Nintendo Wii Is Region Locked After All
Published by Ian Klein September 15th, 2006 in Gaming, Nintendo, Wii, PP.
It was only a few hours ago that we reported that Nintendo Wii was going to be region free for the most part, with the possible exception of some rogue third party publishers who would have the option the option of locking individual Wii titles. Wired News’ Joel Johnson had brought us the glorious news straight from Nintendo’s VP of marketing Perrin Kaplan.
From our earlier report, this was Kaplan’s reply to the direct question: “Will the Wii be region free?
Yes. 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 doesnt sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted.”
Nintendo has now done a complete 180. A Nintendo UK spokesperson in London has now admitted “We are region-locked.” The spokeperson went on to shift the blame to the States, stating that US arm of the company had made a massive blunder by stating the contrary.
This is getting a bit Rashomon for our tastes; Portable Planet will keep you updated as this Wii region dilemma escalates.
Source: gamesindustry.biz
But i mean, What can Nintendo Possibly Gain form having region lock? it can only discourage potential Wii buyers. I just can’t fathom what it all means? Why Freakin Have it? U Just can’t loose money from it……
I was thinking of getting a wii, it looks more fun than normal graphics orientated consoles but it may be over my 100 budget and region locking it does not help my decision at all. I might just stick to PC games