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[Cheesemeister]

Platinum Games Creative Producer JP Kellams posted on Twitter:

I’d love to see #NintendoRegionFree and every platform to #EndRegionLocking. Content isn’t about where you use it, it is how you enjoy it.

Awesome seeing such words from PG.

Happy to help out again, I'll write up a post on http://www.push-start.co.uk/ too. I also own a NonSpecific Action Figure facebook page with some significant likes, so that should help too.[/url]

Thank you!

 

[Rinaldimanc]

I hope Nintendo doesnt do something bullshit like end region locking on consoles but have the cartridges/cds themselves have region locking oooohhh I'll be pissed

 

[rmanthorp]

100% in! Let's do this!

 

[MegaMelon]

This will be awesome if it works. Being able to get japanese pokemon games and still be able to play them in English would be great for breeding purposes. I's time to put the pressure on Nintendo!

 

[nephilimdj]

I tried to be witty

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYQHAAABAACNUKEjP46k4w

 

[R_thanatos]

I hate region locking . Good luck guys with this one.

 

[Otakumegane]

Why is region locking important again? Is it a piracy issue?

 

[Jucksalbe]

Why is region locking important again? Is it a piracy issue?

No. It's usually to guarantee closed markets for publishers.

 

[zeromcd73]

As a person who likes to import Japanese games I 1000% support this!

 

[L~A]

I did my part.

 

[gngf123]

Why is region locking important again? Is it a piracy issue?

They do it to enforce price discrimination.

The idea is without it, people would just import the cheaper copy of the game.

 

[Soulhouf]

Go go go.
Nintendo is no longer in a position to argue with this.
We will win this time.

 

[nynt9]

Why is region locking important again? Is it a piracy issue?

One reason out of several is because imported games in Japan are often cheaper than local copies and publishers want to discourage buying imported copies.

Also regional censorship issues are a concern.

 

[Ricky 7]

Iwata said one of the selling points of the DS was that you could take it anywhere around the world and still be able to buy games for it. Then he region locks the 3DS. >_<

 

[Komo]

Why is region locking important again? Is it a piracy issue?

Apart from having regional pricing, a big issue is that certain titles sometimes don't get released in other regions, or if they do they can be very different in terms of content.

An example of this, would be Tomodachi Life. It's being localized to appeal towards each particular region it's being distributed in. The UK/EU release will have UK accents and references to European/UK culture, with the American accents and US cultural references presumably removed.

Living in Australia, and growing up around Americans for most of my life, I don't feel like I can fully relate to, and enjoy a UK/EU release of this game. I would feel much more comfortable owning an NA copy of the game, but since I have a PAL 3DS, I would have had no choice but to purchase the EU/UK release. Given the option to import it, I would gladly do so.

 

[maxcriden]

Not caught up on the thread, but has anyone hit up Jason Schreier to see if he'd be interested in writing about this?

 

[BY2K]

Here's my Miiverse post: https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAABnUYn04Aff-g

Made a tweet, signed the petition. Did my part.

 

[Napalm_Frank]

Oh, I'm afraid the region lock will be quite operational when future Atlus games arrive.

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

Did my part on Miiverse: https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAADRUqF_x1TVNA
I also signed the petition and followed the twitter page.

 

[Felensis]

Great thread, OP.

Twitter: check. Will also spread the word on Miiverse!

 

[Neo Child]

Signed the petition - always used to import my DS games back in the day... really dumb how they added this restriction to 3DS and Wii U ):

 

[RiggyRob]

Good luck with this. I did find it weird that Nintendo consoles weren't region locked in the past, and Sony & Microsoft don't region lock theirs, so there must be some kind of benefit to Nintendo doing it now that they aren't telling us.

Edit: By consoles I mean handhelds, I think the home consoles have always been region locked. Plus the PS1 & 2 and the Xbox and X360 were too. I wonder why they changed that policy now?

 

[Deadpool_X]

I love how people are so quick to toss around the phrase "anti-consumer" for anything a company does that they don't like.

OP, Nintendo region locking their systems is in no way anti-consumer. If they had a monopoly on video games and decided one day to hike their prices 300%, that would be anti-consumer.

You claim it has no place in a luxury purchase, but frankly, you knew the system was region locked before you bought it, yet you still bought it. That's on you. No one forced you to buy it.

 

[Magicpaint]

...I was just thinking that if this was a region free console (3DS), I'd have already played DQVII, SMTIV and I'd be looking forward to playing PQ as well. My brother is also visiting from the US but he has an American 3DS, so obviously we can't share games. Yeah, region locking is the devil. Nintendo stop being so ass backwards and shitting on your customers. I will never understand what tangible benefits this provides that can offset royally pissing off your consumer base.

 

[danielcw]

Why doesn't the campaign target the publishers?

 

[gngf123]

I love how people are so quick to toss around the phrase "anti-consumer" for anything a company does that they don't like.

OP, Nintendo region locking their systems is in no way anti-consumer. If they had a monopoly on video games and decided one day to hike their prices 300%, that would be anti-consumer.

You claim it has no place in a luxury purchase, but frankly, you knew the system was region locked before you bought it, yet you still bought it. That's on you. No one forced you to buy it.

Restricting what consumers can buy is inherently anti-consumer.

Region locking is exactly that in much the same way that blocking used games is. Except in my opinion, even worse.

Why doesn't the campaign target the publishers?

Because it is Nintendo's decision alone. You could argue that if publishers were to put pressure on Nintendo to change it something could happen, but I'm not sure enough of them would care except for some smaller publishers.

 

[Cheesemeister]

I love how people are so quick to toss around the phrase "anti-consumer" for anything a company does that they don't like.

OP, Nintendo region locking their systems is in no way anti-consumer. If they had a monopoly on video games and decided one day to hike their prices 300%, that would be anti-consumer.

You claim it has no place in a luxury purchase, but frankly, you knew the system was region locked before you bought it, yet you still bought it. That's on you. No one forced you to buy it.

"Anti-consumer" includes preventing an end-user from doing whatever they like with a product. Video games systems otherwise perfectly able to play legally imported games prevent them from running with region-locking. This is obviously done to jack up prices in some territories over others, a practice that you might call anti-consumer as well.

Why doesn't the campaign target the publishers?

I've added that to the to-do list!

 

[Xater]

I fully support this. I had some of my favorite gaming experiences importing games and on region free Nintendo handhelds. As a European I hate the current situation.

 

[Lanrutcon]

I love how people are so quick to toss around the phrase "anti-consumer" for anything a company does that they don't like.

OP, Nintendo region locking their systems is in no way anti-consumer. If they had a monopoly on video games and decided one day to hike their prices 300%, that would be anti-consumer.

You claim it has no place in a luxury purchase, but frankly, you knew the system was region locked before you bought it, yet you still bought it. That's on you. No one forced you to buy it.

And, as is always the case with these blatantly shitty practices, there are some gamers actually defending them.

Keep it classy.

Signed,
EU

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Living in Australia, and growing up around Americans for most of my life

The worst thing about this is until sometime in the mid-2000s the handheld Nintendo games in Australia actually were the US versions (this actually means the Animal Crossing Wild World and Let's go to the Ciry link does not work). Heck with Sonic Classics collection EB games were still doing this (so they don't work on DSi and 3DS as it is a DSi enhanced game).

 

[sixteen-bit]

Fuck region locking.

 

[Muku]

Might have to jump into this again. While yes, I have a Japanese 3DS now in addition to my US 3DS's... I'd kill to use my JPN one as my main. 3DS LL Charizard as my main 3DS? Yes, please. Still can't believe this is something we have to fight again.

 

[Anteater]

signed the petition

 

[walnuts]

I signed the petition long ago. Here's my post at Miiverse: https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAABnUYn04Uf8zg

Hope to win this time

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

I approve of this thread, I'm really glad there's no Ouendan sequel because I'd be forced to buy a JP 3DS for it.

 

[phanphare]

this doesn't really affect me right now but I yeah'd every post in the OP. hope they change it up for yall!

edit: also when did the web version of Miiverse get so good? it seems I can do anything except draw

 

[Cheesemeister]

this doesn't really affect me right now but I yeah'd every post in the OP. hope they change it up for yall!

Thanks for your support!

 

[Lokbob]

Still waiting for SMT IV because of this bullshit. Signed the petition and tweeted.

 

[Asbear]

I'm subscribing, but consider that having switched from Region-locked to region-free from GBA and GC to DS for instance, Nintendo probably decided to region lock the 3DS as part of a business strategy. All that importing can't be good in the big scheme of things and Nintendo probably took stats from last-gen into their reasoning behind the decision.

I'm thinking, they might listen, but they're not gonna turn it around in a current console generation since the rules have been set. They might open up Wii U 2 though upon seeing a bigger consumer-backlash.

 

[Linkark07]

Subscribed to this thread, liked on Facebook and following on Twitter. Region locking needs to stop.

 

[randomengine]

I never understood why so much passion for this. Could someone list the things one would be able to do without region locking that would make it so great?

The only thing I can think of is buying something in one region to play it in your own.....*shrugs* I don't see that as such a big deal that would require so much passion.

 

[Cheesemeister]

I never understood why so much passion for this. Could someone list the things one would be able to do without region locking that would make it so great?

The only thing I can think of is buying something in one region to play it in your own.....*shrugs* I don't see that as such a big deal that would require so much passion.

It's about the games that arrive in some regions extremely late or not at all. These are unserved markets; money is simply being left on the table. If the Wii U and 3DS were region-free like every other system on the market, those unserved customers would be free to buy additional games of their choosing.

See Shin Megami Tensei IV, Hatsune Miku Project Mirai, Love Plus, Taiko Drum Master, Dragon Quest VII & X, and so on.

Some games on the region-free DS like Ouendan 1 & 2 wouldn't have seen the success they did had region-locking been in place.

 

[Lanrutcon]

I never understood why so much passion for this. Could someone list the things one would be able to do without region locking that would make it so great?

The only thing I can think of is buying something in one region to play it in your own.....*shrugs* I don't see that as such a big deal that would require so much passion.

As a 3DS owner it would be nifty keen if I could play all the...you know...3DS games. It would be nice if the people who I paid for the handheld wouldn't arbitrarily prohibit me from playing games based on where I live.

I know right?

 

[Terra_Ex]

Signed the petition when it first rolled around, tweeted and will retweet again. This has my full support but I'm fully expecting Nintendo to carry on living in their own little world, ignoring their customers, The fact they never responded to the campaign directly last time was an act of extreme ignorance in my book. And now that I've done my part, I'll go back to "enjoying" the wait for SMT4... and Rune Factory 4 .

I never understood why so much passion for this. Could someone list the things one would be able to do without region locking that would make it so great?

The only thing I can think of is buying something in one region to play it in your own.....*shrugs* I don't see that as such a big deal that would require so much passion.

As a PAL gamer, my PS1 & PS2 gaming libraries (both locked systems) and subsequent enjoyment of those eras would be a fraction what it was had I not taken steps to overcome the region lock and imported the vast array of NTSC titles that never made it over to europe, steps that one shouldn't have to take. With their current standpoint, Nintendo has once again thrust its customers back into the dark ages of region locked gaming, a huge step back considering how interconnected the world has become and imo, a gross error in judgement on their part. Back then, just as with the 3DS now, certain regions are either missing out completely or having to wait months/years for numerous titles for an arbitrary reason. You might not care about the issue if it doesn't affect you (seemingly the prevailing opinion on GAF), yet once you've missed out on a few titles that you're really looking forward to you'll likely understand the frustrations of those that do care about the issue. Additionally, for a portable system that you can take with you on the go or while abroad the lock is doubly absurd.

 

[Hoagmaster]

https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAADRUqF_yZdg_A I did my part. We got to start somewhere, I guess!

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Thanks for bringing this back up again. Hopefully we can spur them to make an actual response this time.

 

[Spotty Ren]

I'm subscribing, but consider that having switched from Region-locked to region-free from GBA and GC to DS for instance, Nintendo probably decided to region lock the 3DS as part of a business strategy. All that importing can't be good in the big scheme of things and Nintendo probably took stats from last-gen into their reasoning behind the decision.

I'm thinking, they might listen, but they're not gonna turn it around in a current console generation since the rules have been set. They might open up Wii U 2 though upon seeing a bigger consumer-backlash.

Thing is, I don't think there are that much people concerned by such a practice. Most people don't care and are happy with what they have in their country, so I can get why it may seem pointless for some people.

Now, with that being said, why would they purposely restrict this minority of customers when they don't have that much impact on their sales? Heck, some games never reach some countries, so I think that would actually benefit them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure imports don't hurt that much, because the majority of people like to go to their local store or on a distribution platform and buy the game in their language.

Personally, I don't mind waiting for a game if it actually reaches my country, but I also like for the choice to be there in case the game never comes. And in my case, I'm actually forced to import my 3DS games.

 

[Scum]

I've done my part.

 

[LelouchViBritannia]

Nintendo are in a position where they are desperate to please their fans. I think we stand a much better chance now compared to last year.

 

[BY2K]

Nintendo has been somewhat listening to its fanbase in recent years. (Earthbound, Smash Competitive Community, Miiquality) so there is hope for this campaign.