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First we hear Wii will be REGION FREE, from the Americans – YAY.
Then we hear Wii will NOT be region free, from the Europeans – BOO.
It’s a shame that it will be region locked of course, but Gamecubes were region locked and folks managed to get around the issue, so hopefully the same will be possible with Wii for those gaming connosieurs who like to import (remember the European fiasco with Animal Crossing on the cube?)
Now then, do you remember them mentioning the Virtual Console? Its basically an emulator of sorts that lets you download and play Nes / Snes / Megadrive and PC Engine games. Quite cool.
Well maybe not so cool for everyone, as Nintendo later went on to say that the availability of these games would be region specific. At first I was thinking, ok well that probably means we`ll just get a filtered down pick of the games Japan gets to choose from, but it’s beginning to look a bit worse than that. Compare these two pages:
Japan:
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/features/virtual_console.html
Europe:
http://ms.nintendo-europe.com/wii/?site=w_virtual_console.html&l=enGB
Japan gets NES / PC Engine / SNES / Megadrive / N64 / MSX games, but Europe doesn’t get the PC Engine or MSX games.
The virtual console has such potential to be like a museum of classic games for fans, where you could also compare regional and platform differences. But if content is region locked (as the websites suggest) then it could turn into somewhat of a dissapointing novelty.
There is no definitive list of what will be available, so things may turn out ok in the end, but I’m not betting on it.
Come on Nintendo, don’t filter down the potential of your console – show the world how great you are and let everyone have access to all the games!
(need an email address to politely petition Ninty Europe)
I’d be surprised if the VC is region locked, especially as it will be using some form of DRM to stop us all sharing our games with friends. Seems silly to restrict the availability of games that you download. What’s the point? Once they are up on the servers, surely they can be accesses from everywhere, and Nintendo no longer have to worry about extra costs of releasing them in different territories. One release, one initial cost. That’s it.
I’m not saying they won’t be region locked. I have no idea. It just seems counter productive.
well I hope it won’t be, but look at the 360, it is now getting region specific downloadable games (mention of metal slug on eurogamer website, JAP 360 download only).
There is also the issue of translation – why spend money translating old pc engine games for a uk market? Those that are text heavy would prompt people to call in/email and complain that they couldnt understand the game (the console is meant to be mass market dont forget, not hardcore gamers only).
also different markets will create different amounts of revenue. No point spending money hosting some game for the uk that only 10 fans will download, but as 6000 japanese will buy it it’s ok to host on the japanese servers.
i think we`ll just have to see how it pans out…
The MSX platform was very popular during the 1980s in The Netherlands and Spain. It really would be a shame if those games will not be rereleased for the Wii VC.
As the Wii is less powerful than the PS3 or Xbox 360 and if they want to reach a substantial
fanbase then the VC should support all popular retro computer platforms of the 1980s for a
specific territory). In Europe Wii VC should support MSX, C64, Commodore Amiga (hopefully).
If not, the Wii will be doomed outside Japan.
Most hardcore gamers will prefer more powerful systems (PS3, Xbox360) with superior graphics..