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Nintendo DSi to be Region Locked

Techtree News Staff, Oct 07, 2008 1827 hrs IST

Software including games will be region specific

Nintendo officially confirmed that the software (including games) for DSi will be region specific. This means that a person with a European DSi won't be able to play any games from other regions and vice versa. This is a surprise move from Nintendo as its DS and Game Cube are region free.

The reason cited by Nintendo is that "DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region. Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent bodies."
However, the region lock does not apply to DS titles given DSi's backward compatibility.

Source: Eurogamer

USER COMMENTS

I got a Nintendo DSi & the language of instruction in the device is Japanese. Can someone tell me how can I change it to English

by Gopal Chitoor, Mumbai, on Apr 22, 2009 03:31 PM, Report abuse Reply

All the Nintendo handhelds (GB, GBC, GBA, GBSP, SP, etc) have always been region free. Home systems have been region locked (at least going back to SNES days when they used the physical shape of the cart to "region code" the games). This is a mistake though, clearly region coding games has NOTHING to do with great game sales (Nintendo is the perfect example of this).

by Peter, London, on Dec 08, 2008 05:50 PM, Report abuse Reply

This is quite retarded...

by Michael, Shaprsburg, on Oct 31, 2008 03:48 AM, Report abuse Reply

The gamecube is not region free. Proof of that is there is a freeloader available for it.

by Chris, Burien, on Oct 08, 2008 09:17 PM, Report abuse Reply