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!

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

I think we have a winner

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

Re:I think we have a winner

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

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

Re:I think we have a winner

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

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:I think we have a winner

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.

I'll believe it when it happens...

...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.

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

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.

I doubt there will be a shortage

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?

aside from hurting your own sales...

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...

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...

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.

That's good news

I'd hate to go to China and try to play with my Wii and discover that it was disabled until I returned home.

Good

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

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

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.

Analogy time

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

Will gamecube games also be region free?

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

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.

Region Free... AND

Does it work with both NTSC and PAL hardware?

It's all well and good not imposing arbitrary restrictions on the playing of software, but if it's not actually physically compatible with certain televisions, then that could present some problems.

250 bucks, region free, and lots of games!

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.

No USB Hard Drive support?

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.

Default language?

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 that serve just to turn off region locking), so it will be much harder for anyone hocking a Wii modchip to justify such a thing.

This will also be a boon for publishers in Japan, as they can let their games be region free and see what the import demand is; if it looks like a good number of people are picking it up, it's more likely to get a regular localization.

Alternatively, more companies might develop games in multiple languages. Popular Japanese games that only trickle into the states can get English subtitles, and vice versa.

But does the Wii allow you to select a default language? That would be helpful for the games, as they could default to display/playing in one language unless the user chooses something else.

I'd have to say that this is a good move. Didn't Sony go "Region Free" for the PS3, as well?

Good for us Europeans!

Maybe we can import a few consoles from you Americans then, huh? I hope you don't mind. The thing is, if Nintendo is up to its usual shenanigans, it'll be february 07 until we get any Wii love over here. So I'll probably import one or two for me and my pals.

The Wii is looking better and better :-)

Obligatory Slogan Reference

The new slogan:

"Everybody WIIs"

This is a plus for me

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

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...

How long has Nintendo been region free?

I thought it stretched into the GB, or GBA days when Nintendo was fully region free, and the only barriers were language and display? Or, this is the handheld experiment that finally bore fruit?

prolly not many of my countrymen are aware of this

its been ruled by the courts here in australia that selling any hardware (dvd player, gaming console, ect) is anti-competetive (and therefore illegal) and that australians have the right to buy dvds ect at the best price they can find them, including from overseas sources. these same courts ruled it legal to mod-chip playstations, though doing so would void your waranty. the company i work for purchases dvds and cds wholesale from overseas for retailing, and from the number of complaints i see with customers complaining that their systems wont play the movies/music, i dont think the hardware companies are paying to much attention anyway. but then, we're all criminals down here anyway, its in the blood.

Import Games from America to Japan

I might be the only person to have ever done this, but I might have to import American games to Japan. I live in Japan but I can't read almost any Japanese and I only speak a little bit. Granted, I could round up a Japanese friend to help me, but I might just have to have someone in America send me games for the Wii I will buy here in Japan.

This is certainly a refreshing trend

It's nice to see this trend. I was pleased to see import PSP games at Fry's and apparently HD-DVD is region free too (Blu-Ray at least puts NA and Japan in the same region).

Bad Pick-up Line

The article title is just begging for a bad pick-up line.

"Hey baby, my Wii is region free; you can use it anywhere"
"My Wii's good all over the world honey."
"It's o.k. baby, my Wii is region free now. I got that cleared up last week"

I'm lost.

Ok, I'm really a bit lost. This seems to directly conflict with an article [ign.com] stating that Wii titles are to be region-encoded.