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DS Handheld to be Region Free

Posted by Zonk on from the one-people-under-two-screens dept.

Thanks to GamingHeadlines for the news that DS games are not going to be region restricted. "Although this news may not specifically cater to American and Japanese folks, it certainly gives us Europeans the benefit of importing our DS systems from abroad..." I certainly think it caters to US gamers. Imported Japanese games can lead to wonderful things.

6 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Very cool. by Txiasaeia · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Just like with the GBA, it'll be nice to try out games in Japanese before they arrive here in NA. Nintendo is really doing everything it can to make sure it *won't* screw over their customers.

    Sidebar: will it really be cheaper for Europeans to import their systems from Asia as opposed to North America, though? Anybody?

    --
    Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    1. Re:Very cool. by DJProtoss · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Whilst it is a good thing, i'm not sure its about nintendo working hard to not screw over - they region locked the gamecube, and the official mags paint importers as being only slightly better than hardened criminals. I suspect its more something about maximising the chances of a successful launch + the difficulties in building a half decent region coding setup into something thats already going to be a bit cramped (don't forget, they have to fit a gba in there as well! [assuming they go the same route as in previous gb's])

      --
      "Success is based on knowing how far to go in going too far"
    2. Re:Very cool. by Zangief · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And the original Gameboy too...

      Maybe some people will travel with their handhelds, and buy games overseas...Don't know how big is this market, but that may be one reason for Nintendo to do this.

    3. Re:Very cool. by MaverickUW · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's really not about if it's cheaper. DS will come out in North America first. While it will only beat the Japanese DS by about a week or so, it will beat the European DS by months, so if anyone from Europe (likely english speakers obviously), it would be easy to import US games and systems to Europe and be playing stuff way early.

    4. Re:Very cool. by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Doubtful. Most electronics come with "universal" plugs nowadays. I plugged my GBA sp that I bought in NA into a Japanese outlet with no problem. They are usually 50/60Hz 100-220V. I doubt Nintendo will really make the manufacturing process more complicated by distributing different plugs to different markets(esp. when they don't intend to region lock the games)

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      Monstar L
  2. Cartridge based region lockout is super easy. by vhold · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just physically change the structure of the cartridge a tiny bit for each region so it doesn't fit, by subtracting or adding a notch in the corners, forcing people to either use awkward adaptors ( doubly awkward for a portable platform ) or physically destroying the complementing notch in their gameboy, most likely voiding their warranty. This level of discouragement is probably enough.

    My hunch on why they don't bother with any lockouts is that there isn't as much of a blockbuster game driven economy with gameboy games. There is very rarely a game that comes out that everybody goes nuts and has to go buy like on console systems. Pokemon would be the closest thing to that, and it's extremely language bound. Furthermore, it's very link oriented, discouraging people from buying a game they won't be able to link to hardly anybody with later.