Case File: NMC VS NTSC

Last year, gamers in the United Arab Emirates all cried in unison after it became apparent from distributors and retailers that the NMC, National Media Council, prohibited the sale of NTSC games in the UAE. For those of you not in the know, NTSC & PAL are TV broadcast standards.

Here is a map of the distribution around the world (via Wikipedia):

As you can see, NTSC is centered in the Americas while the rest of the developed world uses PAL; Please ignore SECAM.
The UAE is a PAL territory, so naturally we’re supposed to have PAL DVD players, games, TVs, etc.
The NMC was just enforcing the standard, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Why did we make this nasty little din over it then?

Well, it’s because  PAL games are usually prohibitively pricier than NTSC games.

Gone were the halcyon days of buying cheap games, we were doomed to paying double of what we’re used to. It was quite the blow to most of us, especially since the majority of people who play games are usually students; if you had a job, it’s quite easy to import games yourself. As for the rest of us, we were at the mercy of what the smaller stores could smuggle through customs. Some people accused major game retailers with conspiring for this to happen so that people have no alternative but to buy games from them and put the smaller stores, that thrived on this competitive edge, out of business. We’ll never know why the NMC suddenly had the urge to voice this, so it’s not worth dwelling on. What we do know is that retailers everywhere were getting their NTSC games confiscated.

In the end all we had was PAL, black/grey market non-withstanding.

I find it worth noting that piracy took off as a result of that; I noticed a sudden increase in R4 flashcarts for the Nintendo DS and people bringing their Xbox 360′s and PSPs to be modded. Unfortunately, there isn’t an organisation here that keeps stats on these types of things and makes estimates on piracy and such; if there is, then they aren’t making their results public. All I have is anecdotal evidence from what I witness at several of the small shops I visit.

Now let’s take a look at how the economics of this whole shenanigan works, shall we?

Our currency, the dirham (AED), is tied to the dollar.
PAL is a European standard.
In Europe, there is no such thing as dollars, dollars exist in the US.
In the US they don’t have a thing called PAL, all they have NTSC.
Oh look, they’re cheaper than PAL things.
Given the choice between the exact same goods from two different sources, you’d naturally go with the cheaper offer.
Get my flow?

Need more convincing?

Well, I encourage you to take a look at the United Arab Emirates’ PSN, PlayStation Network; its an online store, and social network made by Sony for use with their consoles, the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3.
The content distributed through it is maintained by SCEE, Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe, who obviously is in charge of all the PSNs in Europe. We’re getting the same stuff, aside from music and movie rentals, as the UK, Germany, France, and the rest of Europe.

Yet, there is one difference.

We pay for our purchases in DOLLARS, not EUROS.

On the subject of Sony, all their products are “Multisystem”; they support all standards.
What about Microsoft? Well, they’re an American company, so that’s not a biggie. Finally, we come to Nintendo. They’ve recently released their latest handheld, the 3DS worldwide. Much to fans disappointment, it’s region locked; NTSC 3DS’ work with NTSC games, JPN 3DS’ work with JPN games, and PAL 3DS’ work with PAL games.

Now to throw a wrench in the gears.

According to TBreak, “the Middle East will be getting the NTSC version which will include a 220v power adapter. Here’s the best part, the 3DS will retail for AED 1,099 which is slightly more than US retail price but still cheaper than UK retail price.” The launch titles will be sold for 169dhs each; that’s 49dhs higher than an NTSC DS game’s price and the same price as a PAL DS game’s price.

There you have it; NMC be damned, we’re getting US 3DS’.

Now the whole point of this wasn’t just to rant or argue, it was just a statement of facts.
They contradict any and every reason the NMC had, as well as shoot holes through their flawed logic. The only thing they have going for them is the regional power outlet differences, but that’s why we have adapters.

Aabo0

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