Nintendo DSi Software Will Be Region Locked 148
aliquis writes with news that software made for the recently announced Nintendo DSi will be region-locked. Nintendo's reasoning is that the DSi "embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region." It's also been discovered that accounts with the DSi's online store won't be linked with the Wii store, so points for one won't work with the other. Nintendo has stated that they don't intend for digital distribution to replace retail sales. We discussed the DSi's announcement last week.
No more imports for you (Score:3, Interesting)
Unless someone invents a workaround.
And that's bound to happen.
Pandora FTW (Score:4, Interesting)
Yet another reason I cannot wait to get my hands on Pandora [openpandora.org]. My primary gaming handheld is currently a GP2X [wikipedia.org], but I am starting to outgrow it for non-gaming purposes.
I really hate Nintendo as a company... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:I really hate Nintendo as a company... (Score:3, Interesting)
The DS is basically a GBA "with extra bits". Kinda like the Wii is an overclocked Gamecube with a few chips thrown in (Bluetooth, wifi, etc.). Even though the GBA slot on the DSi may be missing, the hardware is still there so it could easily play GBA games if it simply had access to them. I'm betting you're spot on about the SD card thing, or more than likely, downloadable titles that are probably little more than repackaged ROM files.
I give it a few months before someone has any ol' GBA Rom working on this thing, particularly as the DSi seems to be a "DS with extra bits" and the DS homebrew scene are extremely familiar with the hardware as it is.
Re:Ninetndo is region locked; but JESUS is FREE! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I really hate Nintendo as a company... (Score:4, Interesting)
How on earth are they going to keep compatibility with DS games, then?
Late 80s coming back (Score:2, Interesting)
Right now I feel like times are changing back again. With low-cost netbooks on the rise, SSDs and OSes burnt on to Bioses we're going to see more of this stuff creeping out into the computing world. It's the only way MS can attempt to enforce their Windows Family lockin. By providing inflexible hardware with some locks bolted on to them. I feel like the 80s are coming back, with Atari, Comodore and Archimedes stepping back into the ring.
Oh well, time to switch to the Pandorra [openpandora.org] for handheld gaming then.
Re:I really hate Nintendo as a company... (Score:3, Interesting)
Probably by assuming the ARM7 code is their official binaries, and emulating those elsewhere. The official DS emulator from Nintendo, Ensata, doesn't even emulate the ARM7 at all. It provides the same functionality in software instead.
This would work on games developed with the offical SDK (all the commercial ones, I'm guessing) and not at all with homebrew.
Peter Pan (Score:3, Interesting)
There is NO justification for region lockout. None.
Say you develop a video game based on a book. Copyright in the book has expired in your region, but the copyright still subsists in another major market. You do not want to be sued in the other market for copyright infringement. So you region-lock your product to reduce your exposure to copyright lawsuits.
Case in point: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. Barrie wrote the novel Peter and Wendy in 1911 and willed the copyright to Great Ormond Street Hospital. The United States copyright expired in the 1960s under the Copyright Act of 1909's publication plus 56 years regime. But under the life plus 70 years regime in effect in Europe, the copyright subsisted until 2008, and GOSH demanded royalties for any copies distributed in Europe.