else, and I would like to point out that all the three games released at retail with Japanese dub are by Aksys, aside from Sega’s well known Yakuza exception).

            I don’t have a clue about the situation, but I honestly can’t see a reason why Koei should make up a false claim, significantly compromising the game’s sales in the process.
            They are losing money (and goodwill) with this move, I can’t believe they are doing it by themselves.

            If it was X360 a XBL-only release could make some sense considering Warriors sales on that platform have apparently been dwindling, and they could minimize the packagedistribution issues that way, but PS3 is their main platform for that series, and WO3 is a rather important game for them.

            I think attacking them isn’t the right thing to do when we don’t have a clear picture of what’s going on between them and SCEA.

          • PoweredByHentai

            See, here’s what bothers me:

            You have Yakuza 3 and 4 which are Japanese-dub only.  And then you have Agarest War Zero and 2, which are also Japanese-dub only.  And then Koei mouths off that it is somehow a Sony requirement to have English voices?  What a load of crock.

            This is considering that Yakuza is a Sega game and Agarest War is published by Aksys. You have 2 publishers who can publish Japanese-dub only games and then you have Koei.

          • Ladius

            Still, my point is that we don’t really know anything.

            At first we only had Yakuza, and we assumed Sega was getting a free pass because of the relevance of that series in Japanthe game being actually set in Japanother reasons.

            Then we had three Aksys games released at retail with only the Japanese dub, and we all assumed the new policy was valid for every publisher since Aksys is rather niche. Then it turns out they’re actually the only ones releasing this kind of games in the States (the only similar release, Corpse Party by XSeed, is PSN-only).

            What if they made some sort of deal and have been approved, but others are still bound by the old policy?

            The other arguments still stand, too: Koei has simply no reason to make this move by themselves, it makes no sense in any possible way (considering sales, their fans’ goodwill and their standing with Sony, considering SCEA won’t be happy about this kind of situation either).

          • xXDGFXx

            it sorta makes you wonder why sony hasn’t called them out on this :X

          • PoweredByHentai

            Well, which corporate division of Sony?  Do you want SCE HQ to step in or just SCEA to take it like it like man?

            The part of Sony that responds to this has a lot of implications involved.  =/

            If it were just SCEA responding, then this is entirely a Koei-SCEA matter.  If it were SCEI or SCEJ responding, then someone at SCEA will lose his/her head.

          • xXDGFXx

            I want the latter. seriously, fillet the guy who set up that retarded requirement.

          • PoweredByHentai

            Probably some douchebag in the Marketing division.  The Japanese Biohazard and Omega Boost games had English voice overs and that was perfectly fine for the Japanese market even though Japanese dubbing wasn’t even a requirement for that market.

        • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

          [Shrug] Maybe they’re trying to focus on a region that appreciates their games more?

          • Ladius

            Considering their titles have been selling more on PS3, that reasoning would entail an X360 digital release, not a PS3 one. Also, I don’t think Europe is significantly more relevant than the US for them, not to the point of risking to compromise a rather major release for no reason.

          • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

            True. This case might not be as simple as pointing fingers at a single party.

            As for EU’s significance… I’m going out on a limb here: It’s just that I feel like EU’s been more active regarding these sorts of news. A major Musou (+Koei) community is from UK; I follow Tecmo Koei Europe Twitter, and they’re very active there, unlike Tecmo Koei US which hasn’t Tweeted anything since last year’s November. There’s also the fact that there seems to be a vocal hatedom for Musou games on various US gaming forums; not to say that they’re worth paying attention to, but they exist. (Although it doesn’t help that Koei themselves are driving the formula to the ground, wearing out the novelty.)

            I’m just adding these points together to ponder whether Koei’s picking a region which would appreciate the game more. Still, this is all mere conjecture on my part. Who knows; US is a big continent, so even with presumably less enthusiasm, they could still have sold a good number of copies.

          • Gatchaman1

             Musou seems more popular in EU. I remember them doing a full cosplayed promotional tour for Fist of the north Star there.

          • PoweredByHentai

            Not really, the Dynasty Warriors mechanic is running into series fatigue.  My guess is that Koei looked at the recent sales of Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 and DW 7 and made the decision to skip English dubbing and pin the blame on Sony.

        • PoweredByHentai

          If anything, I would say that Koei’s problem is that their Dynasty Warriors mechanic is running into some serious series fatigue.  They most likely looked at sales numbers for DW Gundam 3 and DW 7 and decided against dubbing it in English as well as pinning the blame on Sony.

          • Testsubject909

            One extra reason why I’m excited for One Piece Musou.

            It’s got alternating combo going from Square to Triangle back to Square.

            Might not seem like a lot, but it heavily increases options and complexity in combat maneuvers.

          • PoweredByHentai

            I haven’t played the Bleach musou game but the combo system on that looked pretty good.

        • M’iau M’iaut

          Yup. Look at the audiences a bit. The very action oriented warriors series has always found a better home in the states then some of Koei’s more strategic IPs. Sony may have thought a subtitled only version would have been a detriment. It’s not as if folks are playing Warriors for the voices.

          Compare that to Agarest where the moerrific sounds of JP VAs are indeed part of the experience.

  • PersonaSpace

    I’m sorry what? That seems more like an excuse that Tecmo Koei concocted than one that’s actually real.

    • PoweredByHentai

      Pretty much, Agarest War ZERO is Japanese dub only and there isn’t an option menu to switch dubbings.  I personally prefer Japanese dubbing though.

  • PersonaSpace

    And on that note, I really don’t mind. I actually prefer digital distribution these days, especially if it’s account based like PSN and Steam.

    • OverlordZetta

      Doesn’t mean the oPtion shouldn’t be there though.

  • Ladius

    This is really puzzling. Agarest Zero is a multiplatform game from a niche publisher in a series far more obscure than Musou, and yet it had no problems being released on disc with only its Japanese dub. On PSP, Sony has allowed Fate Extra and Hakuoki to be released on UMD, and they are Japanese-only, too.

    I don’t think Koei has any interest to lie on this point, though, especially since their games have apparently sold better on PS3 and it would be in their best interest to release the game on BluRay in the States.

    That said, Warriors Orochi 3 is gonna be awesome and I have no problems playing the PAL release.

    • PoweredByHentai

      Just don’t forget about the Yakuza series as well.

      • theworldofnoboundries

        Well Yakuza is probably a special case as even the most basic mechanic of the game is all about Japan. So if u launch the game with dub, it probably will not be as good as how it should be.

        While for DW series, all of their series have English dub and probably Koei feels that the cost for dub is not as good as what they could earn back and this conflict with the interest of Sony which cause them not to launch the game in retail.

        Well for Agarest…… don’t know lol.

        • PoweredByHentai

          Yakuza 3 being the first of its kind is understandable.  Yakuza 4 coming out with no English dubs as well followed by Agarest ZERO’s release in the same year (2011) as Yakuza 4 means that a policy shift has already happened.  Then you have the other titles that Ladius mentioned such as Fate Extra and Hakuoki.  =/

          • theworldofnoboundries

            Well what i mean for Yakuza is having English language for a japanese heavy cultured game would not be appropirate.

            While for Fate/Extra and Hakuouki isn’t that is PSP game which probably have different kinds of policy?

          • PoweredByHentai

            Regarding Fate Extra and Hakuoki, it used to be a separate policy and approval process but SCE has made it a corporate policy to merge and simplify the approval processes into a (supposedly) single process.  This is why all the new retail PSP games have a PSN counterpart and the same goes for the retail PS Vita games.

            It used to be that each hardware platform had its own checklist of items in order to gain approval but the process has now been unified and simplified such that it only requires approval from one regional division in order to see release in other regions.  Also, those checklists of “things that must be in the game to see approval” apparently no longer exists.

    • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

      You could even play with EU players like me, hahaha~

      • theworldofnoboundries

        well i am going to pre-order the game too, so i hope we will be able to play together ^^.

        • Testsubject909

          Ah, yeah, since I’ll be getting a physical EU copy, I guess that means it’ll connect me directly to the EU servers huh?

          Hmm… Well, guess that just means more people to play with.

  • PoweredByHentai

    *cough*

    Agarest War Zero and its sequel Agarest War 2 are Japanese-dub only.

    Yakuza 3 and 4 also says hi in Japanese-dub only.

    Fate Extra and Hakuoki are Japanese-dub only.

    Yeah, I’m calling on Koei’s bullshit.

    • Ladius

      I think we don’t really know anything about SCEA’s validation process, and jumping at Koei could be the wrong thing to do.

      Copying what I said below, the whole “SCEA dropped the Japanese-only dub=no retail policy” thing was never confirmed, and it was simply a guess on our part, albeit one founded on facts that seemed quite obvious since now.

      At first we only had Yakuza, and we assumed Sega was getting a free pass because of the relevance of that series in Japanthe game being actually set in Japanother reasons.

      Then we had three Aksys games released at retail with only the Japanese dub (soon four with Agarest 2), and we all assumed the new policy was valid for every publisher since Aksys is rather niche.

      Then again, it turns out they’re actually the only ones releasing this kind of games in the States (the only similar release, Corpse Party by XSeed, is PSN-only).

      What if they made some sort of deal and have been approved, but others are still bound by the old policy? We really don’t know anything that proves things to be one way or the other.

      The other arguments I made before still stand, too: Koei has simply no reason to make this move by themselves, it makes no sense in any possible way considering their sales (PS3 is the lead platform of the Warriors series in the west), their fans’ goodwill and their standing with Sony, since SCEA definitely won’t be happy about this kind of situation either. 

      Actually, confirming no BluRay edition and mentioning that SCEA policy as the reason seems to be a reaction induced by some kind of feud, since those policies should be covered by NDA, and are rarely discussed officialy by companies. It seems like a “SCEA vetoed our physical edition, since fans are bound to be pissed let’s make them target the right company” thing (which would be somewhat childish for a company like Koei, but still).

      Believe me, I would blame Koei if I thought the situation was clearly against them, but I don’t think it’s right to do that while being in the dark about SCEA’s decisions.

      • http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/DrakosAmatras DrakosAmatras

        Now that I think about it, they saved costs on physical media by opting for digital release, right? So they’re not gonna run into the problem of leftover copies in US. Could this be part of their plan as well?

        Wait, nevermind. I missed the line that says the 360 version is getting a disc-release. Damn it, this is confusing. What’s their plan?!

        • Testsubject909

          Pissing their fanbase off apparently. They’ve already got enemies in the US, they don’t need to make enemies of their supporters now.

      • http://www.siliconera.com Spencer

        Especially because the game is getting a retail release in Europe, there’s no reason why Tecmo Koei wouldn’t want to release Warriors Orochi 3 in stores. 

        Agarest titles may have received a retail release because it was bundled as a special edition, something I doubt Warriors Orochi would get.

        • PoweredByHentai

          @Siliconera15:disqus :
          Ahem, Agarest War Zero Standard Edition PS3 (US) says hi:
          http://amzn.com/B004Q8IZHW 

          • http://www.siliconera.com Spencer

            *ahem* (I don’t know why that was necessary?) Agarest was released in both standard and premium editions, so that means discs would have to be printed. A publisher wouldn’t be able to sell a limited edition with just a DLC code. 

            There’s a reason why Battle Fantasia was PSN only too in the US…

          • PoweredByHentai

            Well, you did say that Agarest Zero was bundled in a special edition.

            Yeah, but that was end of 2009 though.  This is now 2012 and 4 series are now bucking what was supposed to be the previously-held policy of PSN for Japanese-dub only games.  There has been a policy shift and Koei hit a snag with something while dealing with SCEA.

          • SeventhEvening

            In all honesty, Battle Fantasia getting a physical release would definitely result in profit losses. It was a niche fighting game that, to my knowledge, didn’t really sell that well on the 360 anyway. It was also a niche fighting game that wasn’t really all that good either. Blu-ray disks are more expensive to manufacture than DVDs, and since it came out much later than the 360 version, it meant many people had already played it and realized it wasn’t great. 

            I actually never thought for a second that no-dub was the reason it was digital only, I assumed it was just halfway decent business sense. 

      • PoweredByHentai

        Here’s my understanding of the situation:

        While there is a general guideline to achieve publication acceptance, each game is often approved/negotiated individually.  Even games that are part of a series are no exception to this process.  I doubt that Sega and Aksys have preferential treatment or anything of that sort.

        The other thing is that once you have 6 games from 4 different series going retail that goes against the general guideline, that means that you have a policy shift and that the existing guideline is no longer valid.

        I agree that there is a spat between Koei and SCEA but I doubt that the English dub requirement is even a factor in that spat.

        EDIT:
        By the way, Battle Fantasia got on the PSN several years ago and that is Japanese-dub only as well.

    • malek86

      But why wouldn’t Koei want to release it in stores?

      • PoweredByHentai

        I think that Koei does want to release it in stores.  There’s probably a snag with some other part of the approval process.

      • SeventhEvening

        Well, hypothetically, cost. It’s much cheaper to do a PSN only release, as Bluray disks are pricy. If you can divert all the “But I want a physical copy!” complaints directly to SCEA, you can even dodge most of the heat from disappointed fans. 

        Of course, I don’t know if that’s what Koei is doing, but given the number of exceptions to this so-called “no-dub-no-disk” policy, I have a hard time shaking my fist at SCEA. There’s probably some other kind of snag.

    • shadowind

      Please kindly stop spouting bullshit yourself! I’ve known Chin from TKE for over 2 years now and he’s the last kind of person who would lie about this sort of thing. In fact, he’s pretty popular in the UK and Europe amongst hardcore gamers.

      If there’s anyone to blame for the game not getting a retail release, it’s SCEA and their batshit-crazy policies concerning games from Japan, especially ports of Japan-only PSOne games for the PSP that weren’t allowed to be released in North America as well as games like Tales of Eternia/Destiny II which came out in Europe as they’re more flexible when it comes to games from Japan although they still have their own faults.

      Just calm down and stop spouting all this controversy crap as you’re going to make yourself look really stupid. I care about Koei and I’m sure they would have loved to have released Warriors Orochi 3 on disc in North America, but at the end of the day, it’s not their fault, but rather SCEA being complete dicks as always. If you want to buy the game that bad, just buy it on download or import it instead from the UK.

      • PoweredByHentai

        Chin who?  Are you referring to Chin Soon Sun or what?

        I agree that part of the blame does go SCEA but some of the issues you brought up like Eternia being renamed to Destiny 2 are completely out of SCEA’s hands.  Guess which other American hero hailed from Eternia?  Here’s your hint:

        BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!

        Then Namco decided to do a proper Destiny 2 sequel after all that so you can clearly see how (proper sequel) Destiny 2 would confuse the hell out of a market that has been so used to seeing Eternia as Destiny 2.

        • shadowind

          Yes, I was referring to Chin Soon Sun in my original post. As I also said in that post, he’s not the type of guy to make up bullshit like this especially as he’s the face of TecmoKoei, so to speak in Europe and works his ass off to promote the company’s products over here, especially when the Warriors games get a lot of unfair criticism from idiotic fucktard reviewers who would rather be wasting their time licking the asses of the bosses at Activision and EA by giving top marks to shitty FPS games than reviewing other games fairly! (PSM3 and Official PS3 Magazine UK are particularly guilty of this sort of crap)

          As for the Tales of Eternia/Breath of Fire 3 thing, I was actually referring to the fact that the PSP ports never came out in North America whereas they actually came out in Europe!

          And yes I know who He-Man is, I’m not that stupid, you know…

          • PoweredByHentai

            And just where exactly did I say that Chin was bullshitting?  I called out on Koei’s bullshit, not Chin’s.  For all we know, Chin might have been fed said bullshit from his superiors.  In either case, it is still Koei’s bullshit.

            Your problem is that you are getting overly personal due to your relationship with someone who works there.

    • mikedo2007

      Yeah I’ll agree with you on that.

  • Learii

    this  suck they realsed 360  in stores but not ps3 -_-

  • Raiu

    This sounds bullsh*t to me alright…
    I’m not gonna mention Japanese dubs now that PoweredByHentai got that covered…
    This is the US release and knowing that EU releasing in physical format so it could have something to do with SCEA..
    The only reasons I could think of is the popularity of the EU compared to US… neither that or Koei just being cheap..

  • fayt255

    That’s a bullshit excuse since other Japanese sub only games got physical discs on Sony consoles. either way still getting this for PS3.

    • Gatchaman1

       Arcana Heart 3 got DD in US

  • SerendipityX

    Umm, so before I rage WO3 is physically available for X360 right?

  • Mister_Nep

    If the PS3 version is priced cheaper then it’d be worth getting the download version.

  • ddh819

    just glad its getting a us release

  • eilegz

    if its CHEAPER, like 30 dollars i buy it…. 

    Im seriously prefer japanese voice with subtitle, i really hated dynasty warrior gundam 2 and its stupid dub, it was completely retarded “Kira: Lets kick ass” and the haro dub….

    • Gatchaman1

       I thought that was the 1st DW game that had dub only

  • roockie85

    If is 40 or 30 I buy not to sound stupid the digital download means we will be able to download it on playstation store right?

    • Nemesis_Dawn

      Yeah.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cbosak1 Christopher A. Bosak

    At least i have about 90 gb. left on my 60 GB PS3 which I upgraded the HDD to 250. 

    • OverlordZetta

      You can upgrade your HDD without losing data?

      • Nemesis_Dawn

        You can do one of several things, depending on what you have on your hard drive. If you have a PS+ account, you can backup every save you have onto the cloud and then copy them back onto your new HDD. If you don’t, some games have locked saves, but the ones that don’t, you can back up to a flash drive and then copy onto the new HDD.

        Any games you’ve downloaded will be on your Download List on the Playstation Store and can be redownloaded. Trophies just need to be synced again. The only thing you might lose are patches and installs, but I believe you can (it’s been years since I did this, so my memory may be faulty) back-up your PS3 to an external drive and then copy the whole thing back to your new HDD.
        The only thing that you need to make sure you copy onto a flash drive, because they will not transfer if you back-up your PS3 are your PS1/PS2 saves. 

  • thebanditking

    so long as this happens only one time I am OK with having to import it from Europe if I want the game (I don’t but full games digitally) but going forward they better not pull this again. If its retail on one then it should be on the other, simple as that.

    • Testsubject909

      And I swear, if they go by the numbers to go “Oh, I guess our fanbase is based on the 360 console since we didn’t have that many digital sales on the PS3″ I will personally take a short trip to their US headquarters and give each of them a slap in the face.

      • OverlordZetta

        Hope you have room, because I’ll be coming with you, brother.

  • Prinnydoom

    Ha. We europeans get the better deal. I’ll be damned ^__^ 

  • roockie85

    Lets talk about price how much will it cost for digital download? I guess we have to wait

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/GE53LK6YSTRHKSTY7TNE7ZQPZ4 Michael

    if they think no one wanted dw 7 then why put out dw7 xtreme, the price for dw7 has only dropped from $60 to $40 in 2 stores in over a year, then they put out dw7 xtreme and bam its automaticly $40 right off the bat. im still waiting for dw7 to drop. not to mention both games dlc could cost you $30 a piece, $60 is a joke price for a game over a year old, hell $60 is joke for a psn game too, they must think charging $50 for wo3 is doing me a favor, hey hows that pspgo doing, kinda defeats the purpose of taking $XX and then taking memory, when usually games on psn never drop in price, so save money on hard copy and save my memory, hmmm…. big surprise people would rather wait to buy a game cheaper, i download off psn all the time, be it full games (only when discounted or free with +) or dlc, but spending $50 on 1 game is just adding insult to injury, i waited a week during the holidays and got uncharted 3, saints row 3,and batman arkham for $30 each, primo game but id still never spend even $40 for a new game… still cant figure out who is shooing themselves in the foot though, but still very hopeful.
    p.s. xbox is region locked, ps3 isnt??? so monster hunter hd and musou orochi and many many more imports are totally allowed on ps3…..

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/GE53LK6YSTRHKSTY7TNE7ZQPZ4 Michael

    if they think no one wanted dw 7 then why put out dw7 xtreme, the price for dw7 has only dropped from $60 to $40 in 2 stores in over a year, then they put out dw7 xtreme and bam its automaticly $40 right off the bat. im still waiting for dw7 to drop. not to mention both games dlc could cost you $30 a piece, $60 is a joke price for a game over a year old, hell $60 is joke for a psn game too, they must think charging $50 for wo3 is doing me a favor, hey hows that pspgo doing, kinda defeats the purpose of taking $XX and then taking memory, when usually games on psn never drop in price, so save money on hard copy and save my memory, hmmm…. big surprise people would rather wait to buy a game cheaper, i download off psn all the time, be it full games (only when discounted or free with +) or dlc, but spending $50 on 1 game is just adding insult to injury, i waited a week during the holidays and got uncharted 3, saints row 3,and batman arkham for $30 each, primo game but id still never spend even $40 for a new game… still cant figure out who is shooing themselves in the foot though, but still very hopeful.
    p.s. xbox is region locked, ps3 isnt??? so monster hunter hd and musou orochi and many many more imports are totally allowed on ps3…..

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