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Nintendo 3DS: Non-transferable Licenses and Region Control

Posted by: , 14:21 AEDT, Thu January 27, 2011

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The 3DS may be a revolutionary portable console, but some of its "new" features may be downright regressive

Wired.com did a Q&A with Nintendo's senior manager of product marketing Bill Trinen, in which several interesting topics regarding the upcoming 3DS console were touched upon.

The 3DS, long touted by Nintendo as having the toughest DRM yet (to combat piracy, which has been rampant on the DS console), will feature downloadable content, but the licenses may not be transferable, at least not at first. What this means is that content downloaded to one console is locked to the same console, and when Nintendo brings out the customary model refresh, your purchased games may be stuck on the old console. "Once you’ve bought it, it’s for the system you bought it on," Trinen explained.

Luckily, it appears that Trinen's answer was wrong on this point, or at least not complete. It is true that purchases will be locked to the console, but Nintendo plans to bring out a transfer tool that allows you limited number of transfers to new consoles, to be released at an unspecified date.

Another question wired.com asked region control, which the 3DS will feature. Trinen claimed this was partially related to different parental control in different regions. His suggestion for wanting to play Japanese 3DS games? "... you can get a Japanese 3D"

Do you support Nintendo's attempt to make the platform more piracy proof, or do you think Nintendo has gone too far? Post your opinion in our comments section below, or in our forum:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=94496


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