3DS Region Locked?

We're receiving some rumours at the moment that, along with the 3DS announcement next week, will also be the clarification whether it's region locked or not.

The implications of this are far reaching and gamers who have previously enjoyed the freedoms of importing titles or picking up games, whilst on holiday, months before it's European release will certainly be unhappy about this news.

The problem here, of course, is that this isn't exactly a new rumour and Nintendo have been tight lipped about this regionalising of games since the 3DS was first announced. From our point of view this would be a real shame but the advance security measures which have already been mentioned, for the new handheld, makes the story that much more credible.

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Comments

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  You'd have them on the DS. Australia is a PAL region so any games imported from Europe would have worked regardless of there being region locking.

  ganepark32, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  All I know is if this gen was region locked I wouldn't have any CiNG games.

  Trent, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  It'll probably be the case for 3DS games on the console because of the online features, whereas DS games of any region should generally be fine. Kind of expected it but it is disappointing as there are bound to be some weird and wonderful games which will only see a release in Japan that I'd import.

  ganepark32, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Only a week to wait now. Let's see.

  Andrew, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Yeah theres just the presumed email for now. Really disappointing as this will effect me heaps in Australia if true. We miss out on games heaps of times and our prices are not that great either.

  Trent, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  The more I read, the more this appears to be fact.

  Andrew, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Haven't seen anything new but the presumed email. Did I miss anything?

  Dennis, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  Read this earlier today and I'll post my thoughts about this here too: 1) this 'email' hasn't been proven genuine (yet) 2) One can expect a region lock: DSiWare and DSi-enhanced games are region locked due to (or so it was claimed) the international aspect of DSi. 3DS is 'constantly online' for exchange of info, updates and upgrades and thus I think it's safe to claim the 3DS to be region locked as well (even though there's absolutely no technical reason why it [i]should[/i] be...)

  Dennis, 30-11--0001 at 00:00
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  It better not be. How else am I supposed to play my Jump Superstars series, Super Robot Wars, and many other series that will never hit US shore?

  LeSomeGuy, 30-11--0001 at 00:00