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[Shito]

I've got someone else telling me that this April 1 thing is complete bunk, I think the person who posted it should back up his claims or clarify his/her statement.

Well, that is what we were told by a_certain_company's QA branch.
And that is what we started applying to our current projects. But I admit I haven't gone through the pages and pages of guidelines to check whether or not it was true: sorry about that, and let's hope I was just being wrong.

 

[falconzss]

Well, that is what we were told by a_certain_company's QA branch.
And that is what we started applying to our current projects. But I admit I haven't gone through the pages and pages of guidelines to check whether or not it was true: sorry about that, and let's hope I was just being wrong.

i pray for it being wrong. just bought a dsi a few weeks ago after saving up the money for it.
if this is true, i am glad that i imported the us dsi.
yet if this is true i am sad that this seems to be done without informing the public and of course it happening in the first place.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

I just realised something. There was a way for Nintendo to make the region locking worse on the DSi. Before the DSi boots a cartridge it undergoes an integrity check:

The integrity checking is there to ensure that the cartridge booted is a genuine licensed game cartridge. There is a whitelist stored in the DSi’s NAND, that has an entry for every DS game released, consisting of multiple SHA1 (How these hashes are constructed exactly hasn’t been confirmed) checksums for the cart header, ARM9 binary and ARM7 binary.

I hear you thinking, what about newly released DS games? How will they ever boot on a DSi without an update to the whitelist? Newer DS games come with a RSA signature in the header and so don’t need to be explicitly whitelisted.

They could have made it so each region used a different RSA signature header and each region came with its own whitelist.

Spoiler

We're not off the hook yet as I suppose in a firmware update they could add this "feature"...technically it wouldn't be the first time either since one of the Wii updates to MIOS blocked the newer version of freeloader for Gamecube (as the older ones were blocked on Platinum Gamecubes and launch Wiis).

 

[VOOK]

So the story expands people, EB Games here in Australia is now importing and selling US copies of DS games. In this case the game is Sonic Classic Collection and they're selling it (when it's not on sale currently) for $22AU more than a new copy.

So if you buy it won't work on an Aussie DSi or XL. :lol Don't let the picture below deceive you; that's a US copy.

Sort this shit out Nintendo, there was a 'every DS game will work on any console' rule and you stuffed it up and are confusing people.

Fix it.

US media people, can someone please step up and follow this up? No one here in Australia cares

 

[Somnid]

So the story expands people, EB Games here in Australia is now importing and selling US copies of DS games. In this case the game is Sonic Classic Collection and they're selling it (when it's not on sale currently) for $22AU more than a new copy.

So if you buy it won't work on an Aussie DSi or XL. :lol Don't let the picture below deceive you; that's a US copy.



Sort this shit out Nintendo, there was a 'every DS game will work on any console' rule and you stuffed it up and are confusing people.

Fix it.

US media people, can someone please step up and follow this up? No one here in Australia cares :([/QUOTE]

This article almost makes the argument that region locking is protecting gamers from EB's bullshit. Why in the world are they importing the game? Just to charge more? I'm confused.

 

[VOOK]

This article almost makes the argument that region locking is protecting gamers from EB's bullshit. Why in the world are they importing the game? Just to charge more? I'm confused.

Even if region locking wasn't the problem here and it didn't exist EB are still importing a game and selling it at higher than RRP. It's just the this one is region locked and they're flogging it onto unsuspecting customers. They're also robbing the local distributor of the game too of which they have a existing relationship with too.

They probably imported it because they could get it a couple of dollars cheaper than through the local source and combine that with the higher price = higher margins.

 

[Somnid]

Even if region locking wasn't the problem here and it didn't exist EB are still importing a game and selling it at higher than RRP. It's just the this one is region locked and they're flogging it onto unsuspecting customers. They're also robbing the local distributor of the game too of which they have a existing relationship with too.

They probably imported it because they could get it a couple of dollars cheaper than through the local source and combine that with the higher price = higher margins.

But how does that help them? Not only is it more expensive for the consumer (who doesn't give a shit where it came from) but the game won't even work in their systems. I imagine this is going to cost them a lot since they just spent all that money on games they can't sell.

In fact this kind of negligence could start a lawsuit (and it probably should).

 

[VOOK]

But how does that help them? Not only is it more expensive for the consumer (who doesn't give a shit where it came from) but the game won't even work in their systems. I imagine this is going to cost them a lot since they just spent all that money on games they can't sell.

In fact this kind of negligence could start a lawsuit (and it probably should).

If it wasn't region locked it would have help them because of the strong Australian dollar. But since it's region locked its bitten then in the butt.

That's the point, sorry if I was unclear.

 

[AzureNightmare]

There's this odd myth about Japanese Phantasy Star 0 not working with American or PAL DSi's. I would just like to say that myth is complete and utter bullshit. I played my Japanese Phantasy Star 0 on an American DSi, even went online with no problems.

 

[Conrad Link]

So was the Sonic game just a one of isolated 2nd hand copy? Or they had multiple copies of them/multiple stores?

 

[Rich!]

So was the Sonic game just a one of isolated 2nd hand copy? Or they had multiple copies of them/multiple stores?

All of the copies at my store (in UK) have a notice on the back saying they're region locked to UK and AU consoles.

 

[Conrad Link]

All of the copies at my store (in UK) have a notice on the back saying they're region locked to UK and AU consoles.

Nar I mean the one in the picture posted just above, the 2nd hand US copy found in Aus store.

 

[Yagharek]

All the new copies say they will work on UK/Aus DSi systems. All the preowned copies are from the USA.

I presume EB are importing in bulk because the Australian dollar is quite strong right now. They have to sell them as preowned though due (I guess) to deals with local distributors.

We can also prove this because of the added G rating sticker. Only a retailer would be obliged to add this. Any customer trading in a US copy of the game would see it go on the shelf with the American rating advisory instead.

 

[Conrad Link]

lol so looks like EB have been caught out unaware also just assuming all DS games will work on anything? :lol

Gonna have to go in to a local store here in NZ and see if its here too.

 

[Zing]

publishers who were deserting DS due to piracy.

What.

I don't understand people who are talking about how greedy Nintendo is, etc. You realize that all of their handhelds for the past 20 years have been region-free? Yeah, you know, those handhelds which probably single-handedly saved Nintendo's profitability and consistently been the most popular systems worldwide. But yeah, Nintendo is totally out to personally fuck you over.

 

[Wizpig]

I'm bumping this to ask if we have a list of DSi region-locked / DSi enhanced games.

Is Sonic Colours region-locked for example?

 

[wackojackosnose]

Play Asia says no.

Compare Colours to Classic Collection which we know is DSi "Enhanced".

 

[swerve]

Just got stung with this: the latest Mario Vs Donkey Kong is DSi enhanced and I clean forgot that'd mean I CAN'T PLAY IT. Christmas cancelled.

It's already too late to stop this from happening on 3DS I fear, but I must try. Somehow.

 

[Somnid]

Just got stung with this: the latest Mario Vs Donkey Kong is DSi enhanced and I clean forgot that'd mean I CAN'T PLAY IT. Christmas cancelled.

It's already too late to stop this from happening on 3DS I fear, but I must try. Somehow.

Really? Does it have any DSi features? I would have been hit by this too.

 

[red shoe paul]

Must be bootleg or something cause seriously every region for Sonic Classic Collection is TWL. Also carts usually have a longer serial than that as well as the country code at the end.

Example:

TWL-VSOE-USA USA
TWL-VSOV-AUS Australia
TWL-VSOV-EUR Europe

 

[swerve]

Really? Does it have any DSi features? I would have been hit by this too.

Doesn't appear to have any DSi features, but it's a TWL card and it won't show up on the DSi menu.

Which is a great shame. There *needs* to be a way of us stopping this happening for the next 5 years of 3DS.

 

[DonMigs85]

Nintendo has to think of the children. What if some French kid is vacationing in America, buys a DSi-enhanced game and it doesn't work? Even more heart-wrenching if it's a game not available in Europe.

 

[zigg]

Doesn't appear to have any DSi features

WPA?

 

[swerve]

Ah, yeah I guess it has WPA. That's a shitty trade, though.

 

[Wizpig]

Just got stung with this: the latest Mario Vs Donkey Kong is DSi enhanced and I clean forgot that'd mean I CAN'T PLAY IT. Christmas cancelled.

It's already too late to stop this from happening on 3DS I fear, but I must try. Somehow.

Daaaaaamn. with no DSi features? fuck.

 

[VOOK]

Must be bootleg or something cause seriously every region for Sonic Classic Collection is TWL. Also carts usually have a longer serial than that as well as the country code at the end.

Example:

TWL-VSOE-USA USA
TWL-VSOV-AUS Australia
TWL-VSOV-EUR Europe

If you're referring to my copy of Sonic, it came from Sega themselves.

 

[M3d10n]

Expect every DS game with online features to be DSi enhanced in order to use the better DSi's wifi (which actually makes them usable, since nobody uses WEP on their routers anymore).

 

[ryūkotsusei]

Thanks Vooks for the article, but this image:

My head hurts. What bothers me is that "Nintendo DSi-compatible" means DSi-enhanced games. I was under the impression this meant anything compatible with the DSi, but the North American DSi XL manual on page 69 contradicts this.

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

Sorry for the necro-bump, but I was going to buy a copy of this game today in Canada, and remembered this thread, and checked the code on it, and it was NTR-something-CAN. Did Canada get a non-DSi enhanced printing of this? I kinda wanted the TWL one, as I'd be playing it on a 3DS, and it's supposed to run better, right? Does anyone have this Canadian copy to verify if it is indeed not region locked/DSi enhanced?

 

[jooey]

Sorry for the necro-bump, but I was going to buy a copy of this game today in Canada, and remembered this thread, and checked the code on it, and it was NTR-something-CAN. Did Canada get a non-DSi enhanced printing of this? I kinda wanted the TWL one, as I'd be playing it on a 3DS, and it's supposed to run better, right? Does anyone have this Canadian copy to verify if it is indeed not region locked/DSi enhanced?

That seems like a big leap of faith in logic to take.

 

[Mega Man's Electric Sheep]

well it does seem unlikely that canada got a different non locked/non-enhanced version, but the NTR is in plain sight on the front and on the back by the barcode....I thought they would say TWL if dsi enhanced

 

[jooey]

I retract what I said anyway, since I didn't read enough to see that it was a TWL in America.