The 3DS May Be Region Coded

[TFWTH]

Yep.

Of course quite a few of you might not know what this means, but it will completely halt importing for the console, which was actually quite popular on the previous DS systems, because of all the cool little games that were only released in Japan (Ouendan is the most prominent in my mind).

For me, and no doubt countless other European gamers, it also allowed us to get around the horrid release date scheduling. This is my primary concern, since, well, I hate waiting for great games, which are already in English nonetheless, just "because". I can see Paper Mario (my most anticipated 3DS game) getting some sort of several-month-long wait until it is released over here. And it'll annoy me. Much so.

Granted, Nintendo has been much better with the release date schedules these days (Black and White are coming out in Europe BEFORE America which blew my mind a little) but I really don't want to take my chances.

Honestly, if they turn around and say "Paper Mario US - 4th April UK - 5th July" I will import an American 3DS, adaptors and all.

Oh and to further prove my point that region locking is moronic, the entire reason Elite Beat Agents was made was because a lot of western gamers imported Ouendan. What it basically means is that Nintendo is not only leaving out some customers (especially the ones who import Japanese games and buy the English version later on), but they're cutting down a marketing strategy in the process.

And to some of you this may seem like inane rambling and in a way it is.

And maybe it'll turn out to be false and I'll be happy. But who knows.

 

[Mikau94]

NOOOOOOOO! That was one thing I loved about the Gameboys and DS. I don't understand region locks, I don't want to be limited to games that come out in my area.

 

[Arkatox]

I think Nintendo is primarily releasing stuff in America first because that's where they get the most buyers. >.<

I think they should just release stuff at the same time in all regions.

 

[ケンジ]

This one I was expecting to happen sooner or later.

I noticed this with the Japanese Pokemon black and White, them being also region locked. To me, it does not matter if the games are region locked or not, cause I have one Japanese DS and one English DS. Currently I have an English DSi and a normal DS Lite. I could buy a Japanese 3DS, but that's me buying it because sooner or later, I'm gonna live in Japan. In any case, Games being region locked is bad for those who import the games, but the way I see it, It's a good move. The reason could be for those who love to hack into the games in order to either unlock cheats, glitches or make patches and apply them to a game. That and I think Nintendo wants to concentrate on areas where they monitor their sold goods more properly.

 

[zeypherlink]

Meh, so is the Wii. Not a big deal really unless you like to import Japanese-only games.

 

[MrLuigi]

I thought about importing a Japanese DSi before it launched. I really couldn't decide if I really wanted one though. I'm glad I got the American version though, it's supposedly less buggy than the Japanese version.

 

[Smitie]

Region locks can be so annoying. Not that I import games from Japan, but this region lock forces me to buy games in Europe. I can understand that it protects the market in the region, but they shouldn't have such ridiculous differences for each region. As European I have to wait longer for games because of the stupid french/german and 'every other silly language that I can't read' translations while the version for the Netherlands stays English. I also have to pay more for the same game thanks to the euro. For example a brand new pokemon heartgold for the DS is $39.99 dollar at gamestop in the US, while it is €39.99 euro in the Netherlands. Why do I have to pay $11,79 extra for the exact same game, the only difference being that I haven't bought my game in the US? If they just make the price exactly the same for every country and have almost the same release date (and not over a year later like Phoenix Wright 3, that came after Apollo Justice here >.<), I don't mind region locks. As long as the differences between regions are not fixed, I don't think it is fair to force people to pay more money and wait longer for the same game by using a region lock.

 

[Petman1325]

Considering the raw power of the system in comparison to the DS when it came out, I wouldn't be suprised if region locking happened. However, region locking is extremely rare on portable consoles. Game Boy didn't have it, neither did the Game Boy Advance or DS. The DSi did have region locking for store prices, but we know region locking well on the actual consoles all the way from the NES.

Honestly, after looking at each and every single 3DS game there, I'd say each one would be worth the wait (one I'm somewhat referencing is Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle, which we don't get until we get Professor Layton and the Specter Flute). I haven't really had a situation in which region locking annoyed me because I typically don't import games from other countries. I could see why Europe and the currency exchange (remember, the Wii was $300 in Japan and $250 in the U.S.) makes people want to import the titles, however. I guess it depends more on the person, but if it's something like Professor Layton where 3/4 of the game is nothing but voice acting, then you might have a problem.

 

[TFWTH]

My main gripe is that English speaking countries are forced to wait for a game which is already in English. For example, the UK doesn't even have Kirby's Epic Yarn yet, a game which doesn't even have that much to translate.

And don't get me started on the wait for Brawl. I purposefully imported an American Wii because it was just ridiculous.

So yeah, why the UK, Australia, and other English speaking places can't get games at the same time as their American counterparts is beyond me. Australia doesn't even have the problem of having multiple languages, and for that matter, Canada gets games at the same time as the US, most of the time with English AND French. The only excuse I can find is "Oh well it has to be 50hz over here", but that problem became nonexistent as soon as PAL TV's began accepting 60hz input. Something like 10 years ago.

It just makes no sense.

And yeah, maybe I'm impatient, but I don't see how that's a problem, I'm sure people would be annoyed if it took upwards of 3 months for a movie released in America to get released in the UK, or vice versa. It's just making people wait for something they want for no real reason whatsoever.

Plus it's not just UK gamers who don't get US games, it works the other way too. You guys can't get Last Window or Another Code: R (the Wii sequel to Trace Memory) unless you import (and with the latter, you have to have a PAL Wii). Not big releases, sure, but that's the sort of thing we're dealing with here but on a much larger scale.

And another problem I see is that Nintendo is taking a step back with this. The PS3, PSP, and even the 360 (occasionally) are not region locked. The Wii is. They were onto a good thing with the Gameboy series (Warioware Twisted never came out in the PAL region for some reason), and while piracy is ripe on the DS, there are much better ways of combating it (like, I dunno, system updates. Which the DSi and 3DS will have).


So yeah... Stupid move Nintendo.

EDIT: Oh and if people are wondering whether or not older DS games will play on it, chances are they will, since they weren't built with region coding installed. I've played British, American and Japanese games on my DSi with no problems, so yeah.

 

[Arkatox]

I've never imported games before, or ever considered it. I don't see region coding as a problem.

 

[Raven]

It is region locked... but the upside is that some games will have worldwide online multiplayer, not that those two things have much in common but still.
also this might discourage used game sales, which would be a great thing for Nintendo and a terrible thing for consumers.

 

[Y2K3]

I've never imported games before, or ever considered it. I don't see region coding as a problem.

This is how I feel. I wouldn't import a game from Japan, because I'd like to be able to read it, and the American and European release dates are not usually all that far apart.
Still, it can be a pain at times. Not that it was a video game, but when I was over in Europe there were DVDs that I really wanted to buy, but being region locked, I couldn't.

 

[blubb]

I think this is a really stupid and completely unnecessary thing. In our age of globalization where I can instantly communicate with someone 10000s of miles away even with video and where many international institutions such as EU, UN, ISO... are trying to standardize things worldwide or at least in one bigger region (like measurement systems, plug types etc.) this is a huge step backwards, Nintendo!
Back in the 80s and 90s where things like PAL and NTSC still mattered (nowadays almost all modern TVs can handle both and the new HD definitions have the same standardized resolutions, frequencies etc. worldwide) I could still understanded why different consoles were actually needed to work, but nowadays this is just wasted programming and engineering potential.
I don't see the motivation behind that either? Reducing piracy? Firstly the regions are still large enough with hundreds of million people in them so that it doesn't make much of a difference. And if someone were to extract ROMS and write emulators, it'd probably be compatible with all versions anyway, even now already Dolphin can handle Gamecube and Wii games from all regions. So IMO it rather encourages piracy, because if one can't play a JP/US game in Europe because it doesn't get released/released much later and a genuine game from the other region won't work on the respective 3DS, then 1) Nintendo has succesfully avoided profit they could've made and 2) that person is likely to download a ROM and play it on an emulator instead (or with some hacking make a "homebrew" cartridge which will work on the 3DS).
Or are they maybe trying to sell multiple consoles to the same person so that's the only way they can play all games? Who would do that? Nah, I still don't get it.
Edit: IMO The reason of different release dates is just marketing anyway. First they release the game in JP and analyse how their marketing campaign worked/how the game caught on and which marketing move attracted most of the players. Then they do the same in the US and see if it worked. And since the US and EU are culturally similar, they further refine their marketing for the EU and release the game even later. Also, this might've been important in the 80s and 90s, but nowadays customers get most of their information from the internet anyway, so if a game has already been released in the US but not here, it's very likely that potential costumers from Europe read reviews/talk to others who have the game etc. (most Europeans speak/understand enough English for that purpose, if not then the information will spread in local language forums/blogs anyway) so the importance of having different marketing campaigns isn't that high anymore.

 

[MarioBr1]

You could just use hacks to play imports btw. I haven't because I don't import.

It is region locked... but the upside is that some games will have worldwide online multiplayer, not that those two things have much in common but still.
also this might discourage used game sales, which would be a great thing for Nintendo and a terrible thing for consumers.

Don't we have that already? Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart DS, etc?

 

[basement24]

I don't see this as an issue for me personally at all since I've never imported a game before. I've been told that these region codes are frequently used now to help clamp down on piracy, so I can see why the implementation of them are happening for the new system. It also stops people buying games prematurely from overseas sources I suppose, but really a purchase is a purchase if it's a legitimate one. Maybe it's just to aid in number crunching for legit sales?

Really in the end, I can be patient and wait a few weeks, or even a month or two to play a game that I don't have to worry about having shipped to me and it's partially in a language I don't understand. I heard someone disappointed on another forum that they would be importing the Japanese Professor Layton 3DS title, but couldn't read Japanese. So I guess they haven't played that series much, as the last three N.American titles have had a line of dialogue or two.