The Wii isn't region-free, after all

by Jason Wishnov { Sep 15th 2006 at 8:37PM }

We've never really had a reason to dislike Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing and corporate affairs. Sure, she got a little drunk at E3 (seriously, watch that video, it's awesome), but who wasn't? But now...she's crossed the line. We reported yesterday that the Wii would be region-free for first-party titles, and left up to the publisher for third-party ventures. However, a UK Nintendo rep flatly denied her claims, and the official line from a U.S. rep was this:

"We've heard conflicting reports from lots of folks out there, but can tell you that Wii will be region encoded, as will first-party software."

How dare you, Kaplan? We trusted you; put our ability to play quirky Japanese Wii games in your hands! You failed us, you fibbing...fibber! A curse upon your soul!

Tags: Kaplan, Liar, Lockout, Perrin, Region free, RegionFree

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jaille @ Sep 15th 2006 9:58PM

Not wiigion frii? My bigger worry is the DRM on the VC games which they havent even talked about yet. How many time do i have to buy SMB?

jd @ Sep 15th 2006 9:59PM

Great. I was really excited about the region free-ness of Wii. What's next? Are they going to take away the capability to purchase VC games from other regions next?

Spex @ Sep 15th 2006 10:41PM

Region free...cuse I ALWAYS buy imported games. Not to big a hit for me, though I'm surprised that this went by Nintendo's reps so easily.

As for Wii DRM, the games will be attached to your account, so putting your account and veryfing it for a new Wii should allow you to get back your games for free.

Nick @ Sep 15th 2006 10:47PM

they already talked about the VC setup, buy them and own them forever.

Bennet McLean @ Sep 15th 2006 10:18PM

For goodness sake, Perrin Kaplan SAID the Wii wasn't region-free in the intial quote you linked to (and at least two commenters told you you labelled your article incorrectly.

Stop hearing what you want to hear and actually report the news.

Bennet McLean @ Sep 15th 2006 10:27PM

Bah! I'm looking a bit daft now, while your first article was still wrong didn't read the new quote from Nintendo USA, only the UK quote.

Nothing really has changed though, software publishers are still able to label their software region-encoded or not. The only bad news is that the initial batch of first-party titles might not be.

Daran @ Sep 15th 2006 11:09PM

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/941/perrindrunkmg5.jpg
Please make this the blog post image, thanks WFB.

Spex @ Sep 15th 2006 11:47PM

lol >w< Kaplan is Ka-pwned

lolersticks @ Sep 15th 2006 11:53PM

Wasn't she the person that said that the DS WASN'T going to have a redesign, the SAME week the Lite came out?

'nuff said.

Spex @ Sep 16th 2006 12:01AM

wait, what? We knew about DS lite a good bit sooner than a week before it came out. Why would she ever say that?

lolersticks @ Sep 16th 2006 12:06AM

Sorry, Spex, I meant "announced" instead of "came out". My bad.

Dar the Monk @ Sep 16th 2006 12:24AM

Honestly, i like the idea of region free, I do want to play some of those crazy Japanese games. also, making region encoded spices up the world not embracing it as a collective (this is a star trek reference: Borg. Nerd points for me! HAHA) as the Wii name suggests. I realise that some have said it was up to the publishers, but why would they make it region encoded, this i don't understand. Please some one reply and tell me why encoding is beneficial? It seems to me to make more sense to be free and allow others to purchase your product. or is that the problem, bootleg copies possibility?

mykie @ Sep 16th 2006 1:10AM

Perrin said nothing specific about the Wii hardware being region-free. She spoke of the Wii first party titles being region-free, however the individual publishers could choose to include it in their software.

So OBVIOUSLY, the Wii console has to have some kind of optional regional lock in the hardware.

Think, McFly, THINK.

Stuart Grimshaw @ Sep 16th 2006 2:56AM

Even more of a kick in the nuts when you consider that the UK version is US or Aus versions.

Why is that btw? Ok, so it's not the usual $1 == �1 conversion, but still we're paying a good �40 more than the US. Imagine if the Wii were $75 more in the states.

Ok, so it's probably cheaper then the PS3, and it is cheaper than a 360, but I don't think it's enough to draw kids away from the ones they've been used to (probably for as long as most of them can remember).

Perhaps Fanboy can ask Nintendo why we Brits have to pay more?

kenny @ Sep 16th 2006 3:30AM

maybe i should go learn japanese so i can give a crap...

joshmac @ Sep 16th 2006 7:08AM

AH DAMNIT! Now I'll have to wit till december 8th and pay the �179 inflation! It's not much but I am 14 so that is quite a few more weeks of saving! Add in Twilight Princess and Red steel There is no way I'll be able to get one at launch :( oh well... MAybe my dad will get me one at christmas... it's not too much longa to wait... *cries*

mgs0lid @ Sep 16th 2006 10:51AM

Whats up with the Kaplan drunk video... Just because she probably made a mistake when she said wii was region free and then for you to post that ign video was well uncalled for

Wii @ Sep 16th 2006 10:56AM

Crap,,whats with this region coding tactics?

Billy McBong @ Sep 16th 2006 11:04AM

this has nothing to do with this but the free opera download until 2007 does that mean if we download it before 2007 we get it for free permanitly or will just get to use it for free until 2007?

epobirs @ Sep 16th 2006 12:12PM

Sigh, and I was so looking forward to spending large amounts of cash on games that are incomprehensible without translated text.

idioteraser @ Sep 16th 2006 1:07PM

It was the Nintendo UK general manager who said a redesign of the DS wasn't coming out when asked. Perrin Kaplin is NOA it was NOE. Jesus lolersticks get the right country and person next time. Or google it for crying out loud. http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=51435

Dar the Monk @ Sep 16th 2006 2:55PM

So does anyone know the use of region encoding?

HypoCee @ Sep 16th 2006 5:36PM

This gets answered over and over. Long story short, there are two big reasons for region-coding:

1. The Dicks version: Fighting imports. If (big "if") they choose to spend money and time translating a game into English/Japanese/the umpteen PAL languages and converting it to PAL, they want to be able to charge for the work and not have their market dampened (especially in the UK) by cheaper imports.

2. The Victims version: There are different content and age-rating laws everywhere. There's a risk of nice fat government lawsuits if they bypass or weaken their region-coding scheme, and making a different region for every country is an impossible logistical nightmare. So it's basically Germany's fault :P.

Mike @ Sep 16th 2006 8:39PM

After watching the video i really want her.

lolersticks @ Sep 16th 2006 9:51PM

Wow, who got your panties in a wad, "idioteraser"? I made a mistake, no need to go ballistic.

Chill.

John Lucas @ Sep 17th 2006 12:17AM

Quit giving Perrin a hard time on that IGN video.

E3 is a party!
Especially for Nintendo this year.
Case in point ~> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFQz98jAcg8

I imagine Iwata & Co. ALSO had a little sake after this year's blowout as well.

But yes it was clear she was a little tipsy.
Makes her more personable.
As long as she wasn't stone drunk.
John Lucas