Most people who know me on here know that I am an always have been a big Nintendo fan.

But lately they slightly started to annoy me, but today they made me really mad. I'm pissed off. (And that's really not easy to achieve...)

The annoyance that started everything was region-locking the 3DS. It's a portable system goddammit, why can't I purchase and play games from whatever country I'm in? It has worked up until to the DS, so why make it region-locked all of a sudden? (One stupid excuse I've read is the problem with different rating systems. I'm an adult. I don't care about rating systems. I can play whatever the hel I want.)

I'm still hating this, because I would have imported several games from the US that either aren't available here or games I'd prefer to play in English instead of Japanese.

And what made me mad today is their online structure.

I bought a shiny new 3DS LL today (as a Christmas present to myself) to replace my launch-day unit. So far so good.

When I got home I wanted to transfer my data to my new one, and what do I get? An error. On both consoles. WTF?

Why the f*ck do I need an online connection to move data between 2 consoles in the first place? (Even if there's a legitimate reason, f*ck that.) I tried it at least 30 times from 11am until now (7pm). Even if the first online check goes through, then I get an error when the Nintendo Network ID check comes up.

I was so close to making an angry call to the Support Center, but those poor guys aren't at fault and they probably get to hear a lot of insults anyway.

I checked the Nintendo homepage and what do I have to read?

Nintendo is now limiting the time when you can access the e-shop in Japan?! From 6am to 6pm? Really? Are you kidding me? I tried it in that time frame and all I got was errors. My wife tried it on her 3DS too to no avail. And now I'm outside this time frame. So I have to wait until tomorrow morning just to get more errors? Thank you, Nintendo. Thank you very much for wasting my time. (I want to waste my time with games, not with errors!) I just want to play Zelda on my new big 3DS. Is that too much to ask?

Nintendo, get your sh*t together! Are you using cheap rental servers in Uzbekistan or what?

You're pushing for more and more digital distribution when you can't even handle a few peak times here and there? Do you really think a half-assed apology on the homepage will make up for the inconvenience you're causing all the users who can't use their new game machines how they're supposed to?

Sorry for the rant, but I needed to vent somewhere.

Anybody else here experiencing similar problems? Feel free to share.

Btw, this is the one I bought:

I would assume region locking is a consequence of the different laws in different countries.
When is the last time Nintendo had a network problem like this?
As far as I know the time limitations are temporary until they fix the PokeBank issues.

Breathe in, breathe out, tomorrow is another day.

There seem to be all kinds of network/server issues world wide with nintendo over xmas. My friend got so mad he took his new wii u back to the shop cos he couldn't download the update (and therefore couldn't use his shiny new wii u)... doubt they could do much though, and not sure of the outcome! He wouldn't listen when I told him he should probably wait a day or 2 (or week or 2)
I noticed not all the online features were working when I played Mario 3d world yesterday and the day before probably not the worst that could happen but it was enough to get me to look elsewhere online and yes, there does currently seem to be worldwide issues with  the nintendo network(presumably from xmas overload?)

Samehere. Huge Nintendo fan but sometimes really piss me off with the decisions they make. the online structure is the big complaint I have with them

That's what they say, yes, but the laws were also different in the days of the Gameboy and DS. I think that's all bullshit, especially since Sony consoles are still region free.

And I get that many people access the eshop and the servers, but from a big company I expect that their stuff works. My free time ist very limited and I don't want to wait it out. I want to play and use my consoles when I want and not when their servers are available.

what? don't games come with the patches. Surely a recent release would have had the latest firmware on it to install.

network issues have also hit sony and steam this holiday season. Could be a good thing I guess since it means more people willing to spend money lol.

The problem is countries that rip you off on game prices through higher wages, cost of living and import taxes. If region free means sales in local regions diminish.

Also apprently each Nintendo office marketing and publishing is self funded from the sales profits in that region. Not confirmed but when a load of Wii U games like NInja Gaiden were not being published in Australia by Nintendo the reason they gave was lack of funds. Same with why there was a lack of marketing at game conventions because they haven't been profitable for last few years. Again this was jsut what the guy told me on the helpline so who knows what level of truth there is to it.

It is the pokemon bank app + all new users that are the issue atm.
they pulled the app in japan, they are prob. beefing up with more servers atm. it is under maintenance.

thats why you are having issues, the servers are down. has nothing to do with the other things you've mentioned

Frankly, I don't care about the reasons. (I'm aware of the reasons.) All I care about is that I can't use my console the way I want at the time I want. That's unacceptable.
The reasons are for Nintendo to worry not for me.

In the EU the issue of region restriction has been raised and they have tried to stop it but the legislation was never passed or not fully implemented. There were also some products allowed that bypassed region restrictions that console manufacturer's failed to ban. I think its fair to say the EU is not for region restrictions.

There is an arrogance to Nintendo sometimes but the same is true of most console manufacturers. On the positive side Nintendo has never tried to stop the secondhand trading of games unlike Microsoft. At the current time I think Sony are most in tune with consumers.