Wii - PAL or NTSC? Some help please....

[ascender]

In the past I've always bought PAL consoles just out of convenience but mostly ignorance to be honest. Only recently with the region free DS have I discovered the joys of import gaming. Nearly every time someone mentioned buying a Ninty console, the idea of buying a PAL one is derided, but I was wondering if someone could elaborate for me please? Its just something which has passed me by in the past and I'd like to be a bit more informed when it comes to the Wii as I'd like to pre-order one asap.

So I guess I'm really just wondering what the pros and cons are?


M.

[sj33]

If previous Nintendo machines are anything to go by, getting a PAL console will means slower releases, which might not support 60Hz or 480p.
Towards the end of the GameCubes life, most PAL Nintendo titles were 60Hz only - a good thing. But the PAL Cube still lacked 480p.

tbh we don't know the deal with the Wii yet. With the 360, 60Hz is a REQUIREMENT in PAL regions, and 50Hz is optional. Big praise to MS for taking the step to do this.

Nintendo might continue the trend of making sure 60Hz is in first party games, but since they have set no requirement like MS have, we cannot be sure of third parties. And we still don't know the deal with 480p on the PAL machine yet.

Just makes more sense to get a US machine and not have to worry about this, and get releases earlier. The only advantage of a PAL machine is the ability to buy games offline, Dunno bout you, but I buy my games online anyway.

[Vince]

I guess its about when its released too, i mean if say the US one comes out in October and then we have to wait until October 2007 like we normally do then it has to be a US one. That said i would really like them to release in both regions at the same time, and without region locking so that i can just get one here and then buy games from wherever.

[t-dog]

the obvious pro of buying an imported machine, whether japanese or american, is the increase in selection of games you will have. It's still a fact that, of 100 games released in japan, 70 of them gets a u.s. release, and 40 of them get released over here, ?-1 year later. Things have been improving in later console generations, but it's still roughly the situation today.

the con of importing could be that you would have compatibility problems going on the net with it, or downloading some region specific content etc. Most likely the machine will be region coded too, so you might have problems playing a jap wii game over the net with a person playing a euro version.

Also, we dont know yet how they're gonna work out the NTSC->PAL conversion thing for wii yet, so if you buy a PAL wii you *might* experience the old 13% PAL lag with black borders. Though we have yet to hear anything definite on that one.

In other words, if you wanna be 100% certain that it'll all work properly, buy the euro version, but if you want more games, buy american or japanese version. Workarounds on the compatibility problems issues can be that they make the wii region free, or allows for cross region versions to link up. We'll probably hear more about this as we approach launch day.

[Emir]

Tbh I'm not bothered about the downloads at the moment. If an imported machine works over here, then that's a plus. But I'm going for a JPN one first, then depending on what the PAL situation looks like, I may get a US one after 6 months.

[EvilBoris]

I'm gonna go for a US one then pick up a pal one when the games have caught up and the machine is cheap

[t-dog]

im going for whatever region they're releasing the damn thing first. i.e. u.s. or japan.

[trev1976]

Id like a US machine at launch but its just the dreaded net compatiblity

[Roddie]

i'd prefer a jap one since it'll be out first, have the biggest selection of games and will have the nicest boxart

[ascender]

Thanks for clearing that up guys. I guess the download thing is the only thing that would concern me as I'm looking to pick up some classics that way, but I can't see the point of the content not being available in different territories. Looks like its NTSC all the way for me.

[Alex_ntsc]

Thanks for clearing that up guys. I guess the download thing is the only thing that would concern me as I'm looking to pick up some classics that way, but I can't see the point of the content not being available in different territories. Looks like its NTSC all the way for me.

It depends on where you live really. The youth "protection" laws are very strict where I live. That means that game developers sometimes cut their own game versions or don't bring them out onto the market at all. In fact games that were made before the date these laws were enabled are not allowed to be sold online, as they're deemed for adults only automatically. While they're not prohibited, they're also not available online because the poor, impresionable youth could get a chance of seeing them. Do you want examples in relation to the Wii?

Golden Eye
Mortal Kombat
Killer Instinct
Wolfenstein 3D

I wonder how the whole connectivity issue will work. I'm more concerned with poor PAL image quality and crappy, non-English gaming experience in general really. We still don't know anything final regarding projection or connectivity so I'm trying to to ignore these thoughts for now. Nintendo did say that they wish to make a worldwide release so I don't see us waiting an entire year.

[Roddie]

Nintendo did say that they wish to make a worldwide release so I don't see us waiting an entire year.

Unfortunately, last I heard, Nintendo's idea of a worldwide launch included a 14 week difference.