5 ms·

It's a problem for Nintendo, believe it or not. My 13-year-old son saved up to buy a game now that we've relocated to Hungary - the chip wouldn't even load on

by Vivtek 14y ago

It's a problem for Nintendo, believe it or not. My 13-year-old son saved up to buy a game now that we've relocated to Hungary - the chip wouldn't even load on his American 3DS. Insane. Fortunately he got store credit, but ... why in the world?

arcatek 14y ago
Same here. I'm living in Quebec for the next few months, and I had to order the last Pokemon in Europe (and pay shipping, hurrah !) to be able to play. What's the justification ? "Region dependant features" (sorry ? you have to lock the hardware instead of enabling/disabling features at runtime ?), and "parental access" (well, I'm over 18, and I allow me to play. It doesn't seem enough in the Nintendo world, however). Really, region-lock sucks.
- vacri 14y ago
  The justification is probably licensing. The content owners may have separate exclusivity deals with different publishers in different countries.
w1ntermute 14y ago
Yet another win for piracy. It's amusing to hear people complain about all these things. It doesn't matter what country I'm in, my private torrent site functions without any problems.
- fakeer 14y ago
  Though it's not connected to the comment you commented upon but I recently tried buying some music at one of my country's leading online stores (Flipkart) and the MP3s (no choice of other formats) were of poor quality and without any ID3 tags or so. After almost a week's <me-customer support-me> game, I gave up and acquired the songs from TPB (or IPT maybe). This time there was no guilt :-)
evoxed 14y ago
I heard about this recently, iirc it's new to the 3DS. I was surprised, because in the past Nintendo systems have been pretty apathetic regarding regional restrictions. I have two Japanese DS lites which play fine (Japan and US games, others too presumably).
- SquareWheel 14y ago
  in the past Nintendo systems have been pretty apathetic regarding regional restrictions Not sure I'd agree with that. Even the snes/famicom used differently shapes cartridges to block importing.
  - evoxed 14y ago
    I guess it was just hearsay then. I'm not much of a gamer but my friends never seemed to have any complaints and I do recall mixing and matching now and again (though on what systems I'm going to be second guessing from now on). Apparently the Gamecube had region protection as well.
    - Lammy 14y ago
      Nintendo's home consoles have always been region-locked, via intentional hardware differences on the NES/Famicom, SNES, and n64, and via software means on everything newer. The Game Boy line and original DS (including DS Lite) are not region-locked at all. The DSi is regioned for DSi-enabled software, including DS/DSi hybrid software like Pokémon Black and White. The 3DS is region-locked in software.
    - enqk 14y ago
      Portable systems (Gamebox, GBA, DS) used to have no region locking.
      - oofoe 14y ago
        Nor should they. Up to the 3DS, I could play games from anywhere (I like Japanese games a lot). I have happily purchased three different generations of Nintendo portable machines and the software to go with them. I have not purchased the 3DS.

by Vivtek 14y ago

arcatek 14y ago

Same here. I'm living in Quebec for the next few months, and I had to order the last Pokemon in Europe (and pay shipping, hurrah !) to be able to play. What's the justification ? "Region dependant features" (sorry ? you have to lock the hardware instead of enabling/disabling features at runtime ?), and "parental access" (well, I'm over 18, and I allow me to play. It doesn't seem enough in the Nintendo world, however). Really, region-lock sucks.

vacri 14y ago
The justification is probably licensing. The content owners may have separate exclusivity deals with different publishers in different countries.

w1ntermute 14y ago

Yet another win for piracy. It's amusing to hear people complain about all these things. It doesn't matter what country I'm in, my private torrent site functions without any problems.

fakeer 14y ago
Though it's not connected to the comment you commented upon but I recently tried buying some music at one of my country's leading online stores (Flipkart) and the MP3s (no choice of other formats) were of poor quality and without any ID3 tags or so. After almost a week's <me-customer support-me> game, I gave up and acquired the songs from TPB (or IPT maybe). This time there was no guilt :-)

evoxed 14y ago

I heard about this recently, iirc it's new to the 3DS. I was surprised, because in the past Nintendo systems have been pretty apathetic regarding regional restrictions. I have two Japanese DS lites which play fine (Japan and US games, others too presumably).

SquareWheel 14y ago
in the past Nintendo systems have been pretty apathetic regarding regional restrictions Not sure I'd agree with that. Even the snes/famicom used differently shapes cartridges to block importing.
- evoxed 14y ago
  I guess it was just hearsay then. I'm not much of a gamer but my friends never seemed to have any complaints and I do recall mixing and matching now and again (though on what systems I'm going to be second guessing from now on). Apparently the Gamecube had region protection as well.
  - Lammy 14y ago
    Nintendo's home consoles have always been region-locked, via intentional hardware differences on the NES/Famicom, SNES, and n64, and via software means on everything newer. The Game Boy line and original DS (including DS Lite) are not region-locked at all. The DSi is regioned for DSi-enabled software, including DS/DSi hybrid software like Pokémon Black and White. The 3DS is region-locked in software.
  - enqk 14y ago
    Portable systems (Gamebox, GBA, DS) used to have no region locking.
    - oofoe 14y ago
      Nor should they. Up to the 3DS, I could play games from anywhere (I like Japanese games a lot). I have happily purchased three different generations of Nintendo portable machines and the software to go with them. I have not purchased the 3DS.