Hacking Is it illegal for Nintendo to be region locked in US

[Yil]

In that case Nintendo must fix a 3ds or a wii u even with region hack installed

 

[Foxi4]

It's not illegal to implement region locking in hardware in the US, what gave you the idea that it is? I'm afraid stupidity hasn't been made illegal yet, so Nintendo can region lock their systems if they feel like it.

 

[Kaphotics]

no

read the stickies and ask simple questions here.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

They like to lock us down like a bunch of monkeys without much option of importing the games from other regions whereas PlayStation/Xbox are region free, so if you were a European owner and wanted to import a Japanese game then that'd work perfectly.

It's legal as it's their software so they can do as they please but they're also losing customers because of this backwards mentality.

 

[Sychophantom]

They like to lock us down like a bunch of monkeys without much option of importing the games from other regions whereas PlayStation/Xbox are region free, so if you were a European owner and wanted to import a Japanese game then that'd work perfectly.

It's legal as it's their software so they can do as they please but they're also losing customers because of this backwards mentality.

I love the "they're losing customers" argument against region locking. Not that I'm for it, but the vast majority of Nintendo customers don't care. It's a very small but vocal minority, and one that tends to overlap in the "feeling entitled to free games" department most of the time.

So really, they aren't losing anything. They just aren't gaining the few bucks that MIGHT be spent on an import game if there was no region lock.

 

[trumpet-205]

Region lock is perfectly legal. Consumer don't like it but the law says nothing against it. Blu-ray and DVD use region lock and nothing is stopping them.

Also Nintendo is not obligated to fix your gaming system if you hacked it.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

I love the "they're losing customers" argument against region locking. Not that I'm for it, but the vast majority of Nintendo customers don't care. It's a very small but vocal minority, and one that tends to overlap in the "feeling entitled to free games" department most of the time.

So really, they aren't losing anything. They just aren't gaining the few bucks that MIGHT be spent on an import game if there was no region lock.

If Nintendo keeps on relying solely on their fanbase someday they won't have customers at all. Nintendo needs to expand their horizons and be more like Sony and Microsoft.

 

[Foxi4]

So really, they aren't losing anything.

Of course they are, it's "a customer buys a game" versus "a customer doesn't buy a game because it won't work on his/her system" scenario - they don't make a sale they potentially could've made, which means that they're missing out on an opportunity to make money. People who want to import games are dedicated enough that they want to pay for the game and pay for shipping from a different continent on top of game's retail price - a level-headed person would want to capitalize on that. Customers want to give Nintendo money and Nintendo "doesn't want" said money. The most dedicated fans will import another system, but that's already a fraction of a fraction.

 

[Reisyukaku]

Of course they are, it's "a person buys a game" versus "a person doesn't buy a game" scenario - they don't make a sale they potentially could've made, which means that they're missing out on an opportunity to make money. People who want to import games are dedicated enough that they want to pay for the game and pay for shipping from a different continent on top of game's retail price - a level-headed person would want to capitalize on that. Customers want to give Nintendo money and Nintendo "doesn't want" said money. The most dedicated fans will import another system, but that's already a fraction of a fraction.

I think in the end Ninty still wins since people are buying multiple 3DS' due to this

 

[Foxi4]

I think in the end Ninty still wins since people are buying multiple 3DS' due to this

A fraction of a fraction. You have to be really dedicated to pay that big a premium just to play imports. This isn't a "buying a Freeloader" situation, this is a "buying another system" situation. That, and Nintendo doesn't make a lot of profit on hardware to begin with - most profits come from software sales. They'd sell more software if the customers had systems that can play it, and by extension, they would make more money.

 

[Sychophantom]

If Nintendo keeps on relying solely on their fanbase someday they won't have customers at all. Nintendo needs to expand their horizons and be more like Sony and Microsoft.

I facepalmed. Hard.

All companies rely on their fanbase. Nintendo's fanbase is that special kind of rabid that would probably buy a game about Mario dropping turds in a toilet, trying to hit goombas, and gloat that it wasn't available anywhere else. Other companies blatantly copy from Nintendo (Sony's All Stars game and Move controller being almost clones of Nintendo products).

Nintendo is expanding their horizons. Sadly, those horizons are DLC (especially DLC on cart/disc) and games available elsewhere coming to Wii U at full price.

 

[tbb043]

If Nintendo keeps on relying solely on their fanbase someday they won't have customers at all. Nintendo needs to expand their horizons and be more like Sony and Microsoft.

You mean the companies, one of which is apparently on the verge of bankruptcy, and the other one which has spent the last year as a laughing stock? Yeah be like them, Nintendo.

 

[Reisyukaku]

A fraction of a fraction. You have to be really dedicated to pay that big a premium just to play imports. This isn't a "buying a Freeloader" situation, this is a "buying another system" situation. That, and Nintendo doesn't make a lot of profit on hardware to begin with - most profits come from software sales. They'd sell more software if the customers had systems that can play it, and by extension, they would make more money.

Well im one of those fractions of a fraction lol.. cuz $100 isnt a whole hell of a lot of money.. and my JP 3DS came it use
>flipnote
>pokebank
>JP exclusives
>cyber gadget

But yea, region lock is about as retarded as DMA locks these days..

 

[Sychophantom]

Of course they are, it's "a customer buys a game" versus "a customer doesn't buy a game because it won't work on his/her system" scenario - they don't make a sale they potentially could've made, which means that they're missing out on an opportunity to make money. People who want to import games are dedicated enough that they want to pay for the game and pay for shipping from a different continent on top of game's retail price - a level-headed person would want to capitalize on that. Customers want to give Nintendo money and Nintendo "doesn't want" said money. The most dedicated fans will import another system, but that's already a fraction of a fraction.

Most of those "customers that don't buy a game because it won't work on their system" don't know the game exists because it's not in their region in the first place.

Hell, most of Nintendo's customers don't know how to turn Streetpass on. Or update systems. I seem a lot of consoles, and really....people are stupid with the 3DS most of the time.

 

[Foxi4]

You mean the companies, one of which is apparently on the verge of bankruptcy, and the other one which has spent the last year as a laughing stock? Yeah be like them, Nintendo.

That's a pretty high horse you're sitting on considering the fact that Nintendo's posted their third consecutive annual loss this year. I would love to chit-chat about Nintendo's profits, but they don't have any.

Most of those "customers that don't buy a game because it won't work on their system" don't know the game exists because it's not in their region in the first place.

I take it that they don't have the Internet either? I know Nintendo's online services are crap, but come on.

Well im one of those fractions of a fraction lol.. cuz $100 isnt a whole hell of a lot of money.. and my JP 3DS came it use

Are you going to do the same for the Wii U and the New3DS? All of a sudden that's not a $100 problem, that's a $500+ problem that could've been avoided.

 

[Sychophantom]

I take it that they don't have the Internet either? I know Nintendo's online services are crap, but come on.

If you saw the systems I do, and the computers people use at work, you'd swear it was 1980.

There are 5 people I work with that still use Dial-up.

 

[Doran754]

If Nintendo keeps on relying solely on their fanbase someday they won't have customers at all. Nintendo needs to expand their horizons and be more like Sony and Microsoft.

The day Nintendo are ANYTHING like $ony or Micro$oft is the day I'll stop gaming altogether.

 

[Foxi4]

The day Nintendo are ANYTHING like $ony or Micro$oft is the day I'll stop gaming altogether.

They're charging you twice for the same game already, they've been arguably worse than Sony and Microsoft for years. People argue about on-disc DRM, but the fact that you can't catch all the Pokemon in any Pokemon game is somehow eh-o-kay. The same applies to Smash Bros. 3DS and Wii U - you won't get all the characters unless you buy both of their systems and both games. Totally cool, not at all a rip-off. ;O;

Ah, Nintendo fanboys/girls... I can never get enough of'em. Newsflash - Nintendo doesn't love you, they love your money.

 

[trumpet-205]

Let's get one thing clear here on this post. Microsoft and Sony are not making region lock mandatory on X360/X1/PS3/PS4/PSP/Vita. Publisher may enforce region lock should they desire (an example is Persona 4 Arena on PS3). Overall only tiny fraction of games from both Microsoft and Sony have region lock.

With Nintendo, region lock is mandatory on Wii/3DS/Wii U. In here publisher doesn't even have the say to the matter, Nintendo is enforcing region lock on all games. They even went hardcore and region locked Wii U gamepad itself.

 

[TecXero]

If Nintendo keeps on relying solely on their fanbase someday they won't have customers at all. Nintendo needs to expand their horizons and be more like Sony and Microsoft.

I understand your sentiment, but as soon as that happens I'll have no reason to buy consoles or dedicated handhelds anymore and will be purely gaming on PC.

On topic: I don't really understand why Nintendo region locks, there's some speculation but nothing that's really significant. It isn't illegal, though. Nintendo has many poor attributes, but nothing is perfect, it's a matter of deciding if the positives outweigh the negatives when buying a product.