Nintendo and Regional Lockout

[EnigmaXtreme]

Ok so if yah Nintendo follower (i really dont like calling myself fanboy) you would know that Metroid Prime Trilogy came out recently...in America. We wont be getting it until October, if that isnt bad enough, in America their getting it in a nice metal steel case, art booklets, tshirts, posters everything. Soooo whats Australia getting.....

NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

You see Nintendo Australia as well as EB Games what your doing is absolute poor business, you see if a game is going to be delayed for a month or two then you should do something extra to persuade us to buy it from you. I say it like this because after discovering we weren't getting all the nice things the US were getting i hoped onto gamestop.com and ordered it there and a week later i got Metroid Trilogy a whole almost 90 days before Australia got it. You see Nintendo/EB Games this isnt the 90s anymore, internet shopping is huge now a days, which is why you have to persuade us to buy it from our countries, but im sorry i never heard.

"No wait dont buy it now, if you order it with us youll get blah blah blah"

Also im able to play this imported game thanks to the spectacular which is Wii-Homebrew you see here's what i dont get Nintendo, why is it that in 2009 regional lockout is still an option in gaming consoles. It isn't fair to the consumers or the company, it feels restrictive and well....corporative. Their is no reason why I can not legally buy a game from the US or Japan and play it on my Australian Wii, think about it Nintendo this is one of the main reason people used modchips and homebrew.

So if you will all excuse me, im gonna play Metroid Prime Trilogy and bloody enjoy it!

EDIT

Curious I decided to contact Nintendo America asking why regional lockout existed and why it should be on the console this was their reply:

"As you know, the Wii console is manufactured with a region code that allows it to play only those games sold in the same region as the system. Region codes are common to video game consoles, having been included in the Nintendo GameCube and prior console systems, as well as those of our competitors.

Region coding is done for a variety of reasons. However, it's important to note that even if region coding had not been included, games from certain regions (i.e. Australia and Europe) still would not have been compatible with U.S. or Japanese systems due to incompatible television signals."

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this letter, ok first they state that their competitors use regional lockout as well.

BULLSHIT!

Everybody knows the PS3 is region free and as for the 360 a majority of its games are region free as well.

Also the talk about incompatible television signals is a load of crap too, their off course talking about PAL NTSC etc. If that was the case then why is MPT working fine on my TV? Simple, because all TVS nowadays accommodate for all TV signals, ever notice the word AUTO when u switch channels, that means the tv automatically recognizes the type of signal coming into it and accommodates for it, sure older tvs arent like that but the MAJORITY do.

So again BULLSHIT!

But one statement reigned true

"Region coding is done for a variety of reasons"

Yes and one of those reasons is keeping the consumer in line forcing them to pay the prices THEY decide

Here's the thing a Wii game in the USA cost like what 50-60 dollars while here in Australia they cost a 100 dollars! The only reason regional lockout exist is so game stores can force u to pay whatever they want and know full well you dont have a choice.

This wont stand, contact Nintendo, demand they go region free, demand to be treated fairly.

 

[Vidboy10]

So? HK isn't getting anything special for the trilogy and im not bitching...

 

[8BitWalugi]

Haha, nice! Short and sweet. Anyway, while i also find it bullshit, i don't see need to bitch about it! Just look it up on ebay or something! Or if you so badly want it, buy a US copy aswell as a copy that works on your console!

 

[EnigmaXtreme]

I guess it wouldnt bother me as much if

a) Australian release times werent months after the US release

and b) We didnt have some crackpot in a position of power blocking an R rating for video games

 

[nutella]

i know what you mean. its not so much THIS problem that your so pissed off about. its the fact in that in general australians get screwed over royally when it comes to video games. thats why i buy my ds games over in the US whenever i'm over their (which is quite often). lets see, US$30 translates to about $35-$40. we are expected to pay $60 for a ds game (and correct me if i'm wrong, $70 for scribblenauts).

then you have some idiots who won't introduce an R rating for video games because, and i quote, "once the product is purchased, anyone has access to it, including children". i'm sorry, but under that logic, why have R ratings for movies. it makes no sense.

did i mention release dates? remember a little game called "rock band". yeah. we waited over a year for that. it released 5 days before ghwt.

and that's just the tip of the iceberg. end rant.

 

[worlok375]

I feel so sorry for you guys............(Why is EB games in Australia so cheap???????) And I thought I could trust nintendo. (excluding third-party game quality so sorry that REGGIE (probably) thought imagine was great until they started pumping around five new ones per month.)