Wii to be Region Free

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."

Sweet!

[FrontalLobe (897758)]

I love Japanese games. I'm sooooo happy their making it region-fwii!

I think we have a winner

[neonprimetime (528653)]

$250 and region free? Sounds like a winner to me.

Re:I think we have a winner

[neonprimetime (528653)]

I can't help but wonder what the next cool thing about the Wii will be?

I'm hoping it comes with a pretty pink pony!


Wait, did I just say that out loud?

Re:I think we have a winner

[Drooling Iguana (61479)]

Speak for yourself let's set so double the killer delete select all.

Re:I think we have a winner

[elrous0 (869638)]

wonder what the next cool thing about the Wii will be?

I'm violating a nondisclosure agreement here by saying it, but the entire console is FULLY EDIBLE.

-Eric

Re:I think we have a winner

[Maul (83993)]

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:

[AuMatar (183847)]

And charge you ten bucks more a game. I'll take Nintendo's version, thanks.

Re:

[HTTP Error 403 403.9 (628865)]

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:

[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

[ElleyKitten (715519)]

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.

aside from hurting your own sales...

[jimstapleton (999106)]

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.

Re:aside from hurting your own sales...

[pixel_bc (265009)]

Traditionally, region encoding was implemented because sometimes a developer would use different publishers for different regions.

Not so common anymore.

Re:aside from hurting your own sales...

[DrEldarion (114072)]

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.

Smokeable nicotine stick non-smoking aides

[UbuntuDupe (970646)]

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

[twoallbeefpatties (615632)]

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.

Piracy?

[twoallbeefpatties (615632)]

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

[truedfx (802492)]

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

Will gamecube games also be region free?

[antifoidulus (807088)]

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

[ILikeRed (141848)]

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.

250 bucks, region free, and lots of games!

[WillAffleckUW (858324)]

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.

This is a plus for me

[LittleFishSan (1002484)]

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

[bomanbot (980297)]

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:

[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.

Re:

[lukas84 (912874)]

There are still people with non-multimode televisions?

My TV is 3 years old, but it does NTSC and PAL bot flawlessly.

Re:I'll believe it when it happens...

[aliquis (678370)]

I would have to call BS on this one. Just because blu-ray video discs will be region encoded doesn't mean all games will have that "feature" in case Sony doesn't want it. Also they can probably just ignore the region encoding bit aswell if it really is there on all discs. The PS3 will be region free for games.