The European Nintendo Wii U eShop has restricted content during the daytime, it has been revealed, such that users cannot access 18+ rated content in the online store before 11pm each day.
Attempting to view trailers or screenshots for a game like ZombiU during the day results in a message noting, "You cannot view this content. The times during which this content can be viewed have been restricted."
18+ rated content cannot be purchased or downloaded during the day either. This message still appears even if a user has parental controls turned off.
As noted by a user on NeoGAF, a Nintendo Italy representative explained that 18+ content is restricted between the hours of 11pm and 3am as "an additional precaution to make sure that minors cannot access content which is inappropriate for their age."
"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," continued the Nintendo rep. Gamasutra has contacted Nintendo for further comment on the move.
The restrictions are similar to others seen in certain European countries like Germany, where some online purchases rated 18+ cannot be bought until after the watershed.
So you only get a 4 hour window after most civilized people have gone to bed to search, view purchase and download 18+ content? Odd. I am assuming that downloading means that you must start the download process within that window and it is allowed to finish even after 3am.
One would think that properly set up parental controls would be able to bypass this restriction. Perhaps, if it were to default to these restrictions unless you are logged into an account with sufficient access levels, you could access this content at any time. As it is, it seems overly restrictive and condescending.
More censoring... I guess they don't want their brand associated with games for people below 18. If they don't want people below that age to download games with a 18+ rating they would probably be better off not selling those games at all. :) This just sounds like a weird policy but guess they have some kind of reason for it.
Or they could just hide +18 content for accounts that are used by minors that have been registered. That way this doesn't impact the adult player-base. Nintendo Italy is sort-of lunatic since from 11 PM to 3 AM is a number of people might have time to sit and go through their consoles or play games.
This is all too much, so much that it's almost stupid. Oh wait.
Yawn!! So what will I do with my Saturday? It seems to be raining, I should download a game for my new WiiU and spent the day playing... Wait? Only 11 pm? Yeah... let's see what PSN has today...
Before we go blaming all of Nintendo for this, it's happening only in select European countries, right? So, wouldn't that mean that it's more of a regional thing, rather than a direct stance by Nintendo as a whole?
FTA :"The European Nintendo Wii U eShop has restricted content during the daytime, it has been revealed, such that users cannot access 18+ rated content in the online store before 11pm each day."
Some law in some country is very restrictive in it language to protect children form adult content. Major worldwide corporation takes steps to insure that sometime down the road they are not sued for not regarding the law so they take steps to make sure they can comply. Person reads headline on news sites. Corporation is to blame for conforming to country's over restrictive laws.
It’s also mentioned in that same Neogaf thread that this could be due to a German law that had to be applied since that is where their office is based. Nintendo should have just left the 18+ content off the shop if that is the case or made people aware of what was going to happen before hand.
This explanation doesn't sit well with me, not because its assumptions are wrong - German law in this area is definitely an issue although it's not so clear-cut as "Germany bans selling USK18 games online before 11PM" - but because it would be so trivial and cheap for Nintendo to set up a proxy server anywhere else for the rest of Europe, I can't imagine it wouldn't pay off.
"This explanation doesn't sit well with me, not because its assumptions are wrong - German law in this area is definitely an issue although it's not so clear-cut as "Germany bans selling USK18 games online before 11PM" "
In Germany it is mandatory to sell/show games/movies with an USK/FSK rating of 16 not before 10 pm and with an rating of USK/FSK 18 not before 11 pm (unless you have another age verification mechanism installed). USK is the rating for games, FSK is the rating for movies.
You can't access games with these ratings before 10 pm or 11 pm in the Origin Store and the Uplay Store either. Nintendo of Europe has it's headquarter here in Germany, so they are following German laws.
Besides, I don't think it's a smart move from Nintendo to expand the restrictive German law to the whole European eshop.
Yep, it's a German thing. There is even an officially certified javascript that allows you to shoo your early customers: http://www.sezebe.de (in this case you can access the web page earlier by entering your identity number)
Nevertheless, I think Nintendo does this voluntary when accessing the shop via the WiiU. After all it has a builtin parental control system. In the realm of television, where this timebased youth protection is coming from, digital receivers use a pin to legally allow acces to mature content at midday.
Infantilizing customers on top of the utter usability failure of downloadable games permanently attached to one physical console? Thanks a bunch Nintendo.
And then there's the other thing. I have previously imported consoles from a different region than my own to have access to those titles I actually want to play, and to access the highest quality releases of titles that are gimped in my region. I have invented myself new personas and browsed non-translated webshops with a dictionary in hand to be allowed to buy DLC from those regions. I have modded consoles for the same purpose, never for piracy. But I'm done with buying deliberately broken devices and software, spending money and time to work around their user hostility. Fix this shit or the only way I'll be seeing your games in the future is on an emulator.
Apparently this only takes effect if parental controls are NOT set?
That's kind of intriguing. As a person with no children in the home, I wouldn't bother to set parental controls, though I understand the innate desire to automatically make it harder for children to access adult content. Seems to show that, if nothing else, Nintendo knows that the parents won't set up the device, which is probably realistic.
@ Eric Geer - That's actually a good question, because regardless of how some people feel about Nintendo (more specifically, Nintendo of Europe), the situation has more to do with the German law than anything else and people shouldn't fault Nintendo for having to comply with the law. It couldn't be helped and there's a latest Gamasutra article that explains a little bit more about this situation.
As I said before Nintendo does this voluntary or they are not well informed about German youth protection laws. In the realm of television, where this timebased youth protection is coming from, digital receivers use a pin to legally allow acces to mature content (like pornography) at midday. They could simply sell "Mature-Mode-Unlock-Codes" or introduce a registration process in the "matue time frame".
One would think that properly set up parental controls would be able to bypass this restriction. Perhaps, if it were to default to these restrictions unless you are logged into an account with sufficient access levels, you could access this content at any time. As it is, it seems overly restrictive and condescending.
This is all too much, so much that it's almost stupid. Oh wait.
Way to tell 3rd party publihsers to get lost with their 18+ games on Wii U :\
Was Nintendo of Italy taking pride in ZombiU?
Some law in some country is very restrictive in it language to protect children form adult content. Major worldwide corporation takes steps to insure that sometime down the road they are not sued for not regarding the law so they take steps to make sure they can comply. Person reads headline on news sites. Corporation is to blame for conforming to country's over restrictive laws.
Sounds like a European problem...
In Germany it is mandatory to sell/show games/movies with an USK/FSK rating of 16 not before 10 pm and with an rating of USK/FSK 18 not before 11 pm (unless you have another age verification mechanism installed). USK is the rating for games, FSK is the rating for movies.
You can't access games with these ratings before 10 pm or 11 pm in the Origin Store and the Uplay Store either. Nintendo of Europe has it's headquarter here in Germany, so they are following German laws.
Besides, I don't think it's a smart move from Nintendo to expand the restrictive German law to the whole European eshop.
Source:
http://www.kjm-online.de/files/pdf1/Handlungsempfehlungen_gemeinsa me_Endfassung_
20112.pdf
Nevertheless, I think Nintendo does this voluntary when accessing the shop via the WiiU. After all it has a builtin parental control system. In the realm of television, where this timebased youth protection is coming from, digital receivers use a pin to legally allow acces to mature content at midday.
And then there's the other thing. I have previously imported consoles from a different region than my own to have access to those titles I actually want to play, and to access the highest quality releases of titles that are gimped in my region. I have invented myself new personas and browsed non-translated webshops with a dictionary in hand to be allowed to buy DLC from those regions. I have modded consoles for the same purpose, never for piracy. But I'm done with buying deliberately broken devices and software, spending money and time to work around their user hostility. Fix this shit or the only way I'll be seeing your games in the future is on an emulator.
That's kind of intriguing. As a person with no children in the home, I wouldn't bother to set parental controls, though I understand the innate desire to automatically make it harder for children to access adult content. Seems to show that, if nothing else, Nintendo knows that the parents won't set up the device, which is probably realistic.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/183179/Wii_U_eShop_18_content_b locked_in_Euro
pe_to_comply_with_German_law.php#.UMZK_qyJR8E