DSi Region Locking confirmed

Been confirmed by some people that Idolmaster DS is region locked. If you try to play it on anything other than a Japanese DSi, it won't recognise the cart.

The kick in the balls? It'll play on any regular DS.

Stupid move by Nintendo, it's just going to drive some of their most loyal customers to buy a flash cart.

So they won't work on DSi consoles but will on regular or Lite models (without DSi enhanced features)?

What kind of craziness is this?

Yeah, not exactly the best way to promote the newer model.

Stupid, Bitter move from the BIG N. However, as much as I love their games, considering their history of screwing the consumer - I'm not suprised.

All handhelds should be region free. Always use the example of taking it on holiday and picking up a game abroad or in the airport to play. Stupid N.

This is complete madness, someone at Nintendo needs a kick in the balls for this. I was recently thinking about getting a DSi as i'm using my original DS quite a bit lately but there is no way i would buy one now.

Originally Posted by Kop_007

All handhelds should be region free. Always use the example of taking it on holiday and picking up a game abroad or in the airport to play. Stupid N.

The huge irony of it all is that it was Nintendo themselves who developed the idea of true region-free handheld gaming with the original Gameboy.

I'm guessing it is a small attempt to cut down on piracy

Originally Posted by EvilBoris

I'm guessing it is a small attempt to cut down on piracy

I might be being thick here, but how so? Surely if people were just downloading the Japanese or American versions, they'll just pick the PAL ones instead?

Maybe there is an extra chip in the actual cart or something, who knows. Maybe they are just being awkward buggers.

Originally Posted by Jebus

I might be being thick here, but how so? Surely if people were just downloading the Japanese or American versions, they'll just pick the PAL ones instead?

Conjecture, and I have nothing to base this on aside from common sense, but I would imagine that the number of people buying Japanese exclusive DS games outside Japan is incredibly small. The number of people downloading those titles outside of Japan is probably vastly higher.

Restricting sales to Japan only won't lose them many sales, but it'll stop many pirates.

Y'know, maybe.