DS to be region-free

Nintendo has officially confirmed that the Nintendo DS will be region-free, allowing it to play games purchased anywhere in the world. Although this news may not specifically cater to American and Japanese folks, it certainly gives us Europeans the benefit of importing our DS systems from abroad, with the help of import specialist sites such as Lik-Sang.com.

[ Gaming headlines ]

This reminds me of my trip to Akihabara recently. There were so many game stores with so many cool games. But, once I get past the fact that they're in Japanese, I have no guarantee that any could work on my systems back home. I know the GameCube doesn't allow swapping of the US/Japanese games, and I think the PS2 is the same.

And since the device is displaying the games, the whole PAL/NTSC debate is unnecessary. I'm guessing that with the world shrinking the way it is, this is a statement of how the economics of regional protection don't hold up anymore, and the ability to manufacture one system for the world pays off much better in the end. Sounds like a real good move to me.