Gamers start campaign to end Wii U/3DS region locking.

[ggyo]

That's another thing that needs fixing, yeah.

Because once you remove the drive from the unit, there's nothing stopping you from making a copy of the external storage?

So why not partition the memory? Like how you have to make a partition when using external memory for the Xbox 360 when you want to put game, demo or save data on. Then that partitioned memory becomes incompatible and unreadable with other devices.

 

[loco365]

In any case, it would certainly be nice to get and be able to use some of the limited edition flavors they release exclusively in other regions, namely Japan. I know a lot of people liked the black Charizard 3DS XL.

If this is actually successful, I would import one of those in a heartbeat. If I can't, then Ice White would be my next color of choice.

 

[Chary]

Time to spread the word.

I'd like to play Ace Attorney VS Layton, without buying a separate 3DS. Region lock sucks, and it'd be amazing to see it removed.

 

[Saturosias]

No, this can't happen!

Why are you trying to take away the only excuse video game pirates have left?!

 

[shakirmoledina]

few days after the 3ds announcement... we want region-free

 

[Mario92]

Hashtags doesn't work that well... I guess in MS situation it was feedback from literally everywhere.
This is just guess and has been some time already but maybe region lock is because of eShop? DS was region free but DSi wasn't (at least partly) but nobody noticed as DS games worked mostly normally and DS didn't have eShop. With 3DS fully locked you can't "accidentally" go to US store from EU and buy games twice cheaper. Of course PS3 you can do this with prepaid cards and fake address and Steam checks this from your given info and checks where payments come from so you just can't.
I don't have Wii U but wasn't nintendo blocking 18 rated material for every EU country just because of Germany's law. This would suggest they have no idea how to control internet market so they are region blocking content just to make sure things work mostly OK http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...ocked_in_Europe_to_comply_with_German_law.php

In any way region blocking can't be because of hardware differences as HDMI signals are pretty much same around the world and handhelds should be even less different. Situations where pirates get region free content and legit customers has to buy separate systems is far from ideal for nintendo so it would be good if they did it before pirates.
If region lock removing would happen then how would game publishers react to it if at all?

E: Miiverse pictures should be spot on. They're on system and nintendo is almost bount to see them if theres much of them and pictures take time to make.

 

[ferofax]

Professor Layton x Ace Attorney yo

Text heavy, yo.

 

[Clydefrosch]

nice idea. not gonna change a thing though.

 

[alirezay]

I'm in...
I don't have money to buy games but still....
Who doesn't like freedom?

 

[YamiHoshi.nl]

I guess Iwata will announce that in the next big Nintendo Direct.
Not the one coming tomorrow, as that's about a specific game.

 

[apollooo]

I wish this really works.

Region locking may not be trouble for people who live in the us, Europe or Japan, but for the rest of the world it means extra money to import and some ****ing games can't be played

 

[FAST6191]

I wish this really works.

Region locking may not be trouble for people who live in the us, Europe or Japan, but for the rest of the world it means extra money to import and some ****ing games can't be played

It troubles people plenty in those countries.

Japan produces a lot of shmups/shooters (many for the 360 no less) and they are often region locked. Move to the handhelds and it gets even odder (so many great puzzle and platform games). Most of those you do not need to understand the tiniest bit of Japanese for either. Likewise there is the Japanese equivalent of the weabo set.

Europe, especially Germany, Poland and places around there, produces a lot of great offbeat RPG type games different to both the likes of Bethesda and the likes of Square (Venetica, Two worlds 2 and Risen being three of my more favoured examples). The handhelds again produce a lot of interesting things and Europe is often a Nintendo testing ground (plenty of instances of Europe getting games before Christmas where they waited until some time later for North America).

The same applies in reverse and there are a few things that come out earlier in the US than Europe for no great reason, for good reason (sprint cars, baseball, basketball and American football are not big outside the US give or take baseball in Japan). For some reason I have also seen several times where the gold/goty/enhanced edition will come out in the US at the same time as the stock release hits in Europe.

Technical issues have largely been a non issue for decades save perhaps PAL in the NTSC world (a non issue with digital input for TVs and the current Nintendo lineup having their own screens) and I absolutely accept that logistics and local regulations/taxes are a pig to work though, to the point where any profit might not be enough to warrant the effort. However that matters little if you can launch it somewhere and the those that desire it get to jump through the hoops.

As for this... armchair activism is oft pointless and I will echo Gahars as well.

 

[Xarsah16]

When I went to the Pokemon Center last summer on the day of Black and White 2's release, the representative helping me asked me if I have a Japanese 3DS. Luckily for me, I bought one while I was visiting - and it helps me with my flash cart updating. Good old reliable old firmware.

I wish it wasn't like this. It bothers me that I can't play my Japanese Sailor Moon fighting PSX game because I don't have a Japanese region PS1.

Region locking forces us to pirate at times. I don't get why Nintendo doesn't seem to see the irony. If only they removed the region lock, more people would import games, and if there's a price discrepancy between countries' copies, we shouldn't have to pay for it. I felt so bad that I had already beat Pokemon Yellow about 3 times before Europe got it when I was little. I understand the wait sucks. Seriously, though, this shit needs to stop. I'm signing that petition.

 

[Arras]

When I went to the Pokemon Center last summer on the day of Black and White 2's release, the representative helping me asked me if I have a Japanese 3DS. Luckily for me, I bought one while I was visiting - and it helps me with my flash cart updating. Good old reliable old firmware.

I wish it wasn't like this. It bothers me that I can't play my Japanese Sailor Moon fighting PSX game because I don't have a Japanese region PS1.

Region locking forces us to pirate at times. I don't get why Nintendo doesn't seem to see the irony. If only they removed the region lock, more people would import games, and if there's a price discrepancy between countries' copies, we shouldn't have to pay for it. I felt so bad that I had already beat Pokemon Yellow about 3 times before Europe got it when I was little. I understand the wait sucks. Seriously, though, this shit needs to stop. I'm signing that petition.

There almost always is. Dollars get converted directly to euros and that somehow gets even more expensive in countries like Australia

 

[Foxi4]

That's a good campaign. Probably won't be successful, but it's good that the fans are speaking up about this.

Region locking on handheld consoles is pretty pointless to begin with - there's no reason why they should be locked to a given region since all handheld consoles operate at the same resolution. Home consoles used to be Region Locked due to the PAL/NTSC/SECAM division which is now a thing of the past since we moved on to standardized HD resolutions.

Neither lock has any benefit to the End-User - previously it had sense to inform the user that a given game will not work in a given Video Mode. Now that this restriction is gone, so should be Region Locks.

The only purpose Region Locking plays on Nintendo platforms is equal division of profits between three main branches of Nintendo - NoA, NoE and NoJ. It's pretty ridiculous that hardware is designed in reference to the integral structure of the company (which should be re-structured and centralized ages ago).

 

[regnad]

I'll tell you what, I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[LAA]

As much as I'd love region lock to be gone forever, I can't see nintendo changing it.
Whether it be a matter of it being impossible/a lot of work or money to stop the region lock, or simply just nintendo being nintendo and their stubbornness/ignorance to change.
The pressure is on them though I say. With PS4 being only £50 more than a Wii U and the ability to play games from any region (among other things) being pros to owning a PS4, the Wii U really needs to justify its price tag, although not as much as Xbox One does in my opinion .

Feel bad for nintendo though. I don't have any issue with the Wii U's graphic potential, and from the looks of some games, it makes the gap between Wii U and PS4 smaller than I would have thought it would be, but even at this point, if nintendo announced Zelda Wii U for next week, we'd still know it'd miss out on a bunch (and by bunch I mean a REALLY BIG bunch) of 3rd party games gamers should be interested in, and while nintendo are doing better 3rd party wise (With the likes of Bayonetta 2, TW101, X, etc.) all coming exclusively to Wii U, it still pales in terms of what PS4/One are due to get.
I know nintendo consoles are pretty much destined to miss out on 3rd party games at this point, but they really need to do more than just nintendo games, just seems kinda...cockiness on nintendo's side, that they don't need 3rd party, when that's easily one of their biggest problems.

 

[Rydian]

So why not partition the memory? Like how you have to make a partition when using external memory for the Xbox 360 when you want to put game, demo or save data on. Then that partitioned memory becomes incompatible and unreadable with other devices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix)
You can clone data off and onto a drive regardless of if the filesystem is encrypted or if the filesystem is custom or not, etc.

Once you remove the flash drive from the unit there is nothing stopping you from cloning a copy of the contents off, and then putting them back on at a later date.

 

[Deleted_171835]

#slacktivism

Yes, the vocal minority sending tweets was what influenced Sony and Microsoft's policies, not the already-immensely harsh press backlash and huge gap in preorder sales between the consoles. Nope, it was the Tweets!

Just because a lot of people can write a hashtag doesn't mean they'll actually commit and buy the consoles. And the people who seriously care, Nintendo fans, likely already own a 3DS/Wii U or will purchase them later no matter what. Why should Nintendo even bother?

And come on, a tweet means as much as a Facebook like (hell, maybe even less). At least writing in a letter or making videos takes some effort.

Sony was said to be considering implementing some sort of DRM (by a couple insiders) on the PS4 a little bit before E3 but reconsidered after the enormous fan response. The media backlash prior to the Microsoft event was precisely because of the #NoDRM campaign, with multiple articles from a variety of media outlets covering the event.

I would argue that it was more effective than simply mailing in a couple letters that could be thrown in the trash. Not only did a wide Twitter campaign generate media attention (it was trending) but flooding the personal accounts of high-ranking executives of Sony (yosp for instance) ensured that they could not be ignored.

In regards to this campaign, Iwata has shown on multiple occasions (Nintendo Direct) that they are watching Miiverse and aware of what the users are posting. If there's any way to get the message directly to Nintendo, Miiverse is arguably the best way.

And while there is certainly no guarantee that people participating in this campaign are going to go out and buy said consoles after a change in policies and that it probably won't result in any monetary gain on Nintendo's part, it's one way for Nintendo to earn some goodwill among its fans and add a selling point to their hardware simply by removing an outdated and intrusive policy.

 

[BORTZ]

I would be ok with this, I wouldn't have to buy a Japanese 3DS to play Terry's Wonderland.