With Microsoft and Sony making their respective next-gen systems region free, gamers around the world are now banding together in an attempt to get Nintendo to make the same move and make the Wii U region free.
This post on NeoGAF has collected a bunch of posts from Nintendo fans (many with hand drawn images) that plead with Nintendo to cease its region-locking ways. As Destructoid notes, this campaign already has a Twitter account, Twitter hastags in the forms of #NintendoRegionFree and #EndRegionLocking, and a petition, which, as of writing, it only has 660 supporters.
“As you know, every Nintendo home console since the NES and every handheld since the DSi has made use of region-locking,” reads the NeoGAF post from user Cheesemeister. “This has kept many region-exclusive titles out of the hands of otherwise prospective customers. If it hadn’t been for the original DS being region-free, not many in the West would’ve been able to play Ouendan and turn it into a a cult hit.”
“Now, more than ever, is our chance to tell Nintendo that we want the Wii U and 3DS to be made region-free. Please help in any way that you can. Please remember to be polite!”
This being the year 2013, region locking seems to be a holdover from previous generations that just needs to go. If a consumer wants to go through the work of importing a game, simply because they want to play that game, or because it’s not available in their country for some silly reason, let them do it. That’s real dedication. And, as the aforementioned petition states, the money made from sales would still find their way to Nintendo, the devs and the distributors. So what’s the big downside?
Come on, Nintendo, you know you wanna make nice and give people what they want. It would earn you a decent amount brownie points!