Comments on: Nintendo Australia Responds To Wii Delays

By: HiKaizer

HiKaizer — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:11:51 +0000

It’s a little disappointing what the results of their “localisation” are. There’s clearly a lot of translation that needs to be done between English and…English. But then we’re stuck with American spellings of words anyway, like “mom” or even “localization”.

Sarcasm aside I think most people who’ve already commented have summed up the real issue nicely.

By: RJG

RJG — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:23:18 +0000

I've spoken with some NAL people at events and you can be sure they seemed sheepish when the issue came up. Like they themselves were embarrassed about it. Obviously they put on their Big Brave Corporate Face(tm) and said "well, you got the DS and New Super Mario Bros. first..." but you could tell they didn't like it either.

It really is out of their hands. NAL are just a warehouse and some barebones tech support for the region. That's it. They get a marketing budget that can be measured in coupon booklets left over from NOJ's junk mail.

As to the legality of the situation, that has already been made clear. Modchips are LEGAL here in Australia (I have one in my Wii) because the regional lockout systems Nintendo has implemented are ILLEGAL, and the consumer deserves (at least in the eyes of the ACCC) a fighting chance.

In the end, getting pissed at NAL achieves nothing, but getting pissed at NOJ will achieve even less. They're rolling in cash from people who don't even know what a regional code is, why would they care about a dwindling audience already tired of their shit, regardless of the support they've shown them when they lived off nothing but Pokemon and Mario Party?

And that's how I became a grinch.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:44:40 +0000

You need to write those letters to NOE not NAL.

By: Jazzy

Jazzy — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:30:55 +0000

So why is it so hard for Nintendo to do localisation and PAL conversion when Microsoft & Sony don't seem to have this problem?

I think Luke's right - they just care a lot less about territories outside of Japan & the US than the other companies do.

By: Hugh_Jass

Hugh_Jass — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:03:51 +0000

Seems like there’s a few issues at work here. As to the delays, a good old fashioned letter writing campaign might not go astray. The ACCC already gave their opinion on region locks, but another matter to consider is the ridiculous price gouging going on with both hardware and software. Has the ACCC looked at this, or have they rolled over like they did with the recording industry?

By: Doogie

Doogie — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:26:05 +0000

Looks like i have no choice but to install that modchip to remove the region locking? If so it’s your own fault Nintendo.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:02:21 +0000

Hey, NAL finally made a response. Id say thats a step in the right direction.

Aussie: We all know who runs Nintendo Australia. But that knowledge doesnt alleviate the problem in the slightest.

NAL are in a better position than us to change the situation and the pressure and complaints are rightly placed on NAL. In addition though, NOJ have to be brought in on the issue some how.

By: KraazyCraig

KraazyCraig — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:07:38 +0000

at least thats a bit more than a no comment. Hopefully sites like Aussie Nintendo, Vooks and now Kotaku AU can drum up enough support Nintendo Japan will take some notice

By: VOOK

VOOK — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:07:12 +0000

Well then if that is the case time to take our bickering to the next level, the only problem is the only other part of the world that cares is Europe because they are in the same boat as us.

By: Aussie

Aussie — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 07:24:20 +0000

As i have said for sometime now that Nintendo Australia is run by NCL Japan, always has been and always will be….