Hey, all you fans of Japanese imports. Yeah, you -- the guy (or girl!) who jams out to Taiko No Tatsujin on a regular basis and forked over a bundle to pre-order a copy of Rhythm Tengoku Gold. Guess what you won't be able to do in future if you buy the soon-to-be-released Nintendo DSi software?
According to an announcement from Nintendo today, the DSi's software will be region-locked for major territories, including North America, Japan and Europe. Nintendo's reasoning, according to Eurogamer, was that "(the) DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region."
New parental controls are also in the works for each region, which would certainly mean the friend code system could be changing as well. It was never specifically mentioned, but we'll have to see what happens.
Of course, if you have the current DS Lite, you can still go on enjoying your imports, but I can't see a worse way to turn niche gamers off to Nintendo's new version of the popular handheld. People that are uninterested in import games won't care, but there are a lot of us who do care and would prefer to keep our good old DS Lite, thank you very much.
[Via GamePro -- Thanks, Joe]
Contest:
2:22 PM on 10.06.2008
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Loss of GBA? Loss of imports? Lower battery life? For what? A damn camera and an mp3 player? Can't the current DS, with some stuff, play mp3's anyway?
This is why NOA keeps knocking around that the DS-i might be a simultaneous sku rather than the permanent upgrade.
doesn't bother me. I was planning on Importing the DSi out of sheer "HEY GAYZ LooK aT DIS!?!?!"
still...if the interwebz is just region locked and not the "Games" then it's different. but otherwise....ZIEG DS!
totally agree with you, This thing really doesn't appeal to me, a crappy camera that ill never use and an SD slot for music and movies that my ipod touch can handle better in exchange for imports, GBA games and battery life...FACK OFF NINTY!
Region Encoding
DRM
Trips to retail stores
Serial numbers
Friend codes
Problem solved =P
Dragon Quest 9 sounds pretty meteoric. This explains why the game looks and runs so much better than other DS games too.
Ninty only gives pirates and crackers a new reason to crack their software, distribute it illegaly and so on...
...and you know what I really don't care - if they don't want my money - I'm going to try to circument their region codes, because I think region locking is just not only bad karma, but it's also criminal to withhold cool games from me.
So I'm really not that excited, just count me over the "won't pay anymore for import games because I have other sources" guys.
FUCK YOU NINTY FUCK YOU!!!!! (pardon my french)
I'm gonna be keeping my DS Lite anyway, and may possibly buy a second one.
Portables are the last bastion for region free gaming, nice to see Nintendo squashing that.
"Update: Nintendo has told us that software is their term for everything these days, including games products, so it sounds like the DSi's region-locking will be broad-based on all releases that require the new hardware."
Personally, I never import games. However, if not for the import success of 'Ouendan' then 'Elite Beat Agents' would likely have not seen a US release. Therefore, I am still affected even though I never order anything from the East.
Boooourns.
It would be nice if even just once nintendo would choke to death on a dick. If only we fanboys didn't support them through the hard times they wouldn't be insulting us at every turn like this.
True, without the import success of Ouendan, there'd be no EBA. What annoys is there being not enough acknowledgement of import gamers over pirates. Nintendo like to mix us all in the same bag.
This will be the most useless and half-baked Nintendo upgrade since the Game Boy Pocket.
Well, I'll just stock up on DS Lites and I'll be just fine.
And NOT other stuffs too.
...and you know what I really don't care - if they don't want my money - I'm going to try to circument their region codes, because I think region locking is just not only bad karma, but it's also criminal to withhold cool games from me."
Things always go terribly for me when I discuss piracy in the comments section and I thought it was my fault but when people say shit that is this fucking retarded it makes my blood boil no many how many times I get shouted down. Even if you're joking about the criminal part you clearly think piracy is more than justifiable which is completely insane.
To address the complaints once again (not including the dozen other people that have done so):
GAME CARTS ARE STILL REGION FREE AND ONLY THE DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE AND DSi SPECIFIC GAMES (OF WHICH NOT A SINGLE ONE HAS BEEN SEEN SO FAR) ARE REGION ENCODED. YOU CAN STILL IMPORT DS GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!