So much for Freeloader

Well, this very short era of international enjoyment of Wii titles comes to an abrupt close. After having enjoyed the Gamecube version of this region-freeing boot-disc I took the plunge and bought the Wii version, which, at first, seemed to work fine and dandy on the single US game I tried to play on my JP Wii.

Emboldened by this success I purchased two more titles. These, however, failed to load properly, so a quick email to the CodeJunkies support email address was in order. Here begins a tale of futility. The email bounced back an auto-reply instantly, telling me all problems were discussed on their support website and that that would be the end of this email conversation. After finding the site through a link in the email, rather than from their website, I lodged a ticket and started my wait.

They are keen to point out their helpdesk system is not an instant message service, but neither is it, I daresay, a service of handwritten parchment, encoded by the Enigma machine and hand-delivered by the royal tortoise. It took an astounding two weeks before I received a reply, which included the reminder it was not an instant messaging service. The reply was of course, useless, stating they couldn’t guarantee all games would run using the Freeloader and that this was stated in the manual too. Which it was. Still, maybe I’m spoiled in this digital age, but I’d expect a helpdesk to respond a little more punctually and be, well, helpful.

However, by that time Nintendo continue to tighten its grip on the Wii by releasing a new firmware to ostensibly deal with the infamous Zelda save game data hack, but which also rendered the Freeloader 100% useless. So now I have a product which doesn’t work as advertised. “We can’t guarantee the Freeloader will work with every game” can now be replaced with the line “We can guarantee the Freeloader won’t work with any game”.

Of course, part of my beef is with Nintendo, who, inexplicably, require me to purchase a full US console if I am to enjoy US Wii games in Japan. Well, I say inexplicably, but it could just be a clever ploy to make geeks buy the console twice, though it is probably more the usual kind of paranoia rather than a business strategy. But considering CodeJunkies’ helpdesk system is slow and utterly unhelpful and even had the temerity to very subtly suggest I might not be running an "original game disc", I have no qualms hereby recommending any readers of this blog not to bother with their product. It doesn’t work and they don’t care.

What with the PSN pre-paid cards not out yet in the US and no online store selling the XBLA point cards (that I know of), the life of a global gamer and importer remains a painful and disappointing one. On top of that the PC now seems to have its own form of region locking, with the demo version of Spore’s excellent Creature Creator being sold to specific regions only. I was not allowed to buy the English version from Japan but had to make do with the localized Japanese version, which doesn’t even come with the English components provided. Personally, I am thoroughly sick and tired of too many people trying to control my purchasing habits for no reasonably explicable motive.

And one of the reasons people pirate software, it is said, is due to the convenience of it. That is a sentiment I can totally understand. If people continue to want my money, maybe they should consider allowing me to actually purchase items I want.