News: Nintendo Wii News | Japan Confirms Virtual Console Status Page 1

Nintendo Wii News | Japan Confirms Virtual Console Status

05.10.2006

Cubed3 Exclusive Update - Speaking with a Nintendo representative today, Cubed3 received the official response it had been looking for straight from Nintendo's Japanese office. Here is what we found out:

Will gamers outside Japan be able to get Japanese games for the Virtual Console?

"Virtual console games will be region locked. For example a European Wii unit cannot download VC software from the dedicated Japanese site."

Will those games be made available on our version of the shop then?

"We have not made any announcements about the Virtual Console launch line-up."

So there we have it. Unless Nintendo chooses to add an option to pick Japanese games from the actual European VC shop, then it looks like we will be missing out on many of the classics we were all looking forward to.

Stick around for more news updates on Cubed3...

Original Story - With various questions being left unanswered, such as whether region locking would apply to GameCube games and Virtual Console games, Nintendo UK have spoken up to confirm that the Wii's region restrictions will inevitably extend to the GameCube and Virtual Console line-up.

Speaking to EuroGamer" rel="external" class='fmlink'>http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=68306]EuroGamer[/url] this morning, the company confirmed that region restrictions will apply across the board, as expected. Essentially software bought an NTSC region (Asia, Americas) can not be played on a PAL encoded Wii (Europe/Australia).

Unfortunately, Virtual Console games won't be universal either; games previously released in Europe will be the only ones hitting the European line-up, the same applying to other regions. So if a classic didn't hit your region, don't expect it to make a virtual console appearance near you soon.

The report also confirms that Nintendo Europe expect to release RGB and component cables in the region that are priced according to the current models.

Stick with C3 for future updates..

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Raff 03.10.2006#1

How revolting.

It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.

jb 03.10.2006#2

...

Does that mean no Chrono Trigger for European VC?! Smilie

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

Raff 03.10.2006#3

Yes, and likely no PC Engine games, and no MSX games.

It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.

Sidepocket 03.10.2006#4

You know, while this dose kind of suck, I love how people act like the UK is like the US were it is all united by one goverment andt ehre are no centuries worth of hatered and country boarders blocking the way. Smilie

Raff 03.10.2006#5

Sidepocket said:
You know, while this dose kind of suck, I love how people act like the UK is like the US were it is all united by one goverment andt ehre are no centuries worth of hatered and country boarders blocking the way.

What?

It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.

Mason 03.10.2006#6

What the shit.

I expected them to do region encoding on GC and Wii games, not very good but I accepted it as a norm. Extending it to Virtual Console is a very bad idea. Surely part of the appeal of the concept was that you could play games you've never played before that weren't released here? I was looking forward to playing Sin And Punishment without messing about with imports.

At this rate I'm not even going to bother with Virtual Console and just play Wii games. They need to expand it a bit if they're wanting to keep some of the more hardcore gamers interested, I fail to see why they're restricting it. It seems entirely pointless when they could be getting money from games from other markets as well.

Europe has been mucked up with regards to VC. If I recall correctly, America will get NES, SNES, N64, Mega Drive and PC Engine, while Japan will get NES, SNES, N64, Mega Drive, MSX and PC Engine. Meanwhile, Europe looks to be left with NES, SNES, N64 and Mega Drive - possibly Commodore 64 if we're lucky.

Tman!! 03.10.2006#7

pure balls thats all i can say, whats the deal with it, surely its better business to make the whole thing region free Smilie

jb 03.10.2006#8

Dang it. They really shouldn't have had restrictions on VC. Possibly they could have had "download multi-lanaguage" version instead.

Argh (no offence to other European countries) - the joys of being included in Europe.

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

Raff 03.10.2006#9

Does anyone know of any websites about how shit games companies are to Europeans? Because if not, I'm going to make one, in English and French.

( Edited on 03.10.2006 09:44 by Grumbler )

It's going to be shit and you jolly well know it.

Kiyo23 03.10.2006#10

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I wanted Mario RPG so bad! Smilie

This sucks.... There were so many import games I could've got, so looks like I'll have to go without for even longer...

Laurelin 03.10.2006#11

Mason is right. This is very bad!
I hope they release the games, that where not released in the west, well... in the west.
I do hope that region code is only to control spreading of these games and release almost all of them anyway! That's very important, since people will begin to rip them and release them anyway. Please, Nintendo, give us these games, as you will experience warez sooner than you can say 'region code'!

I find your lack of faith disturbing!

Yoshidude 03.10.2006#12

I wanted Mario RPG so bad!

Yup, me too. That was the first game I was going to get. I hear the Chrono Trigger series is pretty good too. Anyways, very shit news. Nintendo could really have had something here. I wonder what their hesitancy is about Smilie

1337ness

Darkflame 03.10.2006#13

Idiots.

Virtual Console's biggest salers will be the games WE COULDNT HAVE PLAYED BEFORE.

I want MarioRPG ect Smilie

I mean, they didnt even have to translate stuff.
Just let us have an option somewhere "show games from all regions", and let us work it out for ourselfs.

Theres no dissadvantage for them at all.

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+.

Darkflame 03.10.2006#14

"That's very important, since people will begin to rip them and release them anyway. "

They are all on the net anyway.

I could, within ten minutes, download and start playing MarioRPG.

But I didnt want too, because I wanted to PAY for it. I wanted to give Nintendo money, and too play it on a proper controll pad in my living room.

~sigh~

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+.

Darkflame 03.10.2006#15

Ok, everyone please contact Nintendo:
http://www.nintendo-europe.com/NOE/en/GB/contactus/index.jsp#2

Complain, it does no harm.

Just a few lines will do, personaly, Im just telling them what excited me most about the virtual console was playing games never released in my region.
Games people havnt had the chance to play will be the biggest salers.

http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+.

beamrider2600 03.10.2006#16

Unfortunately, Virtual Console games won't be universal either; games previously released in Europe will be the only ones hitting the European line-up, the same applying to other regions. So if a classic didn't hit your region, don't expect it to make a virtual console appearance near you soon.

Well this is deeply disappointing, and completely unneccesary. Nintendo rarely disappoint me in what they do but this is one case where they really have, and lost a reasonable portion of my respect.

Dr_R 03.10.2006#17

No perhaps I'm being a tad optimistic here, but the actual quote from Eurogamer goes a little something like this:

"European gamers will get European versions of the games."

Now this means that Virtual Console games will be region-locked. In other words, games bought from the European Wii VC store will only be playable on European Wii's. Think of it a bit like buying from iTunes: you can't buy from the US store if you live in the UK.

Now I might be missing something, but it doesn't say anything about only being able to buy games previously released in Europe, or that it'll be the original, dodgily ported PAL version of the game.

Am I missing something? Is this the only statement about VC region locking? Do you agree that this statement doesn't necessarily mean the worst?

"This man has advanced communist views ... He dresses in a bohemian fashion both at his office and in his leisure hours."

beamrider2600 03.10.2006#18

Am I missing something? Is this the only statement about VC region locking? Do you agree that this statement doesn't necessarily mean the worst?

I've just read the article myself as well now, and thats what I thought. Maybe we've got the wrong idea, we don't know what NoE's exact words were. But the article does go on to say:

Virtual Console will deliver titles from systems including NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, Megadrive and TurboGrafx at the rate of around 10 per month.

So if TurboGrafx is there, surely its likely that some of the games will be US games. Just because the games are European region specific on Wii doesn't automatically mean that they were European region games originally.

Grammar Police Returns 03.10.2006#19

Grumbler said:
Does anyone know of any websites about how shit games companies are to Europeans? Because if not, Im going to make one, in English and French.( Edited on 03.10.2006 09:44 by Grumbler )

There was one called NOE Watch, but it has disappeared. I've been thinking of making one recently, actually.

I'm glad component cables have been confirmed, which means the PAL Will will not have progressive scan locked out. On the VC issue, I'm waiting till the console is out to see what's up. Some stuff could be misinterpreted, but I don't see why Nintendo can't release English language games in NA as well as Europe. We speak it here too, you know. That said, this IS Nintendo we're talking about so don't be surprised if they screw us over.

P.S. Wouldn't it be silly making a *download* region specific? How would that work, anyway? Might it search your Wii to see if it's a PAL/NTSC console? Maybe they just mean that when European Wii owners log on to download stuff from the VC, they can only see games available to Europe. If anyone is REALLY worried about this, I'd suggest importing an NTSC Wii.

( Edited on 03.10.2006 14:25 by Grammar Police Returns )

shiptoncraig 03.10.2006#20

I'm not too bothered about GC/Wii region exclusivity, it's to be expected. Unless you believe every rumour you hear.

However, I thought that the big appeal about the VC was that you could play games which never made it to your region. There's definately no reason why US games such as Mario RPG can't be available on the VC for europeans. It has the right languages. Bad news indeed.

360 Gamertag: shiptoncraig
PSN: shiptoncraig
Steam: Guess what?

paul_sant2003 03.10.2006#21

Nintendo seem to be contriditing themselves. I found this quote on Wikipedia
That seems to suggest that VC titles from other regions will be available

Dr_R 03.10.2006#22

Thank you paul_sant2003

Either Nintendo have changed their minds again or people have freaked out at the Eurogamer quote and made 2 + 2 = 5.

Remember, if there's a market for it, there's absolutely no reason for Nintendo not to release VC games across regions. There's no expensive packaging or manufacturing of multiple copies so little to no risk for releasing the product on VC.

Surely Nintendo wouldn't be this stupid.

( Edited on 03.10.2006 15:38 by Dr_R )

"This man has advanced communist views ... He dresses in a bohemian fashion both at his office and in his leisure hours."

dimsdale 03.10.2006#23

and the little piggy went wii, wii, wii all the way home.

you see, it's like this, nintendo is the piggy and the wii are like dollars.

this just sucks. i hope my old freeloader works in the wii. or will i have to buy another gamecube to play all my old import games (my original GC is dead)?

Megadanxzero 03.10.2006#24

I'm really hoping they'll be more lenient with games that were never released here... I mean European people all speak English anyway Smilie

And paul_sant... You do know that Wikipedia can be edited by ANYONE don't you? Just because something is on there, doesn't make it fact. It was probably just what someone assumed

( Edited on 03.10.2006 17:10 by Megadanxzero )

Still a proud member of the 'omfg amazing water in games' society

Dr_R 03.10.2006#25

Megadanxzero,

It's a quote from Iwata from July '05. I do remember it at the time. Like I said, just 'cause they said it then doesn't mean it's still true now.

"This man has advanced communist views ... He dresses in a bohemian fashion both at his office and in his leisure hours."

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