Last month Aaron Davies put pen to paper so to speak and put together a report detailing the delays that us Australians and Aaron’s, own home country of New Zealand suffer. The report didn’t go un-noticed by Nintendo. They contacted Aaron and he was given the opportunity to ask the questions everybody has been wanting to ask about the Wii Game release delays in Australia. Nintendo Australia has now responded to those questions, and it’s disappointing to say the least. More inside.
The questions asked by Aaron were as follows, remember Nintendo asked him to compile these.

What is involved in the localisation process that causes these extreme delays of software titles? Looking at the Office of Film and Literature Classification’s database, Wii software titles are often rated for release many months before they are available for sale. It is my understanding that video game software must be at a final, pressing-ready stage before it can be submitted for classification (OFLC, 2007). If the software titles are at this level of progression at the submitted time, what causes the actual release date to be pushed back so far? Due to both Australia and Europe sharing the same PAL video standard, Australian Wii owners are generally forced into waiting for games to be translated into the various European languages before any PAL release is made available. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been an Australian–specific Wii game SKU, with all first-party Australian region Wii software releases containing the exact same discs as the fully translated European release. This is an issue that has been raised by many of my readers. Does Nintendo Australia have any plans to release its own versions of Wii software, without having to wait for the various game translations needed for the European audience? The topic of Regional Lockout systems implemented on the Wii console has been extremely debated since the publishing of the mentioned report. Due to the wide availability of 60Hz-compatible displays within Australia, and the ability for Australian released Wii consoles to output to this format, any technical differences between regions have become nothing more than trivial. A statement was released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission four years ago; it states “The ACCC has long believed that region coding is detrimental to consumer welfare as it severely limits consumer choice and, in some cases, access to competitively priced goods” (ZDNet, 2003). Does Nintendo Australia see how the Region Locking mechanism present in the Wii not only limits consumers’ choices in the aforementioned ways, but also forces them into putting up with the extreme software release delays? Region Locking has also been outlined in the presented report as a form of both market manipulation and consumer bullying; Does Nintendo Australia agree with this? I feel that these are strong but very well founded accusations, and I am certain your consumers would like a response.

In response, Aaron was today contacted today by Nintendo Australia's Public Relations Co-ordinator who issued the following response on behalf of the company.

""Nintendo Australia has no comment; Nintendo Australia does not comment on these issues.""

Disappointedly Aaron says on his website as a response to Nintendo Australia “I find this strange and unfair to me and to you as consumers. I cannot help thinking the company was expecting these kinds of issues not to be brought up. I am left under the impression that Nintendo Australia is well aware of its business practices involving illegal market manipulation, and simply try to avoid the issue” We here at Vooks congratulate Aaron for taking the initiative and trying to get a response from Nintendo Australia. It is just a shame Nintendo wouldn’t come to the table and respond to his questions. Your opinions are welcome on our forums