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Let's convince Nintendo to go region-free!

B

Bulbasaur

Banned
If I had to choose a favorite heartless multinational conglomerate then I would choose Nintendo for reasons many here would share. Still, I'm not going to just smile and not ask for some lube when the need arises.
 
B

Broken Joystick

At least you can talk. Who are you?
Lord Ghirahim said:
It's disturbing when people get so protective of a company. It's like a religion to them. At least there haven't been any game dev assassinations over "betrayaltons" so far.
Click to expand...

I've been debating the whole region lock issue a lot with people on Twitter and I'm not even kidding it's like there's a cult that think Nintendo do no wrong.
 
F

fabricated backlash

Member
Broken Joystick said:
I've been debating the whole region lock issue a lot with people on Twitter and I'm not even kidding it's like there's a cult that think Nintendo do no wrong.
Click to expand...

You have that on all sides though. The "year of the PS3" cult or even the people defending the Xbone DRM as beneficial... it's a tragic side effect of fandom...

Anyway, I can sympathize with media content being region locked (streaming services, etc) as especially in Europe we have vastly different legal frameworks in place, and to be quite frank it's not worth any ones time to solve those.

With games however there is no defence at all. The few people being able to read Japanese wouldn't really cut into any localization efforts anyway. If a company decides to localize a game, it usually gauges market demand to be relevant. The few Nerds that import games are so minuscule in this day and age, it's almost irrelevant.

Back in the PAL/NTSC days, it made sense, as TV/electricity standards were so vastly different that it made sense to region lock in order to ensure absolute compatibility.

These days it's merely an arbitrary restriction kept in place to skew global trade in favour of local trade.
 
S

sky

Member
Iwata said:
From some people’s perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we’re selling our products worldwide. There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we’re required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want.
...I hope that game fans can understand that the industry isn’t doing this solely out of business ego. There are some reasons behind it.
Click to expand...

Naw, that's bullshit. Region locking is a self-imposed restriction that is done 100% for marketing.
 
Lord Ghirahim

Lord Ghirahim

Member
fabricated backlash said:
The few people being able to read Japanese wouldn't really cut into any localization efforts anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I don't understand how me importing 428 and Time Travelers (or any game for that matter) could possibly affect localization efforts, that's beyond absurd. In the case of smaller Japanese releases, region-free hardware can net them an extra few thousand sales from overseas buyers.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
I like how that video argues that region locking is such a small problem and is an issue for so few people that... Apparently it can't be ever removed because it would have a huge effect on Nintendo and publishers.

What?
 
M

mclem

Member
Black Republican said:
to be fair to nintendo, Xbox One might only be as region free as the Xbox 360 (we dont know all the details), which some publishers blocked their games.
Click to expand...

Well, to be fair, I've often wondered exactly what the ruling was for PS3, too. We thought it was fully unlocked with no locking possible, and then P4A comes around. Suddenly it appears that a publisher *can* choose to release titles as locked on the PS3.

If it *was* entirely up to the publisher whether or not to release a region-locked title on PS3, how come so many publishers made different decisions between whether to release the PS3 version as region-free and whether to release the Xbox version as such; why were many titles locked on 360 but not on PS3?
 
D

DMG-01

Member
Silent_Ocarina said:
If people import Japanese games because they are not localized, that will reduce sales of a game in a region in the event the game really does get localized. This hurts me because it reduces the potential of games to actually get localized.
- This is actually the first time I've heard this one. I'm probably using the wrong term, but this sounds like a false dichotomy. You are giving us the ultimatum between region-free and more localizations when it hasn't even been proven that there is any correlation between the two. This is all hypothetical which, to my knowledge, has no precedent. On the other hand, we have very real situations where consumers are negatively affected by the presence of region-locking. Furthermore, this argument again focuses on merely importing titles that are not localized when region-locking affects more than niche importers.
Click to expand...

To be fair to WiiFolderJosh, I imported Ni no Kuni and Pokemon Black 2 without buying the localized versions and that's why both games bomba'd.
 
H

H_Prestige

Banned
mclem said:
Well, to be fair, I've often wondered exactly what the ruling was for PS3, too. We thought it was fully unlocked with no locking possible, and then P4A comes around. Suddenly it appears that a publisher *can* choose to release titles as locked on the PS3.

If it *was* entirely up to the publisher whether or not to release a region-locked title on PS3, how come so many publishers made different decisions between whether to release the PS3 version as region-free and whether to release the Xbox version as such; why were many titles locked on 360 but not on PS3?
Click to expand...
Both Sony and MS have confirmed region free. There won't be any exceptions this time.
 
C

Cheesemeister

Member
New media coverage!

Ars Technica
Atomix (Mexico)
Attack of the Fanboy
Cowboy TV (Greece)
Critical Hits (Brazil)
Cubed3
Eurogamer (Germany)
Explosion
Gamebug (Australia)
Gamechup
Gamekicker
Gameranx
Gamerzona (Spain) - 2
gamestitch
Gameswelt (Germany)
Gametalk
Gaming Vlog Network
Gamnesia - 2
HD Blog (Italy)
Kulture Geek (France)
Lazygamer
Leviathyn
Mii-Gamer
MyProffs - 1
MyProffs - 2
Nintendo Invader
Nintendo Teens
NintendoFans (Germany)
PCG Media
Polygon
QuickJump
Spieletester (Germany)
Sponge
Stevivor
T3 (Australia)
TechSmart (South Africa)
Turtletechie
WareGround IT News
Wii U News (Austria)
XGN (Netherlands)

YouTube videos!

Duxa7iva (Spanish)
GameSpot - 1
GameSpot - 2
KITT171
 
J

Jomjom

Banned
The only good effect of Nintendo so adamantly refusing to address region locking is that the hackers will be that much more motivated to crack it and implement region locking themselves.

Edit: Yeah I mean implement region UNlocking
 
G

gngf123

Member
Jomjom said:
The only good effect of Nintendo so adamantly refusing to address region locking is that the hackers will be that much more motivated to crack it and implement region locking themselves.
Click to expand...

Assuming you mean the hackers will remove region locking themselves - To my knowledge, this could have a downside as well. The most likely way hackers are going to open up the system and remove region locking is by essentially by bypassing the header checks, allowing the system to run code that hasn't been validated by Nintendo.

This'll open up homebrew, but also cause an increase in piracy. If Nintendo want to stop that from happening I think they really would be better off removing the region lock themselves.
 
M

Mr-Joker

Banned
KemoSabe said:
still no reaction from nintendo?
kind of odd since the 60hz virtual console issue was adressed by them...
Click to expand...

Giving European 60hz Virtual consoles games, which they still messed up with Super Metroid, and making a console region free is not the same thing. Nintendo is going to ignore this petition and refuse to make the Wii U and 3DS region free and the next system after that will carry on the tradition of region lock and so on.
 
M

Mr-Joker

Banned
gingerbeardman said:
Was F-Zero the only 60Hz game they addressed properly?
Click to expand...

Punch Out is in 60hz along with some other Virtual Console titles, however Kirby and Super Metroid have been teak slightly but they aren't the true 60hz version. Furthermore Super Metroid still has the French/ German subtitle and you can't remove it, though you can chose to change it between French or German
 
R

Raitaro

Member
Andrefpvs said:
You're right, that's a much better example!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it is actually. Didn't Demon's Souls game already have English texts in the Japanese version? If so, then at best that game proves that importing / region free consoles can lead to bringing the game to other territories, but not that importing leads to translation of Japanese only games I'm affraid. In fact, without it already having been translated, it might still have been imported but perhaps never translated after that (because the real fans already played to Japanese language version).

Again, I'm only trying to figure out how localization, translation and region blocking are related to each other in cases such as these. Please also see my longer previous post about Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents for another attempt at this.

And in case it needs repeating a third time: I DO support this cause!
 
R

Raitaro

Member
Silent_Ocarina said:
If people import Japanese games because they are not localized, that will reduce sales of a game in a region in the event the game really does get localized. This hurts me because it reduces the potential of games to actually get localized.
This is actually the first time I've heard this one. I'm probably using the wrong term, but this sounds like a false dichotomy. You are giving us the ultimatum between region-free and more localizations when it hasn't even been proven that there is any correlation between the two. This is all hypothetical which, to my knowledge, has no precedent. On the other hand, we have very real situations where consumers are negatively affected by the presence of region-locking. Furthermore, this argument again focuses on merely importing titles that are not localized when region-locking affects more than niche importers.
Click to expand...

This my point exactly! Although, I would focus more on the fact that because we don't really know how region locking and localization are related, we should be careful of the fact that the knife can cut both ways (i.e. region free systems can lead to more translated games due to them getting more exposure vs. that they can lead to less translated games because the real fans already import the Japanese version).

Famous examples like Phoenix Wright, Ouendan or Demon's Souls might seem to prove that a region free market leads to more localization, but when you look closer at all three of them, you'll notice they all have important caveats (PW having to be released twice on different systems in Japan before the West picked it up and spread the word; Ouendan getting a very different localised version in EBA; and DS already having English texts.)

In my opinion, as stated earlier, we need a thorough case by case analysis over the last 10 years to really have a clue about the correlation between region locking and localization, even though I am very willing to think that no region locking could be an improvement. You are fully right about the last part without a doubt though, importing between different English territories should be fully possible!

Edit: sorry about the double post.
 
boyshine

boyshine

Member
I wish a lot of people supporting this would think outside the "I want to play japanese games" argument. At my store we have a lot of customers that either just come to our country for work, or live here while their extended family is on the other side of the planet. I have several cases every week where people tell me they are buying a 3DS as a gift for children on another continent, and I have to explain to them that only european games will work on the system. While most of them still do buy it, it would make everything a lot easier for everyone if it was region free.
 
B

Brawly Likes to Brawl

Member
boyshine said:
I wish a lot of people supporting this would think outside the "I want to play japanese games" argument. At my store we have a lot of customers that either just come to our country for work, or live here while their extended family is on the other side of the planet. I have several cases every week where people tell me they are buying a 3DS as a gift for children on another continent, and I have to explain to them that only european games will work on the system. While most of them still do buy it, it would make everything a lot easier for everyone if it was region free.
Click to expand...

True, If the DS was region locked, I wouldn't have been able to import the English versions of Inazuma Eleven 1 and 2 from Europe. I think there were a lot of examples this gen were a game was localized but only released in PAL or NA but not both.
 
gingerbeardman

gingerbeardman

Member
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEXTMrcyA
zlCfzRCmyyEVBNteN1
 
L

L Thammy

Member
I'd like to thank all of you
Lost
Heroes who are supporting us in our
Dragon
Quest
VII
. Hopefully our message will get through to the
Brave
Company that we all
New
Love
Plus
, and this
SD Gundam G
Generation will be the one wherein region locking ends forever. Until that Time
Travelers
, keep your spirits up and press on like
E.X.
Troopers.

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV52E8cYHg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADbUV58mEtpmA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADzUV58oxYTzg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEXQp75rA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV52BunDoA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUYnVGiHEng
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYHkxtTQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58oOXymQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6m4bB37w
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6mvhx7cg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58VMugvw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV51wMAcVw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAD4UV51wsHFKw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADzUV58TIGIhw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAAYUKk9UpGvhg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58e-UrMg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6muxgeXQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUYnVI6381g
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAD4UV52DwycLw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6m1A7Ddw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6m4Zqmmw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58m8XtqQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYCJhE-w
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52ANULFQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52D82WGQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52ES3Udg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYFwhy7w
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6muufupQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52EuZA1w
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAD4UV52DYtaUQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADzUV58oCuytg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYHxofGg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUYnVR23_3A
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaWzfoPZZQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaWzfoeb0A
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52EIrPIA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADbUV58oVVOXQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaWzfnytYg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEXQqHzCw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6m2waO5g
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58oyOVxg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6mi94ZAw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEXQp95WQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAAYUKk9oOGE0w
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYGH6vvQ [?]
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52DLlBkg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEXQqyI8A
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEXC7PVDw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58gdSHxw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58mkMp3Q
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6mviWg-w
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAD4UV52Am5bnA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaWzaMYtdg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAD4UV52FHd4WA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV52CbZOkg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYFxhw9g
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaWzeqTRuw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYFxBppw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEXPwqL9Q
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52BtFoyQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaWzaKlc3g
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV52EG7eTg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58n2I7DA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV51-Nlnhw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUV52ETobeA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADzUV58pMl5eA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58UI_YiA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYIHAAABAADKUKFZLWxpjg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6m0OWRsA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADbUV58liGypw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUYnVI7Dmug
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV516EzJLQ
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV516E042w
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAAABUaWzXVNXbg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58e_Dt-g
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAADYUV6muvEeBg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADOUV51uj7cgA
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlX30VKYg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58kUSDFw
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAADMUKlYH89aTg
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABtUV58l_wF1Q
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAABnUYnVRfGj6g
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAABAAAYUKk9pWysLQ [?]

In all seriousness, I think some of these posts are outstanding. Some thoughtful points, some personal anecdotes, some great art. Great job guys.
 
K

Keyouta

Junior Member
All this media coverage is great. If anything, IGN's article on Nintendo keeping region locking has helped the campaign explode! The Miiverse posts are all great as well!
 
S

Soulhouf

Member
L Thammy said:
I'd like to thank all of you
Lost
Heroes who are supporting us in our
Dragon
Quest
VII
. Hopefully our message will get through to the
Brave
Company that we all
New
Love
Plus
, and this
SD Gundam G
Generation will be the one wherein region locking ends forever. Until that Time
Travelers
, keep your spirits up and press on like
E.X.
Troopers.
Click to expand...

Brilliant!
 
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