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Nintendo Puts a Bedtime On Wii U Content In Europe
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."
Bring back the old time rock and roll !!
RPGs with time passage often have stores that sell special goods at a specific ingame time... the "0200 special".
Nintendo seems to have liked that idea enough to implement it in the real world. :)
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
Kids don't purchase games themselves at any time.
I just have to ask why Nintendo does anything like this. Opt-in for mature^W adolescent content, have that as an option when you first configure the device, just do something that makes this an option if you believe it's to be segregated per audience.
There's no reason to believe that all households with a WiiU have members that should not be exposed to their catalog, and there's no reason to believe that households with such members will have them unavailable during those hours.
Nintendo to Europe: Go to bed.
DATABASE WOW WOW
It would have been, but I had to wait for my four-hour window due to the sleazy nature of this post.
too bad...
DRM, the right of the content provider to decree what you can do with it, and when and where, protected by laws instituted under thunderpus applause to protect the industry, has again shown its true face.
Now its just buying... once this is seen as normal, the next step is playing... checked by a digitally signed timestamp from a trusted ntpx server.
There is only one answer - make DRM of any kind illegal under consumer protectiom laws.
between the hours of 3 a.m. and 11 p.m
So, most of the daytime?
...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.
This is the sound that my Wii U makes, when i throw it out from my flat....
Shouldn't a feature like this be tied to parental controls rather than an all or nothing approach?
This is only for the eShop. After you have the game, then it doesn't matter. Sure, it's annoying, but it's only something you have to deal with when you want to buy a game. I don't think it's very outrage worthy, which is how some people are reacting, but whatever.
Here's a less FUDy article
I still think it's silly, especially it ending at 3am (or is that when kids wake up in Europe...?), but it's not like it's forcing you to only play your games in a specific 4 hour period.
Fuck you, Nintendo.
But between those hours I jerk off! And there's no way I'm putting down my wee to play with my wii.
The G
On the internet I have seen members of the nintendo defence force but the blame on governments, but the reality is that a Microsoft or Sony also operates in the same markets and they don't have such a moronic way of dealing with this.
Why they just do 't check the age based on the birthday, a checkbox or whatever... You know how like xbox live, psn or even steam handles it.
Nintendo and technology... It is like announcing cloud saves and tying an account to a single machine... Oh wait. Really when nintendo is in involved it really doesn't surprises me one bit.
observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries
Three words: least common denominator. They are simply abiding by the most stringent requirements in the European market.
Repeat after me: the EU is not the United States of Europe.
This is a published feature of the child accounts. Either the people reporting this just don't know that and are trying with child accounts, or it's a simple case of the feature being implemented wrong.
In Europe we get these kind of blocks when it comes to Netflix/Amazon/Youtube/IMDB when we are trying to view content that, american companies belives, is reserved for first class citizens only (themselfs). Europe is beeing treated like a second class citizens. I hate it, but then again we have ways to get around that: The Pirate Bay.
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.
That's not me stating that but nintendo europe by restricting the adult content for every user beyond 11pm (when presumably kiddy are in bed) to 3am. Meaning in their mind only kids use those console 3am to 11pm. (what happened to have a parental lock?). Thanks Nintendo I now know as an european I don't need to check your offering , because mostly by 11pm either I am going out, or I am asleep at home. And just a wild stab in the dark, but it will be the same for most adult having a job.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
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visit randi.org
Yup.
In France, there are rules preventing 18+ games from being sown on TV before 22:30. Even channels broadcasting on cable, satellite and dsl networks must respect those rules. That poses a problem to channels like Nolife TV, specialized in video games, because a lot of games get a PEGI 18 rating - if the player is able to kill a human-looking enemy, and this is done in a somewhat realist context, it's PEGI 18. As a result, they must cram discussion of a lot of games in a small time slot.
The rule was originally designed for movies, by the way, but the French movie rating is much more relaxed than the games rating. For example, the last James Bond movie did not get any restriction at all, it would be PEGI 18 if it were a game. But the movie rating boards in Europe use different standards.
At then end; it looks like Nintendo took the most restrictive of those rules, and applied them to everyone, as if the WiiU was a TV channel. This will hurt them in more liberal markets. It does not help that Nintendo of Europe is headquartered in Germany, which has the most extreme restrictions on video games, and still requires a separate, different, ugly, enormous, unremovable logo on game packaging and game disks. And this is after the PEGI rating board mainly standardized on rules very close to the German ones...
Need I say more?
There are places in the world where you won't be charged with "risks to a minor" when said minors got to see a bunch of naked women and men and as such face charges for 30 years in jail (as has happened with a teacher which school PC started showing pr0n stuff due to 2 years (or more) of neglected maintenance. Yet she got to lose her license).
Try using your brains here for a moment, no matter how hard that seems to be....
Do it like the cable company does here: during the times where minors could be accidentally (?) selecting certain adult channels you ask for a pin code. And during the rest of the time span you simply display said channel as is.
Don't treat all your customers like minors, because treating them as such will make them act as such. Guess what? Sony's PS3 doesn't have these stupid restrictions (unless parents add them due to parental control).
And there goes the next bunch of needed customers....
I'm not really sure why I bought my Wii U, but after I found out about this the hard way I decided to return it for a '360 instead.
Sorry Nintendo. If you don't want to sell me stuff, then I really don't give a shit about your console. It's really bad when people are literally screaming "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY", and Nintendo is saying "No, sorry, we can only do that between the hours of 11PM to 3AM". Fine then, don't- see if I care. Microsoft has been more then happy taking my money at all hours of the day.
Bravo, Nintendo! For your next act, I would like to see a method and process for checking if kids have done their homework, before letting them play games. And a connection to the school system database, that lets kids with better grades play games longer. And an active webcam, that only lets kids who cleaned up their rooms play games. Messy room == No games, for you!
Can a Nintendo drive the kids to soccer games, while the parents are off playing golf . . . ?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
In France, there are rules preventing 18+ games from being sown on TV before 22:30.
No, no, no -- you're confusing that rule with the one about adult movies -- you know, "no sowing of seed before 22:30". With the 18+ games, they're just concerned about people downloading them. Or as the Internet Buckaneers call it, "reaping what is sown on TV."
(also, what 18+ games are shown on TV? is that like naked soccer or something?)
coding is life
Ok, maybe not a sign of the end of civilization, but certainly society is not doing well when a game company has to act like a parent. Shouldn't this stuff be the job of the parents, not the game company?
I was considering getting myself a Wii U as it looks quite interesting with games finally on par with PS3 and XBox 360. I also wanted to play some of the excellent games that nintendo makes, but wouldn't be able to get them for PS3. However, if this is really the case, then my consideration for the platform are done and I'm not getting one. I think it may be similar with many other people. Nintendo could finally win back some of the Real gamers, but not when they gonna treat them like some freaks or sick people that can get their fix only when no one is looking. Well done Nintendo for shooting yourself in the foot. So long and thanks for nothing.
My Windows is NOT slow, it's special!
I am pretty sure that those who are up and playing games as those times are the 8th graders who have a computer/console in their own room, not their parents (who have to get to work in the morning).
Nintendo gets a sense for reality. But they probably only have one in PR and try to solve some legal protests before they arrive. In german TV, for example, you can only show 16+ graded content later than 22:00 and 18+ content 23:00. I guess that what Nintendo is doing there has something to do with that (but they are only walking the wrong path, they should tie that content to the account).
And no matter what they do: It will not be effective. Either the kids are just staying up late (only to proof "they can") or because they are the ones who set up the account for/of the consonle.
Oops, I'm at work between 11pm and 3am. On the other hand, I'm not in Europe and I don't play on Nintendo consoles, so it balances out nicely.
but since nintendo has the zelda IP (and has been milking it for 30 years) all the gay ass nintentard fanbois will give them a free pass despite not support indie developers and using conflict minerals from africa in their shitty underpowered crapsole.
It is the GBA without back lighting, the GBA game saves that consisted of writing down a long string, the inability to turn music off in many Nintendo games.
It not just being behind on tech it seems there efforts are just plain lazy. A 4 hour window? It reminds me of when I was working on a ISP portal in the last century were they wanted porn because it was the only thing that actually sold but only during late night hours. NOBODY bothers with that kind of stuff anymore because it just don't make sense.
For instance, once the game has been bought, it is fully available. The games can still be bought through regular shops and lets face it a Nintendo game is so tame anyway that only the most puritan countries have issues with it (Britain and Germany). The only thing Nintendo is showing with this, is that it is still the console for little kiddies. The lousily managed console for little kiddies.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I'm an American, so this doesn't affect me outside of the fact that the liberals in our country will think it's a great idea in another three to five years. But, really, it's like Nintendo is trying to chase customers away. There are already parental controls, so by making it needlessly difficult to purchase games that are geared towards adults, Nintendo is just sending the (admittedly true) message that they have no interest whatsoever in adult gamers. Unless you're under 14, really like virtual bowling, or are the kind of adult who describes things as "kawaii", there is nothing for you on the WiiU.
And, speaking as an adult who plays a shit-ton of 18+ games (on PC, thanks very much) 11:00 PM finds me either in bed finishing a book or out at the bar with friends if I'm off the next day. It's been many moons since I didn't have to be up and productive by 8:00 AM, and if I get less than 8 hours of sleep, I'm draggin' ass the next day. Besides which, how many people are going to be lining up for the opportunity to stay up later than they'd like to so they can have the privilege of buying a game from Nintendo?
This unbiased moderation brought to you by the Porcine Aviation Group!
Rightttt..... like kids could never ever be able to stay up late enough to be able to make the purchase during that window!!! No, kids never stay up late or wake up in the middle of the night or do things that their parents or society would not want them to do... /sarcasm
.
Seriously, parental restrictions would make more sense. (Though I can say that I've had to undo the parental restriction setting on the DVR for my parents at least twice in the last six months.) Teens often don't want to get out of bed til noon on a weekend, we can stay up til 3 and wake up at 6 or 7 and have a lousy but okay day the next day (well it's still the same day, but it feels likes the next day after sleeping from 3:30 to 6:30)
I'm going to guess nobody at Nintendo said "hey, let's arbitrarily restrict content to certain regions at certain times! That's a GREAT idea!"
Perhaps customers' ire should be directed at their regional and national governments whose laws go overboard in 'protecting the childrenz' (in this case, from staying up too late...)?
-Styopa
Teachers complaining about sleeping pupils
"Every time a new part of the latest first person shooter comes out, half of my class doesn't show up at all and the rest is barely able to stay awake", Mrs. T, a high school teacher complains. Yesterday the long awaited Zombie shooter "Brains out" came out and it looks like it turned into reality on the Whatyoumaycallit High. Teenagers shuffling across the corridors from class to class, only to drop dead at their desks to catch up on some much needed sleep.
"What' worst is that they don't just buy it, of course, after they bought it they immediately want to play it. And since they cannot buy it before 11pm, they play through the night and now... look at them! Sensible teaching is neigh impossible now, their only answer is 'Braaaaains'. I think Nintendo sure dropped the ball on that one"
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The Nintendo "Curfew U"!
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
In this illustration, do the dwarves represent PC gaming?
Really? it's the liberals in America pushing the "think of the children" laws?
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
It is only there in one article but you've been duped. You simply cannot buy these "mature" things from the store except in that time-span. You can still play them to your heart's content all day long.
No.
The Wii U with it's sleek vaguely feminine physique and Zelda game series is an Elf
Xbox is clearly the Dwarves with it's stout stature, drunken vulgarity, and stocky berserker characters.
I think the PC is the most obvious and needs no explanation: it is the Troll.
WTH is slashdot coming to??? "The story originated from a NeoGAF forum user, which reportedly received an email..." Was this verified in any way? A supposed e-mail makes the front page? What's next? "According to a BFRO forum user, PenIs2Large, who reportedly received an e-mail from aliens said..."
Do these 'editors' have any basic education?
Will the new Xbox play [..] Nintendo first party titles (almost all I want)? No, so it isn't much of a substitute is it.
Well, let's see... I was talking about "gamers who *do* want "mature" content". Given that you just said that you're almost exclusively interested in "Nintendo first party titles" (i.e. the antithesis of the former), it should be pretty blooming obvious that I wasn't talking about people like you.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Great regulation; in addition to their minds being corrupted, the kids are going to be falling asleep during school as well.
This is quite logical if you think about it. Get kids used to government agencies telling them what they can and cant do at certain hours 'for their protection', and they will grow up expecting it.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
As anyone who works in security will tell you, implementing a password system is a surefire way to guarantee forgotten password support calls. And implementing self-help forgotten password user aids guarantees support calls about those on top of the forgotten password. That's money I don't want to spend.
Passwords are useful and wonderful things, but you're leaving the user's lives in their own hands while being expected to be responsible on their behalf when they aren't responsible for themselves...all because you set up a password system in the first place. I never implement passwords when I can pick a lazier-but-just-as-secure lockout method instead (appropriate to the resource I'm protecting, of course), like saying "you can't have this right now."
In the end, this only really affects children (unauthorized users) and adults with inverted sleep cycles. As someone with a regular sleep cycle, I plan middle-of-the night activities in advance and arrange my sleeping accordingly; people with inverted sleep cycles should be able to do the same for daytime activities, and I assume that's what they must do already given the day-centricity of almost everything else on the planet. Where this hurts Nintendo lies exactly in exactly one edge case AFAICT: Customers who would have otherwise bought affected games at restricted hours and choose not to buy them during unrestricted hours for any reason. No offense to any such affected users out there, but that's nothing.
They are both pirates and lost their arms after all.
No one who pushes these insane restrictions can correctly be called liberal.
Fuck You Nintendo.
One would think that if you're buying with a credit card (in your own name) that there's some age validation there.
I'd expect there's some weird regulations going on there. I doubt most companies want to prevent you from giving them money (unless they're the RIAA/MPAA in which case control > money)