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Let's convince Nintendo to go region-free!

J

Jackano

Member
I also may be able to mail someone from Nintendo France. I will not have the time before this week-end, can we have until then something like a visual with select Miiverse posts compilation or selected tweets to show?
 
B

Bjoern the Smexy

Member
Vinnk said:
Question for the technically minded:

Is this something Nintendo could easily "fix" if they had the desire to via a firmware update or is the hardware actually physically different? I am pretty sure there is no major component difference but is there some kind of chip that would need to be altered?

For example to play US games on a JPN Gamecube you needed to have a switch installed. A boot disc would work, but not 100%.

Is this campaign is mostly to change Nintendo's mind about future products or to have direct swift changes?

I can't think that a firmware update wouldn't be able to remove the lock, in my mind any modern region lock is entirely software based, but I'm not a tech guy.

I want to bring this up on my podcast soon, but don't want to look foolish if I am missing any information.
Click to expand...

Bulbagarden said:
The evidence suggests that it's either in firmware, or that they at least possess the capability to bypass it on a hardware level with future games.

On the 3DS side, the upcoming Pokémon X & Y games appear to be all region game cards, including all 7 languages in every copy of the game. So either there's already a hardcoded "all region" setting that game cards could already be manufactured with, or they're going to update the firmware to support it.

For Wii U, the Gamepad's region lock is apparently in the firmware. If so, this implies that the console itself is probably locked in the same way.
Click to expand...

I'm actually PRETTY sure, that the region lock is done on a firmware level.
I'm from Germany and bought Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge when I was on vacation in Switzerland, because the game is indexed or banned in Germany and thus is not sold here.
Nintendo actually made the game theoretically unplayable as long as you have your console set to "Germany", giving out some kind of error when you try to boot it up, but if you set it to any other country than Germany, you can play it, no problem. Only downside is that you get logged out with your NiNID, but whatever.

Still, this makes me think that regional lockouts are done on a firmware level, as this game is still a PAL version, bought from a country where it isn't banned, played on a console of which the country is set to Germany, where said title is banned.

Sadly I don't have a US or Japanese game to test things with, just to see what kind of error pops up when I try to play it.
 
M

Maneauleau

Member
I have yeah all the miiverse posts. We need a very good miiverse artist to draw for this cause since drawings tend to be yeahed much more and therefore get more exposure.
 
J

Jucksalbe

Banned
Bjoern the Smexy said:
Nintendo actually made the game theoretically unplayable as long as you have your console set to "Germany", giving out some kind of error when you try to boot it up, but if you set it to any other country than Germany, you can play it, no problem. Only downside is that you get logged out with your NiNID, but whatever.
Click to expand...

Not true. I have my console set to "Germany" and can play the game without a problem. It probably has more to do with your system language. Try setting your console to "English" but keep your "Germany" locale.

Edit: Or it's different for the UK version.

Edit2: Maybe it really is, I mean people in Switzerland or Austria would have their console set to "German", too, and should be able to play their game without a problem.
 
T

Taker666

Member
danielcw said:
What? No.
How does region locking help prevent piracy?It directly affects piracy in the same way it affects legal game sales directly.



And as the Playstation 3 has shown, if a system mostly as all region games, and allows homebrew, then the smart people who help making piracy possible in the first place don't bother.
Click to expand...

It doesn't prevent it..but it makes things trickier.

If pirates are only able to emulate a specific game 1 to 1 as opposed to fully hack it (which is the case with the current Wii U/3DS devices)..then it means you can only pirate 1 region at at time as opposed to unleashing a pirated copy to everyone at the same time. It also increases the workload for those releasing the pirated software and increases the workload for them in regards to overcoming any blocks Nintendo puts in place for each specific region.
 
NekoFever

NekoFever

Member
There's no way an existing system gets made region free, assuming it's a hardware lock. This sort of thing will be set in the publishing agreement, and Nintendo can't unilaterally scrap that without getting the permission of every 3DS/Wii U publisher in every region in the world.

I mean the PS3 largely isn't region coded, but you can't put Japanese PS1 games in your US PS3 because those games were published under an agreement that they'd be region locked.

If publishers have the option to make individual games region free, that's a possibility. And if we get Nintendo's next handheld to drop it, that would be a great success.
 
R

Refyref

Member
I don't know how the Wii U and 3DS region locks work, but if they are anything like the Wii and DSi region locks, then they are entirely software based, and could be easily removed with a firmware update.
 
N

Nibel

Member
NingenJanai said:
Good luck trying to convince Nintendo about anything. We are still waiting for a decent account system.
Click to expand...

There was never such a campaign for a unified account system

Nintendo may not create the kind of games we'd love to see, but I think they still listen carefully when it comes to their policy and a big campaign could do something
 
L

Lightning Lord

Banned
Man, if Nintendo were to at least drop the region locking, I could import a 3DS XL color that I really want (black or silver). Figures the first time I would consider it, the system is region-locked.
 
N

NingenJanai

Member
Nibel said:
There was never such a campaign for a unified account system

Nintendo may not create the kind of games we'd love to see, but I think they still listen carefully when it comes to their policy and a big campaign could do something
Click to expand...

I don't know if there was a proper campaign, but it's something lots of people have complained about. And I'm pretty sure Iwata acknowledged it before the Wii U launch, they just haven't fixed it.
 
A

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
I'd prefer to convince them on working very hard on localization, more than region-free.
I prefer to have easy access to every game developed for the system I own in my own languare (or in English at least)
 
S

sixteen-bit

Member
Okay, I figured a visual would help sell this.
Feel free to copy and redistribute, add iOS and Android devicies, whatever. Spread the word!

2Ab7GAj.jpg
Click to expand...
 
J

JoeM86

Member
Bulbagarden said:
The evidence suggests that it's either in firmware, or that they at least possess the capability to bypass it on a hardware level with future games.

On the 3DS side, the upcoming Pokémon X & Y games appear to be all region game cards, including all 7 languages in every copy of the game. So either there's already a hardcoded "all region" setting that game cards could already be manufactured with, or they're going to update the firmware to support it.

For Wii U, the Gamepad's region lock is apparently in the firmware. If so, this implies that the console itself is probably locked in the same way.
Click to expand...

There is zero evidence of that. While the region lock is firmware based, there is absolutely no evidence that Pokémon X & Pokémon Y are an "all region game card". All we know is that they're including all seven languages on each card. There is nothing at all to indicate at this time that the game is actually region free.

I feel that you may be mis-interpeting the discussion of being able to communicate with players in other regions to be that you can play the games from other regions on your console.
 
F

fabricated backlash

Member
I can understand region locking media content. When dealing with 3rd party media providers there is so much stuff to consider, that it's just not worth going through the hassle... but games need to be region free. End of. I wish this movement the best of luck!
 
J

Jackano

Member
sixteen-bit said:
Okay, I figured a visual would help sell this.
Feel free to copy and redistribute, add iOS and Android devicies, whatever. Spread the word!
Click to expand...

I don't think anything with competitors visuals will earn us any points with Nintendo in this kind of buzz.

Something with Pikmins carrying japanese games to the west and eshop games to Japan could be fun :)
 
M

Meelow

Banned
It would be great if next week Nintendo not just only announced region free Wii U and 3DS but also announced a unified account system, that's the two problems people have with the Wii U and 3DS (Wii U needing more games as well but yeah...).

Since Nintendo is having their investor meeting, there might be a chance we could get another Nintendo Direct (to make investor's happy and somewhat).

...But I guess one step at a time.
 
M

masud

Banned
Lol Nintendo don't care what you think. I was with you on the Xbone drm thing but this is Nintendo you're talking about.

Nintendo.

Don't.

Care.
 
M

Meelow

Banned
masud said:
Lol Nintendo don't care what you think. I was with you on the Xbone drm thing but this is Nintendo you're talking about.

Nintendo.

Don't.

Care.
Click to expand...

Microsoft also didn't care as well, remember "Microsoft: PS4 won't make us change ANYTHING about the Xbox One" yet they did it.

When Nintendo here's enough complaints they usually change them, and if Nintendo changes this than it will tell people Nintendo does listen.
 
Caelestis

Caelestis

Member
This feels like such a different horse than MS with DRM. Removing region lock probably won't do much for Nintendo's sales and removing DRM for MS might. Hope it works out somehow, though. It's depressing Nintendo put that in when everyone else has abandoned the idea.
 
N

nckillthegrimace

Member
Caelestis said:
This feels like such a different horse than MS with DRM. Removing region lock probably won't do much for Nintendo's sales and removing DRM for MS might. Hope it works out somehow, though. It's depressing Nintendo put that in when everyone else has abandoned the idea.
Click to expand...

Right. I feel like a concerted effort to get a real account system would be easier because you can link Nintendo not getting your money to the dumb system they have in place. Like you can say that it doesn't make you feel secure enough to make digital purchases on the eShop. You could also point out that it's affecting Nintendo's third party partners; a lot of the blow back on Capcom for the digital Phoenix Wright situation is because of no account system. Further, the poor digital system flies in the face of Nintendo's increasing closeness with indie developers. It's something they have to change because it will lose them money. Hopefully someone can similarly demonstrate that region locking negatively impacts their bottom line.
 
Sojiro

Sojiro

Member
I would much rather do something, even if it is futile, than to sit here and bitch. Tweeted and posted on Miiverse.
 
S

Silent_Ocarina

Member
It may be effective to tweet Bill Trinen (@trintran) and JC Rodrigo (@JCDotface). Can someone confirm these Twitter accounts?

In any case, again, I think we should go after an account system as well. However, I don't know a particularly effective strategy to do so.
 
P

PVR

Member
I hate region lock and I hope this campaign can succeed, but I think we should demand a real account system first.
 
J

Just_myles

Member
Floex said:
I would care but honestly there isn't a god damn thing I want that is a japanese only 3DS game.
Click to expand...

I am inclined to agree since my Jp WiiU is a glorified karaoke machine with 0 (yes 0) games. I mean there are no games that I want anyway, but you never know eventually I may want to stop by at a gamestop and buy a game (once there are some that I want) and not have to worry about region locking.


So I did my part.
 
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