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Wii to be Region Free

Posted by Zonk on Thu Sep 14, 2006 01:45 PM
from the wiiiiii dept.
Businesses Nintendo Entertainment Games
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."
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[+] Wii Now Confirmed to Not be Region-Free 307 comments
legoburner writes "Contrary to an earlier Slashdot story, Nintendo have now stated that the Wii will not be region free. The original claim came from Nintendo America, but Nintendo UK have gone on record denying the claims. They put it rather bluntly, stating: 'We are region-locked,' and that Nintendo America made a mistake by claiming otherwise."
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  • I love Japanese games. I'm sooooo happy their making it region-fwii!
    • About time! I am in the UK, but usually get a US or Japanese console so I dont have to wait for the games to come out over here. I am fed up with the stupid release schedules and ordering something from gamestop or lik-sang will normally get me a game 6 months sooner than if I waited for it to come out in the UK, and will almost always work out cheaper as well. I am very glad that I get to shop around for games for the Wii.
    • I'm not even a big fan of Japanese games, but still like this news. It means I can try a variety of games without being artifically limited. There have been a couple of Japan-only titles in the past that I would have liked to try out, but without knowing if I'd like them they weren't worth buying a 2nd console to play them.
      • Yes but then you have to deal with that almost incomprehensible language that is American English :P

        Just out of curiosity, are the English translations released in the UK any different from the ones released in the US?
      • I just realized I replied to the wrong thread, disregard!

  • I think we have a winner (Score:4, Insightful)

    by neonprimetime (528653) on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:48PM (#16107220)
    $250 and region free? Sounds like a winner to me.

      • Re:I think we have a winner (Score:5, Informative)

        by Maul (83993) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:14PM (#16107512) Journal
        No console released after the SNES had more than one controller, nor has any console after the SNES had a pack-in game at launch. Only one controller is the industry standard nowadays, and giving us a game with the thing is more generous than Sony or Microsoft have ever been. Remember that Sony is charging $600 for their console, which will no doubt only have one controller.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by AuMatar (183847)
            And charge you ten bucks more a game. I'll take Nintendo's version, thanks.
          • Generous.. Hardly. If Nintendo doesn't not sell the console below cost then they are not being generous. The competitors do sell below cost however.
            Do what I'm going to do, walk up to the cast register with your new Wii, plunk down $150, generously smash the teenager at the cash register in the face with the box, charitably kick the security guard in the groin and graciously run the hell out of the store.


            See Capitalism and charity can work together.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by WillAffleckUW (858324)
        I thought the GameCube controller can also be used? I've got about three of those.

        So just because it only comes with one Wiimote control set (paddle plus wand), you should still be able to play Animal Crossing until the new one comes out.

      • Re:I think we have a winner (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ElleyKitten (715519) <[kittensunrise] [at] [gmail.com]> on Thursday September 14 2006, @03:47PM (#16108478) Journal
        250 Dollars.. Only one controller. Shit I can't play games with my son for less than $310 dollars. I wanted one bad. I've been following it for months. But now I am out. $250 with two controllers? Sure. Maybe, if I could have got it past my wife. $310? She'll never OK it. I'm out Nintendo. Got it? You failed.
        I guess the whole game industry failed you then. Sorry dude, sucks to be poor.
  • ...and call me cynical, but if it's a case like the Xbox 360, where it can be region free, but only if the publisher wants it, I'd still get a US system (I'm in the UK), just becuase I know some game I want to play will be region locked, and won't be released in the UK.
    • It says right in the article that it was implied that there would be a region lock that could be flipped on by a publisher. I don't doubt it'll be used and used a lot, but atleast they made the (non) effort of not region locking the whole thing. PS3's supposed to be region free too, last time I heard; but blue-ray disks (which the games are on) are region locked by their own nature.
  • but should hopefully mean we won't see what we did with the 360 - I can't buy one in the UK and have to look at pictures of crates unsold in Japan.
    Might also avoid the UK getting shafted on hardware costs :) I think I'm going to buy myself one now.
    Sooo, over to you Sony - how are you going to convince me to buy a PS3 when I've got my PC, my 360 and now a Wii?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Fred Or Alive (738779)
      Can't find Xbox 360s in the UK? You can't be looking very hard [amazon.co.uk], as far as I know there's no shortage of Xbox 360s in the UK, hasn't been for months. I live in a smallish town, and my local ASDA and Blockbusters both have consoles, and I think Woolworths and Argos probably have them as well.
      • We used to have Woolworths in the town I grew up it. It was a great store. Every summer they had a model building contest for the kids and displayed the models in the store window! I thought they went out of business a long time ago. All the stores around here are long gone.
        • The UK Woolworths split from the American one at some point in the past, and the UK one is still going (ISTR from Wikipedia that the American Woolworths company is now called Foot Locker). Most towns have one, the UK hasn't had as much of the shopping centre / mall effect on Main / High Streets (I'm guessing that's what happened), although some town centres near to centres have been pretty much killed by them.

  • aside from hurting your own sales... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jimstapleton (999106) on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:53PM (#16107266) Journal
    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.
    • I would think it's because they can get many sales "bursts" (one in each region) instead of just one. More chances to succeed, more chances to sell. Where as if you have no regions, you have one chance to succeed and thus one to sell.
        • The language issues pisses me (and others off) as I'm in the UK, and I speak English, so Americans getting games months earlier (or at all) pisses me off. Becuase of region coding, I'd have to wait. It's partly why I want a console that can play US games (the fact US games are sometimes cheaper even after getting got by Customs for VAT and the Royal Mail's dreaded £4 fee of doom is another[1])

          [1] This is more true with stuff like the Xbox 360 than older consoles, where discounts bring it back into lin

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ArmyOfFun (652320)
      You have more trouble pricing things differently if the regions are free. A company could release their FPS in Japan for $20 and in the US for $50 because of the differences in demand. Without region restrictions, the import ends up cheaper than the domestic version. People are already doing this for 360 games that keep getting discounted in Japan but still cost $60 in the US.

    • Re:aside from hurting your own sales... (Score:5, Informative)

      by pixel_bc (265009) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:25PM (#16107623)
      Traditionally, region encoding was implemented because sometimes a developer would use different publishers for different regions.

      Not so common anymore.
  • This is very good because as far as I can tell from following the Japanese press conference last night and then the American press conference this morning, the Japanese lineup of launch games is going to be way better than the American!

    (Has it even been announced yet whether "Wii Play", the game with duck hunt and pong in it, is coming in America at all? That was probably the most interesting piece of information last night, and I don't think the American coverage even mentioned it.)

  • Smokeable nicotine stick non-smoking aides (Score:3, Insightful)

    by UbuntuDupe (970646) on Thursday September 14 2006, @01:57PM (#16107333) Journal
    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."

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this like telling people they can stop smoking by transitioning to smokeable nicotine sticks? If a developer can arbitrarily flip on region restrictions (which are, of course, keyed to region codes that *are* sold on this "region-free" device), then anyone who wants to restrict regions can. And before you pop a blood vessel, I think it's great that first party games will be like this, and I'm definitely getting a Wii, but this victory seems a tad hollow. I just don't think it's going to lead to "omg! I can get the Japan-only release and play it on my regular system!"

    • Depends on who does the coding (Score:4, Interesting)

      by twoallbeefpatties (615632) <.deanrayj. .at. .gmail.com.> on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:12PM (#16107484)
      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.
      • Sure, it only makes any sense at all to bother with region encoding if you're actually planning on releasing in multiple regions.

        But I'll bet my faith in humanity that there will be some company that does a single-region release, with no intention of releasing anywhere else, and sets the region restriction bit. I'll bet that in the board room where this decision is made, the word "piracy" will be uttered in an urgent tone, followed by a series of serious "harumphs" from around the table and the sage noddin
        • I have to wonder if that wasn't part of Nintendo's decision to allow for region-free coding - that they realized that region coding ain't stopping anybody from pirating games to begin with...

  • Analogy time (Score:5, Informative)

    by truedfx (802492) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:02PM (#16107382)

    Regular DVD players aren't region-free just because there exist DVDs suitable for all regions, right?

  • Will gamecube games also be region free? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by antifoidulus (807088) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:03PM (#16107400) Homepage Journal
    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.

  • typing and printing (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ILikeRed (141848) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:06PM (#16107422) Journal
    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.

    • If it could print.

      And run iTunes.

      And connect to their digital camera.

      And.. uh... HAD A HARD DRIVE.
    • Right, just like we all replaced our boring old PCs with i-Openers and BeIA devices six years ago.

      Seriously, if you want a computer and you only have $300 to spend, get a cheapo Dell. In fact, a Dell and a Wii combined cost less than a PlayStation 3 (MOD UP BECAUSE I SAID SOMETHING COST LESS THAN A PLAYSTATION 3).

  • 250 bucks, region free, and lots of games! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WillAffleckUW (858324) on Thursday September 14 2006, @02:09PM (#16107453) Homepage Journal
    I don't know about you, but now that we know the release date, I'm planning on buying one the first weekend they come out.

    FPS and Sports might be nice for some, but I find them ultra-boring. Probably because both were so much a part of my life, having spent so many years in the Army and playing sports since I was a kid.

    Game consoles are so you can get away from what you know.
  • Yesterday and today's announcements make me want the Wii less and less. I thought they would be including Opera for "free". Hopefully it's at least cheap.
  • This is cool, as it makes importing that much better. It looks like Nintendo has realized that while there may not be mass-market appeal of a "crazy" game in the states, there is enough interest to import the title. Rather than have their users mod the hardware and be forced to buy another unit, they give them the chance to import what they like.

    This also removes just about any excuse for the installation of modchips (which tend to be viewed as always allowing play for "backup" games, but also have modchips

  • This is a plus for me (Score:3, Interesting)

    by LittleFishSan (1002484) on Thursday September 14 2006, @03:26PM (#16108276)
    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.

  • Missing from the summary: Controller prices (Score:3, Informative)

    by bomanbot (980297) on Thursday September 14 2006, @04:31PM (#16108912)
    What the summary forgot to mention was a confirmation of the prices for additional controllers:

    $40 for additional Wii Remotes and $20 for additional Wii Nunchucks

    Well, thats not really cheap, especially the Remote+Nunchuck Combo, but about what I expected. It will be quite expensive to buy the full set for four players, I guess...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by lukas84 (912874)
      There are still people with non-multimode televisions?

      My TV is 3 years old, but it does NTSC and PAL bot flawlessly.
      • I gather mutlimode TVs are far more common in Europe than the US though. Not that there's much Americans would want to import from Europe of course.

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