Nintendo 3DS

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

My front tooth was chipped with one...

[Cheezeman3000]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

The battery has been my main concern since I never play my DS at home. I almost exclusively play it on long plane flights. So at least there's an option for me to consider.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

While watching and reading stuff from IGN usually annoys me, thankfully Fran Mirabella isn't as annoying as those under him at IGN, he up this pretty thoughtful analysis of what little was shown of Super Mario 3DS last week at GDC.

I have always wanted to see a return to some of the concepts of SMB3, I've just not been a tremendous fan of the power-ups Mario has gotten since the 8 and 16-bit days. Its gone from delightfully weird to just completely fucking weird. Bee suits, Ghost Mario, Metal Mario, Bunny Ears, Winged caps.

All those ways to fly, none of them are better than the Raccoon Tail, Tanooki Suit or the cape.

[Kailea]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

mmmm that is cool, I missed that, if it really is anything like a combo of Mario 3 and Mario 64, with graphics like Galaxy.... oh man, I cant wait ;p

[Firewind]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

So I found out today that the 3DS is region locked so no Persona 5 or Devil Survior Overclocked for me

PSP2 it is then.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

So I found out today that the 3DS is region locked so no Persona 5 or Devil Survior Overclocked for me

PSP2 it is then.

That is, of course, assuming PSP2 doesn't have a region lock, too.

Given PSP and now PS3 piracy is rampant, I see Sony going this route, too.

Personally, I don't get why people let their Japan/anime fandom limit what they purchase. You could just get a Japanese 3DS, many people already have.

That said:

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

That is, of course, assuming PSP2 doesn't have a region lock, too.

Given PSP and now PS3 piracy is rampant, I see Sony going this route, too.

Region locks and price gouging encourage piracy, not the other way around.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

Region locks and price gouging encourage piracy, not the other way around.

Pirates don't need a reason to pirate. People pirate $1 games from the App store all the time. Those aren't region locked or expensive.

[Armando]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

Pirates don't need a reason to pirate. People pirate $1 games from the App store all the time. Those aren't region locked or expensive.

"Unfaithful women don't need a reason to cheat. Husbands that actually pay attention to their spouses get cheated on all the time." You're generalizing way too much.

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

Pirates don't need a reason to pirate. People pirate $1 games from the App store all the time. Those aren't region locked or expensive.

That's a different issue. Cheap bastards will always be cheap bastards.

My point is region locks (and DLCs) don't do anything to stop piracy but actually encourage it.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

My point is region locks (and DLCs) don't do anything to stop piracy but actually encourage it.

PS3 and PSP aren't region locked.

That worked out sooooooooo well for them, so there goes your theory on region locks encouraging piracy.

The hardware maker has the right to do have firmware updates and region-locking - they're making that hardware work on their proprietary software. The hardware is all you own, you don't truly ever own software because that is intellectual property.

Anyone that region-locks just loses importers and maybe not even then because some people are just weeaboos that are that hardcore about it. Plenty of people have already imported JP 3DSes just so they can have them for their imports.

Most of the companies I follow always localize in the US, even the smaller developers. If you need to import an Atlus game, I'll just roll my eyes like I always do. I don't have an aching need for Love Plus or Feba's witch-fondling game.

All I ever imported were fighting games and these days those just see worldwide releases, so I see no point in doing so.

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

So your conclusion is that because they are region free they somehow encourage piracy?

In that case I'll say them being region free actually repels alligators and elephants. Proof of that is that I've yet to see an alligator or an elephant get near me while I'm playing PSP and PS3 games from another region.


Yeah...



Now seriously, I say region locks and DLCs encourage piracy because I've seen it first hand. People who would otherwise pay for a game modding their consoles and turning to piracy to obtain it because they are not willing to spend even more money to buy a console they already own just to play a game from another region. And it's not a rare occurrence, in some cases they just mod their consoles (specially the PS2) to play their legally imported games, and in cases where DLCs and regional accounts prevent them from playing the game even on a modded console (this mainly on the PS3) they simply opt to pirate the whole game.

It ties up with why piracy bloomed in places like Mexico. Developers and publishers not only did not bother bringing games here, but they actually went out of their way to prevent people from even importing them (this paying from 30% and up to 100% more than people in the US, and that's not even counting all the rebates and discounts people get over there.) On the other hand pirates were more than happy to supply the growing demand at good prices. You know, proper bussinesses.

So while region free gameplay may not stop piracy it definitely makes it much easier for the people actually willing to pay for games to do so. But if publishers don't think it's worth it for them because they want to be dinosaurs about it and try to control regional markets then piracy will always have the upper hand.

It's their call, just like people wont stop buying drugs in the US regardless of where they are coming from people outside (and cheap bastards inside) regions designated as worthwhile will still buy their games.

One way or the other.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

So your conclusion is that because they are region free they somehow encourage piracy?

You're hopeless, you know that?

If its region-free, they'll pirate because companies are greedy.
If its and indie developer, they'll do it because "they have enough support."
If its region locked, they hack it to make it region free again and then just pirate anything.

When an Atlus rep said they had "no plans" to localize Catherine for PS3 and 360 (even though anyone that had two brain cells to rub together knew it was coming), I saw people say, "That's fine, I'll just download it."

Gee, does that sound like an importer or weeaboo to you?

Atlus said "no plans at this time."
"No plans at this time" clearly means the same thing as "Never."
If they're never bringing it to the US, then pirating it does no harm, right?

There's piracy logic at work - its a constant circle jerk. I say they don't need a reason because there's always an excuse ready - and if one doesn't work they'll go right to another.

I'm sure that those downloaded it to "punish" Atlus have no remorse over the fact that just days later Atlus confirmed a US release for July... even though they could have imported it and played it legitimately on that region free PS3 they had.

I'm not judging you or Armando or anyone for pirating because everyone's done it at some point - but please stop bullshitting and just admit it is what it is. Stop sugarcoating it with made-up correlations and leaps in logic just because you've become comfortable with making them.

There is nothing that incites people to pirate, either you do it or you don't do it. My excuse used to be that "Well, its not on the market now, so its OK," but even back then I didn't have to trick my Dreamcast into playing NES games, the Dreamcast had plenty to play.

And now they have Steam, PSN, XBLA, WiiShop and the App Store. My excuse is dead. Digital distribution isn't perfect yet, but its getting there.

Interestingly, when iTunes came about, it had the same effect on me.

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

You're hopeless, you know that?

If its region-free, they'll pirate because companies are greedy.
If its and indie developer, they'll do it because "they have enough support."
If its region locked, they hack it to make it region free again and then just pirate anything.

When an Atlus rep said they had "no plans" to localize Catherine for PS3 and 360 (even though anyone that had two brain cells to rub together knew it was coming), I saw people say, "That's fine, I'll just download it."

Gee, does that sound like an importer or weeaboo to you?

Atlus said "no plans at this time."
"No plans at this time" clearly means the same thing as "Never."
If they're never bringing it to the US, then pirating it does no harm, right?

There's piracy logic at work - its a constant circle jerk. I say they don't need a reason because there's always an excuse ready - and if one doesn't work they'll go right to another.

I think you are mistaking two different issues and considering them as if they were the same.

1) Cheap-assery disguised as indignation is one thing. If they download Catherine it will still be in Japanese, so they could simply import it like everyone else who buys games from other regions (because they can since it's not region locked.) But they want to get it for free instead and made themsleves look like revolutionaries or something.

What a joke. We all know they are just thieves.

2) Unwillingness to buy another console to play games from other regions simply because the publisher wants to region lock them (if the system even allows them to use the software.) This is what I'm talking about here, people will still buy the original games whenever possible, but if the developer goes out of it's way to prevent people from importing games and playing them legally they will have to resort to modding their consoles and even pirate the game(s) because they have no other choice. Unless they are willing to fork another few hundreds of dollars to play it "legally".


So while both situations may share similarities (namely ending up pirating the game) the reasons behind it and the degrees are completely different.

-Someone who is region locked out of a game will pirate that game, but will keep buying legit copies of the other games they can play without restrictions.

-Thieves will just download hundreds of games simply because they can and because they are cheap bastards who want everything for free and feel entitled to it.


If developers and publishers can't understand the difference then they will just give pirates even more weapons to work with. As simple as that.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo 3DS

2) Unwillingness to buy another console to play games from other regions simply because the publisher wants to region lock them (if the system even allows them to use the software.) This is what I'm talking about here, people will still buy the original games whenever possible, but if the developer goes out of it's way to prevent people from importing games and playing them legally they will have to resort to modding their consoles and even pirate the game(s) because they have no other choice. Unless they are willing to fork another few hundreds of dollars to play it "legally".

They hardware maker more than likely consulted the publishers on this matter before deciding that the games would be region-locked.

The creators of the intellectual property HAVE A RIGHT to decide how their content is distributed. And if you look at the game releases, for the most part, they're worldwide simultainious releases, with the exception of games like Professor Layton, which are a bit more translation-heavy.

Devil Survivor Overclocked is an RPG, its coming out like a week apart from Japan. So UNLESS you're just that weeaboo, you're waiting a few more days. That's a make-or-break for you?

Saying the developer, saying the publisher doesn't have a right to protect their IP via region lock is complete and utter bullshit. And you do realize there are far more nefarious and invasive ways of controlling content, right? Region lock is pretty lightweight when you stack it against online-only DRMs and Securom.