Home Gaming The Nintendo NX could retire region-locking

The Nintendo NX could retire region-locking

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Region-lock

I’ve never been a big fan of region locking. It’s essentially DRM at its worst, an out-dated system that does more harm than good and completely unnecessary in an industry that has long since abandoned the need to play games with PAL or NTSC technology. In a world where games don;t have to be imported but can rather be downloaded with the swipe of a credit card, region locking really has no place to exist these days.

And that’s something that Nintendo has been guilty of for quite a few consoles already. Back when I had a GameCube (lovely device that, absolutely fantastic), the only way to get my hands on certain games was to pray for an import. Imports which I’d then have to unlock with the Action Pro Replay disc first each and every time. It’s been business as region-locking usual with Nintendo over the years, but it looks like they may be changing their tone on grey imports soon.

That’s according to a rumour from Let’s Play Video Games, who say that the current development kits that developers have their hands on allow for region-free game programming:

We also have two separate sources claiming that the current NX development kits are region free, and that those developing software for it have not heard anything about region locking being added before launch.

Now that’s a big step forward for Nintendo. The Japanese company are notoriously stubborn at times with design ideas, refusing to be dragged into the 21st century to compete with Sony and Microsoft. But for a console that s reportedly going to be heavy on handheld components? Region-free gaming could be another big edge that’ll have the big N swimming in various licenses to print money.

It hasn’t been officially revealed yet, but that clock for the Nintendo NX is still ticking away closer and closer to March 2017. C’mon Nintendo, we’re dying over here for a reveal already! Although I’m personally dying for a new Super Mario Bros. game that is heavy on the catsuits again, which I hope is called Super Meowrio Bros.

Last Updated: September 1, 2016

3 Comments

  1. LIES!!! Nintendo are still in 1995. Region locking is so outdated so I agree with the exception of “Super Meowrio Bros.” – keep that shit region locked!

    I do confess to purchasing a second hand Wii just to play Metroid Prime Trilogy and they are still the handheld kings (Not really, it’s cellphones now) but they never grasped the industry as it evolved, rather opting for gimmicky bullshit that casual gamers embraced or making beautiful first party titles (Damn I still want to play SMB on the U) and bolstered their stock figures for a few years.

    They release beautiful first party titles but when I find myself playing an SMB ROM (SHOCK HORROR!! I said ROM) for SNES rather than even considering their current console at 1k on a firesale… there is a problem.

    TL;DR – Reap what you sow

    Reply

  2. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    September 2, 2016 at 07:49

  3. HairyEwok

    September 2, 2016 at 08:19

    If Nintendo does this, it will be one big leap for them… Like, you know, a Mario over a Koopa big leap.

    Reply

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