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Wii to be Region Free

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wiiiiii dept.

Chris Kohler is making it a point to single out the fact that, like its cousin the DS, the Wii is to be Region-free. They also discuss how Virtual Console titles will associated with a console owner, and some details on the Opera browser. From the article: "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."

7 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. aside from hurting your own sales... by jimstapleton · · Score: 3, Interesting

    is there any reason to make something that isn't region free? I mean, it would seem that sales would increase if they weren't restricted to a region.

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    1. Re:aside from hurting your own sales... by DrEldarion · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not so common anymore.

      In addition, the most legitimate defense of mod chips was always "I GOT IT TO PLAY IMPORTED GAMES!" Take that away, and modding your console just got that much shadier.

  2. Will gamecube games also be region free? by antifoidulus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I picked up the cube while I was living in Japan and a few games, but I will almost certainly get a North American Wii. I wonder if I will be able to play my Japanese gamecube games on it.

    Also, are they doing a universal power supply? I do a lot of traveling and it would be cool if all I needed was a prong adaptor.

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    Monstar L
    1. Re:Will gamecube games also be region free? by Duct+Tape+Jedi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      since the Wii doesn't have region coding I would thing that it would play GameCube games from any region.

  3. typing and printing by ILikeRed · · Score: 2, Interesting
    With the opera browser, and all of the google apps available, this would be all the computer many households would need - if they could print. I wonder if it will support printing to ps devices on a network? (Yes, a wireless keyboard would be essential for some things, but that would have to be an easy accessory to create.)

    What a run around Microsoft - I bet there are chairs flying today.

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  4. Depends on who does the coding by twoallbeefpatties · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When a Japanese game company releases a game, though, and doesn't plan on releasing an English version, do you think they'll turn on the region coding to deliberately shut out any potential import market, or they'll leave it off in the hopes of attracting a few extra buyers from overseas? Giving the option for region coding is likely for the companies with separate divisions - so that, say, Sega of America doesn't have to feel like they're competing with Sega of Japan on the same game. I'm guessing that for the most companies who do use the region coding, they'll probably be releasing a version in your area sooner or later anyway, so the lack of ability to import probably won't hurt as much, wihle smaller single-division companies will have a little more opportunity to pick up a niche audience.

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  5. This is a plus for me by LittleFishSan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I study Japanese, and I have been to the point where I can enjoy playing text-heavy Japanese games, but I am limited to Japanese ROMs on my computer at this point. Not that I don't mind ROMs (There are lots of really good classic games), but sometimes I want to play the Japanese version of a game before it comes out in English because (1) I can play it before everyone else and (2) I can write it off as "language study." The only problem with this is the whole region-setting for consoles, which I can only bypass by modding my console, which is a mess I don't want to get into. The fact that the Wii is region free might have sealed the deal with me (Provided I play the Wii and it's not total crap). Nintendo did something else right, yay.