Following our FreeLoader/F-Zero story earlier today, we have since been contacted by Datel and been given a statement on the issue. Speaking exclusively to us this afternoon, a spokesman for the company had this to say:
"FreeLoader has done its bit by successfully loading the code without any problem - which is great news for UK and US GameCube owners who don't want to shell out hundreds of pounds for a Japanese GameCube, or wait many months for the game to be released here. Remember that FreeLoader is only £19.99 and it's natural to expect one or two games to suffer mild side-effects when being played out of region on a UK machine, but for the majority of gamers that's better than not being able to play them at all.
"In this case we think that F-Zero may be checking the region the GameCube's BIOS is running in and adjusting the language settings accordingly, except the game doesn't have all the English text and graphics yet. The game works 100% when booted on a Japanese 'Cube using FreeLoader, proof that it's not FreeLoader's fault. We might be able to fix the text problem using an Action Replay code, that's something we're looking into at the moment. We will also be amending our FAQ on Codejunkies.com to help FreeLoader users find their way through the menu options screen.
"As for the future, it's impossible to predict whether there will be any issues with new games because FreeLoader is a work-in-progress that isn't supported by Nintendo or any other games publisher. However we don't think this was a deliberate attempt at 'blocking' FreeLoader and we expect most titles will continue to be 100% compatible."
We were also told that Datel's product tester was hard at work on the issue, trying out every boot method he knows of, so it's still likely that they'll find a method that works. For the time being, however, the updated FAQ can be found here: http://uk.codejunkies.com/faqs/action_replay_freeloader_gc.asp?c=GB&cr=GBP&c - complete with a screenshot to help you navigate F-Zero's main menu.
F-Zero GX is released in the US on the 25 August. If Datel's theory is right, there should be no problems with that version. We'll let you know.
"FreeLoader has done its bit by successfully loading the code without any problem - which is great news for UK and US GameCube owners who don't want to shell out hundreds of pounds for a Japanese GameCube, or wait many months for the game to be released here. Remember that FreeLoader is only £19.99 and it's natural to expect one or two games to suffer mild side-effects when being played out of region on a UK machine, but for the majority of gamers that's better than not being able to play them at all.
"In this case we think that F-Zero may be checking the region the GameCube's BIOS is running in and adjusting the language settings accordingly, except the game doesn't have all the English text and graphics yet. The game works 100% when booted on a Japanese 'Cube using FreeLoader, proof that it's not FreeLoader's fault. We might be able to fix the text problem using an Action Replay code, that's something we're looking into at the moment. We will also be amending our FAQ on Codejunkies.com to help FreeLoader users find their way through the menu options screen.
"As for the future, it's impossible to predict whether there will be any issues with new games because FreeLoader is a work-in-progress that isn't supported by Nintendo or any other games publisher. However we don't think this was a deliberate attempt at 'blocking' FreeLoader and we expect most titles will continue to be 100% compatible."
We were also told that Datel's product tester was hard at work on the issue, trying out every boot method he knows of, so it's still likely that they'll find a method that works. For the time being, however, the updated FAQ can be found here: http://uk.codejunkies.com/faqs/action_replay_freeloader_gc.asp?c=GB&cr=GBP&c - complete with a screenshot to help you navigate F-Zero's main menu.
F-Zero GX is released in the US on the 25 August. If Datel's theory is right, there should be no problems with that version. We'll let you know.
Companies:
Datel
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