First-party Wii games will be region-free [update 2]
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Sep 14th 2006 at 3:00PM }
After tactfully cornering Nintendo's VP of Marketing at their NYC event, Joel Johnson from Wired News was able to extract a rather valuable tidbit of information that will likely please gamers all across the world. Perrin Kaplan casually confirmed that all first-party Wii games will be free of draconian region locks, thus allowing them to run on a Wii system purchased from Japan, Europe, America and everything in-between. The same doesn't hold true for third-party games yet, but one can only hope they follow the glorious example and do away with an annoying system that has long since been dropped in handheld platforms. If you can surmount the language barrier, feel free to gleefully bring Nintendo's next turnbased roommate adventure Pokemon dating card RPG to America, even if they won't.
[Via Game|Life]
[Update 1: Gamesindustry.biz reports that Nintendo UK says the Wii is region-locked. This is contrary to Perrin Kaplan's statements, though her exact comments may have been misinterpreted to begin with. It's possible that Kaplan implied first-party games would specifically be region-free -- which is not the same thing as saying the console is region-free. After all, one can play region-free DVDs on a region-locked DVD player. Not that the Wii can play DVDs anymore...]
[Update 2: It was too good to be true.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
R @ Sep 14th 2006 3:09PM
As an American Nintendo fanboy getting ready to move to Europe, this makes my day and helps me forgive some of their various missteps today.
What about the Wii hardware though? Will they be NTSC Wiis and PAL Wiis still? Not that I can't get a TV convertor of course...
nootau @ Sep 14th 2006 7:18PM
This is the best news out of the whole show!
GlitchCog @ Sep 14th 2006 3:30PM
Who would have thought Nintendo would cut what is basically a form of DRM first? Awesome.
Panda @ Sep 14th 2006 3:08PM
Good for Europeans if we get shafted.
KR @ Sep 14th 2006 3:13PM
A lot of 360 owners save money by buying from import stores since most noteworthy games are region free...I wonder if the same will happen in this case.
DeeJ @ Sep 14th 2006 3:17PM
This is good news - especialy as Argos (big UK retailer) has a banner on the computer game section of it's website slating Wii for March 2007!!! - no price info though!!
.ed @ Sep 14th 2006 3:19PM
lets see if this story gets 120 negative comments from sony fanboys!
ready go!
phillosmaster @ Sep 14th 2006 3:20PM
Best news ever.
I really wish region encoding would just disappear. Why throw up invisible roadblocks for legitimate consumers.
Maybe that's already happening. I thought I remembered hearing somewhere that the PS3 was also going to be region free. Can anyone confirm that, or was I just dreaming? If Sony wasn't supporting region encoding that would certainly spell region encoding's demise.
Turken @ Sep 14th 2006 3:24PM
I'm rather intrigued by the announcement of Namco's drum game "Ennichi no Tatsujin" for the Japanese launch. Here's to hoping that it can be played without knowing how to read the language...
JKTrix @ Sep 14th 2006 3:24PM
This is awesome. I'm cancelling my pre-orders from Play-Asia and Lik-sang *now*.
...Actually, I'll keep my cheaper Japanese Wii, and sell my US one to someone. Yeeeeesssss.......
James Spiers @ Sep 14th 2006 3:29PM
An NTSC Wii should work on PAL TV but depends on what output the NTSC model uses. If it uses component (rather than the older RGB Scart output the Cube used), then you'll be ok, and probably be able to use European games as well. Nintendo's tendancy to support older TV formats makes me think RGB scart is a possibility.
bm @ Sep 14th 2006 3:29PM
"Will they be NTSC Wiis and PAL Wiis still?"
I assume there will, and I would think that the PAL Wii would probably output at PAL60 only, seeing how PAL TV's that don't support it are basically non-existant these days. Even old dumpster TV's have it (mine does). This would avoid any of the 50-60hz conversion hassle.
James Spiers @ Sep 14th 2006 3:33PM
Just to clarify that - the NTSC Cube did not use RGB Scart - the UK model did.
teknotom @ Sep 14th 2006 3:36PM
#4 - Argos now says Winter 2006, either they got more news or spoke too soon...
R @ Sep 14th 2006 3:42PM
Really now? Thank you for your highly informative answers to my mistyped question. (Sorry, I stayed up for the Japanese release last night? ~_^)
ALH @ Sep 14th 2006 3:49PM
Holy mother of god! This is AWESOME. I'm an avid importer when it comes to handheld games, but have never been able to do it with consoles thanks to a the dumb region locks and my lack of a compatible TV.
dvddesign @ Sep 14th 2006 3:48PM
Oh, this absolutely makes my day.
I'm going back to Japan in March, and there's gonna be so much junk I can buy then.
Thanks Nintendo!
MC Hampster @ Sep 14th 2006 3:49PM
How exactly is everyone missing the more important news in that Game|Life update?
"Will Wii users be able to add storage via USB hard drives? No. The Wii's storage will be exclusively via flash memory storage, such as SD memory cards, at least at launch. Kaplan said a hard drive addition could be in the future, but that sounds more like a "Sure, why not?" response than one based in any immediate plans."
I knew that was too good to be true.
Rask @ Sep 14th 2006 3:51PM
If more and more devs do this, it might be worthwhile to start learning japanese and import like madmen.
Marco @ Sep 14th 2006 3:55PM
are there any stores in the US taking preoders yet? (walmart, gamestop, target?)
Jim @ Sep 14th 2006 4:03PM
GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! NEWS.
/sorry for shouting but I'm excited.
burninhell @ Sep 14th 2006 4:07PM
cool...if I can buy a Japanese Wii for even 10-20 bucks less than the US one I will...I don't want Wii Sports and am annoyed at the pricier US bundle...
Jeff @ Sep 14th 2006 4:13PM
"I thought I remembered hearing somewhere that the PS3 was also going to be region free. Can anyone confirm that, or was I just dreaming?"
I can confirm that.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
So, good for Nintendo, but they're just keeping up with the competition.
It's always good news to see region locks removed, though.
RiemannMeetLebesgue @ Sep 14th 2006 4:19PM
This is awesome!
Jon C @ Sep 14th 2006 4:20PM
@MC,
I suspect that they are limiting downloads to SD due to the DRM nature of SD cards. Each game downloaded could be tied to a SD card so as not to allow owners to copy them to other cards. I could be wrong but if this is their reason it would make sense.
FSK405K @ Sep 14th 2006 4:40PM
phillosmaster (#6) there is IMO one legitimate purpose of region locking, though it has nothing to do with DRM or video games....
MEDICINE. In Africa, AIDS medicine costs next to nothing compared to in the US. Drug companies are either out of charity or because of some higher purpose are choosing to sell these things at cost or at a loss in non-industrialized countries. Yet they cost much more in the US, hence, region-specific charges.
Games, though, who the F knows?
SquirrelPhister @ Sep 14th 2006 5:28PM
GlitchCog:
"Who would have thought Nintendo would cut what is basically a form of DRM first? Awesome."
First? Or third?
phillosmaster:
"Maybe that's already happening. I thought I remembered hearing somewhere that the PS3 was also going to be region free. Can anyone confirm that, or was I just dreaming?"
Yes, Sony announced similar region-free plans for PS3, and Xbox 360 has had this in place since launch . MicroSoft never really came out and made a big announcement about it, so people seem to have forgotten about it.
Vinnk @ Sep 14th 2006 5:48PM
I was plannig to buy 2 (one here in Japan amd one from the USA) and the $250 price point was stinging a bit. Now I only need one, that is excellent!
burninhell @ Sep 14th 2006 6:37PM
Hey...what about GameCube games? They are region-encoded, right? So will US GC discs play on a Japanese Wii? Is the "GameCube" inside the Wii hardware somehow an all-region GC?
McWeen @ Sep 15th 2006 8:45AM
"Hey...what about GameCube games? They are region-encoded, right? So will US GC discs play on a Japanese Wii? Is the "GameCube" inside the Wii hardware somehow an all-region GC? "
Posted at 6:36PM on Sep 14th 2006 by burninhell
That actually is a really interesting question. i always wanted to pick up Nintendo Puzzle Collection and the Japanese Donkey Konga (they have anime themes and j-pop in them)
Strike Man @ Sep 15th 2006 11:29AM
Perhaps I'm just being a curmudgeon once again, but I can't consider the system to be "region-free" unless that applies to ALL games, first or third parties. I'm glad to see Nintendo take this step, but I'm hoping (even partly) praying that the third parties ALL adopt this as well, even though I rarely import games.
It also seems that Sony will be doing the exact same, and letting third parties decide whether or not to include region coding. Yes, it runs contrary to what Phil Harrison said back at the GDC, but that's the way it's looking...
But I'm with burninhell's comments in wanting to know how both Sony and Nintendo will handle region coding for their older games. While a "region-free" console is a feature that Microsoft currently does not have (with the exception of a few region free games), being able to play the PSX/PS2 and GCN libraries as well is a big plus.
bungiefan @ Sep 16th 2006 7:21PM
@31 That's not being a curmudgeon. That's using common sense. By definition, the console isn't region free unless it doesn't enforce region locks. If the games have to be region free for the situation, than it's the media that CAN be region free, and noth the CONSOLE that is region free. That's like trying to market a standard DVD player as region free because it can play DVDs marked with a region of ALL, which EVERY DVD player can do, even though it can't play region 2 discs if the player is from region 1. The only DVDs players sold as region free will ignore the regional designation of the discs and will play any video DVD with any regional marking.
All consoles since the NES have not been region free, excepting handhelds. The Xbox and the 360 have been the first consoles to at least have a region free designation as an option for games, but that option is rarely taken. That has only brought them on par with standard DVD regions, but not truly up to region free.
Region free cannot give the people making the product the option of locking the content to a region. If they have the option, calling the hardware region free is an oxymoron.