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Thread: Region free Wii was a mistake

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven W View Post
    £43? I thought they were only £12.99 on Play. Which controller is it you're talking about?
    So they are. I've been misinformed...
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nick View Post
    Guys, can I just ask what's so bad about region locking in the context of the Wii?

    If it's becuase you want to play the latest Wii game as soon as it's launched in the US, then I have to ask just how long you think the time difference between a US and EU launch is, because, on average, it's two weeks... So not all that long, eh?

    If it's to play the latest Japanese version, well, have you ever tried the Jap version of Zelda? It's a bit unplayable unless you can speak and read Japanese...

    Sure, for action games like Red Steel, I can see the point but I still fail to see why region locking is really that big an issue.

    If it's a price thing, how many of you can honestly say that you regularly import US games for your PCs because of price? It's just not worth the hassle and the shipping costs often make it only marginally cheaper...

    Just my tuppence..
    I think its the principle aswell TBH
    Region locking is protectionism and allows the manufacturers to abuse us here in Europe.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven W View Post
    £43? I thought they were only £12.99 on Play. Which controller is it you're talking about?
    A 2nd complete controller is ~£40 (Wiimote & Nunchuk)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nick View Post
    Guys, can I just ask what's so bad about region locking in the context of the Wii?

    If it's becuase you want to play the latest Wii game as soon as it's launched in the US, then I have to ask just how long you think the time difference between a US and EU launch is, because, on average, it's two weeks... So not all that long, eh?

    If it's to play the latest Japanese version, well, have you ever tried the Jap version of Zelda? It's a bit unplayable unless you can speak and read Japanese...

    Sure, for action games like Red Steel, I can see the point but I still fail to see why region locking is really that big an issue.

    If it's a price thing, how many of you can honestly say that you regularly import US games for your PCs because of price? It's just not worth the hassle and the shipping costs often make it only marginally cheaper...

    Just my tuppence..
    It's the US one really for me - for example gamecube games in the states are only 20 dollars now, yet they're still 35 quid in the UK. 20 dollars =~ 10-12 quid, well under the threshold for import duty so you've just got shipping at around 6 dollars. Total price =~ 15 quid, still well under half the price of getting them in the UK.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nick View Post
    Guys, can I just ask what's so bad about region locking in the context of the Wii?
    I know that there a number of quality games for the Saturn that never saw the light of day over here, and I'm glad I had mine chipped.
    There are also some games released in the US for the Playstation that aren't available over here that I'm interested in... it's just quite annoying that they choose to limit our choice like this.

    But for some reason, they don't region-lock handheld consoles?

  6. #22
    No more Mr Nice Guy. Nick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    It's the US one really for me - for example gamecube games in the states are only 20 dollars now, yet they're still 35 quid in the UK. 20 dollars =~ 10-12 quid, well under the threshold for import duty so you've just got shipping at around 6 dollars. Total price =~ 15 quid, still well under half the price of getting them in the UK.
    True, the UK IS pricier, but it's the old PITA/saving equation.

    If you get an import Wii you're tied to importing the games. If you chip it, you've just invalidated the warranty on £180 pounds worth of kit... plus there's the cost of the actual chipping... IF they ever manage it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dareos View Post
    "OH OOOOHH oOOHHHHHHHOOHHHHHHH FILL ME WITH YOUR.... eeww not the stuff from the lab"

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    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nick View Post
    Guys, can I just ask what's so bad about region locking in the context of the Wii?

    If it's becuase you want to play the latest Wii game as soon as it's launched in the US, then I have to ask just how long you think the time difference between a US and EU launch is, because, on average, it's two weeks... So not all that long, eh?

    If it's to play the latest Japanese version, well, have you ever tried the Jap version of Zelda? It's a bit unplayable unless you can speak and read Japanese...

    Sure, for action games like Red Steel, I can see the point but I still fail to see why region locking is really that big an issue.

    If it's a price thing, how many of you can honestly say that you regularly import US games for your PCs because of price? It's just not worth the hassle and the shipping costs often make it only marginally cheaper...

    Just my tuppence..
    a lot of good games never get released in the UK. i've recently finished re-playing an illegal, warezed SNES ROM of a Squaresoft RPG which was only ever released in the USA and Japan - and it's without a doubt their finest work. once upon a time region locking was a neccessity for technical reasons (e.g. 50Hz/60Hz, differing resolutions, etc) but it's now only in place for market-control reasons.

    ever bought a DVD abroad, and gone "oh well, i don't see a problem" at being unable to play it on a region 2 (UK) player?

  8. #24
    Beard hat ftw! steve threlfall's Avatar
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    The problem is Nintendo said the Wii would be cheap and region free on several different occasions. Now it appears that neither of these statements were true. I'l still get one but it is annoying.

  9. #25
    No more Mr Nice Guy. Nick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    once upon a time region locking was a neccessity for technical reasons (e.g. 50Hz/60Hz, differing resolutions, etc) but it's now only in place for market-control reasons.
    I agree. But then, if you had a gloabl market place, wouldn;t you want some control over the content?

    Don't forget that even game written in the US, regardless of games written in Japan, still need localisation before release. Sure, the US to UK localisation is a minimal cost but take a Japanese game. Re-doing the dialogue, the text etc takes a lot of time... depending on the game, the actual code may well have to be re-written at to accomodate unfamiliar foreign character sets. Given that my game is going to need MORE money spending on it before it's released in a foreign country, I'd want to make sure I wasn't losing sales prior to an official launch or it's just not worth bothering...

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    ever bought a DVD abroad, and gone "oh well, i don't see a problem" at being unable to play it on a region 2 (UK) player?
    Nope. Why would I? My DVD player is back in the UK... why would I want to buy a German over dubbed version of a film I can get in English back at home?

    And finally....

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    a lot of good games never get released in the UK. i've recently finished re-playing an illegal, warezed SNES ROM of a Squaresoft RPG which was only ever released in the USA and Japan - and it's without a doubt their finest work.
    Sorry Hex, but this is no different from the previous arguments in this thread about not being able to get a game on the Saturn.

    What you're saying is that you don't like the region locking on this NEW machine because you couldn't play a game on the SNES, which is like, 13 years old? Sorry dude but there's no logic in that.

    Markets change, demographics change and the world is much more of an open market to manufacturers than it was before.

    In fact, would anyone like to chip in with an example of a Wii game that's coming out in the US and Japan and NOT in the UK?
    Quote Originally Posted by Dareos View Post
    "OH OOOOHH oOOHHHHHHHOOHHHHHHH FILL ME WITH YOUR.... eeww not the stuff from the lab"

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    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nick View Post
    In fact, would anyone like to chip in with an example of a Wii game that's coming out in the US and Japan and NOT in the UK?
    they're crappy examples, but comparing http://ms.nintendo-europe.com/wii/?s...es.html&l=enGB to http://wii.nintendo.com/games_list.html yields:

    Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
    Elebits
    Ice Age 2
    Metal Slug Anthology
    Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
    Prince of Persia
    Rampage: Total Destruction
    Rapala Tournament Fishing
    Sidewinder
    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    The Barnyard
    The Godfather
    The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
    Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent

    i haven't tried running the same comparison with Japan, and the list obviously contains a lot of **** - but the number is >0 (and includes some titles i like the sound of, such as elebits)

  11. #27
    No more Mr Nice Guy. Nick's Avatar
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    Which proves my point really...

    But Splinter Cell and The Godfather... I'll chase them up tomorrow...
    Quote Originally Posted by Dareos View Post
    "OH OOOOHH oOOHHHHHHHOOHHHHHHH FILL ME WITH YOUR.... eeww not the stuff from the lab"

  12. #28
    But Why's It So Cold?. jon bda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    i've recently finished re-playing an illegal, warezed SNES ROM of a Squaresoft RPG which was only ever released in the USA and Japan
    Chrono Trigger?.

  13. #29
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jon bda View Post
    Chrono Trigger?.
    good guess

    my point isn't about old games (though i'm willing to take cash bets that should CT appear on Virtual Console, us yurpeans will be excluded from it)

    there *will* be games for wii that don't get released in the UK and are worth having

    hell, mr. haywood here is ignoring the lack of "Katamari Damacy" in the UK, despite his glowing review of the sequel

    good games sometimes don't get UK releases. in a world where i can buy things globally, from music to wives, i think an arbitrary "sorry, we don't like you, feck off" is somewhat harsh. nobody would have cared about this topic if there hadn't been rumblings about the machine being multi-region - it's the sonyesque backtracking that really annoys

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    hear hear

    even if you aren't interested in the titles (listed) not receiving a european release, there will be people who are for whom this will make a difference

  15. #31
    No more Mr Nice Guy. Nick's Avatar
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    Hehe, but the thing is, mr Hex, despite a quick search of the forums, I don't see anyone actually bemoaning the lack of KD in the UK.

    What I mean is, the game just didn't make a big enough impact to have the publishers consider a UK release... and there doesn't seem to have a been anyone wailing about it...

    And now we're getting into the worrying world of economics and demand and supply...

    (Edit to reply to chrism)

    And I reckon that Burger King put far too much mayo and ketchup in their Whoppers... but I, with my over-sauced Whopper, am in the same minority group as those who want to play these games.

    However, if there was a big fan base, you can bet the outcome would be different... (and perhaps I might get a Whopper I can eat without oozing half a tub of sauce out the back..)
    Last edited by Nick; 18-09-2006 at 09:35 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dareos View Post
    "OH OOOOHH oOOHHHHHHHOOHHHHHHH FILL ME WITH YOUR.... eeww not the stuff from the lab"

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    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nick View Post
    What I mean is, the game just didn't make a big enough impact to have the publishers consider a UK release... and there doesn't seem to have a been anyone wailing about it...

    Exactly - so why bother putting a region lock on in the first place if all its going to do is annoy the most loyal fan base ?
    If people want to spend money on an imported game, I don’t see the issue?

    Even though its almost certain that the majority of people in the UK don’t use import software (or at least, knowingly), I think that the region lockout also triggers off a mental barrier and an attitude of “If ive brought it – who are they to tell me what I can buy for it?”, even though almost everyone would never use the feature.
    The publishers still get to sell the game, the big N still makes cash off the game, and the people who made the game in the first place also get a slice of the money. Please someone, just tell me what im missing here….
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

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