Region-free Wii?

July 26th, 2006, 18:09 Posted By: wraggster

With the DS enjoying huge success at the moment, thanks to its mighty catalogue of quality titles, many are finally taking advantage of the system's region-free capabilities by importing games and avoiding the lengthy delays we frequently endure in Europe.

Now, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing and corporate communications, Perrin Kaplan, has tackled the issue of possible region-free capabilities on the forthcoming Wii. Unfortunately, given Kaplan's somewhat acrobatic approach in response to the question, it's still unclear whether region-free Wii is a possibility - although it seems Nintendo is at least considering the issue.

Speaking to IGN on the subject of region-free, Kaplan explained, "Clearly, the success of Nintendo DS has offered a lot of lessons about what works in the marketplace -- and we certainly intend to keep our fans satisfied. For the Wii system, we are finalizing all the relevant details and will be making announcements in the coming months."

Kaplan continued, "We know that isn't what you all want to hear (or read) but at least we are being honest! We will share a lot of ways people can play globally, regionally, without boundaries. You're right that the region-free approach has proved to be a successful and attractive feature for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on Nintendo DS -- we have even blown the doors off our own anticipated numbers! Cost, ease-of-use and player privacy are the three things that were a focus for us with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Those priorities also will apply to the Wii system."

Of course, you could argue that Kaplan deliberately misunderstood the question, seemingly interpreting the notion of region-free as 'being able to play against people anywhere in the world'. Still, as vague as the whole thing is, it's still nice to think that we might finally be able to enjoy games from all markets without the arduous wait often imposed by Nintendo's European arm.

Of course, for a definite answer to the region-free question, we'll just have to wait until Nintendo is ready to spill its mighty satchel of Wii beans this September. Bah.

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