3DS region block confirmed, US won't even read JP games

For some, this will be the worst news ever. For others it'll come out to no more than a shoulder shrug. I'm somewhere there in the middle.

Those hoping to import Japanese games for their US Nintendo 3DS are out of luck. Those wanting to play imports will have to buy a foreign system as a 3DS from one territory will not play games from another. Hell, it won't even 'see' the games.

As you'll see in the above video, a North American copy of Super Monkey Ball 3D will not even register in my Japanese 3DS' menu.

[Dark_Overlord]

Major step backwards IMO, Nintendos handhelds have always been known for their lack of region locks :/

[tunaks1]

wasnt the ds region locked? I never had one, but I remember hearing they were.

[Kamikaze135]

They weren't region locked.

[Redempteur]

ONLY the DSi was region locked ( with some games )

[Stealth20k]

this is already old news. And its actually a major step forward in piracy fighting.

[Baka-akaB]

it's actually an incentive . Plenty people started on past consoles looking only for ways to play import games . Once they did , some told themselves , what the heck ... what's the point of paying .

It's retarded and most likely only there to force places like EU to pay more for dlcs and online content .

[hazelamy]

in what way does that fight piracy?
if anything it will increase it, if they make sure people can't legally buy and play a title they'll turn to other means.

[lelo2play]

Well... now i'm even less interested in the 3DS then i already was. They can keep it.

I hope Sony doesn't make this mistake with the NGP.

[Ps_alm3k]

I remember the time when my girlfriend's friend block me from getting any.

This feels very familiar!...

[plb]

lame. Is there something I'm missing as to the purpose of region locking something like this?

[kesvalk]

yes, greed...

[Infernostew]

NGP, please don't make this mistake!

[anasurimbor]

It's not the worst news ever, but it makes the 3DS much less appealing to me. Much less.

[YoungKingDoran]

urgh why?
dont they want us supporting japanese game development?

[ElementX]

Who cares? Aren't Japanese games in Japanese? Do you read Japanese? Didn't think so.

[jetlian]

us do. l think l read it doesn't effect old ds games but still there are good games that don't come out here.

Wheres the shonen jump games where kenshin could fight goku, naruto, and ichigo etc. Stuff like that is a nightmare to release in the west due to multiple companies owning rights to the characters

Also you have to remember some people know more than 1 language so why wait 8 months for a western release

[hazelamy]

maybe it's not a big deal if you're in the us, but it's a kick in the teeth if you live in europe, clearly the biggest region when taken as a whole but seemingly every single company in this industry seems to view europe as as afterthought.

[radphil]

@ElementX

Yea my whole time taking 5 years of the language means I haven't learned a single thing....

9_9

[kesvalk]

well, they better be prepared for the influx of flash cards and CFW on the system...

no one likes to be told what games they can or can't buy...
very bad decision...

[hazelamy]

nintendo being backwards with their game systems again.

firstly they're barely aware of the existence of the internet, they pull this anachronistic regional lockout crap, and they don't give a toss about quality anymore, preferring a cut from the who knows how many pathetic shovelware titles.

instead of the quality that used to be nintendo's hallmark we have greed, stupidity and an overinflated ego.

nintendo are burning their bridges with gamers with their relentless greed this gen.

[PirateThom]

I thought we were done with region locking, I really did... I understand why they do it, but I thought most companies knew better, especially now.

Demon's Souls, to me, ended the excuse for region locking that game was a success based solely on people importing to the US which caused Atlus to release it and people in Europe, like myself, buying from the US, before Namco published it in Europe.

[Masterchef2007]

Region locks suck for handhelds.