Wii is region free!

[smork]

According to Gamespot (quoting NoA VP Perrin Kaplan) in this news article (http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24981977&sid=6157671) the Wii will be region free!

Gamers hoping to flail about while playing the latest Japanese-only games on their US Wiis take note: Nintendo's next-gen console appears to be region-free.

The question of whether or not gamers will be able to play imported games on the upcoming console has been looming for quite some time now, with Nintendo neither confirming nor denying the feature. The company embraced region-free gaming with the Nintendo DS but has been evasive when asked if the Wii would follow suit.

However, today among the heavy stream of Wii news, Wired News said Nintendo of America VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan had finally confirmed that the console will indeed be region-free--in theory.

"Will the Wii be region-free? Yes. Like the Nintendo DS, the Wii will be able to play games from other regions, such as Japan, without any restriction. Kaplan implied there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on, but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted."

Nintendo still has yet to make a wide, media-friendly announcement on the subject. Hyping a feature such as region-free gaming would seem to be a no-brainer, so the company's coy stance raised concerns. Even the article's author seemed a bit skeptical with a careful choice of words: "Kaplan implied there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on, but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted."

The official story: Getting answers from Nintendo proved difficult during one of the company's busiest days of the year. However, after a lengthy exchange of cryptic e-mails, a rep finally confirmed that Kaplan's words regarding regionless first-party titles and potentially regionless third-party titles were indeed correct: "[The] Wii will be region-free."

Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus.

Very nice! I've never understood region coding. Now if we can just get MS to follow suit, all the next-gen consoles will be region free...

[gjb-sensei]

Uh, the Xbox 360 is region-free; it's just that most developers choose to not allow their games to be played on other regions' systems, so they "lock" them.

Anyway, knowing that the Wii will be region-free is very awesome.

[Julio III]

Region free is awesome, lets hope that you can play all region Gamecube games also

[slip81]

that's pretty cool, but what's the point of region locking anyway?

[Dangerboy]

that's pretty cool, but what's the point of region locking anyway?

Could be any reason:

1. Allows company to not lose more money on a game that will sell less due to people having already bought and played through it months earlier from another region.

2. Usually with licensed music, actors, characters, etc, that copyright doesn't extend outside the original region. I doubt you'd ever see a region free console version of DDR.

3. Back in the old days, sensitive material may not have been appropriate for the gamers outside the original audience needing to be changed (see: blood in any SNES game pre MKII, the missing farting in JJ + Jeff, Sophitia's new water dress, etc).

[studvicious]

IGN is now reporting the opposite
http://wii.ign.com/articles/732/732982p1.html

[Jasoco]

Weird. Well, I'm betting if it's anything like most previous Nintendo consoles, modding it will be a cake walk.

[NintenDk]

that's pretty cool, but what's the point of region locking anyway?

Could be any reason:

1. Allows company to not lose more money on a game that will sell less due to people having already bought and played through it months earlier from another region.

2. Usually with licensed music, actors, characters, etc, that copyright doesn't extend outside the original region. I doubt you'd ever see a region free console version of DDR.

3. Back in the old days, sensitive material may not have been appropriate for the gamers outside the original audience needing to be changed (see: blood in any SNES game pre MKII, the missing farting in JJ + Jeff, Sophitia's new water dress, etc).


I heard once it was because some regions are poorer so the pricing is set lower and the company doesn't want someone from a rich country buying media price marked for less expensive markets. Or maybe I'm pulling it out of thin air...

[jajaja]

Also an article about the Wii not being region-free after all, here:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19686

They will also put region lock on the online play so you cant play with people from Europe if out live in USA or vice versa. That kinda sux :\ Probly did this because of the possibly bad latency problem, but still..