Why region lock a console?
It was recently confirmed that as a first for Nintendo, they will be region locking their new portable console, the 3DS. Previously the DSi was region locked for downloadable content and a very small number of DSi enhanced DS games, but ~99% of the library of DS games would work on consoles from any region.
Back in the olden days, there was a technical reason for consoles in different regions being different. The differences in the NTSC and PAL video standard meant that some UK TVs would not be able to correctly display the 60hz games that worked on USA TVs. This isn’t the case any more, and hasn’t been for a long time. On a handheld console, this would actually be irrelevant anyway, since the hardware specification would be the same internationally, and any differences between models released in different countries would have been by the hardware manufacturers choice.
Sensibly, the Gameboy, Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance and DS have all been totally region free. This meant that no matter what country you bought your console from, you had access to the entire library of games.
Shall we think about some of the noteworthy games for previous Nintendo handheld consoles that did not get a release in all regions? (cheers to twitter people who helped me compile these).
Gameboy (probably would be more complete if it was around in the days of the internet).
Kirby: Tilt and Tumble, Parodius, Magical Chase
GBA
Mother 1+2, Mother 3, WarioWare Twisted!, All of the Densetsu no Stafy games, Drill Dozer, all of the bit Generations games, Alien Hominid, Rhythm Tengoku, Kururin Paradise.
DS
Slitherlink, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, Ouendan 2, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, Contra 4, Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland, Jump Super Stars, Jump Ultimate Stars, Loopop Cube, Soma Bringer, Custom Battler Bomberman, The Taiko: Drum Master series, Front Mission, Blood of Bahamut, Tales of Hearts, Inazuma 11, Devil Survivor, Etrian Odyssey 2 and 3, Strange Journey, 999, Rune Factory 3, Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime.
Note that these aren’t wierdo games for nerds, these are major Nintendo franchises, long running popular series, casual friendly puzzle games and more. Games that would be attractive to all players, and titles that would be missed by a huge chunk of the consoles audience, if the consoles had been region locked.
What reason does Nintendo have for region locking a portable console for the first time ever? Two words: Cash money.
See, if gamers are allowed to buy games from any region, and they are exactly the same, then all retailers globally will have to compete with each other, which will drive prices down. GAME would not be happy if they had to compete with Play-Asia and Gamestop USA in addition to Amazon and Shopto. Nintendo’s policy of charging more to those regions that it can get away with charging more in is not compatible with a region free console and increasingly globalised consumers.
Right now, if I wanted to buy a copy of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, I could import the USA version from Play-Asia for £21.64 delivered, but the best price for it new in the UK is £23.91 delivered. Historically there have been far bigger discrepancies than that.
It’s protectionism. Nintendo are putting their profit margins and the profit margins of their distributors and retailers that stock their games above their customers, and it will decrease the quality of the 3DS library available to all customers.
Not only that, but I suspect it will be a very poor business decision too. Sony recently learnt, the hard way, that pissing off the hackers is probably not a good idea. Similarly, pissing off the nerds is not a good idea. Creating a reason to hack the 3DS to be region free means that no doubt more people will be looking into it. When it does get hacked, it is inevitable that piracy will happen too.
At the very least, I’d hope that they take Microsoft/Sony’s approach to region compatibility with the Xbox 360/PSP and PS3, where whilst the consoles do region locking, it is down to the publisher to decide whether they are going to use it.
A week ago I was almost certainly going to get a 3DS on release. Now, concerns about battery life and this region locking nonsense mean I’m not so sure. At the very least I will probably wait until there is a region free hack.
Interesting point, the classic gameboy did store information on its carts about the region it came from, but did not use it for locking (didnt seem to use it for anything tbh). Nintendo partioned the world in to two regions, ‘Japan’ and ‘Other’. Pritty telling of how they saw the games market at the time.
The software line-up for the 3DS is so laughably bad that I certainly won’t bother with this one, region-free or otherwise.
Nintendos business model now is to basically re-release all the old crappy games they can think of and to bring onboard only the kind of third party developers that creates shovelware.
The full line-up is the best on any console revealed before launch, period. Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Zelda, Kid Icarus, Metal Gear Solid, Saint’s Row, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and dozens of other major names.
The launch line-up however is mostly terrible, with the best three games being a port of an N64 game (which may not be available at launch), a slightly dumbed down Street Fighter IV and the next Professor Layton game, which almost certainly will be Japan-only for at least a year (we’ve still got another DS one to go).
Having owned several of the NDS games you list, I’m very tempted to wait too, despite there being a few games I’d like to play…the launch costs are obviously going to be higher 🙁
Stupid hardware needing to be hacked, just like the Wii, which had games released in America but not the EU sometimes! WTF?! Nintendo have a track record of poor publishing even without region locking, this is a pretty insane step all in all.
where was Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland not released?
USA.
Missing large numbers of DS games that didn;t get released in Europe:
Devil Survivor, Strange Journey, Etrian Odyssey 2 and 3, Strange Journey, 99, Rune Factory 3 and Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime to name but a few.
Ah yes, I had meant to include the Etrian Odyseey games but forgot, and I’ll add all of them now, cheers.
Well you know it hasn’t hurt the Xbox 360 one bit. Many games are region free but there are publishers that do region lock games.
I don’t really buy your argument that they are going to face a lot of nerd rage. If there is one thing that seems to happen time and time again, it is that bitch about Nintendo products and then go and buy them in droves.
I personally will not pick up the 3ds.
That last paragraph mirrored my own feelings exactly. The whole reason that handheld games aren’t region locked is because they are travel devices, to be taken on holiday, where you should be able to get new games for it and not worry about it not working.
Being region-locked and the pathetic battery life (both for the first time in Nintendo history – the Game Boy and even the DS got popular largely thanks to having a long battery life compared to the competition) seriously calls the 3DS into question as a travel device. And what’s the point of a handheld you can’t travel with?
There is one ray of hope, that this “confirmed” thing is just from a leaked internal email at Nintendo and could be just related to online store releases. I absolutely f***ing hope so.
Your discrepancy between the best UK price and the Play-Asia price for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, doesn’t take into account import taxes and VAT. Once factored in, you actually lose the price advantage. International price competition is only a really a factor when games drop below £18, or with other retailers within the EU. That doesn’t rule out the fact that there might be better examples out there.
I’ve never been charged anything when ordering from Play-Asia, but I take your point.
I don’t have any record of what the price differences have been historically, but there have been some pretty big ones (like half price for certain games).