Where does it say Nintendo will lock your system if you don't agree to the agreement? All I see is that they will lock your system if they detect any modifications.

This is a pretty standard EULA that is included for pretty much all electronic devices. Has nothing to do with Microsoft's always-online DRM.

In this case, as opposed to others, the system itself becomes unusable if you don't want to accept the EULA. In most other cases, such as a PlayStation update, declining the EULA would result in not being able to play online or get updates until you accepted, but all offline functionality, such as playing physical games, would be untouched. This part in particular is what's hitting a bad note with gamers. Those uncomfortable with agreeing to the EULA now have an E-Reader that only displays one book.

Nintendo´s iluminati mark of the beast confirmed. Nintentacle was right!

Ugh... another reason to hate Nintendo...
Nah, doesn't feel right, I'll let Kapi handle this

OT: This is pretty standard in policy, right? Doesn't PS3 have this with their online agreement? CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG.

I glanced through it, and the article makes much ado about nothing.

"After WiiU System is updated (..) any (..) unauthorized modification (..) renders the system permanently unplayable." means exactly that. Nowhere does that imply your system will get blocked solely by declining this agreement like the title says, but rather when you engage in illegal activities with the hardware.

You think your system will turn to black immediately after pressing 'decline'? Of course not. What if you did that by accident? You'll instead get the chance to agree later on, althewhile certain features will not work because they needed the updates.

In Europe Nintendo would have a hard time doing that anyway, blocking your system just for declining, because it would probably be illegal for them to do so, and EULA's are lawfully extremely shaky in the first place.

@ka-pi: What does this anti-piracy act have to do with DRM?

EDIT: watched the video, apparently all you can do is click 'agree' or do nothing. I'll say that's weird. I guess that's why I haven't seen it like this on my own WiiU, that wouldn't fly here.

Typically whenever you get a new phone or download a game from Steam, you have to click through and accept a EULA agreement, which is all this message is.. This is nothing new. If Microsoft figured out you hacked the Xbox to play free games, they would deactivate your Xbox Live account without hesitation, Nintendo is saying they will do the same.

They don't want people to modify their consoles so they can import games and avoid the region lock. Not so uncommon, perfectly fine strategy against piracy and loss of regional pricing control on software.

Glance again:

"In this case, as opposed to others, the system itself becomes unusable if you don't want to accept the EULA. In most other cases, such as a PlayStation update, declining the EULA would result in not being able to play online or get updates until you accepted, but all offline functionality, such as playing physical games, would be untouched. This part in particular is what's hitting a bad note with gamers. Those uncomfortable with agreeing to the EULA now have an E-Reader that only displays one book."

I can't say if it's true or not though, as I agree to the terms everytime!!

Wow...this is pretty darn sensationalist.