wraggster
September 15th, 2006, 16:09
Article from Gamespot (http://us.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=24981977&sid=6157671)
Source: The hopes and dreams of Nintendo fans everywhere and, more specifically, Wired News.
What we heard: Gamers hoping to flail about while playing the latest Japanese-only games on their US Wiis take note: Nintendo's next-gen console appears to be region-free.
The question of whether or not gamers will be able to play imported games on the upcoming console has been looming for quite some time now, with Nintendo neither confirming nor denying the feature. The company embraced region-free gaming with the Nintendo DS but has been evasive when asked if the Wii would follow suit.
However, today among the heavy stream of Wii news, Wired News said Nintendo of America VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan had finally confirmed that the console will indeed be region-free--in theory.
"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 doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted."
Nintendo still has yet to make a wide, media-friendly announcement on the subject. Hyping a feature such as region-free gaming would seem to be a no-brainer, so the company's coy stance raised concerns. Even the article's author seemed a bit skeptical with a careful choice of words: "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."
The official story: Getting answers from Nintendo proved difficult during one of the company's busiest days of the year. However, after a lengthy exchange of cryptic e-mails, a rep finally confirmed that Kaplan's words regarding regionless first-party titles and potentially regionless third-party titles were indeed correct: "[The] Wii will be region-free."
Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus.
Source: The hopes and dreams of Nintendo fans everywhere and, more specifically, Wired News.
What we heard: Gamers hoping to flail about while playing the latest Japanese-only games on their US Wiis take note: Nintendo's next-gen console appears to be region-free.
The question of whether or not gamers will be able to play imported games on the upcoming console has been looming for quite some time now, with Nintendo neither confirming nor denying the feature. The company embraced region-free gaming with the Nintendo DS but has been evasive when asked if the Wii would follow suit.
However, today among the heavy stream of Wii news, Wired News said Nintendo of America VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan had finally confirmed that the console will indeed be region-free--in theory.
"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 doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted."
Nintendo still has yet to make a wide, media-friendly announcement on the subject. Hyping a feature such as region-free gaming would seem to be a no-brainer, so the company's coy stance raised concerns. Even the article's author seemed a bit skeptical with a careful choice of words: "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."
The official story: Getting answers from Nintendo proved difficult during one of the company's busiest days of the year. However, after a lengthy exchange of cryptic e-mails, a rep finally confirmed that Kaplan's words regarding regionless first-party titles and potentially regionless third-party titles were indeed correct: "[The] Wii will be region-free."
Bogus or not bogus?: Not bogus.