Nintendo, do not let this be true

[Oxymoron28]

Because it's so utterly stupid:

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.

Nintendo blocking 18+ Wii U content in Europe until 11 p.m. - Report - GameSpot.com

[Rubicant81]

Wow, so Europeans are going to be treated like this. Nintendo might be looking at a class action lawsuit if this idiotic nanny-mode continues. At the very least, this is going to be yet another deterrent to developers making/porting games to the system if it's going to cater so heavily to children.

Now before our resident Nintendo super fan responds - I would love to see what would have been said if Nintendo was replaced with Sony in this article.

[gyrocop]

Some peoples nights are other peoples midday. Not thought through Nintendo.

[themute88orl]

As "all for" I am about balancing content for age appropriateness, this is straight up restrictions. Not cool. It's up to the parents to parent.

[User011010]

I don't know if this will do any good...Nintendo get a gold star for "means well"

[holycrapoly]

I tried thinking of something, but this is just that stupid I can't.

[dr_mayus]

Wait I am a little confused, does this mean that I couldn't walk into a gameshop at 6pm and buy ZombiU or does that mean I can't buy DLC off the Nintendo Store at that time?

Because if this refers to retailers, what store is open from 11-3am?

This is a confusing article

[badreligionbomb]

'merica, fuck yeah

[AJL_LEYJA]

what did you guys expect this is nintendo after all.nintendo has gone downhill since the fad that was the wii

[vettes_4-ever]

Wait I am a little confused, does this mean that I couldn't walk into a gameshop at 6pm and buy ZombiU or does that mean I can't buy DLC off the Nintendo Store at that time?

Because if this refers to retailers, what store is open from 11-3am?

This is a confusing article

It seems they mean the Wii U's online store can't access Pegi 18+ content unless it is between 11pm and 3am.

[themute88orl]

Isn't this just going to encourage kids to stay up past their bedtime?

[Kid_Loser]

So is Nintendo just trying to get rid of the core crowd. The time isn't great either, I know people who only get on to play games in the morning so not being able to download will be difficult to do as well. Does this include patches?

[leatherface000]

Can the Wii pad scan my mom's note giving me permission to download M rated content?

[Johnny_Sparx]

oh i can't wait to see doodles response to this one (aka ps360)

[Kissfan89]

dafuq did i just read??

Well done Nintendo, your pretty much saying that you dont want 18+ gamers. Good job. *slow clap*

[Nagflar]

Old news are old.

The idea itself isn't bad, afterall, Nintendo has always tried to be "family friendly" (and unlike this site, which claims the same, tries to look that way ). However, the implementation itself is bad. I am sure they could've come up with a better solution than this one, but in the end it's their own content and they might as well do whatever they want lol.

This was on a poll on gamefaqs about 3 days ago, and pretty much everyone disagrees with Nintendo's 'solution'.

[Rubicant81]

Old news are old.

The idea itself isn't bad, afterall, Nintendo has always tried to be "family friendly" (and unlike this site, which claims the same, tries to look that way ). However, the implementation itself is bad. I am sure they could've come up with a better solution than this one, but in the end it's their own content and they might as well do whatever they want lol.

This was on a poll on gamefaqs about 3 days ago, and pretty much everyone disagrees with Nintendo's 'solution'.

It isn't their content. Nintendo isn't making PEGI 18+ games, the third party developers are, and if you're going to close the window on when people can digitally obtain your content - tell me why you would make it for that console? This is just going to cause third party developers to skip over the console all together, because if you're going to severely hamper the consumer's ability to get your product, then it isn't worth the added effort (especially if those third party sales figures that seem to be creeping up are true... ouch).

[Oxymoron28]

Old news are old.

The idea itself isn't bad, afterall, Nintendo has always tried to be "family friendly" (and unlike this site, which claims the same, tries to look that way ). However, the implementation itself is bad. I am sure they could've come up with a better solution than this one, but in the end it's their own content and they might as well do whatever they want lol.

This was on a poll on gamefaqs about 3 days ago, and pretty much everyone disagrees with Nintendo's 'solution'.

the idea isn't bad? No you're right, it's fecking terrible. Poor implementation or not, I really do not understand why Nintendo has done this. All this does is punish those old enough to buy the content in the first place, I really cant see how anyone would support this idea...

it's arse backwards when we're meant to be making digital distribution more appealing to consumers...

[Nagflar]

It isn't their content. Nintendo isn't making PEGI 18+ games, the third party developers are, and if you're going to close the window on when people can digitally obtain your content - tell me why you would make it for that console? This is just going to cause third party developers to skip over the console all together, because if you're going to severely hamper the consumer's ability to get your product, then it isn't worth the added effort (especially if those third party sales figures that seem to be creeping up are true... ouch).

True, then let me rephrase: It's their own store, and they might as well do whatever they want. Will it scare off devs like Capcom who love to release overpiced DLC? Yes. Is Nintendo aware? Yes. Do they seem to care? No.

In the end, all of those who are bothered by this and are makign a rucus aren't going to buy the console (case in point: all the bashers in this and every other Wii U thread), so it's not like Nintendo should care about their opinion, should they?

We also suspected right from the start that there would be little third-party support for the console (and I mean good support, not shovelware) and that the console's main asset would consist of, as usual, first-party games, so it should be no surprise that third-parties won't be interested in getting involved nor that third-party games won't be selling much.

the idea isn't bad? No you're right, it's fecking terrible. Poor implementation or not, I really do not understand why Nintendo has done this. All this does is punish those old enough to buy the content in the first place, I really cant see how anyone would support this idea...

it's arse backwards when we're meant to be making digital distribution more appealing to consumers...

The idea of not letting kids get their hands on 18+ content isn't bad, afterall, there are ratings for a reason. Now, the implementation is horrible, which is entirely different, since they're not letting anyone get their hands on 18+ content. See the difference between the idea and the implementation?

[APriceless]

Some peoples nights are other peoples midday. Not thought through Nintendo.

Exactly what I was thinking. It's just a completely bad mood.