Home
Games
Games News
Nintendo confirms Wii U to be region locked

Nintendo confirms Wii U to be region-locked

By KS Sandhya Iyer | Updated: 25 September 2012 16:04 IST

Nintendo fans brace yourself for some disappointing news. If you're planning to purchase the Wii U, it's likely to be region-locked, as confirmed by Nintendo to CVG.

Recently, a company representative told Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine that gamers will be unable to play titles published outside their region. Nintendo has now confirmed the news.

What this means for Wii U users is that games released in Japan, Europe and North America won't work with Wii U systems from other countries.

Nintendo's policy of region locking has been implemented in the past with consoles including the Wii and the 3DS dating as far back to the GameCube, N64, SNES and NES.

Region locking is often perceived as a curse in the gaming fraternity. Most gamers will be disheartened to learn of the news since they often resort to modifying their systems, either through hardware chips or unofficial firmware updates, to play imported games on region-locked consoles. Hence, many feel the practice should be done away with.

Microsoft and Sony adopt a different perspective when it comes to region-locking. Both allow publishers to decide whether they want to lock games to continents and in most cases, the titles are region-free.

The Wii U, initially announced at E3 2012, will launch on November 18 in the U.S an will be available in two bundles: a $299 8GB white basic model and a $350 32GB deluxe black version.

The first Nintendo home console in six years that will allow users to make personal TV and video programming lists and record shows through TiVo and other digital recording services.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.