Originally Published on Game Politics.
I think I need a daisy for this. I seem to have entered a loop of “Nintendo loves me. It loves me not.” While I am still excited for the coming release of the WiiU console, I am disheartened by the companies most recent news. It will continue its policy of region locking games.
Nintendo’s confirmation followed a translated revelation in Japanese magazine Famitsu: “What can be played on the Wii U is restricted by a region-lock feature; software not sold in the same region cannot be played.”
You may remember the trouble Nintendo had last year when it refused to release several games in the US that Japanese and European gamers were enjoying. Because the Wii was region locked, importing the games was not a simple proposition. While some gamers resorted to importing and then soft modding their console in order to bypass the region lock, many others campaigned under the banner of Operation Rainfall in order to get official releases of The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles.
One would think that Nintendo would have learned from that ordeal and would have instead adopted policeis that would mitigate the need for such fan action. Instead, Nintendo has placed itself in a position where consumers will no doubt have to resort to the same actions to get some games in the US and other regions.
– E. Zachary Knight
