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Region Free Freeloader Emerges for the Wii
Datel has recently unveiled their hotly anticipated Freeloader for the Wii, allowing you to run games on your Wii from any world region.
Nintendo hasn't released an official comment on the device yet, but one can imagine they will not be too pleased about it, especially as they blocked the GameCube version of the Freeloader from running on the Wii. Datel has the ability to prod and poke the big N enough to make them focus on blocking their software, something Nintendo hasn't even done with DS flash cartridges yet.
Those lucky enough to be living in Japan and North America haven't had to face the huge delay Nintendo-published games generally have before they reach their shores, but Europe has suffered from this greatly. For example, Metroid Prime 3 was released in August 2007 in North America, but didn't arrive in Europe until two months later. This substantial delay was enough to convince some fans to import US Wii's so they could play further Nintendo-published Wii games at the same time as the rest of the world.
So who's to blame for the Freeloader? Is it Nintendo for not allowing the system to be open to different regions like the PS3 or DS? (The 360's region coding is decided on a game-per-game basis, controlled by publishers.) Or is Datel simply cashing in on a subset of gamers who wish to play the same things as people in other parts of the world at the same time? Well the truth is a blend between the two.
Nintendo is giving their consumers mixed messages. They allowed the DS to be region free, and haven't tried to clamp down on importing (like Sony and the infamous Lik-Sang lawsuit), but must've seen this as a big issue for the Wii to clamp down on it so tenaciously.
Datel is charging £9.99 for the Freeloader disk, which is not much for what it is, but given the low-cost materials involved and development time, it would be fair to say that they are turning a nice profit from the device.
Personally, I am waiting to see the Freeloader disc thoroughly tested by early adopters before pouncing on it, but this kind of technology is invaluable to gamers, especially when Europeans are forced to wait a long while for an anticipated game to come out. Smash Bros. Brawl is rumored to be released in Autumn in Europe, but will see US shores just next week. Datel couldn't have timed the release of the Freeloader any sweeter, as people in Europe will just import the US version now and circumvent the long wait, and I have no shame in admitting I will be one of them.
I might have to get one of these if Mario Kart takes too long to come out state-side.
Posted by ilikesanta at March 3, 2008 10:43 PMDatel claims (though not clearly explained) in answer to a any future firmware updates that once the disc is inserted it establishes itself into the Wii and will allow firmware updates to still be installed while preventing the update from blocking the FreeLoader software itself somehow. Details were sketchy, but we'll see.
I just don't understand what is Nintendo's philosophy on region locking. Especially when it's allowed with the DS, I'm pretty sure all Wiis are capable of playing all regions if Nintendo decided to allow it with their own firmware update.
Posted by Eligecos at March 3, 2008 10:58 PMBeing a gamer in Australia can be pretty shocking at times, and I'm kicking myself for getting an Australian Wii at launch instead of importing one. Despite the American dollar being almost level with the Australian games here are still 100 clams on release, 120 for 360/ps3 games being almost double that is what I like to call crazy money.
Owning an American console or a freeloader means much cheaper games, much quicker.
Posted by Jack at March 5, 2008 12:52 AMOn the comment of being an Australian game player I have found quite often in the past that games come out that never get released in Australia and the only way then is to get a freeloader to play them. I hope the wii freeloader is as good as the gamecube one.
Posted by Annette at March 14, 2008 12:43 AMIm a European user and waiting for games to be released is not my biggest concern.. its having an artwork game like No more heroes beeing stripped and utterly raped in the .eu version. I did go and buy the game thinking the censoring cant hurt the game too much. But I coudlnt stand playing the "black weird clouds" version of the game for more than 5 minutes. Everyting about the game seemed to lose it's essence.. the katana moves and the snappy strike and walk away moves all screamed "here's supposed to be a decapitaded body squirting blood" The entire feel of the game was gone.. So not making it possible for me in the .eu to play the .us version of the game makes me wanna mod the shit out of my wii and just burn pirated copies of all the games i would be buying in the future.. however if the Datel freeloader is still working after next update I might consider taking the risk of ordering it along with the .us version of the game.
Posted by Dan at March 26, 2008 7:18 AMPlease keep your comments relevant to this entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.