Would contacting Nintendo Customer Care team work? Is this a trending topic on twitter? Maybe contacting Op. Rainfall to join the cause.
If you used a VPN or have a Japanese Wii U in a Netflix country it would.Netflix is IP restricted so it wouldn't work in any case.
Again with this ridiculous notion. Was there ever any tittle that wasn't localized because of import sales? All Nintendo handhelds used to be region free and we also have the PSP and PS3, so there's plenty of data to analyse. Surely, if importing was such a major problem, we would have heard from publishers how region free destroyed their business. Personally, I only know of tittles that were localized/made due to importers (Elite Beat Agents and Rhythm Heaven), so feel free to list some examples.
The thing is, importing is niche, so if region free would significantly reduce your sales, it means your game would BOMB HARD and the game would never be localized in the first place. All region free gaming really does is give us access to tittles outside of our own region and make it easier to game/buy games if you are on vacation/move to another region.
If region free gaming really is such a problem, why aren't all the recent PS3 releases region locked? Why are so many X360 games region free?
YOU ARE WRONG!!!!!!Just to clarify: I wasn't stating the bolded part, only asking out loud about possible consequences. Nor was I implying that i support region locking in any way (hence the italics part and my previous post about the benefits of a region free market). But thank you for the explanation anyway.
One of the reasons I asked was because of the quite recent example of Atlus region locking that Persona fighting game so Europeans wouldn't import it, but I guess this might indeed be an example of a game that lives or dies by niche sales (in which importing does hurt localization). I just hope that removing region locks won't make publishers too lazy to translate their (niche) games because their known audience already is playing the Japanese versions (thereby limiting these type of games from becoming popular with new, non-Japanese reading audiences; I mean would Phoenix Wright ever become so popular in the West if it had remained an exclusively Japanese game that plays on US and EU systems, or was it's localization needed as well?). Will a fully region free market in other words lead to more localization or to less of it? I'm still not sure even though, like you stated, older data does suggest no direct correlation exists.
(Yay: my first post on Gaf being called "ridiculous"; I only need to be shouted at to fully accepted, right guys?)
IGN asked. Iwata answered....
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/03/nintendos-president-discusses-region-locking
Answered nothing basically...
IGN asked. Iwata answered....
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/03/nintendos-president-discusses-region-locking
Nobody is left but Nintendo doing Region Lock now! Someone ask him the same question!Iwata noted that the strategy behind regional approaches to hardware and content was something not unique to Nintendo, that it was something the entire industry had to "grapple with" and manage. "I hope that game fans can understand that the industry isnt doing this solely out of business ego," Iwata said. "There are some reasons behind it."
IGN asked. Iwata answered....
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/03/nintendos-president-discusses-region-locking
Iwata said:"From some peoples perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that were selling our products worldwide."
I support region-freeing. However it seems what little hope there was of a Phantasy Star Online 2 English release have been nullified by fan-efforts to play and translate the Japanese version.Again with this ridiculous notion. Was there ever any tittle that wasn't localized because of import sales? All Nintendo handhelds used to be region free and we also have the PSP and PS3, so there's plenty of data to analyse. Surely, if importing was such a major problem, we would have heard from publishers how region free destroyed their business. Personally, I only know of tittles that were localized/made due to importers (Elite Beat Agents and Rhythm Heaven), so feel free to list some examples.
Answered nothing basically...
EDIT: This is BEFORE the campaign started though. Nintendo wasn't under pressure yet.
IGN said:Unfortunately this conversation came before Microsoft completely reversed its restrictive digital rights approach, which now leaves Nintendo as the most conservative hardware manufacturer.
YOU ARE WRONG!!!!!!Persona 4 Arena was region locked because the NA and JAP version were practically the same (both had audio and text in English and Japanese) and the JAP branch feared reverse importing.I hope that's enough exclamation marks to complete your initiation.
Iwata talking bullshit and not having a clue. News at 11. Wish NCL would get some new management that listens to its customers.
Most likely, yeah.This is a business decision due mostly to currency exchange rates.
Not having a clue? What do you mean?
This is a business decision due mostly to currency exchange rates.
I support region-freeing. However it seems what little hope there was of a Phantasy Star Online 2 English release have been nullified by fan-efforts to play and translate the Japanese version.
Now how much would it affect Nintendo really? There are are definitely a minority who would import stuff regardless of anything, but most wouldn't considering shipping costs, how long it would take to get the product, and etc.
I'm sure they've crunched the numbers. They probably figure they make more money with region locks than without.
Would it be safe to assume that difference it makes is small?
Come on, you'll never get anything concrete on this. Most of the decisions to localize a game happen behind closed doors. We can only guess and assume.I'm going to need some sources.I support region-freeing. However it seems what little hope there was of a Phantasy Star Online 2 English release have been nullified by fan-efforts to play and translate the Japanese version.
Because this is entirely about importing from Japan, yup. Forget about Europeans who want to import niche games from NA, or vice versa; or those who want games earlier when there is a big difference in release dates. Maybe there are even Japanese people who want games released much earlier in/only in western territories!Gotta love the positivity from this guy, as always:
https://twitter.com/TheBitBlock/status/352576534818721795
Gotta love the positivity from this guy, as always:
https://twitter.com/TheBitBlock/status/352576534818721795
I have no idea who that guy is
I have no idea who that guy is, but PS3 being region-free has no effect on Japanese games being localized. If anything, with the recent Hatsune Miku example, some otherwise unlikely localizations happen because of the interest shown by imports (Project Diva f got significant sales from imports).
Also, people won't import games they have no chance of understanding. Localizations are still important. That is no excuse to block people who do understand the foreign language from importing the games.
Also, he's using the laughable "just buy a Japanese console" argument. Nothing to see here.
As has been said, region-locking IS a restriction.
This campaign is ON!
Gotta love the positivity from this guy, as always:
https://twitter.com/TheBitBlock/status/352576534818721795
As has been said, region-locking IS a restriction.
This campaign is ON!
Why doesn't Nintendo have anyone that talks to fans?
As many a corporate twitterer would know it's very easy to insert foot into mouth. It's often best to shut up and either do something or ignore. Playing defense never works out so well.
And those reasons are?
It does have to be constant defence - Sony's execs seem to be popular on Twitter. MS fumbled a lot but that was because no one knew what they wanted to do.