So when do I get a chance of playing newly released games

[LordRevan999]

As most of you who are like me stuck in a country where no good game could be found know how it feels.My question is that why don't we get any new released games.I mean in my country all I can find is 5 years old pirated games and not a single original copy,why is this and second when would people like me would get a chance to play new games like Assassin's creed etc.

And another thing when I go to a games shop and ask for a new game or even a 3 years old game.The shop keeper says there isn't any game like this or its been 10 or 15 years when the game was released.Is there any solution to this.And please don't take this as I am blaming anyone.

[Pho3nix]

Maybe it has something to do with Pakistan's politics?

 

I'd understand if you were living in Afghanistan but to me it sounds pretty strange that no one seems to be importing new games. You could of course order games online.

[Inyri]

International shipping ftw! Probably expensive, but also probably better than waiting 10 years.

 

Are there some kind of regulations there that make shipping to Pakistan unrealistic, or is it just lack of access to a credit card with which to make internet purchases?

[Taak Farst]

Maybe it has something to do with Pakistan's politics?

 

I'd understand if you were living in Afghanistan but to me it sounds pretty strange that no one seems to be importing new games. You could of course order games online.

Tis' possible, but the UK don't get a lot of games made in America either. I have to get a number of games online from Ebay or Amazon. I looked all over for Mass Effect and it was nowhere! So I bought on Ebay for $19 - Id say that in pounds but my pound key is busted, so I paid 19 pounds.

 

Here's another - it took me quite a while to find Crackdown. Oh and with TSL that was just by chance. I bought an Xbox years ago and KOTOR came with it - so i had no idea bout it. Played it - loved it - forgot bout it after I finished - went into GAME and saw TSL and I thought why that ring a bell? so i got it .

[LordRevan999]

1.First,dollars or pounds are very expensive for one dollar I have to give 60 rupees.

2.But it is not the problem,the way things are shipped here you will get everything almost broken if you ask me.

3.My father doesn't allow me to use his credit card.

4.I found kotor2 in another city by chance and from that day Ihave never seen another copy of it.

5.I got kotor by asking my uncle to send it who lives in australia.

6.Mostly people are looted when the come to Pakistan like previous year when my uncle came he was looted just outside the airport(they were bringing me 3dmax).

7.I don't think games are imported here,from opening the cd or dvd one can know that it is either downloaded via p2p sharing or is pirated.

[Boba Rhett]

I'd try asking your uncle to send you the Star Wars PC best of Collection. You get all the latest games and it's relatively cheap now. 30-40USD or about 1200 - 1600 rupees. Have him bubble wrap the hell out of it and double box it using sturdy cardboard boxes. (small box inside a larger box, making sure to fill the larger one with foam peanuts) Short of a large car running over it, it should survive the trip.

 

Hopefully digital downloads will further catch on and this won't be much of an issue for you.

[Sabretooth]

Ah, mein brother across the border, we get the latest games at stores like Planet M, or any decent mall, but it appears not so on the other side. Fret not my friend, while you can try and order internationally, you will have to pay extra shipping charges and considering it's Pakistan, I'm not sure how the customs office handles foreign individual import. But ah yes, you mention you can't use the credit card here, so we lose that option.

 

I'd suppose the only option left is to go on the other side of the law, but discussing that is not allowed on this goddarned fascist forum.

 

I find that looting part you mentioned as pretty scary. Just what do you mean by saying that people get looted outside the airport? *shudder*

[LordRevan999]

Sabertooth I mean that mostly when people arrive in Pakistan due to increase in crime rate and decrease in real or original police control they are looted.My uncle lost everything he had even passport and he was called back to Australia if he ever wants to get a new passport by this time he have gotten it I think.

And seriously what is Planet M.

[Sabretooth]

And seriously what is Planet M.

A chain of stores that sell music, movies and now games. They're pretty much the place to go if you want the latest games, but I don't think they're anywhere outside the country.

[JD-Rom]

I pretty much got the same problem, only it's not as bad. Our country's basically a third-world country, and so online shopping is pretty much unheard of. (retail ftw!) The fees to maintain having a major, international credit card are pretty high, and because most of the tech here is imported, their VERY expensive. Hell, having even 1GB of RAM or a video card just powerful enough for me to play games with dx9 effects (which I can't because my vid card's crap) is pretty uncommon to find.

 

I also believe there is some conspiracy as to what video games are shipped here. I mean, I can easily find Bioshock and even all 4 PC games of Baldur's Gate (in a neat little collection) here, yet for some reason I can't even find copies of Oblivion, Mass Effect or the GTA games here for the PC. I swear, the government here must be controlling distribution of these games here because of continued paranoia about some controversy that's been noted and fixed by the developers themselves.

 

Since we can't transact things online, we're pretty much stuck with buying prepaid cards (for MMOs) and sitting back and watching as you guys use your Points to buy and download entire games and map, item, and expansion packs over your Platinum-subscription profiles while you play online on your 4GB RAM, 3.36 Ghz processor, and dx10 video carded PCs. So much envy and hatred...

 

Kinda offtopic: I noticed that a couple of the emoticons are UT-inspired...

[Jae Onasi]

I'd suppose the only option left is to go on the other side of the law, but discussing that is not allowed on this goddarned fascist forum.

No one is stopping you from finding a less 'oppressive' forum in which you can feel free to discuss theft, porn, and assorted other immoral or illegal activities. I'm sure there are any number of sites that might meet your needs for less chafing regulations. See tk for a refund of your forum fees since it's patently obvious by following laws and general morality that we've clearly provided poor customer service to you by not indulging all your whims. I'm so very sorry about that.

 

As for the topic at hand, hopefully the lawlessness leading to the looting will decrease as the political situation becomes more stable. It's possible there are religious restrictions that are having an impact on game selection in Pakistan. Can you imagine Iran, for instance, _officially_ endorsing GTA? I've no doubt it's made its way there, however.

[Sabretooth]

No one is stopping you from finding a less 'oppressive' forum in which you can feel free to discuss theft, porn, and assorted other immoral or illegal activities. I'm sure there are any number of sites that might meet your needs for less chafing regulations. See tk for a refund of your forum fees since it's patently obvious by following laws and general morality that we've clearly provided poor customer service to you by not indulging all your whims. I'm so very sorry about that.

What?! Show me your manager! At once!

 

As for the topic at hand, hopefully the lawlessness leading to the looting will decrease as the political situation becomes more stable. It's possible there are religious restrictions that are having an impact on game selection in Pakistan. Can you imagine Iran, for instance, _officially_ endorsing GTA? I've no doubt it's made its way there, however.

If you ask me honestly, I don't think we countries on the far side here care about what video game trash comes in. India's censor board doesn't give a damn about what games come in, because it's still not considered anything big (although the censor board chief did mention they were going to go ESRB-style for games sometime soon).

 

Regardless, I think the problem isn't so much about religion or politics as it is with import. Pakistan wouldn't be my first choice to ship games if I were a game publisher - perhaps if I were a pirate, but not as a publisher. GTA, for example came in the papers here and all the parents went 'Huh' and then everybody forgot about it. And my 9-year-old cousin loves San Andreas.

[Jae Onasi]

I understand that, but India's not an Islamic state. The Pakistani gov't may have other ideas, however. I don't know for sure that that's the reason, but it may be one of the contributing factors.

[Sabretooth]

I understand that, but India's not an Islamic state. The Pakistani gov't may have other ideas, however. I don't know for sure that that's the reason, but it may be one of the contributing factors.

Well, I'm more than sure that current Pakistani government will have more matters at hand other than looking out for games with hookers, however trivial. I know that some Muslim states have... problems with entertainment media, but trust me in that Pakistan is not one of them - they're closer to Indians in terms of liberty. If you ask me, Pakistan has been the sanest Islamic state yet.

 

I know the cause because once when I went to a city deep inside India (and relatively low on the metropolitan scale), the only games I found were some really obscure 5-10 year old games. They hadn't heard of anything post-2002 in the mall there. The situation might have changed by now, but that's that.

[Bee Hoon]

Censorship in Islamic nations can vary widely anyway:/ Malaysia (which is currently confused as to whether or not it is an Islamic state) hacks out chunks of movies mercilessly, especially kisses, while gore seems to fare rather better with the censors. Nevertheless, walk past music stores in the larger cities and you'll see some pretty raunchy posters >.> Then go to a state controlled by a certain political party and supermarket lines will be segregated :/

 

Anyway, my point is that I don't think censorship is a problem, rather a lack of a market. Financially, buying games is more of a luxury for us than it is for those of you who live in countries with stronger currencies. Which is probably also why piracy is so rampant in such countries (including my own).

[JD-Rom]

Anyway, my point is that I don't think censorship is a problem, rather a lack of a market. Financially, buying games is more of a luxury for us than it is for those of you who live in countries with stronger currencies. Which is probably also why piracy is so rampant in such countries (including my own).

 

So true. Consider the cost of games here as a threat to your family's electric bill.

 

Also, what bugs me is that here I could just walk into a game store, ANY game store, and find pirated games. Hell, even the second floor of our supermarket contains pirated software: Games, movies, you name it. It's there, all covered in plastic casing and labeled with a poorly printed name of the title with a little warez logo (a little number 9 for movies) printed on the bottom right there. To be honest, pretty much the only thing that's keeping me from being a (software) pirate are the nescessities and benefits of having an original game, which are of course, compatible patches and mods and the fact that you can register your game to download additional official content [*cough*The Sims*cough*]. Although cost-reduction would be rather nice...ah hell, it would be A GIANT LEAP for the industry and less of a burden to my savings.

[stoffe]

International shipping ftw! Probably expensive, but also probably better than waiting 10 years.

 

International shipping of games can be very expensive, at least from America to Europe. A few years ago I couldn't wait 3 months for Eidos to release Deus Ex in Europe so I ordered it from America. Shipping made the game cost 3 times as much as if I had waited and bought it here when it was released.

 

At least we generally get most games here, eventually, so I guess I shouldn't complain as much about delays.

 

while you play online on your 4GB RAM, 3.36 Ghz processor, and dx10 video carded PCs. So much envy and hatred...

 

If it's any comfort it's mostly the vocal minority of hardcore gamers that have top-of-the-line gaming machines here too. Most PC gamers don't get a new computer every few months to keep up with having the latest and greatest for each new game release.

[Bee Hoon]

Also, what bugs me is that here I could just walk into a game store, ANY game store, and find pirated games. Hell, even the second floor of our supermarket contains pirated software: Games, movies, you name it. It's there, all covered in plastic casing and labeled with a poorly printed name of the title with a little warez logo (a little number 9 for movies) printed on the bottom right there. To be honest, pretty much the only thing that's keeping me from being a (software) pirate are the nescessities and benefits of having an original game, which are of course, compatible patches and mods and the fact that you can register your game to download additional official content [*cough*The Sims*cough*]. Although cost-reduction would be rather nice...ah hell, it would be A GIANT LEAP for the industry and less of a burden to my savings.

That would be excellent, yes. For now, I'll have to settle for hiding my games or my mum will skin me alive >.<

 

Some of the fakes are actually really well packed... I've seen a LotR box set that I could barely distinguish from the original :s

[Darth333]

International shipping of games can be very expensive, at least from America to Europe. A few years ago I couldn't wait 3 months for Eidos to release Deus Ex in Europe so I ordered it from America. Shipping made the game cost 3 times as much as if I had waited and bought it here when it was released.

In addition to that, I don't know how reliable the customs and local mail are in Pakistan... I have lived in different countries and in some places, the only way I would have a chance of ever seeing something I wanted to import from Canada was either through the diplomatic bag or through some friends who were visiting.

 

As for the topic at hand, hopefully the lawlessness leading to the looting will decrease as the political situation becomes more stable. It's possible there are religious restrictions that are having an impact on game selection in Pakistan.

As other have said above, I doubt that is the reason. Several games and movies are not released in some countries often because of rampant piracy and low household income. It would not simply be worth it economically.