Nintendo 3DS

[Yui Is My Wife]

Wait, isn't Australia classified in the "Asia Pacific Region" in terms of Game Zones, or do you have to wait for the American/European releases?

[mangatron]

Yeah, for many years Aussie's have been left out of most video gaming affairs. Surely they should be included in the North America region, since they can't be in the asian region. But I'm no expert on that.

My take on region locking, is both a good thing and a bad thing. The kind of good thing I see is from what I remember reading about the DSi, it obviously only get's NA firmware updates because, well, it's NA locked. I like that kind of content delivery system, that's based on the device you are using to access said content. You have no idea how many times, as a traveller, going to websites that in turn give you the version of the website based on the language that your IP just so happens to be, when my device is in English. Another thing I see about this, is delivering region specific multiplayer capabalities instead of relying on the game to do it, though that surely could be made differently.

The bad thing, of course is the inability to play games from other regions. Sure, a lot of the interesting games are Japan-only, but that's not my beef. As a person whose homeland is Germany, sometimes I buy games from there, and since my DS was from NA, I had no problem. But if I had a 3DS and I'm transiting the EU, that's a problem. That would mean I'd have to either get an EU 3DS, walk into a US military installation for games if I have a NA system, or whatever it is, it's now a double process instead of the simple 1 system, different region games I used to do on my DS.

I guess we wait and see. I just hope it doesn't get out of hand to the point where Custom Firmware is the solution. One thing they could do, is only have region lock for system related functions, like I described above, and leave game locks alone.

[Tokkan]

Originally Posted by Yui Is My Wife

Wait, isn't Australia classified in the "Asia Pacific Region" in terms of Game Zones, or do you have to wait for the American/European releases?

Actually, in terms of Game regions, Australia is considered a part of Europe even though we're nowhere near Europe.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by mangatron

One thing they could do, is only have region lock for system related functions, like I described above, and leave game locks alone.

Obviously this would be the best solution, considering kids do take their handhelds with them on vacation.

small list on andriasang.com showing what titles will be released in march, bear in mind, that these are not launch titles.
Gundam The 3D Battle and Steel Diver stands out for me personally.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Sides

small list on andriasang.com showing what titles will be released in march, bear in mind, that these are not launch titles.
Gundam The 3D Battle and Steel Diver stands out for me personally.

I don't trust "launch window" lists anymore. Not since the Wii listed Smash Brothers Brawl as a launch window title, only to have it release like 2 years later.

[Benoit]

Originally Posted by mangatron

You have no idea how many times, as a traveller, going to websites that in turn give you the version of the website based on the language that your IP just so happens to be, when my device is in English.

Those websites are dumb because they should be serving the language that your web browser sends them with each request. Why does this need a region lock?

Originally Posted by Tokkan

Actually, in terms of Game regions, Australia is considered a part of Europe even though we're nowhere near Europe.

It's considered part of the PAL region because of their use of that TV standard.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by GDB

I don't trust "launch window" lists anymore. Not since the Wii listed Smash Brothers Brawl as a launch window title, only to have it release like 2 years later.

They needed those two years to add Sonic and tripping.
Wow, region lock. That sucks. Here's hoping Love Plus is somehow brought over here intact....

[RRW]

http://www.3dsbuzz.com/friend-codes-headed-for-3ds/

is this been posted yet?

[ttdestroy]

Originally Posted by rrw

http://www.3dsbuzz.com/friend-codes-headed-for-3ds/

is this been posted yet?

Wow that's a downer, thanks a lot bro.

[Tokkan]

Originally Posted by Benoit

It's considered part of the PAL region because of their use of that TV standard.

Um, yeah. I didn't mention that because because PCs and Handhelds don't use PAL or NTSC.

[Yui Is My Wife]

Old ladies who seduce little boys with X-Boxes and losers who marry their DS have ONCE AGAIN ruined it for us normal otaku....

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Yui Is My Wife

losers who marry their DS

This has nothing to do with friend codes or region locking at all.

[Yui Is My Wife]

Sorry, figure of speech. The old ladies (and men) who seduce little boys (and girls!) was the point of the sentence.

[Benoit]

Originally Posted by Tokkan

Um, yeah. I didn't mention that because because PCs and Handhelds don't use PAL or NTSC.

True, but unfortunately for Australia, it's the TV standards that were used to lump them in the same region as Europe.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Watching the European stream of the 3DS event...

I wish it was easier to understand the various heavy accents used. And the live translation is distracting.

EDIT: In fact, I don't see the point of having the VIPs present when everything they said had to be repeated in English. And the jokes don't work when said twice.

There are too much translation time and not enough game footage. This is far more boring than the original 3DS reveal event.

EDIT again: DOA trailer is just a repeat of the Japanese trailer already online. Can't they just make something new?

EDIT3: Confirmed that the translation is done live; the translator does not have a script, and had just made a mistake translating. Is this really a good idea?

EDIT4: A twitter from here http://twitter.com/game_on told us that the American price for 3DS would be $250 USD. March 27, 2011. Now we just have to wait for the European release date and pricing.

EDIT5: 3DS released on March 25th for Europe. Price NOT yet confirmed because the supplier will decide their mark up. There is a wholesale price, but the actual market price is not yet out.

[Kurosu]

hm, it seems friend codes are one per system now as opposed to unique to each game, neat.

[Matheson]

3-5 hours when playing 3DS games? I think I'll just wait for the next version to come out: Nintendo 3DSi Lite XL!!

[-Sho-]

My 2 cent that us , in EU , it'll be 250€ . Yeah , in terms of conversion , we're screwed...

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by -Sho-

My 2 cent that us , in EU , it'll be 250€ . Yeah , in terms of conversion , we're screwed...

If I have to pay $500AUD for 3DS, I would be angry. Why would I have to pay double of what the Americans pay? Does currency parity mean nothing to anyone at Nintendo?

EDIT:
Let’s face it; If I am stuck with region lock, I would have no reason anymore in buying 3DS games in Australia. Many games will never actually get released here. If I want the largest library of English 3DS games, I NEED to get an American 3DS. Together with the very real possibility that the US 3DS would be cheaper, and I no longer have a reason to buy Australian anymore. Just order online, and it gets to my door in 3 weeks.

You brought it on yourselves, Australian retailers. Region locking, overprice, and lack of games I want. Going American is the logical choice.

I mean, why wait months and months hoping for an Australian release when Americans are already playing? And buying on the internet is a breeze. The only thing that could stop me now is if Nintendo decide to make game console themselves unplayable in a different region. And that would be evil.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

The only thing that could stop me now is if Nintendo decide to make game console themselves unplayable in a different region. And that would be evil.

Wouldn't be possible without also making it impossible to play without a wifi connection, and no one would be stupid enough to do that. Closest thing that could happen would be the chargers use different voltages, in which case you'd just need to get an adapter for like $20 or whatever.