Nintendo Sets Time-Range on 18+ rated eShop Purchases in Europe - The UpStream

Nintendo Sets Time-Range on 18+ rated eShop Purchases in Europe

posted Sunday Dec 9, 2012 by Scott Ertz

Nintendo Sets Time-Range on 18+ rated eShop Purchases in Europe

I don't exactly know what to do with this information, so I'll just get to it and let you decide. Nintendo of Europe has started preventing content rated 18+ from showing in the eShop, except during certain times. Those times? 11pm to 3am. Yes, that is right - if you want to purchase ZombiU, and we know you do, you cannot if it is during the day. It gets better, too. You cannot view the trailer, either.

A user, after experiencing the issue, contacted Nintendo. The company replied,

Dear customer,

We would like to let you know that Nintendo has always aimed to offer gameplay experiences suited to all age groups, observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries.

We have thus decided to restrict the access to content which is unsuitable to minors (PEGI) to the 11pm - 3am time window.

So, because children might see the content, the times are restricted to the exact times when children in the US, and therefore probably Europe, are most likely to be on their consoles playing games. Of course, no Nintendo customer has ever stayed up past their bed times to play videogames. I suppose that is only for Microsoft and Sony customers?

The best part - no amount of parental control settings will change it - the restriction is set in the store itself. That means, if you are a 24-year-old college student living in a dorm with no children anywhere around and want to play Assassin's Creed 3 for the first time between classes, you are totally out of luck.

So, after writing all of this, I still do not know what exactly to do with the information. Can anyone help me understand this? Please?

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