Nintendo Puts a Bedtime On Wii U Content In Europe 190
kc67 writes "Nintendo of Europe is blocking Wii U content in the region that is rated PEGI 18+ between the hours of 3 a.m. and 11 p.m., according to a Eurogamer report. Under these stipulations, the four-hour window of 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. is the only time users can purchase games like ZombiU or Assassin's Creed III or even view trailers for such games. The story originated from a NeoGAF forum user, which reportedly received an email from Nintendo saying the following: 'Dear customer, we would like to let you know that Nintendo has always aimed to offer gameplay experiences suited to all age groups, observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries. We have thus decided to restrict the access to content which is unsuitable to minors (PEGI) to the 11 p.m.- 3 a.m. time window.' Eurogamer has since verified the claim. It received a message stating 'You cannot view this content' and 'The times during which this content can be viewed have been restricted.' Nintendo has yet to comment on the matter."
So if you are 18+ and work a night shift, (Score:5, Insightful)
too bad...
A lack of credit card... (Score:4, Insightful)
...tends to handle this issue on its own. At least as far as purchases go.
As for the rest, just do what every single other recent console has done and put password-protected access restrictions in the system. Not only does it give more granular control to the customer, it also ensures that Nintendo's rules aren't enforced on people who don't want them, while also ensuring that night shift workers won't be left without a way to purchase content.
Their solution has got to be one of the worst choices out of the options that were available.
Parental Controls (Score:5, Insightful)
Shouldn't a feature like this be tied to parental controls rather than an all or nothing approach?
Hoax? (Score:2, Insightful)
Sure Nintendo has a bit of a reputation for being rather nannyish but come on, a 4 hour window for 18 rated games? It sounds completely absurd.
I'm guessing this is either complete bullshit, or there's some parental control enabled by default buried in the options somewhere.
Re:WHY? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, I was somewhat tempted to buy a WiiU, I don't know why, impulse purchase thing I guess, but this has really closed the doors for me on the idea.
I only really like adult games, with a few exceptions like Mario, Zelda and Pikmin, childish games that plagued the Wii never really did it for me, I like something with a nice gritty story line or just generally a bit more adult in nature.
But seeing as I get up for work at 6:30am each morning, and so tend to go to bed about 10:30pm nowadays (gone are the late night gamer days - growing up sucks!) and don't tend to deviate much from that on weekends it basically means I'd either have to stay up and be tired when driving to work, or forego exactly the type of content that I would play.
So it's lost them at least one sale here, and I suspect many more.