Topic: Kaplan: "First Party Wii Titles Region-Free"

[vudu]

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Speaking exclusively with IGN at Nintendo's European Wii press event in London, Yarnton confirmed that Wii games and online content will be region-encoded, meaning European gamers won't be able to play titles from the US and Japan and vice-versa.

That's the biggest shame of it all.

[AnyoneEB]

Gah, region coding is stupid because it encourages piracy. There's the small proportation of gamers that Strell refers to that will import games either way, modding their consoles if they are not region-free. They will be much more likely to play burned games because their consoles will already be modded. On top of that, their friends will see those modded consoles and consider modding their own. (Admittedly, the GCN mod did not allow for burned discs to be playable.)

[Luigi Dude]

Wait so then this means we wont be able to download Japanese games off the Virtual Console as well then.  That makes no since, why would Nintendo not allow people to download Virtual Console games from anywhere in the world.  It only makes them more money by allowing gamers from the rest of the world to download some of the many games they only released in Japan.

But does this mean if I import a Japanese Wii, I'll be able to download Japanese only games off the Virtual Console.  Because one way or another I'm going to get Fire Emblem Thracia 776 when it appears on the Virtual Console.  Nintendo's not going to keep me from finally getting to play that game.

[RickPowers]

This is just miscommunication.  The PAL Wii won't be region free only because PAL hardware doesn't work on NTSC tvs, and vice-versa.  So Nintendo of Europe just decided to enforce the region lock to simplify it.

For NTSC regions, the machine has the ability to be region locked, but it's up the software to enforce it, much like a DVD player does.  If the game is region free, the Wii won't care, but it will enforce a region code if one exists.

[Aussiedude]

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Originally posted by: RickPowers
This is just miscommunication.  The PAL Wii won't be region free only because PAL hardware doesn't work on NTSC tvs, and vice-versa.  So Nintendo of Europe just decided to enforce the region lock to simplify it.

Im sorry Rick you are wrong.   While im not sure if NTSC TVs will play PAL, all modern PAL TVs (not older than  10 yrs, even older in most cases) will play NTSC (this was done mainly as a lot of movie DVD's are released here in NTSC format). So I dont even see why Nintendo must release games in PAL let alone put on a region lock for this reason. The last MP GCN disk was released here (Australia) in NTSC.

.

[Aussiedude]

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Originally posted by: wandering

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Geez, can you screw us anymore Nintendo?

Right. Nintendo SAYS publishers can choose whether or not they want region-locking...but doesn't that imply region-locking will cost more? I'm sure ALOT if not MOST publishers will want that region locking...and here Nintendo is trying to force what they want down dev's and publisher's throats by saying that, if you want this standard feature, you'll have to pay more money. Now, do I want games to be region free? Personally, I don't care. I don't import games so whther or not they are region locked doesn't matter to me. But I bet devs WILL care, which will lead to less third party support. Really, this is starting to look like the Cube all over again. Actually, it's stuff like this that is the reason I won't be buying a Wii at launch. I can't guarantee that the console will be a success - why should I risk $250 when I'm not even sure the conosle will do well?

I agree. Im seriously considering cancelling my pre-order, unless the prices for the controllers in Australia have been misquoted ($100 AUD WTF). At this price it aint much cheapr than the X360 premium here in Australia (only about 30 USD at tops). GCN was a TOTAL FLOP here, at these (not so)Wii prices the Wii is sure to follow.
 

[RickPowers]

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Originally posted by: Aussiedude

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Originally posted by: RickPowers
This is just miscommunication.  The PAL Wii won't be region free only because PAL hardware doesn't work on NTSC tvs, and vice-versa.  So Nintendo of Europe just decided to enforce the region lock to simplify it.

Im sorry Rick you are wrong.   While im not sure if NTSC TVs will play PAL, all modern PAL TVs (not older than  10 yrs, even older in most cases) will play NTSC (this was done mainly as a lot of movie DVD's are released here in NTSC format). So I dont even see why Nintendo must release games in PAL let alone put on a region lock for this reason. The last MP GCN disk was released here (Australia) in NTSC.

I'm pretty sure I said PAL hardware.  Where exactly am I wrong, again?  If the Wii can only output a PAL signal, then it doesn't matter what the TV is capable of, right?

[Aussiedude]

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Originally posted by: RickPowers

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Originally posted by: Aussiedude

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Originally posted by: RickPowers
This is just miscommunication.  The PAL Wii won't be region free only because PAL hardware doesn't work on NTSC tvs, and vice-versa.  So Nintendo of Europe just decided to enforce the region lock to simplify it.

Im sorry Rick you are wrong.   While im not sure if NTSC TVs will play PAL, all modern PAL TVs (not older than  10 yrs, even older in most cases) will play NTSC (this was done mainly as a lot of movie DVD's are released here in NTSC format). So I dont even see why Nintendo must release games in PAL let alone put on a region lock for this reason. The last MP GCN disk was released here (Australia) in NTSC.

I'm pretty sure I said PAL hardware.  Where exactly am I wrong, again?  If the Wii can only output a PAL signal, then it doesn't matter what the TV is capable of, right?

PAL hardware doesn't work on NTSC tvs, and vice-versa.   This is wrong, NTSC ie vice-versa hardware DOES work on PAL TV's (over 99% of them at least).   Our TVs are multi system, heck mine even plays SECAM.

[Luigi Dude]

Oh so then Wii's in North America will be able to play Japanese games.  But will they be able to download old Japan only games on the Virtual Console from Japan?

[Athrun Zala]

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Originally posted by: RickPowers
This is just miscommunication.  The PAL Wii won't be region free only because PAL hardware doesn't work on NTSC tvs, and vice-versa.  So Nintendo of Europe just decided to enforce the region lock to simplify it.

For NTSC regions, the machine has the ability to be region locked, but it's up the software to enforce it, much like a DVD player does.  If the game is region free, the Wii won't care, but it will enforce a region code if one exists.

in the interview ign had with the guy, they said that Kaplan in the US said so, and the guy told them that was a mistake.....why didn't he say that that would be US only thing then? =S

and yes, PAL TVs are multinorm nowadays (all TVs here have always been....) so that kind of lock doesn't make any sense.....

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Rick is saying that PAL Wii's might NOT EVEN OUTPUT NTSC AT ALL.

Hence the region lock outs.

[Aussiedude]

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Originally posted by: Professional 666
Rick is saying that PAL Wii's might NOT EVEN OUTPUT NTSC AT ALL.

Hence the region lock outs.

GEEZ I feel like beeing highly insulting at the momernt but I will refrain...

I will put it simply so even a 2 YO could understand...

CASE 1
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USA Wii - output NTSC
Take USA Wii with NTSC output and plug it into an Austalian/UK/Europe PAL TV.
The PAL TV AUTOMATICALY detects the input as NTSC and switches to display NTSC.

CASE 2
---------
JAP Wii  - output NTSC
Same as case 1.

CASE 3
----------
Australin/UK/Europe Wii - OUTPUT PAL
Take Australin/UK/Europe Wii and plug it into a USA NTSC
Well Im not american so I cant say for sure if your TV's will detect PAL.
This may not work an all TVs in America as they like to reject foreign standards,   (but I believe it will on most TVs), but its not the point. People in USA would not import PAL games. No need, you get them first and cheaper.


So there is absolutley no case for region coding USA NTSC discs, they will work everywhere. There is also no need to even have PAL discs. Nintendo realised this when they released the last Metroid prime for the Game Cube in Australia, it was region coded BUT NTSC format.

[wandering]

...Okay. At what point are you plugging an Austrailian/UK/Europe Wii into an Austrialin/UK/Europe tv and putting in a USA game?

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Also, wandering. Are you f*cking kidding me?

Probably.

[Strell]

Eeexcellent.

[IceCold]

Eeexactly..