Hey y'all!
 
So with the recent news that Catherine will be released in the US, Internet (and Giantbomb especially) went into full-time celebration. The game is being fully localized, and even some voice actors from Persona 4 will return for the job. That's all great, but us peasants in the rest of the world are still waiting for an update regarding it to be released elsewhere. A problem with Atlus, for example, is that they have no publisher set up outside of Japan and US, which pretty much puts us in hoping that an outside party will pick up the publishing rights. It's a complicated and lengthy process, and often it results into nothingness.
 
So my first thought is, "well if they have no intention of releasing it for the rest of us, why can't we just import it?". Simple; I don't own a PS3. I only own a region locked X360. So even if I payed the extra moola to import the game from the US upon its release there, I still wouldn't be able to play it on my console unless I in turn imported an american X360. It happened to Culdcept Saga and other games, which I'm still fucking pissed off about. And I'm sure it happens to americans all the time.
 
My point is, why even region lock games? I can understand why some game companies think their game won't sell as well in certain regions and don't bother releasing it there, but why rob the selected consumers the right to purchase it from a region that actually has it? Are they so hell-bent on promoting the domestic market, or what's the problem?
 
I know the simple solution would be to buy a PS3 and give region locking the middle finger. But I'm not exactly swimming in cash, and having one HD console is more than enough for me at the moment. I just want some clarification to why region locking is still something we're using in 2011, a time where people can't stop going on about "free market this, free market that".
 
TL;DR version: I hate region locking.