One of the greatest things Nintendo has done was allowing the DS to be unlocked for regions. This allowed gamers around the world to share their favorite games from all cultures and countries with just a click of the “buy” button at an online store.
The DSi loses this great freedom by locking it down to a region. “Nintendo DS software is region free so you can play any DS software on DSi from any region. You can also browse the internet on your DSi wherever you are in the world and exchange your photos with friends from around the world,” says Nintendo (CVG).
Much like the US Entertainment Industries need to lock down everything and contribute to global piracy, Nintendo follows suit with their hand-helds, tis a sad day indeed. Of course Nintendo reasons it all away by yelling parental controls and making it easier for regions to access their own content.
“DSi is region locked because DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region. Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit.”
Specifically tailored for each region is a nice way of saying that each region has to pay the penalty of not being “first” (second, or third) to get some cool new features. Although Nintendo could put emphasis on the region the gamer lives in with complete access out of those bounds if they wanted, they’ve chosen to use this as a crutch to lock users out of content.
Users will get their content, of course. It just means more home brews, software hacks, hardware hacks and workarounds for the system. If that’s what Nintendo is trying to inspire, then they’ve done their job right.
However, wouldn’t it be great if they could just come out and say “we don’t want certain people accessing specific content until we say you can.”
Did someone say Yoga? I have returned from my deep educational derangement, securing my graduation and unemployment. Now that I am a professional vagabond with a smexy new Xbox One, I will dedicate more time to gaming and ultimately this podcast. Don’t go Paul. Here is some love. Manly comrad-like non-platonic love.
@Non-tangible gaming
I purchased the Xbox One Titanfall bundle and had to endure a 4 hour download of the game. I fully understand why console gaming is still disk based. On the other hand, my Steam library has 170 titles which I can download at high speed at a moments notice. Until my Xbox can pull off that kind of performance at Steam like prices, I don’t think I will download that many console games. I have loads of digital PS3 titles for that very reason.
@Gaming conventions
Never been to one purely dedicated to a single game. Never really been that dedicated to just one game. Here in UK it’s rare to find a gaming convention at all. Even major events tend to skip out a year or two. I know there are some dedicated communities in London but it’s easier to buy weaponised uranium then to find one. However, if I could ever go to one, it would most likely be about Elder Scrolls or Halo.
PS: City of Heroes was made in the dark days of gaming when homophobia was supreme and untraditional sexual orientation was frowned upon. Allowing a city full of adolescent boys running around in coloured briefs would be marketing suicide. It’s quite amusing. Since then homosexuality went mainstream and even became a marketing selling point for some games. It’s only a matter of time until you can create a transgender 5th generation foxkin character in an RPG.
Another good episode guys and I’m glad you enjoyed the Princess Bride reference.
@Console Digital gaming: I’m all for this as I really do enjoy not having to worry about where disks are. I have quite a few in digital format on my PS3.
@Sims4: I agree with Jonah, it’s one thing to re-write the mechanic on how something works in a game like with Civ V’s Espionage and Religion being vastly different to how it worked in previous games. To just stripping out features that you know will be repackaged into a expansion pack not looking much different or better for it’s delay. All the things that have been left out has had us feel like we’re going back to Sims 1.
@Youtube offline: Hey if they want to give me free music who am I to complain? heh
@QotW: I almost went to a Minecon in Orlando since that’s near to where I live. However it was really hard to get tickets. They sold them in groupings of 3k and they all went in seconds. Freaking jackals.
heyaaaaa xD after 2 years lol downloading an episode here feels like a trip to memory lane haha not sure if u remember me xD