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Nintendo 3DS Region Code confirmed by Nintendo JP Support

Mafro

Member
JustAnotherOtaku said:
Ugh :(

So, fellow Euro-GAF who regularly import - which region of 3DS are you going to buy?
PAL 3DS. Purely because it's much less hassle if it breaks or anything. Hopefully it'll be hacked to be region free relatively quickly.
 

Lafiel

と呼ぶがよい
archnemesis said:
I don't mind importing games from North America, but I'm not going to buy a brand new system without warranty. I guess I'll either have to wait for someone to crack the system or miss out on niche RPG not available in Europe.
Yeah this is the main reason why I'm kinda hesitant about importing a US 3DS. Plus i generally prefer having the option to buy games locally as I'll be able to get games quicker then having to import every single game. (even if they get a WW release!). Let's hope it gets hacked in a year or so, where it will start becoming a bigger issue.
 

Vanille

Member
Balb said:
The 3DS is basically the anti-Game Boy in just about all of its principles.

Yep. Nintendo are really losing sight of what made their handhelds so successful. This is basically the end of an era.
 
Tempy said:
EU first, US later (depending on whether lots of titles get released in the US, but not in the EU).

I also wonder if regioning is up to publishers or whether it's mandatory.

The message was pretty clear in saying that it wouldn't play out-of-region games. This is the worst case scenario.
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
Totally expected, but still pretty damn sad.
Besides wishing hackers to find a way to circumvent the region locks quickly, I'd love to see the media raise a shitstorm about this and how it damages even the customers who don't actually import (it's a handheld, you're supposed to take it with you in your trips).
 
They can go and fuck themselves. Seriously, what is this shit...?!

Gaaaaah.... Now I need to buy two systems because they can't get one thing right...
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Expected and yet none the less irritating, another reason to stick with the original DS for a time to come.
 
Mailenstein said:
They can go and fuck themselves. Seriously, what is this shit...?!

Gaaaaah.... Now I need to buy two systems because they can't get one thing right...

Anyone being surprised by this region locking is baffling to me.

Oh well, guess this means this will be the hackers number one target.
 

Varjet

Member
Mailenstein said:
They can go and fuck themselves. Seriously, what is this shit...?!

Gaaaaah.... Now I need to buy two systems because they can't get one thing right...
Just according to keikaku.
 
Vinterbird said:
Anyone being surprised by this region locking is baffling to me.

Oh well, guess this means this will be the hackers number one target.
I'm not surprised, but angry nonetheless. I had some hope tho...
 

Suzzopher

Member
I wouldn't mind but in Europe we still are forced to import handheld games. PSP and DS have a large number of titles available in America or Japan that we just don't get. I want access to all the games available on a platform :(
 
What a ridiculous decision, since when has region locking ever discouraged piracy and hacking?

It's not unexpected though, Nintendo has always been keen to shoot themselves in the foot in a desperate attempt to maintain total control of their hardware. All they've done this time is give hackers even more reason to get custom firmware up and running as soon as possible.
 

peakish

Member
This just makes it all the easier to wait before buying the console to see what solutions will be available in the future and then deciding on region. A very, very small part of my DS library is PAL, the rest US and Japanese - I'd like to continue with that business.
 
A lot of posters are saying this is "dumb." I understand your frustration, but does this actually affect anything? I mean, DSi was region-locked. They raised the price on it above the DSLite, and the DSi still sold.
 
iamaustrian said:
blame piracy, not nintendo

At this point I'd almost think it'd be an issue with connectivity and online services, not to mention interaction between differently-regioned titles. Nintendo's very big on guaranteeing a consistent experience anymore, which can be extremely tricky when you throw localizations by third parties into the mix.

It was one thing when you could just throw a GBA title into your Micro and not worry about connectivity for the most part, the game pretty much started and stopped with that cartridge, and often multiplayer didn't work correctly between regions, but for the most part it was a wholly-delivered product. Now think about the average online-enabled game today. What happens when you buy a Japanese game, does it talk to the American online service, or the Japanese one? What about the reverse? Does the game's StreetPass mode work with the same game from different regions, will it introduce strange bugs or gibberish text? Cross-region compatibility introduces a need for a lot more testing, and a cost of development increase, and still may have issues with unplanned or late localization of products that introduce changes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm for region free all the way. But it does seem like there's a much greater potential for complications now that there's so much more system and network cross-talk going on.
 

Jonnyram

Member
Freezie KO said:
A lot of posters are saying this is "dumb." I understand your frustration, but does this actually affect anything? I mean, DSi was region-locked. They raised the price on it above the DSLite, and the DSi still sold.
Was DSi actually praised for anything?
 

hamchan

Member
Yep, well, time to take the 3DS off my buy list. I was gonna buy it at launch, probably at $350 here in Australia but not anymore until it's region free.

So pretty much Fuck You to Nintendo. Region free handheld gaming is fucking important, especially to people in Australia who get games a year after everyone else.
 
Azure Phoenix said:
What a ridiculous decision, since when has region locking ever discouraged piracy and hacking?

It's not unexpected though, Nintendo has always been keen to shoot themselves in the foot in a desperate attempt to maintain total control of their hardware. All they've done this time is give hackers even more reason to get custom firmware up and running as soon as possible.

Yeah, this will do nothing but encourage the hackers. It's like painting a big target on the system.

Rule #1: give the babies their bottle.
 

zigg

Member
This was pretty much a given. But it's still kind of amusing given my recent thoughts on the system:

1. I wasn't going to get a 3DS now because no impending software releases are interesting enough for me.

2. Someone (sorry for forgetting who) here had mentioned offhand that if they hadn't had a DS from day one, they would have missed out on Ouendan. So I was kind of thinking maybe sooner rather than later.

3. As it turns out, if the DS had been the 3DS I wouldn't have been able to play Ouendan anyway.

Soo...

Region locks haven't bothered me personally in some time, but all the same, I'd rather not have them. Post-Ouendan, most of the games I wanted were too text-heavy to import anyway, but the option was always nice to have just in case.

Guess I'm back on the "wait" fence for 3DS.
 

Foffy

Banned
All we need now are some interesting games published by Nintendo of Japan and Nintendo of Europe and it'll be like the Wii all over again!

Guess I'm going to have to hack the device, when one's available. Feels great, living in a digital stone age with region locking.
 

swerve

Member
Very bad move. A letter writing campaign is required.

I live literally half my life in Japan, half in the UK. Thanks, Nintendo! *Angry Face*
 
Jonnyram said:
Was DSi actually praised for anything?

Praised? Probably not. But it sold a bajillion units, so I'm questioning if this is actually "dumb" or "shooting themselves in the foot" or if this is just a small vocal minority that has no effect on Nintendo's bottom line.
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
Freezie KO said:
A lot of posters are saying this is "dumb." I understand your frustration, but does this actually affect anything? I mean, DSi was region-locked. They raised the price on it above the DSLite, and the DSi still sold.

DSi games are region-locked. However, there are actually very few DSi games.
 

Polk

Member
Vanille said:
Yep. Nintendo are really losing sight of what made their handhelds so successful. This is basically the end of an era.
What made their handhelds so successful? Tetris, Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and other N franchises. All are released worldwide.
 

duckroll

Member
Tempy said:
DSi games are region-locked. However, there are actually very few DSi games.

Very few DSi-exclusive games, yes. But if you only own a DSi or DSiLL, there are many DS games with enhanced DSi features which are also region locked for DSi units, but not normal DS/DSL units. The newest Pokemon for example is region locked for all DSi owners. :(
 

wsippel

Banned
Jonnyram said:
Balls to the wall stupid.
Iwata is getting closer to Yamauchi on a daily basis.
It truly is. While the region lock has at least some effect on 360, this is also a great excuse for developers like Datel or Team Acekard.
 

swerve

Member
Jonnyram said:
Iwata is getting closer to Yamauchi on a daily basis.

Nonsense. Yamauchi never let a poor-ish battery life, region locked handheld out onto the market.

Iwata is getting FURTHER AWAY from Yamauchi. Not in the arrogance stakes, in the smart stakes.

Still, give him a few years and he might work out where it all went wrong and the cycle will start again.
 

frameset

Neo Member
Mafro said:
PAL 3DS. Purely because it's much less hassle if it breaks or anything. Hopefully it'll be hacked to be region free relatively quickly.
I think i'll wait until it's hacked before I buy it. I don't think a region hack is going to come "relatively quickly" because of lessons learnt from the DS. There were so many games on DS that I was able to import easily that I don't want to go to a regionalised future.
 

Vanille

Member
Kulock said:
What happens when you buy a Japanese game, does it talk to the American online service, or the Japanese one? What about the reverse? Does the game's StreetPass mode work with the same game from different regions, will it introduce strange bugs or gibberish text?

It would talk to the Japanese service, as was the case with the DS. And the issues with StreetPass don't seem any different than those of local wireless.
 

mclem

Member
miladesn said:
lol, I won't touch the PAL 3DS even with a ten foot pole now, I was going to get it from States during my summer trip anyway! it will be cheaper too this way.

I was thinking about this, and I'm wondering if the EU system may actually be a better purchase than the US one. Looking at the DS as a benchmark, it does appear that EU seem to be getting a few *more* significant releases than the US are.

But then there's companies who are only likely to release in the US at best (Atlus springs to mind). Gah, decisions, decisions.
 

Nekofrog

Banned
Wow. Nintendo keeps making stupid decision after stupid decision with the 3DS.

That's not going to stop it from selling a gazillion units and be one of the best selling systems of all time, but they're still fucking stupid decisions.
 

swerve

Member
They wouldn't have wanted to put their most devoted customers in the position of having to choose a region of hardware to buy.

It must be entirely down to the piracy fight, which makes it an understandable decision business-wise, but a terrible decision for us. Horrible news.
 

zigg

Member
Jonnyram said:
Was DSi actually praised for anything?

DSiWare. And rightly so, from a game quality perspective. There are a lot of neat little (and some not-so-little) titles on the service.

It's part of why region locking hasn't bothered me personally on DSi. Again, though, just to be clear—I'd much rather have it unlocked, and that's why I'm back on the "wait" fence again.
 
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