US FF VIII mod-friendly

[08.11.99] » Final Fantasy VIII's Japanese lockout scheme, designed to prevent usage on modded PlayStations, won't be present in the English release.

   According to PSXIGN, Square Electronic Arts has confirmed that no sort of protection scheme beyond the territorial lockouts built into the PlayStation will be used in the North American version of Final Fantasy VIII. Japanese gamers and international importers who picked up the Japanese Final Fantasy VIII earlier this year discovered that the game would not load on modded systems. ("Modded" refers to the process of installing a special chip into a PlayStation to bypass territorial lockouts.)

   While Square EA did not offer any explanation for the lack of the scheme, it's probable that SCEA has made a conscious business decision not to utilize the lockout in North America. Technical limitations are likely not a factor -- FF VIII's lockout code worked universally on all versions of the PlayStation, and Sony's demo of Um Jammer Lammy given out at E3 demonstrated that the company is fully able to use the scheme on English titles.