Wii Now Confirmed to Not be Region-Free

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."

WTF?

[LiquidCoooled (634315)]

No one is certain..

Title: Wii Now Confirmed to Not be Region-Free

Next line: Nintendo have now stated that the Wii will not be region free.

Bit lower: They put it rather bluntly, stating: 'We are region-locked,' and that Nintendo America made a mistake by claiming otherwise.

Whos right?

Re:WTF?

[Koiu Lpoi (632570)]

What we might see is that NTSC/American Wiis are pseudo region free (for 1st party games), while the PAL/UK versions have region codes in the 1st party games. The other story said that developers could region lock games if they saw fit.

Re:WTF?

[Clueless Moron (548336)]

Let met put it this way: it is untrue that it is not the case that the Wii will fail to not be region-locked. Clear?

Nintendos response

[by Anonymous Coward]

Wii where wrong.

I'm so sorry

[darien (180561)]

All together now: 'Wii shall not, Wii shall not be moved...'

Because it's region-locked, you see...

Oh, never mind.

hm

[joe 155 (937621)]

I think that this is a shame, although my DS is region free and I've never bought a game from either America or Japan, so it's not going to be too big of a problem to be. I doubt many people will be upset about this. Still, it's a shame.

I don't believe etiher one. . .

[Bionic_Baboon (684462)]

I'm waiting for the word from Nintendo of Japan before I believe anything.

Direct quote from Perrin Kaplan?

[clu76 (620823)]

I think it would be helpful if there was a direct quote from Perrin Kaplan. The best I could find is this:

"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." - Joel Johnson, Wired [wired.com]

Could it be possible that this whole region free rumor was started by a mistake. Even Joel Johnson's quote implies, "there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on." And even then, Johnson isn't completely firm about the Nintendo's own region stance when he says, "but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted." Doesn't sound like?

Re:Direct quote from Perrin Kaplan?

[clu76 (620823)]

Found my quote. Had to watch a 20 minute video to get it.

Robert Summa of Destructoid [destructoid.com] asked Perrin Kaplan, "Is everything region free." Kaplan replied, "Yes. Yeah. Which is a good thing. I've actually had several people ask that of me today."

Here's the video. [destructoid.com] The quote is near the end. The quote is about 18 minutes in.

Bad news for the UK

[owlnation (858981)]

If it is locked - and I don't really know what the overall conclusion from this article is either - then it's certainly bad news for the UK gamers. Seems that the announced prices for the Wii will make it most expensive in the UK - for reasons that aren't clear to me for one.

I suspect the reason is the same one as used by every other company - "you're British, if we shaft you on price you won't do anything about it. It's just cos we can charge more that we do."

Re:

[Albanach (527650)]

It's worth bearing in mind that VAT in the UK runs at 17.5%. - other prices (certainly in the US) don't include local sales tax as it varies state to state.

So, for example a UK price of £179 converts to a $US price of 336 or a VAT free price of 285. So there's still a bit of a mark up against as US price of $250, but it's around 15% rather than some of the inflated differences mentioned elsewhere.

Forget it then

[drsquare (530038)]

With the wii already a third more expensive in Britain, no doubt the games will have a similar markup.

Re:Forget it then

[MemoryDragon (544441)]

Well the current VAT less price in the US for the shovelware bundle, is around 178 Euros, but over here they charge 250 Euros for the same even if you count in 17% VAT average which really is average for europe. You are around 208 Euros, I assume the import taxes are pretty much the same here as in the US so I will leave that out and do not compare it to the japanese price which is way lower (no shovelware bundle to justify the higher price) We have a 16% price difference which goes straight into Nintendos pockets thanks to SCAMMING their own customer base over a self assumed price parity of 1 USD is one Euro...! The rest I can say is get your calc out and do the math yourself...

I wouldn't trust Nintendo UK.

[Andrew Kismet (955764)]

They're always last to hear the news. I trust Perrin Kaplan over David Yarnton.
They're region loocked: http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/732/732982p1.html [ign.com]
They're not region locked: http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/732/732748p1.html [ign.com]
Madness.

What really happened...

[Xest (935314)]

Nintendo US and Nintendo Japan had their events, completely forgetting about Europe with Europe being something console manufacturers apparently don't care that much about with the increased prices and the fact they're always last for console and game releases. Nintendo US and Japan rejoice in the fact that the Wii is in fact probably region free between those countries and mention this publicly. Then someone remembers Europe, Europe no doubt being the centre of shaftdom, a place where companies can screw consumers to the Nth degree without fear of reprisals and brings up the fact that Europe can't in fact use games from Japan or the US because they intend to charge more in Europe to rip customers off and hence they have to correct their mistake that whilst Japan and the US can enjoy game swapping, Europe can't. Okay, now back to reality somewhat I realise that's a totally cynical view and I'm probably off mark but on the same note it is getting kind of tiresome in Europe that we're treated so much worse in terms of releases of games and gaming equipment. The US version of the Wii is going to cost £133, whereas the European version will cost £179. I certainly realise we suffer taxes much more here and I realise with our strong currencies it costs a little more to distribute it here, however I fail to beleive that those two factors add up to a 25% price increase for Europe - some of it HAS to be greed on the manufacturers part, plain and simple. Also, the fact we get it later also adds insult to injury. So whilst my original point had a strong hint of over the top cynicism, I can't help but feel that it might have some slight truth to it that the reason the Wii is region locked - whether for Europe only or all 3 regions that it's again because of sheer greed by Nintendo. I really want a Wii, but when someone's trying to screw me I do feel very tempted to just not bother, not give them my money and buy something else instead. One final note, I do realise Nintendo aren't the only ones guilty of this, I guess I just hoped that Nintendo weren't going to screw Europe like Microsoft did and Sony will... I hoped they were better than that, oh well :/

I don't know about the Wii...

[sd_diamond (839492)]

But I hear that its followup, the WWii, is going to take American markets completely by suprise and, for a while at least, completely dominate the Pacific Rim.

I'm guessing this is NoE

[KDR_11k (778916)]

NoE loves annoying the hell out of their customers and generally try to make us realize we're much better off with a PC. Wouldn't surprise me if NoA made everything region free but NoE added a lock so Europeans can't use those region free games.

Maybe I should respect their wish and not buy a Wii, then.

Re:Left hand, right hand

[russ1337 (938915)]

Well, they both thought they were right. When the origional question was asked "would the wii be region free across the world?" Wii USA answered Yes, because they thought America is world.....

Re:

[$RANDOMLUSER (804576)]

That might even be viable, if so many people wern't already pre-boycotting PS3.

Re:BOOOOOOOOOH!

[HatchedEggs (1002127)]

You know, the main problem that I have with Nintendo locking regions is that I travel quite a bit. Why shouldn't I be able to pick up a game that I come across while I am in Europe, or wherever else? It just makes it less convenient.

Or if I end up moving to another country for work for a while... should I have to have relatives purchase the games for me and ship them over whenever I need a new one? C'mon.

Re:BOOOOOOOOOH!

[Shadow99_1 (86250)]

Well the reason for region coding in the first place is simple: price fixing between regions. I know for instance a person with triple citizenship (china, australia, and the US) and she can often get things cheaper in australia even with the cost of shipping than she can in the US itself... The companies want to maximize profit by region though, so they lock devices and media to regions to control the ability for people to buy cheaper versions by importing.

In a very real sense they don't care about your special needs...

Re:BOOOOOOOOOH!

[indiechild (541156)]

You're joking right? What kind of goods can you get in Australia that are cheaper than the US? I'm in Australia and I often buy stuff like electronics and games/computer gear from overseas because it's so much cheaper than here. We have to pay literally 30-100% more than what other countries pay.

Re:BOOOOOOOOOH!

[Fred Or Alive (738779)]

And does Europe really get all that many games that we don't get in the US? About the only place you might have a real argument is European gamers getting impatient and wanting to import US titles.

The problem isn't just impatientcy, Europe doesn't always get the games the US does at all. (Especially geeky Japanese stuff). Think stuff like Xenosaga Ep. 1, WarioWare Twisted[1], Shining Tears, Katamari Damacy and I'm sure there are more. Plus the delays can sometimes be stupid, although usually not on the level of the 2 year delay of Animal Crossing.

Plus I'm especially impatient, as I'm in the UK and I speak English, so all this locaisation stuff doesn't matter to me at all.

[1] Although in that case, I can import it of course.

Re:BOOOOOOOOOH!

[Doomstalk (629173)]

I was shouting "Boourns"...

Not in the U.S.

[Kadin2048 (468275)]

I don't know where you live, but in the United States, the vast majority of DVD players are region locked, and most people don't know or care.

The only people who have region-free players are people who've hacked them (some models had override codes you could put in) or who bought them overseas.

Most people go down to Wal-Mart, plunk down their $30, and buy whatever's on the end of the aisle, on sale. They barely stop to look at the name of the brand, much less anything so esoteric as region coding.

This will have a greater affect on people in Europe than in the U.S.; people here just don't care enough about imported content (with the exception of people who are into stuff from Japan) to notice region coding. Most Americans don't travel (and thus wouldn't come into possession of a foreign-region disc), don't speak any other languages (and so most foreign content is useless to them), and have enough domestic content available that they're not dying to get their hands on stuff from abroad.

The very small percentage of people who care about having a region-free DVD player or game console will pay the price premium necessary to acquire one on the grey market. With DVD players this usually means getting one originally destined for Europe or Asia, and with game consoles this means installing a mod chip. I don't think the Nintendo Rev--excuse me, Wii--will be any different in this regard. The very small number of gamers who want to play Japanese import games will get a mod chip.

The biggest effect that the region coding will have in the United States is that it creates a semi-legitimate excuse for mod chips to exist. If there wasn't region coding, and thus the excuse of wanting to be able to override the console's programming and play foreign games, then mod chips would be viewed more as a purely piracy-oriented tool; as it is, it's pretty easy to market them (with a hefty wink-wink-nudge-nude, know what I mean).

As someone who's never bought an un-modded console, I'd like to take a moment to thank Nintendo for this development. The modchip manufacturers and blank-DVD producers of the world salute you.