PAL Wii VC- Writing Snail Mail Letter to Nintendo

[Lyris]

Unfortunately getting an NTSC Wii would kill all chance of customer support, which is not a step I'm willing to take.

Well, when was the last time a Nintendo product ever broke down?

Nobody reply to that - I'm sure it's happened - but this stuff is built to last so throwing a warranty out the window is a step I'm fine with taking.

Think about it this way, if you get a US Wii and it breaks within 2 years, assuming you bought a lot of games, you could buy a brand new US Wii with all the savings you'd made from not buying expensive PAL games - and then sell the extra controllers and AV cables you got.

As for tech support, sure you can get it - just ask on here or call Nintendo of America's tech support number. Calling the US doesn't cost £1 a minute any more!

[kernow]

*happy with PAL wii console*

[DeathAdder]

I think you make some good points, but the letter needs to be edited to about a quarter of its present length, otherwise it won't be taken seriously and will just be pinned up and ridiculed on the office notice board.

[cutmymilk]

I doesn't make a difference to me personally, either.

Just because a game is slower, how is it worse? A bit different yeah, but not worse. As mentioned, 50Hz Sonic is what I grew up with, but I could quite happily play the NTSC version and not come to the conclusion that it is *better.*

And the thought of Probotector / Contra 3 being any faster quite frankly freightens me!

[Lyris]

Just because a game is slower, how is it worse?

Some of these games aren't just slower, to me they look like they've been doped. Sonic was supposed to be about speed. You're right that some games are more affected than others but the doped 50hz version of Sonic is pretty astonishing to someone who's only known the original one.

Oh and they are sometimes squashed as well.

[charlesr]

I have a fantastic time playing all my pal N64 stuff. Got me back into console gaming. 50Hz is totally playable if you've never experienced the full speed versions.

I was astonished when the xbox had 60Hz built into the dash - what a step forward. And the ps3 is now regionless. Amazing steps forward. I couldn't see Nintendo following suit though and as expected, they didn't. Everyone buying PAL are surely used to pal speeds and shouldn't be affected by this? I don't understand why it's an issue. Almost everyone who's familiar with the ntsc speeds will have already decided to get ntsc wiis anyway or not care about speeds. So that leaves 15 people that do want pal wiis to do 60hz all the time. And Nintendo just aren't going to care enough about such a small number of people. It's not like xbox live arcade where the releases are ports designed to work on the 360. It's just roms. It's a lot easier to release the 50hz euro version in euroland than it is to somehow tweak them for 60hz or somehow get the ntsc version classified for euro release. Can 50hz roms even be tweaked to run at the proper speed?

[Ouenben]

if the ntsc 60hz versions were released I think alot of people would notice the difference and wonder why it's not like it used to be.

[SuperCoolAl]

OK well thanks for your comments. It's in the post anyway.

Are you all worried I'm going to be reducing the value of having an NTSC Wii or something? If the best case scenario happens and they actually change the system, benefiting millions of PAL gamers, don't you think that's something worth writing a letter for?

Worst case scenario is they do nothing, which is exactly what would happen had I not sent the letter.

Re: Xbox Live Arcade, maybe Hyper Fighting was ported to the 360, but that doesn't mean Capcom don't have Hyper Fighting ROMs around!

I believe the actual emulator program all Wiis are running are the same regardless of region, it's simply if the Euro or US ROM that is loaded into the emulator that decides the frequency. So if we could get US ROMs onto our PAL Wiis, we'd be able to play in 60Hz.

[Lyris]

Can 50hz roms even be tweaked to run at the proper speed?

Yeah, they can. They're not really "50hz roms" - the games weren't optimised to it was down to the hardware (or in this case, the Wii's emulator) to decide what scan-rate they were output at.

[stormbreak]

What you say Charles is true. My mates and my brother do not notice a speed difference in games when we choose to play in 60Hz rather than 50.
Maybe they were optimised, but surely they would have noticed the borders which were present...
I sometimes cannot tell the difference, but with 2d games it is extremely visible. I am one of the poor sods with a PAL Wii (Will get a Japanese one soon) and when I was playing Gunstar Heroes on it, it was extremely slow. It is the same with all 2d games, and has brought back bad memories

[SuperCoolAl]

I have news- a reply no less...

From Nintendo Of America!!!

Hello,
I'm sorry to hear that you've had problems with your Wii shop channel purchases and in contacting your local distributor. Please understand that each subsidiary operates independently and as a result some situations are dealt with differently between regions. This includes issues with the Wii Shop Channel as each region is set up independently. As such, I can only encourage you to continue dealing with Nintendo of Europe directly to resolve your problem. I wish you success in doing so.
Nintendo of America Inc.
<responder's name>

I so far have a 100% record in replies from NoA, and 0% from NoE! I'll give 'em a chance though

[Solid_snake]

However, may I point out that English-speaking customers in Europe, especially in the UK, do not actually require the alternative European language options! As the service is electronic downloads, Nintendo could simply and inexpensively release the USA version of the ROM for download on Europe?s Virtual Console, allowing the emulator on the Wii to run in 60Hz! This is how I envision such a system working:

As a Dutch speaking person, i totally agree with you there.

I don't need no French, Italian or whatever as a language option. I always played my games in English.

[Ratso]

I am one of the "fifteen" (according to charlesr) people who preferred to buy a PAL Wii but would very much appreciate full screen/full speed VC downloads.

In the end I went for a PAL console for various reasons of convenience. As a multi-console owner I have always opted for PAL for pretty much these same reasons, though I have owned modified MegaDrive, Saturn, PSone and PS2 as well as Freeloader on the GC and DCX for the DC to play import games, or the NTSC versions of games where PAL optimisation wasn't attempted or handled properly.

While I accept that the average gamer in the street is not concerned about such matters, the fact that Sega, Capcom even Xplosive and others have been routinely incorporating a 60Hz option for up to seven years suggests that they are aware of a demand for it. Acknowledging even perhaps that the omission of said option even leads to small, but substantial minority to import rather than play a substandard version. Heck, even Nintendo themselves have been optimising since 1997 (Lylat Wars shocked everyone at the time by being full screen and adjusted for speed - we were so happy in fact that we forgave them the f***ed-up title!), and including a 60Hz boot option as standard since the middle of 2002.

[yesteryeargames]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXvYNZxeSg

[charlesr]

In the end I went for a PAL console for various reasons of convenience. As a multi-console owner I have always opted for PAL for pretty much these same reasons, though I have owned modified MegaDrive, Saturn, PSone and PS2 as well as Freeloader on the GC and DCX for the DC to play import games, or the NTSC versions of games where PAL optimisation wasn't attempted or handled properly.

But that's a list of consoles that have been modified to allow you play ntsc games because the majority of the games on them weren't optimised or have a 60Hz mode. "Always opting for PAL" as a ~reason for getting a PAL Wii and then complaining about the PAL VC games~ doesn't seem right when all your previous PAL consoles got round the problem via modifications.