It seems that there was confusion over the status of the new DSi. Will the software for the DSi be region locked or not?
Earlier this morning the answer seemed to be "no." Carmmie Dunaway, VP of Nintendo of America said, "I believe that just as you can currently buy a DS in Japan and use it here in the U.S., that you should be able to do that with DSi."
Later today, Nintendo said that the DSi will be region locked as far as DSi software is concerned.
"DSi is region locked because DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region. Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent."
The region lock only affects DSi software and related downloadable content. As for your regular DS games, you’ll still be able to play them region free on the DSi.
"Nintendo DS software however is region free so you can play any DS software on DSi from any region. You can also browse the Internet on your DSi wherever you are in the world and exchange your photos with friends from around the world."
So why would parental controls and net communications differences be a factor in locking the DSi? We don’t know either, but that is the official word from Nintendo at the moment.
We can speculate, however, that the DSi is aiming at a more mature crowd of gamers, since the machine will need parental controls.
[via CVG]
