News
DSi Games To Be Region Locked
Nintendo Breaks Its Streak
Ever since the introduction of the original Game Boy, Nintendo’s handheld consoles have always been region free. You could buy a DS in Japan, then buy New Super Mario Bros. in America, and it would run on it just fine. The same can be said for Mozambique and Guatemala, or Togo and Luxembourg, or pretty much any other two countries you could think of. This held true all the way up to the DS Lite, but apparently, the good old days have come to an end. In a statement to CVG, Nintendo revealed that games made exclusively for the DSi will indeed be region locked to the region in which you bought your system. Said Nintendo, "DSi software (software that is only compatible with DSi) is region locked, eg: European DSi software can only be played on European DSi consoles." Since regular DS games are not locked, they will be playable on any DSi, regardless of region. The same goes for the system’s built-in web browser and photo sharing suite.
Slightly disappointing news, but honestly, it probably won’t be an issue for long. That SD slot is just begging to be hacked, and crafty modders will likely have a region-unlock ready to go by week 2 of the system’s existence. Gotta love the hackers. Always one step ahead of the game.
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Comments
kind of lame to all of sudden pull out the region locked card.. but it will be hacked yes
What a tacky move by Nintendp
Well, there goes my import. Who knows how much of the software will be "DSi only" once it hits stateside. I'll play it safe and wait.
Booooo!
Bummer. It's the fact that the DS was region-free that we got Elite Beat Agents in the US (due to the tons of imports of Ouendan!). Now we might end up missing the latest quirky hit from Japan!
I agree completely with J.
I fear that this is mostly from pressure from other publishers...
kind of how 95% of asian games on the 360 are region locked even though most of the US/European release aren't.
That's a bummer but since mobile content is going to be marketed for specific countries, I doubt a lot of US gamers will be interested in what they will have.