# Confirmed: Wii U is Region Locked



## MakiManPR (Sep 24, 2012)

Nintendo has just confirmed that the Wii U will be Region Locked. All Nintendo Home Consoles has been Region Locked so this isn't really surprising. Only the handhelds were Region Free but that ended with the 3DS. What are your thoughts about this? Did you suspect this was going to happen or did this take you by surprise?

Source


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## Auyx (Sep 24, 2012)

Sucks for some people but I won't be buying one till its able to run homebrew anyways. Same thing for the 3DS.


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## Deleted-236924 (Sep 24, 2012)

Oh em gee!
That totally was unpredictable!


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

I guess if I'm gonna buy one I guess I'll be getting the JPN one but I'm still undecided about getting one though.


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## Carnivean (Sep 24, 2012)

Shame. I won't be bothering until it's hacked then.


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## chris888222 (Sep 24, 2012)

I just hope that there will be some sort of cross region compatibility with 3DS. I really don't want to import a Japanese Wii U.

Then again, I'm not really a home console player...

Not surprised at all really. Nintendo are masters at region locking. I just hope they won't go too far into proxy locks like online lockouts.


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## porkiewpyne (Sep 24, 2012)

Nope, not throwing money at my screen Ninty


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## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

Although I despise region locking in all forms* up to and including things that might have made some technological sense I had kind of hoped they would go down the 360 path at least and have optional region locking.

*I would still spit in their face but if they would effect some sort of timed unlocks I might have at least found it a bit more palatable.

Roll on the Wii U hacks.


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## Rydian (Sep 24, 2012)

If it _wasn't_ region locked, then there would be a surprise.

Gotta' love price control.

Also potentially censorship, but it's a money issue in the vast majority of cases anyways since region-locking for content control because of country morals is useless (out-of-country system to match and suddenly the content's in), while region-locking content per country depending on licensing is a money issue.


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## lokomelo (Sep 24, 2012)

Now tell me: How a home console can be region free? You buy an European game, put on an American video game, got a black and white screen, call Nintendo and then they say that you must enter settings and force NTSC?

I only can imagine region free GAMES (like PS3).


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

lokomelo said:


> Now tell me: How a home console can be region free? You buy an European game, put on an American video game, got a black and white screen, call Nintendo and then they say that you must enter settings and force NTSC?
> 
> I only can imagine region free GAMES (like PS3).


You just answered your question since the PS3 is region free and it's a home console, it also sold well the only problem I have with getting one is the price.


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## chris888222 (Sep 24, 2012)

lokomelo said:


> Now tell me: *How a home console can be region free?* You buy an European game, put on an American video game, got a black and white screen, call Nintendo and then they say that you must enter settings and force NTSC?
> 
> I only can imagine region free GAMES (like PS3).


PS3 says hi.

As long as Nintendo does RL appropriately and NOT locking the main features then I'm fine.

EDIT:
Based on what I heard about 3DS, the RL is software based. Nintendo just won't approve any game that is region free.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> Based on what I heard about 3DS, the RL is software based. Nintendo just won't approve any game that is region free.


And here I had hope that devs can choose if they want to region lock their games or not.


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## chris888222 (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> chris888222 said:
> 
> 
> > Based on what I heard about 3DS, the RL is software based. Nintendo just won't approve any game that is region free.
> ...


This was from quite long ago and I really have no idea whether its real.

But I guess it is true. RE Revelations had multiple language options but it is still RLed. It could have been the 3DS's first region free title.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > chris888222 said:
> ...


I guess nintendo are really giving devs the choices about how they want to go about their games. /sarcasam


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## Lumstar (Sep 24, 2012)

Nintendo didn't adequately communicate that the 3DS designers based it upon DSi. Rather than original DS.
If one takes a good look at how 3DS regions and languages are handled, it all fits into place that they tested the waters for some time.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

Re the console itself being region free

90% of my devices seem to operate on 110V to 240V at 50 or 60 Hz and a transformer capable of handling the power requirements (700W maybe) vs an individual one for both broad requirements is probably not that bad, indeed even if it does end up being more expensive there might well be an initial tradeoff between operating parallel construction lines. Beyond that the actual consoles themselves all seem to operate on low voltages (usually PC a like ones) internally anyway.

The TV stuff- European TVs have actually supported NTSC signals for decades now and if we are all supposed to be on HDMI or a proper digital signal then it is something of a moot point as well- most of the underlying chips do both modes well enough and although options are nice forcing a video mode is a simple trick that has long been performed. Going for the Wii U itself I would have sided with Nintendo on the avoiding HDMI/HDTV stuff this go around for not enough install base reasons, but when the thing itself is supposed to come with a monitor that would also play into it ("you can play anything you like but if you do not have a proper TV then you are limited to the tablet").

About the only possible reason is places like France I think it was (although the EU did seem to be getting in on it and companies often say screw it and spin off a model to comply with it and ship it across Europe) require you to limit the maximum output of a headphone socket (for good medical reasons- lots of kids have serious hearing damage from bad headphones being cranked too high) where other places do not care so much. That is not such a problem either as again software and hardware limits are trivial really.

Short version- there is no real technological need for region locking these days which means companies can be called on it.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

FAST6191 said:


> Short version- there is no real technological need for region locking these days which means companies can be called on it.


So overall there is no need and the only reason for region locking exist is just companies want to be able to over charge you for the same product.


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## Flame (Sep 24, 2012)

I just hope Europe gets the good shit.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

Flame said:


> I just hope Europe gets the good shit.


From what I seen of the 3DS I wouldn't get my hopes up.


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## chyyran (Sep 24, 2012)

Well, all the more to encourage haxx.


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## Valwin (Sep 24, 2012)

Carnivean said:


> Shame. I won't be bothering until it's hacked then.



The 3ds is not even hacked yet and never will be.

So I would say the same goes for the wiiu.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

Punyman said:


> Well, all the more to encourage haxx.


Agreed but the 3DS has been out for what over a year and haven't seen anything new for it and I left the scene for a while.


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## Flame (Sep 24, 2012)

Valwin said:


> Carnivean said:
> 
> 
> > Shame. I won't be bothering until it's hacked then.
> ...



What else does your crystal ball tell you?


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## chris888222 (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> Flame said:
> 
> 
> > I just hope Europe gets the good shit.
> ...


Actually NoE has been pushing more "exciting" content compared to NoA.

Exciting is in quotations because different people have different perceptions of it.


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## porkiewpyne (Sep 24, 2012)

Flame said:


> I just hope Europe gets the good shit.


We all know that we always just end up with just shit DX


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## emigre (Sep 24, 2012)

Oh you've got to love anti-consumer policies.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > Flame said:
> ...


Yea but from what I seen I'm better off having a JPN 3DS and it seems to me the WiiU will be the same.




porkiewpyne said:


> Flame said:
> 
> 
> > I just hope Europe gets the good shit.
> ...


Its so true it kinda hurts.


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## chris888222 (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> chris888222 said:
> 
> 
> > Just Another Gamer said:
> ...


The problem with Japan is:

- NTSC J (not that much of a problem anymore I guess)
- Language 
- Voltage/frequency

Some regions do NOT sell their own region power cables (like Singapore -.- ), so getting a JP import will require either some searching or a step down transformer. 

Japanese appliances are *100 volts*. Even some Japanese appliances can get fried in an American socket which is 120 volts.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> The problem with Japan is:
> 
> - NTSC J (not that much of a problem anymore I guess)
> - Language
> ...


Aren't there adapters out there that limit voltage or something?

But power cables can easily be bought online or a really dedicated electronic store well for me so its not much of a problem so there is only 1 problem really and thats the voltage.


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## chartube12 (Sep 24, 2012)

Video games, movies, tv shows etc being region locked never had a thing to do with technology compatibility. There have always been ways around it. In today's world it is mostly moot. Originally region locking was about what adults thought was appropriate for their civilization. Now a days it's less about the companies' miss-perception of what they think is appropriate and more about trying maximize their cash flow. IMO honest opinion however, region locking should never be forced upon a product. It should always be optional.

A lot of people think blu rays are not region locked. This is wrong actually. There are just less regions and each one covers a bigger area. Eventually region locking will died out. Especially with the increasing rise of digital content.


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## kimekaro (Sep 24, 2012)

I have no clue why anyone would assume it wouldn't be region locked. In fact it is more noteworthy if it wasn't.


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## GamerzHell9137 (Sep 24, 2012)

OFC it's going to be region locked.
After Wii and 3DS, Wii U is going to be region locked too.


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## Lumstar (Sep 24, 2012)

FAST6191 said:


> Re the console itself being region free
> 
> 90% of my devices seem to operate on 110V to 240V at 50 or 60 Hz and a transformer capable of handling the power requirements (700W maybe) vs an individual one for both is probably not that bad, indeed even if it does end up being more expensive there might well be an initial tradeoff between operating parallel construction lines. Beyond that the actual consoles themselves all seem to operate on low voltages (usually PC a like ones) internally anyway.
> 
> The TV stuff- European TVs have actually supported NTSC signals for decades now and if we are all supposed to be on HDMI or a proper digital signal then it is something of a moot point as well- most of the underlying chips do both modes well enough and although options are nice forcing a video mode is a simple trick that has long been performed. Going for the Wii U itself I would have sided with Nintendo on the avoiding HDMI/HDTV stuff this go around for not enough install base reasons, but when the thing itself is supposed to come with a monitor that would also play into it ("you can play anything you like but if you do not have a proper TV then you are limited to the tablet").



Some bigwigs just don't care whether users may own a compatible TV. Remember how the NTSC PS3 doesn't support DVD and bluray content encoded in PAL.


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## Hop2089 (Sep 24, 2012)

chartube12 said:


> Video games, movies, tv shows etc being region locked never had a thing to do with technology compatibility. There have always been ways around it. In today's world it is mostly moot. Originally region locking was about what adults thought was appropriate for their civilization. Now a days it's less about the companies' miss-perception of what they think is appropriate and more about trying maximize their cash flow. IMO honest opinion however, region locking should never be forced upon a product. It should always be optional.
> 
> A lot of people think blu rays are not region locked. This is wrong actually. There are just less regions and each one covers a bigger area. Eventually region locking will died out. Especially with the increasing rise of digital content.



It's true Region Locking has lost it's true purpose from the 80's-90's and should be phased out, it not about the children any more for the most part, I understood back then it was for the standards of decency in countries, however the rating system exists and depending on the country it's been revised at least 1 maybe 2 or 3 times and it's now region locking is just regional market control bullshit that screws the consumer.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

Technically PAL DVD* can be seen to be a different standard if only by virtue of it supporting MP2 audio where NTSC did not. Now only a select few DVDs ever used it (AC3 and DTS being a far better option and usually available) but there is probably something in there somewhere saying do it all or not at all if you want to put a shiny DVD badge on your box (there usually is).

*perhaps a misnomer- I am not quite sure where PAL DVD ends and region locking begins vis a vis MP2 audio although when Japan was also region 2 (as is the UK) I will stick with naming things PAL until we get into discussions of the various sub standards.

Of course that might also be part of a reason if I do possibly consider a method of region locking being acceptable- we all saw the disc drive of the Wii play DVDs flawlessly via homebrew (similar story with the original xbox and Nintendo had considered it as a software upgrade at one point) and before that the DS gain big boy wifi with a firmware update. Arguably such things came off the back of licensing concerns and were all software but I stand by it.

I guess also where Europe (and so things on PAL and maybe SECAM) and arguably several Japanese models do support the standards the same is often not true when it comes to US televisions so they might have instead said forget it and went broadest range (similar to how the original xbox did support HD but not in Europe unless you hacked it and for other consoles several video options before it when it came to component video).

Oh and to add to the discussion recall that Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was 60Hz only even in PAL regions and that was 2004.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 24, 2012)

Hop2089 said:


> chartube12 said:
> 
> 
> > Video games, movies, tv shows etc being region locked never had a thing to do with technology compatibility. There have always been ways around it. In today's world it is mostly moot. Originally region locking was about what adults thought was appropriate for their civilization. Now a days it's less about the companies' miss-perception of what they think is appropriate and more about trying maximize their cash flow. IMO honest opinion however, region locking should never be forced upon a product. It should always be optional.
> ...



It's much more than that. It's about buying foreign games with weak currency (price control), copyright protection, compatibility issues (contrary to popular belief, most of the world still owns TV sets incompatible with another region's signal.), and of course censorship. 

I'm not saying I agree with region locking which I don't, but it's naive to simplify it like that.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

Hop2089 said:


> chartube12 said:
> 
> 
> > Video games, movies, tv shows etc being region locked never had a thing to do with technology compatibility. There have always been ways around it. In today's world it is mostly moot. Originally region locking was about what adults thought was appropriate for their civilization. Now a days it's less about the companies' miss-perception of what they think is appropriate and more about trying maximize their cash flow. IMO honest opinion however, region locking should never be forced upon a product. It should always be optional.
> ...


But the big companies don't give a shit about the consumer they give a shit about profits and money and then occasionally do something that looks like it is good the consumer but only so they can profit.



TwinRetro said:


> It's much more than that. It's about buying foreign games with weak currency (price control), copyright protection, compatibility issues (contrary to popular belief, most of the world still owns TV sets incompatible with another region's signal.), and of course censorship.
> 
> I'm not saying I agree with region locking which I don't, but it's naive to simplify it like that.


But all that just sounds like one big excuse to control how the people should think and do as well as having the opportunity to over charge people and treat its fanbase badly.


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## boombox (Sep 24, 2012)

bahhh f*** sake Nintendo!
Saying that, it's not really that surprising, we saw where the 3DS went with it, it was obviously coming for the Wii U too.
I hope someone finds a weakness in the console, because it would be a shame to have to buy another region console to play Japanese games >___


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## chris888222 (Sep 24, 2012)

boombox said:


> bahhh f*** sake Nintendo!
> Saying that, it's not really that surprising, we saw where the *Wii and previous consoles* went with it, it was obviously coming for the Wii U too.
> I hope someone finds a weakness in the console, because it would be a shame to have to buy another region console to play Japanese games >___<


Fixed.


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## Gahars (Sep 24, 2012)

boombox said:


> I hope someone finds a weakness in the console, because it would be a shame to have to buy another region console to play Japanese games >___


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## Hop2089 (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> TwinRetro said:
> 
> 
> > It's much more than that. It's about buying foreign games with weak currency (price control), copyright protection, compatibility issues (contrary to popular belief, most of the world still owns TV sets incompatible with another region's signal.), and of course censorship.
> ...



Actually TwinRetro has a point about compatibility issues while it's not a huge problem in NA and Europe there are still people in these places that don't have a TV that is compatible with another region's signal and you have to figure in the rest of Asia too which is a slightly larger problem than in the West.  Reverse importing can be a problem with some games mostly in Japan but EU and AU as well due to censorship and expensive pricing.


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## ferofax (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> FAST6191 said:
> 
> 
> > Short version- there is no real technological need for region locking these days which means companies can be called on it.
> ...


I'm gonna hazard a guess that, yes, it is mainly money related with Nintendo. But not exactly just for gouging. Without region-locking, there's no reason for Nintendo of Europe. Why? Because anything NoA and NoJ decide to release, EU can just import it anyway. So why have an NoE? I think this is more of a clear delineation of distribution regions between the three Nintendos. NoE won't have to worry about not getting any sales because EU keeps buying US and JP games, which limits the EU market to being... well, a minor market that leeches off US/JP products. It won't let them become their own market. I'm guessing this agreement was reached because of Nintendo of Europe. Kind of like an independence sort of thing. NoA and NoJ want to see NoE succeed on its own and decide for its own how to go about doing that.

Well, that's my economist take on region-locking for Nintendo.

As for the issue of region-locking itself, it's a big "BOOOOOO" for me as well, but hey, we'll all move and decide to get the WiiU at some point or another anyways. Some of you will just take longer to persuade, and will require huge amounts of awesome announcements before giving in.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 24, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> The problem with Japan is:
> 
> - NTSC J (not that much of a problem anymore I guess)
> - Language
> ...



Bought a Super Famicom from a second-hand shop in Japan with an AC adapter, plugged it in a 120Hz outlet and never had it get ruined by the higher voltage.


And just to set the record straight, none of Nintendo's consoles were ever region free (without modification), only their handhelds up to the 3DS were region free. This is not something new.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 24, 2012)

*Removed*


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## chris888222 (Sep 24, 2012)

the_randomizer said:


> chris888222 said:
> 
> 
> > The problem with Japan is:
> ...


I said some devices, not all. I'd prefer to be safe than sorry.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 24, 2012)

If anything, region-locking only encourages people to develop hacks for said consoles. Just look at the Wii, it's region lock was software based and hackers allowed users to bypass it. I know I did, and I'm not ashamed of hacking my Wii to enabled backups, games from any region (force NTSC), emulators, etc. I wish people would stop assuming that the Wii U will be hacked as soon as it's released; it won't, plain and simple, it will take months if not years for it get hacked.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

I am not sure you can simplify it that much ferofax- ways of doing business in Europe vs the rest of the world as far as tax, IP law and licensing things for sale go are different enough that when coupled with language differences (US and UK English is different enough most of the time, Canadian French and French from France is different enough, same for Spanish and not that anybody does anything for it Portuguese as well) it plays in as well to say nothing of finding a Europe dialect translator crew in North America is a bit more troublesome than in Europe. All that would make a fairly strong case for having a base of European operations. Likewise NoE seems to be acting as something of a non Japanese testing bed these days (although Korea seems to be rising up very quickly there- poke around the Korean language DS releases).

Europe as second fiddle to the rest of the world... I will have to look at numbers but it might be the case that in many ways Japan is in third place as far as the traditional regions go (I am lumping Australia in with Europe), certainly Microsoft seem to have done OK without doing much for/in Japan other than more or less just being there.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

Hop2089 said:


> Actually TwinRetro has a point about compatibility issues while it's not a huge problem in NA and Europe there are still people in these places that don't have a TV that is compatible with another region's signal and you have to figure in the rest of Asia too which is a slightly larger problem than in the West.  Reverse importing can be a problem with some games mostly in Japan but EU and AU as well due to censorship and expensive pricing.


I don't see how censorship is a right reason to have region locking, if anything it is encouraging people to think in a certain way and never change to see something different or try something that isn't accepted in the social norm but is perfectly legal.



ferofax said:


> I'm gonna hazard a guess that, yes, it is mainly money related with Nintendo. But not exactly just for gouging. Without region-locking, there's no reason for Nintendo of Europe. Why? Because anything NoA and NoJ decide to release, EU can just import it anyway. So why have an NoE? I think this is more of a clear delineation of distribution regions between the three Nintendos. NoE won't have to worry about not getting any sales because EU keeps buying US and JP games, which limits the EU market to being... well, a minor market that leeches off US/JP products. It won't let them become their own market. I'm guessing this agreement was reached because of Nintendo of Europe. Kind of like an independence sort of thing. NoA and NoJ want to see NoE succeed on its own and decide for its own how to go about doing that.
> 
> Well, that's my economist take on region-locking for Nintendo.
> 
> As for the issue of region-locking itself, it's a big "BOOOOOO" for me as well, but hey, we'll all move and decide to get the WiiU at some point or another anyways. Some of you will just take longer to persuade, and will require huge amounts of awesome announcements before giving in.


But the problem is not every single game released on the 3DS or the WiiU will be sold in a certain country so people in that country will miss out on what could be a great game because it might not sell well or it not socially accepted and while the former seems like a good logical reason the latter is not and is just as stupid as censorship is.


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## ShadowSoldier (Sep 24, 2012)

Kind of funny I've never had a big problem with Region Locking. It never really affected me at all.

The only time it would is say if a Mario or Zelda game doesn't get released here, then I'd be pissed.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> Hop2089 said:
> 
> 
> > Actually TwinRetro has a point about compatibility issues while it's not a huge problem in NA and Europe there are still people in these places that don't have a TV that is compatible with another region's signal and you have to figure in the rest of Asia too which is a slightly larger problem than in the West.  Reverse importing can be a problem with some games mostly in Japan but EU and AU as well due to censorship and expensive pricing.
> ...



Let me just put up an example. Let's say some generic ecchi game is released for the Wii-U in Japan and A gory over-the-top Nazi blasting shooter is released for the US. I'm sure it would be frowned upon if US could import that ecchi game (Sex is a taboo subject in Video games, here.) And it would also be frowned upon if the shooter would be imported to Germany. (A standing ban on gory games and nazi imagery.) That combined with different game rating standards for different countries and regions, controlling what is sold where can be a real mess, and could lead up to even harsher censorship laws if enough people imported one certain game to make it noticeable to lawmakers.


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## Carnivean (Sep 24, 2012)

ShadowSoldier said:


> Kind of funny I've never had a big problem with Region Locking. It never really affected me at all.
> 
> The only time it would is say if a Mario or Zelda game doesn't get released here, then I'd be pissed.


That's because it is not your country that gets fucked over with release windows. Look at the Rune Factory release dates in European regions for an example of the ridiculous windows we have to put up with here.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > Hop2089 said:
> ...


Isn't the irony in that is Japan is more conservative compared to US but US doesn't want an ecchi games to be released anywhere in the western world.

But the nazi thing is hated worldwide since no one says whats the nazi's did was a good thing but a little bit of sexual stuff in a video game is somehow just as bad just screams bullshit to me. I mean whats the big deal since every country has a rating system plus it seems a little stupid to compare sex in video games to the nazis.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> TwinRetro said:
> 
> 
> > Just Another Gamer said:
> ...



I think you kind of missed the point I was trying to make.


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## The Catboy (Sep 24, 2012)

ShadowSoldier said:


> Kind of funny I've never had a big problem with Region Locking. It never really affected me at all.
> 
> The only time it would is say if a Mario or Zelda game doesn't get released here, then I'd be pissed.


Pretty much this.
I do find it annoying when a game is only released in Japan, but even then I am not going to import it because I can't even read Japanese. It would be a lose-lose situation.
EDIT: This is just my personal feelings on the topic. I know and understand that some places either get the games later or not at all, but I was only referring to my personal feelings on this matter.
But personally region locks don't effect me too much. I am not saying I am in favor of them, because I am not in favor of region locks.


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## Arras (Sep 24, 2012)

The Catboy said:


> ShadowSoldier said:
> 
> 
> > Kind of funny I've never had a big problem with Region Locking. It never really affected me at all.
> ...


Like someone said before: this is pretty much only true if you live in America. Europe usually gets games 6 to 12 months later, sometimes for no real reason. Importing would be way faster and in some cases even cheaper, but you can't.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> I think you kind of missed the point I was trying to make.


I do get your point that each country has what they deem to be socially acceptable but honestly this is gaming where we can go into an imaginary world where we can be someone else and do things we can't in real life so who really cares about trivial issues like sexual stuff in a video game I mean if it sells well wheres the problem if its like nazi stuff then I agree it should be banned but other it just seems redundant?

I play H-VNs and it doesn't change who I am and if anything Hoshizora no Memoria a H-VN has a much better story, character development, music etc than alot of the mainstream games on the market right now and the only reason I believe its not released in the west is because it can't sell well due to it being socially unacceptable but still legal.




Arras said:


> The Catboy said:
> 
> 
> > ShadowSoldier said:
> ...


In some cases EU misses out entirely while US still gets it released.


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## Arras (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> In some cases EU misses out entirely while US still gets it released.


Yeah, that too. That doesn't happen often though. Although Capcom decided against releasing Miles Edgeworth Investigations 1 where I live, so I hope PLvsAA and AA5 will be released here if they are translated.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> TwinRetro said:
> 
> 
> > I think you kind of missed the point I was trying to make.
> ...



In one part of your reply you say you understand that each country has what they deem as socially acceptable. Yet in the part I bolded you completely go back on that by saying censoring sexual content is okay, yet Nazi imagery is right to be censored. And before you said censorship altogether is a dumb idea. So forgive me if I really have no idea where your thoughts are on this topic.


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## Eerpow (Sep 24, 2012)

The Catboy said:


> ShadowSoldier said:
> 
> 
> > Kind of funny I've never had a big problem with Region Locking. It never really affected me at all.
> ...


And 99% of the time it's a text heavy RPG or something, games in other genres almost always get localized.

Also I can't import anything due to the incredibly high outside of EU toll taxes we have.


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## Dimensional (Sep 24, 2012)

Pingouin7 said:


> Oh em gee!
> That totally was unpredictable!


Sarcasm. Coming to a Nintendo E-Shop near you. All Sarcasm will be region locked, and is nontransferable to any other console or handheld you may own. Limit 1 Sarcasm per customer. Sarcasm can not be used with offers and discounts for other products. Any attempts to obtain more Sarcasm will be result in your nintendo account being locked out until you apologize for being a bad person and go to a Sarcasm class hosted in the following Nintendo Store locations: Center of the Earth. The Moon. Uranus. Vulcan. Atlantis. Cheep motel in the middle of nowhere with a sign 'No Vacancy' lit.


----------



## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > TwinRetro said:
> ...


Sorry I'm not a great communicator.

If it is hated worldwide or has a worldwide impact like the shit the nazi's did then I agree it should be banned but banning sexual content is just being conservative which to me is completely different from banning something that has affected people worldwide. I want censorship to censor something that needs to be censored like terrorism and so forth but to say that sexual content in media is comparable to that is just bullshit and exaggerating.




Arras said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > In some cases EU misses out entirely while US still gets it released.
> ...


Worse if you're in Australia I mean I don't think Devil Survivor 1 and 2 was even released here.


----------



## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

The Catboy said:


> ShadowSoldier said:
> 
> 
> > Kind of funny I've never had a big problem with Region Locking. It never really affected me at all.
> ...



Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (FDS was the original and it took several years to get to the *SNES*) and the Tingle games say hello.

The Minish Cap missed Christmas 04 in NA but was out in Europe for it.

Zelda II appears to have arrived in NA several months later than in Europe.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon- out again for Christmas in Europe but not in NA.

Going slightly off topic or towards the Japanese thing- never been a fan of puzzle games of shmups?

Granted some of those are matters of time and those that are not are offshoots more often than not (not to mention several were justified) but it is not quite so clear cut.


----------



## The Catboy (Sep 24, 2012)

FAST6191 said:


> The Catboy said:
> 
> 
> > ShadowSoldier said:
> ...


Honestly, my comment was more or less meant as a personal thing.  I know it effects others and I am not actually in favor of region locks. I don't like seeing region locks on DVD's nor do I like seeing them on video games, but when it comes down to it, it rarely ever effects me personally.


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## stanleyopar2000 (Sep 24, 2012)

Considering I've imported a handful of games. This is a factor.

Confirmed: Nintendo is an asshole.


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## Guild McCommunist (Sep 24, 2012)

Considering I've imported approximately 0 games in my life time, I don't really care.

However I will use this point to be a grade-A cunt when it comes to the Wii U.


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## Bladexdsl (Sep 24, 2012)

No surprise there....


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

stanleyopar2000 said:


> Considering I've imported a handful of games. This is a factor.
> 
> Confirmed: Nintendo is an asshole.


I thought this was established already. Anyway i've imported quite a few Vita games since its region free and I don't want to support my lousy local game store.


----------



## Hyro-Sama (Sep 24, 2012)

Just another reason to avoid the Wii U like the plague.


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## someonewhodied (Sep 24, 2012)

I give the wii u 5 months after release to be hacked for region free =P


----------



## DaggerV (Sep 24, 2012)

Wish they'd quit with the region lock shit, it does effect me on numerous levels.


----------



## someonewhodied (Sep 24, 2012)

to be honest, the only problem I have with region lock is that I want to play a game before all my friends do. Why won't nintendoh let me be speshul ;~;


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## Guild McCommunist (Sep 24, 2012)

someonewhodied said:


> to be honest, the only problem I have with region lock is that I want to play a game before all my friends do. Why won't nintendoh let me be speshul ;~;



Perhaps to teach you the value of patience?


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## gamefan5 (Sep 24, 2012)

Meh... no surprises there... srsly.


----------



## Gahars (Sep 24, 2012)

Coming soon to a Wii U near you...


----------



## Deleted-236924 (Sep 24, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> lokomelo said:
> 
> 
> > Now tell me: *How a home console can be region free?* You buy an European game, put on an American video game, got a black and white screen, call Nintendo and then they say that you must enter settings and force NTSC?
> ...


RL has been software based since the DSi.
The only games to take advantage of that so far were Pokémon Black/White.


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## tbgtbg (Sep 24, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> TwinRetro said:
> 
> 
> > Just Another Gamer said:
> ...



So basically, censorship is dumb, unless it's something you think is okay to censor. 

Yeah, Nazi's were awful, that's why they make such good bad guys in "gory over-the-top Nazi blasting shooters". Just don't try to sell it in Germany, they won't let you. Yet some gamers in Germany think the laws against depicting Nazis in games (even as villains) and extreme gore are silly and would like to import uncensored games. And you're okay with preventing that, because you only care about fighting censorship when it's sexual content being repressed by "conservatives". 





Back to WiiU, I wouldn't be too concerned about the region lock if not for how NOA's been kinda bad about bringing stuff out lately. I mean, yes, Xenoblade eventually did come to the US, but it almost didn't, despite NOE putting it out, and that would've been incredibly annoying if not for a way to play imports on a Wii. Basically, I just don't trust NOA anymore to bring out stuff that would've been a no brainer a few years earlier.


----------



## VMM (Sep 24, 2012)

Pingouin7 said:


> chris888222 said:
> 
> 
> > lokomelo said:
> ...



There are quite a bit DSi enchanced titles:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/blogs/pdrydia/DSi-enhanced-titles-an-incomplete-list-1969.php

Except for connectivity to more secure internet standarts, 
I don't see much advantage on DSi enchanced titles


----------



## The Milkman (Sep 24, 2012)

Why do peoole give a shit about this? Honestly the only people importing these games are either aussies or weabo assholes who feel they need to play yet another JRPG. The only people who have a right to complain are aussies, everyone else it barely (if at all) effects!


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## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

I am disappointed Gahars- they had most of the letters there (with the only missing one being very similar to one that is there) and they still tried for a font a like
My once more demonstrating I should not be allowed near a proper image editor
http://gbatemp.net/uploads/gallery/album_144/gallery_32303_144_107480.png

edit @Zantigo again shmups- no Japanese knowledge needed for pretty much all of them, several awesome ones squirted out per year and although things are doing well these last two years they still sometimes fail to make it outside Japan. A fairly similar story for puzzle games; Japan has some pretty good versions of tetris, indeed I argue to this day the best commercial Tetris on the GBA was minna no soft's one.


----------



## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

tbgtbg said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > TwinRetro said:
> ...


Okay let me get this right you think that censoring a game because it has some sexual content is equal to censoring nazi's in a game where one is just sexual content and not harming anyone where the other is a group of people going around trying to commit genocide okay right. Because suddenly killing equals showing some sexy girls in a game.




Zantigo said:


> Why do peoole give a shit about this? Honestly the only people importing these games are either aussies or weabo assholes who feel they need to play yet another JRPG. The only people who have a right to complain are aussies, everyone else it barely (if at all) effects!


Ummm...I do live in Australia so it does affect me plus how is it suddenly weeaboo to play JRPGs and normal to play WRPGs? Closed minded much.


----------



## Issac (Sep 24, 2012)

This really sucks :/ I never bought an non-european game for the current generations of consoles though. All I have are US and Japanese SNES games, and Japanese GBA and NDS games... I don't buy enough games to really make a great deal buying american, considering shipping and getting stuck in the tolls, paying taxes and extra fees.

But the lack of option to import certain games sucks. Take for example the Journey + Flower + Flow collection for PS3. Only released in the US, but I can buy it and play it if I want to. Hmh


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## ferofax (Sep 24, 2012)

FAST6191 said:


> I am not sure you can simplify it that much ferofax- ways of doing business in Europe vs the rest of the world as far as tax, IP law and licensing things for sale go are different enough that when coupled with language differences (US and UK English is different enough most of the time, Canadian French and French from France is different enough, same for Spanish and not that anybody does anything for it Portuguese as well) it plays in as well to say nothing of finding a Europe dialect translator crew in North America is a bit more troublesome than in Europe. All that would make a fairly strong case for having a base of European operations. Likewise NoE seems to be acting as something of a non Japanese testing bed these days (although Korea seems to be rising up very quickly there- poke around the Korean language DS releases).
> 
> Europe as second fiddle to the rest of the world... I will have to look at numbers but it might be the case that in many ways Japan is in third place as far as the traditional regions go (I am lumping Australia in with Europe), certainly Microsoft seem to have done OK without doing much for/in Japan other than more or less just being there.


I have thought about the issue in language, but for the most part, despite Europe having a big enough economy to dwarf Japan's, if you look at it from the development point of view (where only Nintendo is concerned), Japan pretty much leads in driving their respective markets. I mean, what notable EU-developed releases have ever had, really, for Nintendo platforms? If any, most of them are probably shovelware. There are a few like Ubisoft (not quite sure, feel free to correct me, but I think they're EU based, or their devs are mostly on EU), who every once in a while makes a nice enough game to merit mentioning, but for the most part it's either US or JP that produces the bulk of the games. EU gets them localized, is all.

At best, what NoE does is in a nutshell is it waits on JP and US to produce games which it then either localizes directly or waits for a publishing company to step forward and localize it for release on EU regions. Without the region-locking, NoE can still do this, but unless games are released in all regions simultaneously, they tend to lose sales to imports which inevitably spill over, especially for popular titles. Of course, there are some that still buy the localized versions, but for the most part if it's US version, it's good enough for most of the English-speaking territories in the UK. I mean, if I lived in London and I already imported a US copy, I probably would stick there and no longer buy a EU version. Sure as hell is better than having to play it in Japanese. And it's not like English literacy is that poor in the non-English speaking areas.

If I was CEO of Nintendo of Europe, I'd probably suggest region locking too. This at least ensures that the regional branch is assured of their own piece of the pie, instead of having to share it with both JP and US regions from unrestricted importing of titles. It comes with a cost though, and that is limiting content availability, which sucks, no matter which way you look at it.


----------



## The Milkman (Sep 24, 2012)

FAST6191 said:


> I am disappointed Gahars- they had most of the letters there (with the only missing one being very similar to one that is there) and they still tried for a font a like
> My once more demonstrating I should not be allowed near a proper image editor
> http://gbatemp.net/uploads/gallery/album_144/gallery_32303_144_107480.png
> 
> edit @Zantigo again shmups- no Japanese knowledge needed for pretty much all of them, several awesome ones squirted out per year and although things are doing well these last two years they still sometimes fail to make it outside Japan. A fairly similar story for puzzle games; Japan has some pretty good versions of tetris, indeed I argue to this day the best commercial Tetris on the GBA was minna no soft's one and the less said about what happened to .



Shumps and Puzzles!? REALLY? Most of these from japan are on fucking PC anyway!



Just Another Gamer said:


> tbgtbg said:
> 
> 
> > Back to WiiU, I wouldn't be too concerned about the region lock if not for how NOA's been kinda bad about bringing stuff out lately. I mean, yes, Xenoblade eventually did come to the US, but it almost didn't, despite NOE putting it out, and that would've been incredibly annoying if not for a way to play imports on a Wii. Basically, I just don't trust NOA anymore to bring out stuff that would've been a no brainer a few years earlier.
> ...



If you're aussie then why the hell would you think I was referring to you? Selective listening much?

And your argument on censorship is just as close minded. In Islamic cultures, women flaunting themselves in any fashion is considered just as bad as killing someone. Just because your culture thinks its alright to advertise something like sex doesn't mean its anymore right then advertising violence.


----------



## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

Some good points and yeah I struggle to think of much on Nintendo platforms that could stand as an exclusive as it might be to say not have the next mainline zelda title not appear somewhat (although the DS saw a handful of interesting things here). However if we are looking at the 360 and PS3, which seems to be a direct competitor for the upcoming Wii U by the looks of things, there are some titles that take a fair while or never make it outside Europe (and this does include some fairly heavy hitting western RPG type titles*, sports games and more). Beyond that NoE does seem to be doing a fair line in Japanese to English translations in parallel to NoA (probably most notably in Advance Wars) but you did mention that.

I would really not write off European game development either- it is old and something of a "remember these guys" list on occasion but http://www.edge-online.com/features/europes-top-50-game-studios/ works for me.

*Risen, Venetica and Divinity 2 saw some serious time delays before appearing in North America (granted a couple of those also saw some time before appearing in English as the were originally in German).

Edit- back on Zantigo. I don't know about that- I am looking at Cave's library and where there are a handful of mobile phone ports those are somewhat recent and the others are arcade, console (360 at that) or not at all.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

Zantigo said:


> If you're aussie then why the hell would you think I was referring to you? Selective listening much?
> 
> And your argument on censorship is just as close minded. In Islamic cultures, women flaunting themselves in any fashion is considered just as bad as killing someone. Just because your culture thinks its alright to advertise something like sex doesn't mean its anymore right then advertising violence.



All of my friends and I are aussies and we play JRPGs and import games yet somehow thats "wrong" now? 

So suddenly Islamic cultural values which i'm sure anyone can easily admit are too bloody conservative which can easily be compared to a time when women had no rights in the world affect how game arrive in the western world and how they're censored? Also it's not that culture it's common sense, if you associate being open about sex is equal to murder then you got a lot more problems in the first place and what needs to be fixed is that thinking not the video games or more censorship.


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## emigre (Sep 24, 2012)

@[member='Zantigo'], the reason why region locking is looked down upon is because region locking is an anti-consumer policy. It forces a limitation onto the user because in this case, Nintendo want to maximize their profits at a cost towards the freedom of the user.

I have to issue with companies protecting their margins like in the case of piracy, for example have no problem with Nintendo putting out firmware updates to block flashcarts because the likelihood is the majority of the people using flashcarts are using them for piracy. Companies can maximise their profits as long they don't impact on the user i.e. don't implement a fucking region lock. And that's what Nintendo are doing. A decade ago, there would have been logic towards a region lock regarding technological reasons, but presently there is no basis for a region lock as FAST pointed out earlier. There's no excuse for one. It's a shit move which only affects the user in a negative. For personally I found that a poor way of treating the customer. If I spent several hundred pounds on a console, I should be able to play any game for the system that is legally permissible. Importing a game from the US is perfectly legal but I can't play teh game because anti-consumer move by the manufacturer.

Regarding the likelihood that most people, region locking isn't an issue. That's irrelevant, its the principle. A consumer shouldn't have shitty limitations placed upon them. I'm never going to import a game from Japan, I might do from the US and I want that choice. We live in a free market, I should be able to buy any game I want from any region, for a system which perfectly capable of playing any game from any region. This isn't an entitlement issue like whiny pirates, this is reasonable complaint. Near me is last gen console which can play any game I buy no matter wheter it be Japanese, European or North American bar Persona 4: The Arena because Atlus decided to region lock it.

TLR: Region locking is shitty arbitrary limitation forced upon the user.


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## Deleted_171835 (Sep 24, 2012)

Region-locking does suck but generally it doesn't bother me as I don't play games I don't understand.



Zantigo said:


> And your argument on censorship is just as close minded. In Islamic cultures, women flaunting themselves in any fashion is considered just as bad as killing someone. Just because your culture thinks its alright to advertise something like sex doesn't mean its anymore right then advertising violence.


Don't talk about shit you don't understand, Zantigo. Just some advice.


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## DiEnd (Sep 24, 2012)

Confirmed: I'm getting a Japanese Wii U.


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## emigre (Sep 24, 2012)

soulx said:


> Region-locking does suck but generally it doesn't bother me as I don't play games I don't understand.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



shhh, this could lead to some hilarious yet grossly misinformed remarks.


----------



## 3bbb7 (Sep 24, 2012)

I don't understand whats so good about playing other region games ??

Whenever a console is region locked I don't care at all because I would never play a game in Japanese, what's the point if you can't read anything...

yea there are some region exclusive games but how can you enjoy a game without understanding what's going on?


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## emigre (Sep 24, 2012)

3bbb7 said:


> I don't understand whats so good about playing other region games ??
> 
> Whenever a console is region locked I don't care at all because I would never play a game in Japanese, what's the point if you cant read anything...
> 
> yea there are some region exclusive games but how can you enjoy a game without understanding what's going on?



Game X is released in North America for the Playstation X.
I live in Europe and own a Playstation X.
Game X isn't released in Europe.
I'm disappointed but remember the Playstation X and all its games are region free.
I import Game X.
I play Game X.
I is happy.


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## CollosalPokemon (Sep 24, 2012)

3bbb7 said:


> I don't understand what's so good about playing other region games ??
> 
> Whenever a console is region locked I don't care at all because I would never play a game in Japanese, what's the point if you can't read anything...
> 
> yea there are some region exclusive games but how can you enjoy a game without understanding what's going on?



I don't understand why do you people think just because you don't like it no one else will ??

You don't want it, fine. Don't ruin it for others. (although I know Nintendo isn't going to change it anytime soon)

Personally I heavily contradict my region, so I play multiple other region games. I'm from the US, I dislike dubs, and I like British English text more than US English text.


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## The Milkman (Sep 24, 2012)

FAST6191 said:


> Edit- back on Zantigo. I don't know about that- I am looking at Cave's library and where there are a handful of mobile phone ports those are somewhat recent and the others are arcade, console (360 at that) or not at all.



Eh, I'm not too sure what you're even talking about anymore. I just don't think a shmup is a good reason to complain about the lock. Also, while I'm on this subject, I get the fact that its pointless and just for them to hog money into a certain region and all, but honestly, other then Aussies, nobody has a reason to complain. 



Just Another Gamer said:


> Zantigo said:
> 
> 
> > If you're aussie then why the hell would you think I was referring to you? Selective listening much?
> ...



If you're honestly not even going to attempt to understand what I'm saying then why would you even bother to respond?



soulx said:


> Region-locking does suck but generally it doesn't bother me as I don't play games I don't understand.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Awww, how brotherly of you Soul  

I'm touched. 

Besides, I had to drop that argument anyway, its too sensitive and I don't know enough about the culture to say any more without pissing off someone.


----------



## Bladexdsl (Sep 24, 2012)

someonewhodied said:


> I give the wii u 5 months after release to be hacked for region free =P


just like the 3ds huh


----------



## YoshiKart (Sep 24, 2012)

Oh well, there goes my Ouendan 3.


----------



## ShadowSoldier (Sep 24, 2012)

emigre said:


> 3bbb7 said:
> 
> 
> > I don't understand whats so good about playing other region games ??
> ...




Game X sounds fun. I wanna play!


----------



## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

Zantigo, my quibble with your logic is that you posited other than Australia nobody really needed to complain about region locking.

You said it is all games in Japanese so why bother

I ignored the Europe not getting all games the North America does (and even North America not getting all games in a timely fashion) part of the counter argument to that and said that there are multiple examples of genres/play styles with a long history in games that need next to no language knowledge to play at all. My examples were shmups and puzzle games although I could probably go further if I had to; there are a fair few platform and action games that require minimal language skills or none at all. The technical quality part of that argument has probably faded a bit post 16 bit era (PAL region 16 bit versions frequently were slowed down and had black bars stuck on the sides to make up the increased resolution of PAL) so I will ignore that completely unless I say something silly like Japanese dubs but that is not a great base for an argument (I have done undubs for years but I could just as easily live without it most of the time), beyond that the parallel translation thing means that Europe often gets some pretty nice translations (if you have an RPG on the GBA then the Euro version is probably far better or can be made far better with a few choice hacks) and bugfixed releases but that is a different discussion and not that that detracts any from the present conversation.

You retorted that they all came out on PC anyway

My response to that was that Cave, the developer of most of the examples I spoke of, has never had PC ports of any of the examples for the likes of the 360, indeed it is something of a treat to have them ported to a home console. For reasons unknown I did not pick up on the possible irony of your telling me to just play them on the region free PC instead. Granted there are not so many examples in the English speaking full release world but XBLA and PSN have the genre/play style pretty well represented and more so if I include the related genre of twin stick shooters.

As for not Australia there is something of a price disparity elsewhere in the world- it is a bit late in the day to try to normalise against average wages/minimum wages and such (exchange rates for things after the 60's are a fairly poor method of comparison) but even if I accept that surely if the exchange rate is in your favour and the product is one you want.......

Edit and possibly useful for earlier as well- F-Zero: Climax was a Japan exclusive. You can probably play that if you can get past the menu.


----------



## Guild McCommunist (Sep 24, 2012)

ShadowSoldier said:


> Game X sounds fun. I wanna play!



You're gonna have to wait, the Playstation X is still seven generations away.


----------



## DiEnd (Sep 24, 2012)

3bbb7 said:


> I don't understand whats so good about playing other region games ??
> 
> Whenever a console is region locked I don't care at all because I would never play a game in Japanese, what's the point if you can't read anything...
> 
> yea there are some region exclusive games but how can you enjoy a game without understanding what's going on?



It's all about not released games in some regions. Take Project X Zone, for example. People want it, but it's still only in Japan. For now, at least.


----------



## Hyro-Sama (Sep 24, 2012)

I'm not sure which is more entertaining, Nintendo region locking the Wii U or Zantigo receiving an intellectual beating.


----------



## gamefan5 (Sep 24, 2012)

Hyro-Sama said:


> I'm not sure which is more entertaining, Nintendo region locking the Wii U or *Zantigo receiving an intellectual beating.*


The latter as the former was expected.


----------



## DiscostewSM (Sep 24, 2012)

Is this seriously all in Nintendo's hands? Don't the governments of the separate regions have a say in what happens to products coming in to their territories?


----------



## GreatZimkogway (Sep 24, 2012)

I have to ask.  Aren't DVDs region-locked?  And yet you don't see people bitching about that.




DiscostewSM said:


> Is this seriously all in Nintendo's hands? Don't the governments of the separate regions have a say in what happens to products coming in to their territories?



Yes, they do.  Think it's illegal to import some things in the EU because of that.  But no, bashing on Nintendo for doing these things is not new, it's the /cool/ thing nowadays


----------



## Rydian (Sep 24, 2012)

DiscostewSM said:


> Is this seriously all in Nintendo's hands? Don't the governments of the separate regions have a say in what happens to products coming in to their territories?


What do you mean?

If a government tried to control what could and could not be imported/exported as far as entertainment goes, they'd have A Bad Time.  When it dangerous stuff yeah, but...


----------



## Clarky (Sep 24, 2012)

DiscostewSM said:


> Is this seriously all in Nintendo's hands? Don't the governments of the separate regions have a say in what happens to products coming in to their territories?



to some degree I believe there is...taxes etc

the PS3 and 360 have region locks too, just that most *games* are not region locked. Not that I expect Wii U games to be region free there is always a small glimmer of hope


----------



## Rydian (Sep 24, 2012)

GreatZimkogway said:


> I have to ask.  Aren't DVDs region-locked?  And yet you don't see people bitching about that.


That's because people don't know they shouldn't be.  People went into DVDs fresh off of VHS and other older analog standards that actually did have technical reasons for cross-region incompatibilities.

And it's not like Disney or whoever is going to correct them, saying "No DVD is region-free, we're just doing it on purpose so you pay more."


----------



## GreatZimkogway (Sep 24, 2012)

Rydian said:


> GreatZimkogway said:
> 
> 
> > I have to ask.  Aren't DVDs region-locked?  And yet you don't see people bitching about that.
> ...



"Don't know they shouldn't be" doesn't matter here.  They are sitll regionlocked.

Also, import ban on Sony things in the EU.


----------



## Terenigma (Sep 24, 2012)

*CONFIRMED*
I wont be getting one.

I am looking forward to this flopping. I wish it was possible to have a time-lapse view of the faces of all the head nintendo people at each sales meeting to see the frowns gradually get bigger as sales of the wii-u diminish into nothing and nintendo realise the once dominant force in gaming is now a shadow of its former self.

Then i want microsoft and sony and nintendo to all team up and make a console that will have 4 control ports, a seemless online system and state of the art graphics and connectivity for all relevant games to connect to their pc counterpart, then i want every game ever made going back as far as the original pong avalible to download at a reasonable price...

...Sorry, i got a little off track. Wii-u sucks.


----------



## Midna (Sep 24, 2012)

>NES is region locked
Whatever
>SNES is region locked
Whatever
>N64 is region locked
Whatever
>Gamecube is region locked
Whatever
>Wii is region locked
Whatever
...
>Wii U is region locked
HOLY SHIT 0/10 WILL NOT BUY BLUNDER OF THE CENTURY NINTENDO IS FINISHED


----------



## Rydian (Sep 24, 2012)

GreatZimkogway said:


> Rydian said:
> 
> 
> > GreatZimkogway said:
> ...


I meant the customers don't know so they just roll with it like they always have (since previously it was actual technical differences).


----------



## FAST6191 (Sep 24, 2012)

DiscostewSM said:


> Is this seriously all in Nintendo's hands? Don't the governments of the separate regions have a say in what happens to products coming in to their territories?



This gets tricky- strictly speaking the world trade organisation (which most countries do acknowledge), henceforth WTO, has things about restricting global trade which region encoding could be said to hamper but that does not seem to hold up anywhere enough to prevent this sort of thing. There are things like wanting to have say certifications to local standards (usually fairly simple to get if you are a big company- basic safety and radio interference are the big two for most although recycling is coming into play in a big way in a lot of Europe), restrictions like the headphone volume one I mentioned in passing a few pages back and the previously discussed things like Nazi imagery in games destined for Germany, a lot of stuff with Australian games (censored versions and owing to a lack of a rating) and even some stuff like Manhunt 2 in the UK (originally it was refused classification which effectively bans it from sale). This is actually a fairly tricky area of law in the modern world (as well as the WTO there are similar regional trade agreements meaning you can just hop across a border and some you do not even get stopped when crossing) but in general if the device can get there then governments do not have the greatest amount of say when it comes to personal use of the titles ((re)sale is another thing entirely mind you)- the law, case law and how it all plays out with things like human rights law is not very clear at all (and even if there was an issue customs are not usually that concerned assuming it is not a hot button topic). Beyond that (and perhaps more of what you were getting at) there is the not being allowed to sell carrier locked phones in certain countries thing (and there are rumblings of related things like ISP locked routers) which probably holds some sway somewhere in this, it could also cut the other way (see why itunes is not a pan European enterprise in all senses of the term).



GreatZimkogway said:


> I have to ask.  Aren't DVDs region-locked?  And yet you don't see people bitching about that.



People greatly enjoyed having a moan about that but region free DVD players have existed for years (and are available for next to nothing in big box electronics shops), you could change the region of your DVD drive/player from the get go and as decryption tech is at braindead level it is not really a problem on any level these days. Blu ray is a similar story (although less region free players and more decryption) but DVDs still pretty much rule the roost, I also recall myself and others splashing out for a VCR that did tapes from PAL and NTSC regions back when (macrovision, which did not do anything about region locking, aside there was no copy/region protection so to speak on VCR though so that was more of a technological thing).

Edit @Midna- are you kidding? Region unlocking devices/methods existed for all vintages of consoles at the time (I thought I had my N64 one around here somewhere but I only found my N.A. copy of Clayfighter 63 1/3). I agree in some ways it mattered less but when the 360 and PS3 both are attempting to mend their ways, we are more global then ever and there are few, if any, truly compelling technological reasons to do it then region locking warrants bitching about. Doomsayers I agree can run along but this is not what this is about.
Also the SNES is not region locked as far as I understand- you get something to change the cartridge shape and you are mostly good to go.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 24, 2012)

Terenigma said:


> *CONFIRMED*
> I wont be getting one.
> 
> I am looking forward to this flopping. I wish it was possible to have a time-lapse view of the faces of all the head nintendo people at each sales meeting to see the frowns gradually get bigger as sales of the wii-u diminish into nothing and nintendo realise the once dominant force in gaming is now a shadow of its former self.
> ...



I hope you enjoy never owning another console. ever.

I mean seriously. NINTENDO IS DOOMED! Region locking was the reason every Nintendo home platform failed. The NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii...oh wait. They didn't. At all. 

The Wii-U will fly off the shelves faster than Depends at a pants shitting convention. That's a given. The fanboy factor will play too much of a role for the Wii-U to fail.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 24, 2012)

I still remember the fiasco about Dead of Alive: Dimensions in Sweden because of their laws.


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## Bladexdsl (Sep 24, 2012)

So the wiiu is gonna fail and not sell huh. I just found out GameStop have sold out of pre-orders and are Now Forming a Wii U Waiting List. and to those saying they're not gonna get it cos it's region locked can you see how stupid you sound right now? I probably won't be getting one at launch but I know I will be getting one eventually or soon as galaxy 3 in glorious HD using the modified E6760 GPU or zelda and metroid is released I'll be running to the shops to get one.


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## DiEnd (Sep 25, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> The Wii-U will fly off the shelves faster than Depends at a pants shitting convention. That's a given. The fanboy factor will play too much of a role for the Wii-U to fail.



Yeah, people will still buy it. Really, what's the point of those "I WON'T BUY ONE" posts? If you won't do it, someone else will take your place.
As for me, I'll just stick with Japanese market this time.


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## Deleted-236924 (Sep 25, 2012)

VMM said:


> Pingouin7 said:
> 
> 
> > chris888222 said:
> ...


Uhh... I don't think you quite understood my point.


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## KingVamp (Sep 25, 2012)

Some of you are pretty much saying region free >>>>>> games. 


> Wii U Waiting List


Glad I didn't have to go through that.

Disappointing, but I didn't really import anyway, so ... yeah.


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## Hells Malice (Sep 25, 2012)

Midna said:


> >NES is region locked
> Whatever
> >SNES is region locked
> Whatever
> ...




lol, yes, this.
Exactly.

It's like people in this thread are shocked that Nintendo has done what its done from the beginning of time.

Yeah it sucks for the UK who always get shafted by release dates, but, again, Nintendo consoles have ALWAYS been region locked...it's common knowledge. Anyone could have confirmed the WiiU was region locked from the first time its name was uttered.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 25, 2012)

Midna said:


> >NES is region locked Whatever >SNES is region locked Whatever >N64 is region locked Whatever >Gamecube is region locked Whatever >Wii is region locked Whatever ... >Wii U is region locked HOLY SHIT 0/10 WILL NOT BUY BLUNDER OF THE CENTURY NINTENDO IS FINISHED



Snes region lock could be bypassed by removing a couple of plastic tabs in the cartridge slot, same with the N64.  The Gamecube and Wii could have region locks disabled via Freeloader and Priiloader.


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## Hyro-Sama (Sep 25, 2012)

GBATemp when Nintendo announces anything:


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## Clarky (Sep 25, 2012)

Hells Malice said:


> Yeah it sucks for the UK who always get shafted by release dates



Always? as of late its been pretty good, even in the odd  case of us getting the games before the US


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## Midna (Sep 25, 2012)

the_randomizer said:


> Midna said:
> 
> 
> > >NES is region locked Whatever >SNES is region locked Whatever >N64 is region locked Whatever >Gamecube is region locked Whatever >Wii is region locked Whatever ... >Wii U is region locked HOLY SHIT 0/10 WILL NOT BUY BLUNDER OF THE CENTURY NINTENDO IS FINISHED
> ...


Are you kidding me or something

That's like saying all stores are open 24/7 as long as you have a crowbar


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## Hells Malice (Sep 25, 2012)

clarky said:


> Hells Malice said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah it sucks for the UK who always get shafted by release dates
> ...



If you mean those big 3 Wii games, they're kind of an odd exception because they were picked up by...I don't even remember, UK Nintendo or some other UK company. Only reason, for once, that WE got it is because it was basically english and ready to be sold here.

Most games have like a week delay, which ain't too bad. But the UK still doesn't have some good games, like Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS), and can't get it because of region locking. Some other games have a month or longer delay too.
At least, that's how PC seems to be rolling these days.


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## Blaze163 (Sep 25, 2012)

I don't understand the purpose of region locks. In the modern world where the far side of the world is merely a flight away and people from all races and religions are spread far and wide across the globe, what do we gain from region locks? Why erect walls that don't need to be there?


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## chris888222 (Sep 25, 2012)

Blaze163 said:


> I don't understand the purpose of region locks. In the modern world where the far side of the world is merely a flight away and people from all races and religions are spread far and wide across the globe, what do we gain from region locks? Why erect walls that don't need to be there?


AFAIK, the reasons used:
- Prices
- NTSC/PAL/SECAM stuff
- Censorship

So far I think only censorship is the most "suitable" reason for region locking.


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## Blaze163 (Sep 25, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> Blaze163 said:
> 
> 
> > I don't understand the purpose of region locks. In the modern world where the far side of the world is merely a flight away and people from all races and religions are spread far and wide across the globe, what do we gain from region locks? Why erect walls that don't need to be there?
> ...



If by censorship you mean that Western gamers are unlikely to appreciate some of the wierd games the Japanese have (I saw one in NGamer prior to its untimely death about a strategy game where you control schoolgirls dressed up as tanks...) then we always have the option of...you know, not buying it.I'd rather have the option to reject titles instead of being denied them outright for being born on the wrong continent. Like that's somehow my fault.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 25, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> Blaze163 said:
> 
> 
> > I don't understand the purpose of region locks. In the modern world where the far side of the world is merely a flight away and people from all races and religions are spread far and wide across the globe, what do we gain from region locks? Why erect walls that don't need to be there?
> ...



Also include piracy to a smaller degree.


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## DiEnd (Sep 25, 2012)

clarky said:


> Hells Malice said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah it sucks for the UK who always get shafted by release dates
> ...



PAL release dates are getting better - at the same time with NA or even a few days earler. Sometimes game arrives in PAL region way earlier (Xenoblade), sometimes way later (Atlus games).
But comapring to Japanese release dates, both PAL and NA just suck. Heck, Japan got NSMB2 three weeks earlier before PAL and NA regions. And that's just a basic platformer. I won't even mention Fire Emblem Kakusei. Oh wait, I just did. April 2012 in Japan, 2013 in the rest of the world.




chris888222 said:


> So far I think only censorship is the most "suitable" reason for region locking.



I should decide what's suitable for me and what's not. Not some company.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 25, 2012)

Blaze163 said:


> chris888222 said:
> 
> 
> > Blaze163 said:
> ...



And if games like that were imported on a large scale, Lawmakers would take notice. If lawmakers take notice they get stupid ideas in their empty little heads. When they get stupid ideas in their empty little heads, they might come up with a law that outright bans the sale of all video games that don't carry an ESRB rating. (including copies of PAL, NTSC-J, Asia games that we might or might not be getting in the states.)

Apply that situation to whatever rating system you may have in your home country.


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## p1ngpong (Sep 25, 2012)

This is just typical of Nintendo, they remove advertised core features from their console at the drop of a hat and still expect us to pay full price for it!


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## Clarky (Sep 25, 2012)

Hells Malice said:


> snip



not so much the big 3, just in general. Mario Kart Wii i recall actually came out in PAL areas first, but then again games like Smash Bros had several months delay but I believe that has to do with lessons they learned back with Wave Race and marketing games at the right time for said region.


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## Blaze163 (Sep 25, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> Blaze163 said:
> 
> 
> > chris888222 said:
> ...



So what you're basically saying is that I have to fight tooth and nail to play the latest Tales or Monster Hunter games because some douchebag politicians think that we're all gonna rush out to buy wierd Japanese games about girls dressed as fighter jets...

Fuck politics.

But seriously, don't we have free will? Shouldn't we have the freedom to decide what we can and can't play? I don't get all this ridiculous nannyism. People will always be offended by something or other so it's a total waste of time. Especially when a large percentage of the populace are offended by nannyism. So well done. In 'saving us from offence', you managed to offend us all. And you wonder why people think politics is a load of bollocks.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 25, 2012)

Blaze163 said:


> TwinRetro said:
> 
> 
> > Blaze163 said:
> ...



Can't say I don't agree with you. Everybody's running some kind of game. That's the truth of Politics, and believe me when I say that politicians are always looking at Video Games. Whether it's for censorship, copyright protection, or how much money Video Games bring in every year, they are always watching.


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## TyBlood13 (Sep 25, 2012)

Midna said:


> the_randomizer said:
> 
> 
> > Midna said:
> ...


It is true for NTSC-U SNES/N64 consoles to play NTSC-J games. I can see (by your flag) why you may not believe this, as you are PAL.


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## Midna (Sep 25, 2012)

TyBlood13 said:


> Midna said:
> 
> 
> > the_randomizer said:
> ...


I know. You just need to take a hacksaw to your console.
I don't live in Albania.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 25, 2012)

TyBlood13 said:


> Midna said:
> 
> 
> > the_randomizer said:
> ...



I think he's trying to say that It's not a valid argument to discount the SNES' and N64's region locking just because of such an easy fix.


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## the_randomizer (Sep 25, 2012)

Midna said:


> the_randomizer said:
> 
> 
> > Midna said:
> ...




Yes, I'm joking around. It's written all over my face.


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## Xenirina (Sep 25, 2012)

Ahh! That make more trouble for the hackers of the Wii U.
I wonder if it will be as easy as the Wii was to hack...


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 25, 2012)

p1ngpong said:


> This is just typical of Nintendo, they remove advertised core features from their console at the drop of a hat and still expect us to pay full price for it!



Sounds like jealousy to me.


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## Bladexdsl (Sep 25, 2012)

Hells Malice said:


> Yeah it sucks for the UK who always get shafted by release dates, but, again, Nintendo consoles have ALWAYS been region locked...it's common knowledge. Anyone could have confirmed the WiiU was region locked from the first time its name was uttered.


You think you get shafted? How'd you like to be last on the list to get everything and have to wait up to 3+ months later to get it. It will probably be around feb-march before the wiiu gets released here


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## tueidj (Sep 25, 2012)

Bladexdsl said:


> You think you get shafted? How'd you like to be last on the list to get everything and have to wait up to 3+ months later to get it. It will probably be around feb-march before the wiiu gets released here


Sure, that's why all the AU retailers are taking pre-orders for a November 30th release date. And who was it who was first in the world to get hold of (and leak and subsequently get sued for) NSMB when it came out?


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## trumpet-205 (Sep 25, 2012)

Big reason for region lock is currency exchange rate. Without region lock, you can bet a lot of Japanese gamers will import US/EU games instead because of favorable exchange rate. It is the same reason that Persona 4 Arena have region lock (first PS3 title to do so). Japanese gamers buying their own games actually cost more compared to import.

Then there are other supporting reasons, like different parental rating system, market control, etc.

Not surprised to hear that WiiU is region locked, although I was surprised when I found out that 3DS is region locked. It remains to be seen if Sony will abandon no region lock. Sony had already made it more difficult to play other regions Vita game by requiring dedicated memory card.


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## NightsOwl (Sep 25, 2012)

Expected this much. Oh well. I just have to put up with it. x_x


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## Pleng (Sep 26, 2012)

chris888222 said:


> Blaze163 said:
> 
> 
> > I don't understand the purpose of region locks. In the modern world where the far side of the world is merely a flight away and people from all races and religions are spread far and wide across the globe, what do we gain from region locks? Why erect walls that don't need to be there?
> ...



I think price is the more realistic one. Yea it may seem 'unfair'. Why pay more for a game that you can get dirt cheap elsewhere.

Well if you're entering your products into a country in a country where the average salary is £5000* then you're going to want to sell your games at a price where they're still going to sell. Nobody's going to pay £40 for a game, but £15 to £20 perhaps.

Why is it fair that people in a country where the average salary is £28,000 should get the games for the same price? People in the UK pay more for accommodation, electricity water and food than all over Asia, for example. Basic requirements needed to live. Yet people don't kick up a stink that a pineapple or a bottle of water is a third of the price in Thailand compared to the UK. When it comes to luxury items, that you're we're all bloody well lucky to even have in the first place, we're the first to jump on the evil corporation bandwagon.


Think about this: if region locking didn't exist/wasn't possible, do you think the prices in Nintendo's biggest/wealthiest markets would go down? Or would the prices come up globally to he highest common denominator, making games even less accessible in less wealthy countries?


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 26, 2012)

Pleng said:


> chris888222 said:
> 
> 
> > Blaze163 said:
> ...


I really don't think you understand why people complain about region locking. Games aren't available in every country unlike the common belief that if a game can be bought where I live then it must the same for everyone else on earth, a good example is Devil Survivor Overclocked that was only available in I assume Japan and US not EU so how am I meant to play the game if I only own an EU console? Well I can if region locking didn't exist but in this instance I have to wait for a game that has a possibility of not even coming to my region.

Pricing is another matter as well I mean I live in Australia and we have to pay around $60AUD ($65-70USD) for a game while in the US a game from what I heard costs around $40USD ($35-40AUD) so even with a shipping cost buying games is a lot more expensive locally than importing even more so when buying more than 1 game. This isn't a gaming example but the unlocked GS3 costs $700 if I buy locally but only $550 if I buy online and only $570 with express shipping plus accessories it still comes in about $600 so yea some people don't want to buy local because it is a complete rip off.


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## Pleng (Sep 26, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> Pleng said:
> 
> 
> > I think price is the more realistic one. Yea it may seem 'unfair'. Why pay more for a game that you can get dirt cheap elsewhere.
> ...



I totally understand the frustrations. I never bought a PS2 because the only games I was really interested in were NiGHTS and Sega Rally, which never came to the UK. The fact is this inconvenience is a by-product of the need to region lock.

Nobody's going "Right. Let's screw these people over and not let them play what they want". They're going "Right, how do we ensure we can enter less wealthy markets and still make a profit". The solution they have is region lock. As a byproduct we unfortunately don't get the games.



> Pricing is another matter as well I mean I live in Australia and we have to pay around $60AUD ($65-70USD) for a game while in the US a game from what I heard costs around $40USD ($35-40AUD) so even with a shipping cost buying games is a lot more expensive locally than importing even more so when buying more than 1 game. This isn't a gaming example but the unlocked GS3 costs $700 if I buy locally but only $550 if I buy online and only $570 with express shipping plus accessories it still comes in about $600 so yea some people don't want to buy local because it is a complete rip off.



This is exactly what I'm talking about. It's not a rip off. You're living in a market that can sustain a $700 price tag. The country you're importing from can not. Not to mention the cost of running the webstore you purchased from would have been considerably lower than the cost of running any shop you may have purchased from in Australlia. Plus I'm guessing you avoided import tax on your online purchase which would have made the prices much closer.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 26, 2012)

Pleng said:


> I totally understand the frustrations. I never bought a PS2 because the only games I was really interested in were NiGHTS and Sega Rally, which never came to the UK. The fact is this inconvenience is a by-product of the need to region lock.
> 
> Nobody's going "Right. Let's screw these people over and not let them play what they want". They're going "Right, how do we ensure we can enter less wealthy markets and still make a profit". The solution they have is region lock. As a byproduct we unfortunately don't get the games.


But the DS and PSP weren't region locked and games still sold perfectly well in each country as well as letting people import the games they couldn't get locally. The PS3 and 360 isn't region locked but devs can choose if they wanted to RL their games or not and from what I see none were.

I don't see the need of region locking mainly because it seems redundant to limit what the consumer can get which in this instance is games. 




Pleng said:


> This is exactly what I'm talking about. It's not a rip off. You're living in a market that can sustain a $700 price tag. The country you're importing from can not. Not to mention the cost of running the webstore you purchased from would have been considerably lower than the cost of running any shop you may have purchased from in Australlia. Plus I'm guessing you avoided import tax on your online purchase which would have made the prices much closer.


No the retailer wants a profit so they overcharge for the price tag cause lets be honest no one walks around with $700 handy in their wallets, if anything alot of people now in Australia are struggling with bills and everything so they can't even get things that are that are around $200 let alone $700. People everywhere wants the lowest price possible but a good quality product and will actively look until they find it and trying to say "buy expensively local is better than buying cheaply overseas" will just have people annoyed and less likely to follow that instruction.


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## DiEnd (Sep 26, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> Pricing is another matter as well I mean I live in Australia and we have to pay around $60AUD ($65-70USD) for a game while in the US a game from what I heard costs around $40USD ($35-40AUD) so even with a shipping cost buying games is a lot more expensive locally than importing even more so when buying more than 1 game. This isn't a gaming example but the unlocked GS3 costs $700 if I buy locally but only $550 if I buy online and only $570 with express shipping plus accessories it still comes in about $600 so yea some people don't want to buy local because it is a complete rip off.


Here in Russia we have the $80 USD pricetag for one game. Yet most people don't even think about importing because they can't speak any foreign language. Those who can, usually import games and consoles from Amazon.de, where the pricetag can be way lower. The best example here is Sonic Colors on Wii. It costs $60 USD in Russia, on Amazon.de - ~20 EUR (~$26 USD) + 2 EUR for shipping to Russia. Yet no one has decided to region lock Russia out of PAL region.


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## Guild McCommunist (Sep 26, 2012)

DiEnd said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > Pricing is another matter as well I mean I live in Australia and we have to pay around $60AUD ($65-70USD) for a game while in the US a game from what I heard costs around $40USD ($35-40AUD) so even with a shipping cost buying games is a lot more expensive locally than importing even more so when buying more than 1 game. This isn't a gaming example but the unlocked GS3 costs $700 if I buy locally but only $550 if I buy online and only $570 with express shipping plus accessories it still comes in about $600 so yea some people don't want to buy local because it is a complete rip off.
> ...



For reference brand new games in the US are $60. Odds are you'll spend more money importing.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 26, 2012)

DiEnd said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > Pricing is another matter as well I mean I live in Australia and we have to pay around $60AUD ($65-70USD) for a game while in the US a game from what I heard costs around $40USD ($35-40AUD) so even with a shipping cost buying games is a lot more expensive locally than importing even more so when buying more than 1 game. This isn't a gaming example but the unlocked GS3 costs $700 if I buy locally but only $550 if I buy online and only $570 with express shipping plus accessories it still comes in about $600 so yea some people don't want to buy local because it is a complete rip off.
> ...


I don't think its a good marketing tactic to region lock a console or anything to a specific country.


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## DiEnd (Sep 26, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> I don't think its a good marketing tactic to region lock a console or anything to a specific country.



Nintendo does it for Japan and Korea, and many retail PC games are region-locked for Russia.




Guild McCommunist said:


> For reference brand new games in the US are $60. Odds are you'll spend more money importing.


We don't have to pay any taxes for importng anything cheaper than 1000 Euros, so it depends on postage costs.


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## Just Another Gamer (Sep 26, 2012)

DiEnd said:


> Just Another Gamer said:
> 
> 
> > I don't think its a good marketing tactic to region lock a console or anything to a specific country.
> ...


I thought that was locked to the Asia region.


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## DiEnd (Sep 26, 2012)

Just Another Gamer said:


> I thought that was locked to the Asia region.



I don't know about the whole Asian region, but I'm aware that Japan and Korea are separated. That was from the first news about 3DS's region lock:



> There are no Region codes in DS and DS Lite, but DSi, DSi [XL], and 3DS have region codes. The region codes are installed in each game and the 3DS itself. … You can’t play if the region codes are different.
> 
> *For example, if you play a Korean 3DS game with a Japanese 3DS system (or vice versa), you won’t be able to play at all.*


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## narutofan777 (Sep 26, 2012)

What is the point of region locking? I don't get it...


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## Rydian (Sep 26, 2012)

narutofan777 said:


> What is the point of region locking? I don't get it...


They can control which countries get it first, which editions have which censoring (for example EU doesn't mind nudity but hates violence, US loves violence but goes into a rage if their kids see a nipple), but mainly it's so they can charge rich countries more for games without worrying about them importing games from poor countries that sell them cheaper.


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## Eerpow (Sep 26, 2012)

Rydian said:


> narutofan777 said:
> 
> 
> > What is the point of region locking? I don't get it...
> ...


If only that was the case, from what I've seen rich countries get their games dirt cheap while poor countries have to pay a lot more.
For example, US getting games cheaper than the rest of America or Europe even.


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## Rydian (Sep 26, 2012)

Didn't specify the US, though I guess by saying "rich" and "poor" I gave a different vibe.

AU gamers I've talked to like importing from the US, for example.


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## Santee (Sep 27, 2012)

I don't import games so it makes no difference if any of my consoles are region locked, not like I was going to get it anyway.


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