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In Japan, New 3DS 'Filters' The Internet, Unless You Pay $0.30 Extra

C

crazygambit

Member
OrbitalBeard said:
Seems perfectly fine to me.
Click to expand...

Really? I don't want to associate a credit card to a device I have no plans to make any digital purchases on.

Should be interesting to see what happens in regions not officially supported by Nintendo, like my country. I bet the filter would be impossible to disable.

I think this is a terrible idea, but it's not like I would ever use the 3DS to browse anyway.
 
B

bigkrev

Member
Also, ever since the PSN hack, I do not put my credit card into systems. I buy PSN credit via Amazon whenever I want to buy something on PSN, and buy Nintendo cards if I want something from the eShop.

So unless they allow for wallet money to be used, I actually can't activate this feature.
 
O

ocean

Banned
Kids are generally more tech savvy than their parents nowadays. My mom sure as heck wouldn't be able to enable parental controls on a DS, she's just not into tech that way.

I think this is a great move by Nintendo.
 
D

DMiz

Member
Jakoo said:
For how frequently I use the 3DS internet browser, this actually may be too expensive.
Click to expand...

This is how I feel about it, essentially.

While I understand that this is an important and pretty well-implemented feature for parents, as someone who just uses the 3DS for himself and doesn't really use the internet browser often (if at all), it just seems like a paywall for what should be a rather standard feature.
 
B

BlackJet

Member
Flame Lord said:
Didn't they do something like that with the WiiU too? It was stupid then and it's stupid now. I get tired of Nintendo constantly trying to "protect" everyone. They should have just put parental options on by default.
Click to expand...

It's as much about protecting Nintendo as it is protecting children. All it takes is a few kids caught with porn on their handhelds. Sensationalist news articles will have parents screaming, "I can't believe Nintendo would let this happen!", regardless of parental controls being available for them to use.
 
M

mclem

Member
shinra-bansho said:
I don't really see why ordinary software-based parental control schemes aren't the reasonable solution to the issue.
Click to expand...

The parent needs to voluntarily take an interest for those to work. This forces the parent to pay an interest - and, for that matter, gives Nintendo the ability to clearly indicated that they explicitly consented in the event of any attempted suing.

It's an issue I've wrestled with a few times - how do you do parental controls if the parents themselves are failing in their duty? At that point I suspect you or I would say that it's no longer Nintendo's problem, which is fair enough, but it does tend to be the case that newsrooms don't necessarily present such a situation in such a way.
 
G

grumpy

Member
bigkrev said:
Also, ever since the PSN hack, I do not put my credit card into systems. I buy PSN credit via Amazon whenever I want to buy something on PSN, and buy Nintendo cards if I want something from the eShop.

So unless they allow for wallet money to be used, I actually can't activate this feature.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, Nintendo's devices save your credit card details locally on your system and not on "the cloud".
 
J

jonno394

Member
What's the big deal? I had to go in to an Orange shop and show them proof of ID before I could have my adult filter taken off my phone.

As long as I can access walkthroughs while playing games then it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't be going on Adult Content using a handheld games system.
 
T

TheCongressman1

Member
Renzoku said:
How is a parental control setting with a password not good enough for this?

I mean, fuck it, it's 30 cents, but it seems so god damn stupid when there's other perfectly easy ways of implementing parental controls that everyone else uses.
Click to expand...

This is how I feel. What a round about way... Not really surprising I guess.
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
Zombie James said:
"Censor the internet? Sure, as long as it doesn't cost too much!" This sets a terrible precedent.
Click to expand...

Oh my god this isn't censoring anything. It's for parents. I honestly can't comprehend why any adult would use the web browser on a portable Nintendo device for anything.

If you think 30 cents is too much, fine. If you think they're handling this in a silly way, fair enough. But let's not get carried away here.
 
D

DSix

Banned
No companies has as much ambition as nintendo when it comes to being child-friendly, so I'm fine with this. Making their handled the default safe choice for parents is a good angle for them.
 
Shadow Broker

Shadow Broker

Banned
Mariolee said:
"Mom, Dad, I want to buy this cool new game for 30 cents if you register your credit card. With Nintendo, that's a name you can trust with your money! Is that alright?"

"Sure son!"

.....
Click to expand...

"Son" you're 30 cents away from not having a life, losing all of your video games/ toys, not being able to see your friends for a few months, and 30 cents away from having to hold up a sign to says "I tried to watch porn on my 3DS when the school buses pass in the morning". Do you still want that 30 cent game?

Not all parents who know nothing of video games are unaware of what can do what and for what price on their kids video game devices. I prefer this than having to remember another password.

The none gaming parents around me seems to know more about this stuff than I would expected them to know.
 
A

Air

Banned
Why would you even want to visit porn sites on a ds? Most people have smartphones or tablets and it would be much easier and more convenient to do it that way. I don't really see this as a problem though.
 
S

shinra-bansho

Member
mclem said:
The parent needs to voluntarily take an interest for those to work. This forces the parent to pay an interest - and, for that matter, gives Nintendo the ability to clearly indicated that they explicitly consented in the event of any attempted suing.

It's an issue I've wrestled with a few times - how do you do parental controls if the parents themselves are failing in their duty? At that point I suspect you or I would say that it's no longer Nintendo's problem, which is fair enough, but it does tend to be the case that newsrooms don't necessarily present such a situation in such a way.
Click to expand...
I don't think there's any legal liability on Nintendo's part provide parental controls are available. I don't even know if there's legal liability in the event there aren't any parental controls. Laptops and internet browsers don't come with mandatory locks as far as I'm aware, and I don't see anyone suing Dell and Mozilla. I can't recall if all Android and iOS handsets come with parental controls, presumably they do, but presumably they are opt-in.

The parents are as you note failing in their duty.

It just seems a very strange thing to do in light of pretty much all other modern electronic devices that seem to get by just fine without corporate mandated censorship.
lewisgn said:
Adults ignore these controls and then get angry when their child gets involved in something bad. The media jumps on Nintendo and say they aren't doing a good enough job.

This isn't some "get rich quick" scheme. They won't make very much money.
Click to expand...
They likely won't make any money and it's a trivial amount.

But if the real reasoning behind this is to protect Nintendo's image, then the cost should be theirs to bear.
 
G

giancarlo123x

Banned
Air said:
Why would you even want to visit porn sites on a ds? Most people have smartphones or tablets and it would be much easier and more convenient to do it that way. I don't really see this as a problem though.
Click to expand...
What if it's more than just porn? Sites with swear words, violence, etc.
 
A

Axass

Member
My 3DS is the LAST device on Earth I'd resort to to search for porn. Seriously this is a non-issue for anyone over 15 with no access to internet.
 
n64coder

n64coder

Member
I don't have a problem with this. I asked my kids if they used the browser on their 3DS. The youngest used it a few times to look up a game faq. The oldest one and myself never use it. So I don't think it's a big deal.

When I created a Microsoft account for my child and used her real birthdate, MS wanted me to use a credit card as a verification technique and I was charge $.50.
 
R

Rich!

Member
I live in the UK. This beats a phone call.

Also its the same procedure as what all mobile phone networks do here, without the 30p cost.
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Seems like this is a Japanese only thing. I recall some apps having this. Gonna have to read up on where I got it tho.
 
M

massoluk

Banned
You guys are joking about normal "parental lock" working right?
Normal parents don't know shits about opt out voluntary parental lock, asking for actual credit cards is much more effective a measure, regardless of how cumbersome the process is.
 
G

giancarlo123x

Banned
And I'm not bitching about the thirty cents since that is literally nothing, it's the principle. What stops Nintendo in the future for doing something similar with mature games, would people be alright with that?
 
M

moggio

Banned
giancarlo123x said:
And I'm not bitching about the thirty cents since that is literally nothing, it's the principle. What stops Nintendo in the future for doing something similar with mature games, would people be alright with that?
Click to expand...

No, but they won't so let's not get carried away.
 
K

koutoru

Member
Even if they were so inclined to, kids can find plenty of other internet enabled devices besides the 3DS that are not filtered, this is just done so nintendo can avoid those awkward stories of adult content on the 3DS that pop up occasionally.
 
N

Nostremitus

Member
I'm more than fine with this, I'm happy they did it. I hope they do it with every console from now on so that I can activate the online features without having to worry about it regarding my son.
 
nikos

nikos

Member
This seems like such a primitive way to disable parental control, not to mention you're paying to enable features.

I never use the browser on consoles anyway.
 
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