Confirmed: Army of Two for Xbox 360 has region-protected multiplayer

Looking forward to Electronic Arts‘ Army of Two for the PS3 and Xbox 360? If you are, and you’re excited about online play, then here’s bad news as it’s been confirmed that the Xbox 360 version has shipped with region-protected multiplayer. Yes, that’s right – you can’t play with anyone that doesn’t match the same region as you. Check out all the details in the full article.

One of the biggest draws of ANY online multiplayer game is the ability to play against anyone, anywhere. This is why this particular issue with Army of Two Xbox 360‘s version has gotten a lot of attention, with the PAL retail manual of Electronic Art’s co-op title confirming that the online multiplayer is crippled. Meaning, it’s region-protected. Meaning, if you’re in the U.S. and you want to play against someone in Europe, it’s not going to happen.

The excerpt from the manual itself, verbatim:

NOTE: The online game modes in Army of Two are not cross region compatible and is only supported between PAL discs.

What’s the deal here? While we can understand the deal about lag mucking up online play across continents, it’s definitely something else to actually leave it out entirely. Doesn’t it ruin the entire point of online multiplayer, if you can’t play against someone a thousand miles from you because of region-protection?

In any case, EA hasn’t quite commented on this issue, but we’ll definitely update you when they do. After all, this is quite the oversight. No word yet, too, on whether or not the PS3 version will have the same issues – here’s hoping it won’t.

Via Sarcasticgamer