I dont think kids in Europe go to bed before 11pm... Very stupid restriction. And I wonder how many kids have credit cards to buy games... Trailers restricted? LOL
Nintendo blocking 18+ Wii U content in Europe until 11 p.m. - Report
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Systems in Europe prohibiting users from accessing eShop for games and trailers rated PEGI 18+ between 3 a.m. and 11 p.m.
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.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
723 comments
Nintendo have never heard of parental control settings.
Thanks for reminding me why I didn't buy a WiiU.
I would just like to add, to all the posts saying its an EU law thing, ie not Nintendos fault, think about what you are saying.
How do people, in the EU get access to movies, trailers, demos and all other sorts of over 18 content on an Xbox, or a PS? How have they been doing it since year one with this draconian, mysterious EU law?
This is simply Nintendo being awful at the internetz, just like it was with the Wii.
Remember when the BBFC rated literally half the games coming into the UK? 15 year olds there now have to kiss AC goodbye.
1 Like Ugh. I understand Nintendo are trying to keep the system family friendly but this is not the way to do it. Really, they should just give system owners the choice as to wether or not they should use parental restrictions and simply restrict content from their kids through the use of a pin. Simple.
What. The. Fuck. Seriously, what the fuck is this bullshit? I know Nintendo doesn't have much of a choice and I'm not blaming them but I thought Freedom of Speech was pretty much universally adopted into European nations.
@vault-boy Why not blame Nintendo? Do you think their eshop has to comply with different EU laws to Sony or Microsoft? No. Yet they can offer whatever anytime.
This is all Nintendo. Someone there just failed to understand how to incorporate proper family control settings in a family console.
2 Like I was about to criticize Nintendo until the article explained that it's actually the fault of a silly European law which Nintendo has to abide by.
Another reason not to buy a Wii U. Nintendo's attempts to appeal to the core gamer are farcical.
Why does it matter? The stuff on the shop is massively overpriced and is £10+ cheaper physcially in shops. This won't last long due to the backlash anyway but half of you won't even be affected. God, the internet is full of whiny bandwagon jumpers.
I love the headline that insinuates that this is NINTENDO'S doing, instead of a regulatory censorship board. WTG, GAMESPOT. HONEST REPORTING WITH INTEGRITY.
It's not even near the reality: they had to block it because it's a german law and they have base there. They just need to separate the German eShop for the others.
Plus, true gamers does not buy games on hardware based accounts, Wii U eShop is really useless until they will, if they, do account based purchases. Who wants to buy something digitally on a thing that, when broken, says "money wasted"? I say this having a Wii U and being a Nintendo fan, but that does not mean that i'm blind. Maybe i'm just too used to Steam, i have changed accounts 3 times and everything is still there.
So they hate money (having such a short window has got to take a hit) and can't implement a User Agreement that verifies their age and waves liability for viewing 18+ content? Nintendo, seriously?
1 Like No it's not. It is the law you can't show age restricted content on TV before watershed hours depending on the country. Some are stricter than other.
But that is true for every country. If game content is restricted by watershed it would be restricted for Sony, Apple, Microsoft and even YouTube game footage too. They are being stupid and uniformed.
@wizardboyus @Joeguy00 @JefferyD2 @deathblow3
You have to remember that some people have different values than you and selling a game back isn't that big of a deal to some. I personally try my best to try a game out before I buy digitally (Thank you Gamefly) so I am sure that I like it. These kind of people are not all stupid, you're just ignorant. There are pros and cons for everything, and digital might just fit the situation better for some at times. Next time put some thought into something before you post instead of just telling someone they are stupid without giving some thought into why. Also, "cuz you can't resell that shit" is not a good enough answer. List the cons and tell us why the pros aren't worth it and MAYBE someone will actually listen to what you have to say.
@wizardboyus @JefferyD2 @deathblow3
I don't buy shit games I want to resell in the first place. Welcome to owning things digitally. I guess you buy all your music on cd's do you trade them in too right?
@Joeguy00 @JefferyD2 @deathblow3 if u were gonna buy a triple A title online then you are stupid, cuz you can't resell that shit..
It's not a matter of legal issues. They have the localization office for Europe in Germany and they are using their laws as a blueprint for content and then tweaking it for each country after that. So it really is a case of laziness and nobody should accept poor customer service and a worse experience than is already available. It's disheartening as somebody who likes to own all systems. I just don't want Mario, Monster Hunter and Bayonetta 2 enough to put up with a worse online store than PSN or Live tbh.
You're right. NOE IS being lazy. Personally however, I would probably do the same thing. I wouldn't want to deal with legal issues over this if something were to happen and I'm sure they don't either. To be honest though, I don't why I even care. I follow NOJ and NOA and this isn't a problem for either of them. So I'll just say that it sucks to be a Wii U European owner but at least they can still buy the physical games normally. This only refers to the eShop afterall.
1 Like You are saying because the system can be set to a different countries region on the store (same as other devices that do not have this issue btw) that every single law for every single country that the device can be set to is applicable to every single person? You understand how not true, unrealistic and lazy an attitude that is and you are excusing nonsense by Nintendo?
However, there is no way for Nintendo to prove that a person's system is in Germany. If I was there, then I could just easily set my region to England or Britain and bypass this law entirely. So Nintendo has to prevent this for legal purposes by making it so that you can't lie to the system and break a law. Sure Nintendo could do it anyway and blame that one person for lying, but this, to me at least, shows that Nintendo cares about their customers to the point that they won't give them an opportunity to break the law. You might think it's not a big deal, but to Nintendo, that could be a huge deal to be the reason that many people could get into legal issues. You can bash Nintendo for not allowing us to break the law by lying to make us at fault, but at least Nintendo is not going to go around and give people the opportunity to be shady just so that they could make extra money. Nintendo actually seems to give a shit about you, and themselves to the point that it's less legal issues for themselves as well, so remember that the next time you think of comparing them negatively to company that most likely couldn't care less if you ended up in jail as long as they have your money.
I understand it is the Law. Which I always thought is weird because Germany loves video games a lot. But the Law is not European Law. Nintendo should not be so lazy with European customers.
Other types of media wasn't my point at all. I'm not wrong when I say a timed watershed, which is the Law in Germany that Nintendo is using. If digital content is able to be restricted on the Wii U in all of Europe. It applies to all other systems and digital content providers. It's pure laziness to just provide a different service time schedule in Germany.
@Joeguy00 you're wrong but only half wrong it applies to everything. but you have to apply stern age restriction methods in order to show age restricted media any other time of day.
If nintendo restricts to access those games and trailers then what is the meaning of PEGI ratings? Plus if they want to do such a thing they can easily do that with a few software tricks (such as adding age restrictions via accounts) . I really cant understand Nintendo nowadays.
If this is to prevent kids from being "harmed" from seeing mature stuff, then I would think it does next to nothing (assuming that you can play physical and already downloaded copies alright. That's what I got from the article...).
Unless the kid usually steals their parent's credit card and buys games online, then I would think that they normally get M rated games from their parents, who probably just get them from the store. And if this kid is bad enough to steal their parents credit card, I would think they might stay up that late to download the game anyway.
So in the end, kids can still easily get M games from parents (if said parents can't read the M means mature signs everywhere...), and it really just annoys gamers who just want to download a game and not wait until late to play it.
If I'm wrong about the physical copy thing though... It's still pretty stupid ._.
1 Like What would happen if you had a slower connection, and its 11pm, and you started downloading a game... and then.... it got to 3am, and... then what?Seriously though, why not just do what everyone else does, and have an age restriction, with dates to put in.
This is a necessary measure. I think Nintendo is doing this just to play safe, avoid trouble and abide by the european regulations. I'm not sure if the Wii U has parental controls but I doubt many parents use those controls, they would be concerned about getting their kids to bed. Few people would buy from the company's 'eStore'. Most 'mature' gamers buy games from other online retailers or from the store.
Yeah this would be an inconvenience but staying up until 11 isn't an issue for those 'hardcore' gamers and I expect it to be an effective measure.
You think youre buying a game console but what you get is a portable nanny. Just more proof that nintendo is for little kids.
This is a bizarre and stupid decision. Why should people have to wait till late at night to buy games? This will also be sure to hurt sales of such games. It will also not guarantee that children will not see this content, as all they have to do is stay up late enough. They should just implement a system where the user has to make an account verifying their age before being able to see such content.
Seriously? Since when did it become okay for a company to tell me when I can buy my mature content?
I'm so tired of nintendo, I'm boycotting all things from their brand. I will only buy used to make sure they do not see a dime of my money.
Crap like this shows they deserve 0 support from gamers.
Fascists.
2 Like Wow what a horrible way of executing this plan. Even though I live in the US and am unaffected by this, I hope EU doesn't have to deal with this and Nintendo will stop this soon.
This seems a bit pointless. Surely there is no law that will get Nintendo in trouble in Europe if they sell those games during those other hours? Nintendo need to realize its not their job to force parents into doing what may be considered right for their children. Maybe there is some kind of dopey Euro-family-friendly award they are trying to win?
1 Like This is bullshit. They just should add parental control like in all others consoles.. and based it on that.
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