Hey Sony, this is Europe calling.

Hey Sony,

This is Europe. How're you doing? Things are looking up for you at the moment, it's good to hear that the PS3's finally taking off. There's some great blockbusters coming out soon; Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid 4. I love the way Konami have held off that game until it was complete for the world over, y'know? A worldwide release was definitely the way to go, means gamers aren't gonna get impatient waiting for it to be localised for where they are.

Which brings me to my next point, Sony old pal. What did I ever do to you? I've given you quality games from developers all over the place; Britain's given you TimeSplitters, the Eyetoy, Singstar, Buzz, the whole Burnout series, and the whopper that is Grand Theft Auto in its entirety. And that's just the UK, you know? Over in Holland, Guerrilla are hard at work on Killzone 2 and in Finland Housemarque are putting the finishing touches to yet another Super Stardust HD expansion. There's a ton of quality talent all over the continent that has put a lot of time and effort into producing games for your system and overall, I'm just kinda asking - have we fallen out?

I was chatting with my buddy South America after he pipped up on the PlayStation.blog about his lack of a Store, and I feel pretty bummed for him, since there's a few countries in my area sharing this same sort of experience. No wonder South America's got more 360s, since Microsoft have covered that area. What's the deal? Is it really taking you this long to roll out your Store to the world? Why do you keep shunning anywhere that's not Japan or America?

Some of my gamers are getting pretty peeved off at how you're treating anywhere that's not America or Japan. They're annoyed at having to wait month upon month to wait for games that America received long ago; I mean, they've only just gotten the chance to play Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and that came out Stateside what, about a year ago? Also, I'm loving the look of Echochrome. When can I get that?

C'mon Sony, it's not like I don't exist - I mean, I'm a freaking continent! Don't give me any of that 'Anglo-centric' rubbish, because don't you think you're being 'Europhobic' in giving America and Japan release privileges over me? I can understand that I'm a pretty multi-lingual continent and so you need to get developers to localise everything for France, Germany, Spain and company, but couldn't you stall the release to the rest of the world until that's done so I'm not constantly getting the sharp end of the stick? There's only so much poking with the sharp end that I can take, especially since it's just been announced that I'm a bigger game market than the United States, and I'm quickly catching up with the Far East.

All I'm asking is for some kind of equality; it's not fair that America and Japan seem to be the only countries that exist on your Store update map. Why not start on a globalisation of the Store and encourage your developers to localise games as they develop them, rather than consider it an afterthought once their games have their American release? My gamers are waiting far too long to play all these great games, and I'm just trying to stand up for them. Enough is enough.

What d'you say, Sony? Friends? Or, like so many of my guys have tried on your American PlayStation.blog (in fact, can I get a nice blog too, one that isn't Three Speech?) are you just going to keep ignoring us? It can't be that hard to start coordinating a globalisation of the Store. I have a feeling my gamers would stand behind me when I say you should give it a shot.

Yours in hope,

Europe

EU is second largest videogaming territory - GamesIndustry.biz
Reeves explains why Europe has to wait - Eurogamer.net
Please we in south america want a PS Store too! - PlayStation.Blog