Always has been unless you count modding to remove this kind of shitty DRM.
Nintendo was the company to popularize DRM in home consoles with the US release of the NES. The Famicom had no DRM even though it was identical hardware otherwise (well, that, the RF modulator, and the PCB layout).
You always have with Nintendo products. They have always had very aggressive licensing practices. In the early days they were more flexing them on developers, but it does not surprise me that in the wake of everyone telling them that modding and emulators can be explicitly legal that they would turn that particularly litigious aspect of their family friendly brand on the customers.
Ah. So now we’re merely ‘licensing’ physical hardware we paid for and have in our homes. right?
Always has been unless you count modding to remove this kind of shitty DRM.
Nintendo was the company to popularize DRM in home consoles with the US release of the NES. The Famicom had no DRM even though it was identical hardware otherwise (well, that, the RF modulator, and the PCB layout).
You always have with Nintendo products. They have always had very aggressive licensing practices. In the early days they were more flexing them on developers, but it does not surprise me that in the wake of everyone telling them that modding and emulators can be explicitly legal that they would turn that particularly litigious aspect of their family friendly brand on the customers.
Afaik not in Europe. But the details are probably messy.