Wii is region-locked after all

September 15th, 2006, 18:46 Posted By: wraggster

Nintendo UK has admitted that the Wii console is region-locked after all, despite comments from Nintendo of America to the contrary.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in London this afternoon, a spokesperson admitted, "We are region-locked," and said the US arm of the company had made a mistake in saying otherwise.

Earlier we reported on a piece by Wired News, which spoke to Nintendo vice president of marketing Perrin Kaplan during yesterday's showcase event in New York, during which they were told that Nintendo would not impose regional restrictions on game software.

That situation would have been comparable to that of Xbox 360, where some games are region-free but others are not, and gamers are generally left to find out for themselves whether an import is viable.

Nintendo also admitted yesterday that it had ruled out the idea of including DVD playback functionality, contradicting earlier announcements.

"Because the price of DVD players has dropped so much and they have become so commonplace, Nintendo saw no need to create extra hardware options that would drive up the cost for consumers," a representative for the company told GameSpot.

Previously Nintendo had said it would release an attachment for the Wii console that enabled DVD playback.

Games on the system will be sold on single- or double-layered 12-centimetre optical discs, while it will also be compatible with 8-centimetre GameCube discs.

Still confusion reigns supreme over region free or not

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