3DS region lock confirmed
"Different versions of hardware" for US, Japan and Europe
Nintendo has clarified rumours that its impending 3DS handheld would include regional restrictions.
While not claiming an absolute lock-out for games from other territories, it did confirm in a statement to Eurogamer that "There is the possibility that Nintendo 3DS software sold in one region will not function properly when running on Nintendo 3DS hardware sold in another."
As such, it advised purchasers only used hardware from their own region.
This is apparently because "Nintendo has developed different versions of Nintendo 3DS hardware to take into account different languages, age rating requirements and parental control functionality, as well as to ensure compliance with local laws in each region."
The device will see different hardware for Japan, the US and Europe.
It's an idea, certainly.
Also, it's worth noting that the words used are 'function properly' - no-one's said that they flat-out won't work. Nintendo could be referring to laws (so, for instance, a German 3DS may have a lock-out that restricts games with blood/gore in from working properly, since the German version will be edited), rather than direct lock-out. Again, it's an idea... though I'm probably wrong and it's a total lock-out that they're simply skirting around. :(
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Martin Mathers on 18th January 2011 1:08pm
any more bets on will Nintendo be able to block it on a update?
I sincerely hope it's not the case, to be honest. It seems a bit silly to region lock a portable device that you could quite conceivably take with you to other regions. In all, region locking in and of itself is quite backwards in such a global market - but at least with consoles and DVD players you're not exactly likely to be carting them around on a trip to the States.
If I were to go vacation somewhere in Europe for a week, it's incredibly doubtful I'd have a sudden urge to buy a new 3DS game. Buy the game when you get back home in a few days.
The volume of people this limits is being greatly exaggerated. Long term trips for business or educational may pose a problem but that's what import markets are for.
I'm sure I'm also not the only one whose main port of call when shopping, either on holiday or at home, is to check out the game shops either.
But that's all anecdotal anyway. The point is, it's a disruptive feature that makes even less sense on a portable unit than it does on its bigger brothers. Until now, Nintendo have avoided imposing this restriction on its portable systems and it would be rather unpleasant if they started with the 3DS.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Alex Winton on 18th January 2011 2:51pm
I actually had this discussion the other day with various games journo types, focusing on Oss! Tatakae! Ouendan! - yes, it came out as Elite Beat Agents over here, but it was a completely different game with (in my opinion) much of the charm lost, not to mention different music that wasn't as good (again, in my opinion). And rather ironically, if OTO hadn't been playable on western handhelds in the first place, I don't even think it would have got enough momentum here in the west to warrant a release...
Also, as Alex pointed out - if you're American and you come to the UK/Europe, then there'd be little point buying games since you'd most likely already have them at a cheaper price where you are. The same can't be said, however, for Europeans visiting the US, or any of us westerns visiting Japan.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Martin Mathers on 18th January 2011 2:55pm
For frak sake Nintendo stop being absolute asses for once in your lives!
And no more last-minute game purchases at the airport either....
We live in a global community now, region locking should be consigned to the past for all products be they games, music, films or TV.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Richard Westmoreland on 18th January 2011 5:57pm
The Japanese market comes up with many more of the kooky, interesting games that seem not to exist in the Western market, and are not converted into PAL versions; and whether you can read the language or not they remain popular import buys.
I suppose we will have to wait and see if it is merely, as someone has considered above, Nintendo warning of possible language barriers with foreign games. I think that unfortunately they will use this as an excuse to apply an actual region lock though, else why make the announcement at all? Obviously current Japanese games are also in a language we cannot (or most of us) understand, but they still work and the DS is not considered "locked". I agree with Richard, players can easily be region free these days and culture is much more global, theres no reason for actually locking a system.
Anyway i guess this goes against piracy as well...that´s where getting the games first always affected more. Still, i dont like it, but well...I dont think Nintendo is reading our thoughts here and ready to make changes because of it ^^U
"Nintendo has developed different versions of Nintendo 3DS hardware to take into account different languages, age rating requirements and parental control functionality, as well as to ensure compliance with local laws in each region."
Either way that`s just some very very cheap excuse or Nintendo has for EACH country a separate 3DS version, because we all know Germany has different age rating requirements and local laws as the UK. Given that Nintendo was able previously to make handhelds that are region free I would assume it`s the "very very cheap excuse" option.
Any bets on Hotz next target as long as he is still a free man? ^^
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Private on 18th January 2011 8:16pm
still a silly idea on nindentos part...
Good on you Nintendo,
If anything, If I was going to be getting the Nintendo 3DS just to play games from Japan that would never come out to Australia...then you guys have forced me into importing and not going with my local businesses.
But if it did come to that, I could at least get two 3DS's, one for Japanese games and the other for games that made it into Australia...
Unless if I also import the US version too...
Then there comes the power cable issues...and the issues between 50 amps and 60 amps difference between regions..
You know...All of this could have been avoided if you guys at Nintendo just made each 3DS compatiple to each region and each of the countries rating systems all in the same hardware/software compadability.
(Like...I can't play RPGs in Japanese because what about if there was this item I needed to get past this quest, and I won't be able to understand what item I would need...)
I can always get my Japanese music games and Visual Novels from Japan, but my anime RPGs I will have to get from North America when they get translated into english.
Sadly, allot of casual gamers who are new to this will hardly ever notice what they are missing out on.
ahhh....ignorance can be bliss...sometimes...
Industry needs a new methodology and fast.
If all versions were identical it might not be an issue. The problem is that everything from the box art to content may be different for different regions. For instance, take those different language versions. If a game is originally made in English, I don't want to be forced to play the game with a non-English version just because of stupid licensing issues or decisions to only release one language for each version. Language should be a choice, and not depending on what country you're in. Sometimes consumers have to buy several versions if they want to try the game out with different versions.
And look at the DVD/Blu ray market. Very often bonus features from region 1 releases are removed before they are released on region 2. Which results in people buying region 1 players (or make the DVD/blu ray player region free) even if they have original region 2 players just so they can import their region 1 movie. Complicated and time-consuming?
So in the end, region locks/encoding can't be justified entirely by the excuse that different markets have different prices on the same products. The products themselves are different.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Petter Solberg on 20th January 2011 2:11am
Please Nintendo, don't make this mistake. Also, please include the original language (Japanese or whichever it is) in all your games, with English subtitles when needed. There is enough space in the 3DS game cards. ;)