Nintendo Fans Fight For Region-Free Consoles

[Steven Bogos]

Nintendo Fans Fight For Region-Free Consoles

Fans have taken to the Wii U's Miiverse message board with hundreds of artistic representations of their desire for region-free systems.

Nintendo fans on the NeoGAF [http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=585936] forums are refuting Nintendo's "year of Luigi," instead declaring this year to be the year of region-free gaming. There's a concentrated effort to get the word out to Nintendo in any way they can that removing the region restrictions on the Wii U and the 3DS is something every Nintendo fan wants. The campaign's main battlefield is the Wii U's Miiverse message board, where artistically inclined fans have created graphical expressions of their desire for region-free systems.

One of the key features of the PlayStation 3 was the fact that it was region-free, a big deal considering all previous consoles had been restricted to only play games from the region they were bought in. They continued this policy with the PS4, and while Microsoft was initially planning to impose heavy DRM with its Xbox One, it reversed those decisions following intense public and critical pressure and now the console will also be completely region-free. This leaves Nintendo, with its Wii U and 3DS, as the only one of the "big 3" to still impose region restrictions.

[gallery=1613]

What is more perplexing is the predecessor to the 3DS, the DS, was region-free, meaning Nintendo has actually taken a step backwards in regards to region locks. Rampant Piracy on the DS was most likely the cause of this, but as Nintendo has done a pretty good job keeping flash-carts off the 3DS so far, I don't see why it should remain the deciding factor.

The campaign urges fans to have their voices heard by taking to Miiverse, using the hash tags #EndRegionLocking and #NintendoRegionFree On Facebook and Twitter, and contacting Nintendo representatives directly.

Source: NeoGAF [http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=585936]

Permalink

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Yeah, region lock is silly in the modern day and age. Nintendo could very easily remove Region lock and allow the WiiU (And 3DS for that matter) to be Region Free. Especially considering that Nintendo is trying to release games to America and Europe first before Japan (At least this year), this might be a good thing.

 

[Dark Knifer]

I guess they keep it region locked because people would import games, which is like preowned and doesn't get them money.

I could be wrong but considering its working for everyone else maybe they should consider it at least, clearly it worked for sony since they are sticking with it for the ps4.

 

[hazabaza1]

I thought it already was region free?
Still, hopefully there's a response to this. Region lock sucks a big one and any way to stop it is a good thing really.

 

[erbkaiser]

Well the PS3 may be region free, but your account is locked to a specific PSN store. If I play a US game on my Dutch PS3, I cannot get DLC for it unless I log in to an account where I claim to be a yank, as the region code on the disk does not match with the DLC otherwise.

But that is for most older games not much of an issue I'll grant.

Nintendo is very lucky with its dedicated fan base in that they still seem to be accepting of stunts like region locking, and simply not releasing desired games in all regions.

I do hope that Nintendo will finally drop it. The concept of region locking is so outdated.

 

[Toilet]

Region locks are the least of my concerns, how about a dedicated account system so I don't feel like being punished for buying digitally and I have some security?

My launch 3DS broke a few weeks ago and I had to pay £58 so I didn't lose all my stuff, how is that fair?

 

[Dryk]

I guess they keep it region locked because people would import games, which is like preowned and doesn't get them money.

How does that work? They're still selling it to retailers either way.

 

[Doom972]

Nintendo seems to have its fans by the balls. It's not like fans can play the newest Nintendo first-party games on other consoles. I wonder what will become of it.

Region locks are the least of my concerns, how about a dedicated account system so I don't feel like being punished for buying digitally and I have some security?

My launch 3DS broke a few weeks ago and I had to pay £58 so I didn't lose all my stuff, how is that fair?

No shit? I was honestly unaware of this. How is Nintendo selling digital products and not linking them to an account of some sort. Are they one time downloads? Are they linked to the hardware? I can't believe there isn't more of an uproar over this. This just seems absurd.

I recall someone mentioning this on the forum once, but then the Nintendo Defense Force came and diverted the discussion to something else.

Where are those guys anyway?

 

[Toilet]

Nintendo seems to have its fans by the balls. It's not like fans can play the newest Nintendo first-party games on other consoles. I wonder what will become of it.

Region locks are the least of my concerns, how about a dedicated account system so I don't feel like being punished for buying digitally and I have some security?

My launch 3DS broke a few weeks ago and I had to pay £58 so I didn't lose all my stuff, how is that fair?

No shit? I was honestly unaware of this. How is Nintendo selling digital products and not linking them to an account of some sort. Are they one time downloads? Are they linked to the hardware? I can't believe there isn't more of an uproar over this. This just seems absurd.

I recall someone mentioning this on the forum once, but then the Nintendo Defense Force came and diverted the discussion to something else.

Where are those guys anyway?

It's ridiculous, the games are tied to the hardware and if you want to move your stuff to another 3DS you have to do a system transfer which consists of having both the consoles fully charged and leaving them for an hour or so depending on how much downloaded content you have saved (in my case a lot). The downloads from the store are painfully slow as well, we have no indication of how stable the connection is or how fast the download speed is. The bubbles are cute but damn it isn't useful in any way.

I love the 3DS but it's just painful how user unfriendly some aspects of the system are.

 

[kaioshade]

While i support this movement 100%, its also cute (and a bit sad) that people think Nintendo will do anything about the region lock. Unlike Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo does not care at ALL about territories outside of Japan. We may get a bone thrown here and there, but Nintendo could possibly be happy if they abandoned all markets except japan.

 

[Azure Knight-Zeo]

Too bad I don't own a WiiU yet and can't draw worth a damn otherwise I would spport this. Also I didn't know the Ps4 was reigon-free, good to know.

 

[JayRPG]

The worst thing about region locking for me is that I live in Australia and it takes FOREVER for pal localized versions to make it here.

I remember importing a copy of tales of graces f from the US amazon 6 months before it was set to release here... the game has already been localised into english, I just don't have any idea what takes them an extra 6-12 months (in most cases) to "localize" it into a PAL version.

Does it take 6 months to add the letter U into words like colour and honour? or maybe it's the subtle Z to S changes in certain words.

Why even bother?

Would the English and Australians be pissed off if we didn't have those extra letters?

It's not like we can't understand it or anything.

If it's not the tiny language changes that takes so much time then it must be re-coding for the new region which is just mindless, arbitrary and unnecessary... especially if it takes that long just to lock a game to a certain region.

The US localisations on most games already take 1-2 years, I don't want to be forced to wait yet another year before I can play it.

That's why I have a PS3 and a Vita - The games I import are not only cheaper but generally released way before Australia's official release. (then there is also certain limited editions only being available in other regions, Australia didn't get the persona 4 golden solid gold edition)

There are so many games I want on the 3DS that literally won't get a release here, Shin megami tensei devil survivor overclocked being a big one and yes, I could import the ghostlight version from UK, problem is it has a game breaking bug and they won't release the patch for it on the Australian nintendo store because you can't get it here (and will never be able to).

Sorry about the rant... I guess I'm just angry

 

[klaynexas3]

The worst thing about region locking for me is that I live in Australia and it takes FOREVER for pal localized versions to make it here.

I remember importing a copy of tales of graces f from the US amazon 6 months before it was set to release here... the game has already been localised into english, I just don't have any idea what takes them an extra 6-12 months (in most cases) to "localize" it into a PAL version.

Does it take 6 months to add the letter U into words like colour and honour? or maybe it's the subtle Z to S changes in certain words.

Why even bother?

Would the English and Australians be pissed off if we didn't have those extra letters?

It's not like we can't understand it or anything.

If it's not the tiny language changes that takes so much time then it must be re-coding for the new region which is just mindless, arbitrary and unnecessary... especially if it takes that long just to lock a game to a certain region.

The US localisations on most games already take 1-2 years, I don't want to be forced to wait yet another year before I can play it.

That's why I have a PS3 and a Vita - The games I import are not only cheaper but generally released way before Australia's official release. (then there is also certain limited editions only being available in other regions, Australia didn't get the persona 4 golden solid gold edition)

There are so many games I want on the 3DS that literally won't get a release here, Shin megami tensei devil survivor overclocked being a big one and yes, I could import the ghostlight version from UK, problem is it has a game breaking bug and they won't release the patch for it on the Australian nintendo store because you can't get it here (and will never be able to).

Sorry about the rant... I guess I'm just angry

With all that in mind, I'd say soft-mod the thing to remove region locking, and then import your games. You only got a few weeks before SMT IV, so I'd get crackin.

 

[Adam Locking]

I guess they keep it region locked because people would import games, which is like preowned and doesn't get them money.

Explain, why doesn't it get them money? Do games duplicate as they pass over vast bodies of water?

 

[Roxas1359]

Honestly I've been against region locking for years now. There is no reason for it in this day and age and all it does is restrict people and their buying choices. Heck the region locking thing has been one of my major complaints with Nintendo as there are many games I would import in a heartbeat if I didn't have to go through so many hoops just to try and get them to play here in the States.

They just don't like games traveling overseas because....um. I don't know. Why does region locking exist?

Some of the main reasons for region locking is to "protect profits" of other countries as the pricing of the games is different in other countries as times. The other main reason is so it can prevent banned games from getting into certain countries. In the end though region locking is completely arbitrary and needs to be done with. Heck now Nintendo is the only company that has region locking.