Tue, Mar 03, 2009 | 07:42 GMT

Nintendo: DSi was region-coded thanks to international age ratings

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DSi has been region-coded to protect the innocent, Nintendo UK boss David Yarnton’s told The Times.

“There are many different age requirements with games around the world,” said Yarnton when asked why Nintendo had blocked games from other regions.

“I’ve been involved with the Industry Body, and we’ve just had the Byron review, so it’s quite topical. As an industry, we are trying to take a responsible stance in that area, to make sure that we have people aware of what content they get, and that there is a certain amount of protection.”

So there you go. It has absolutely nothing to do with grey imports and general sales control. Absolutely not.

DSi hits Europe at the beginning of April.

9 comments

Blerk
03/03/09, 8:27 am

Honest, guv. No, really. REALLY!

Patrick Garratt
03/03/09, 8:33 am

Innit.

*rolls eyes*

deftangel
03/03/09, 8:48 am

Amazing, because there are no other console systems capable of supporting age ratings and region free games on the market at all are there?!

Retroid
03/03/09, 9:00 am

Nintendo just continue to piss on my chips. Then insist it’s really expensive vinegar and try to charge £10 a shake.

Hero of Canton
03/03/09, 10:00 am

What utter bollocks. The annoying thing is that there are loads of good DSiWare games that us importers can’t play even if we import a Japanese model. We just have to hope that we get them all when DSiWare launches here – which, knowing Nintendo, won’t be until much later in the year.

Retroid
03/03/09, 10:02 am

Because NoE are shit.

Hero of Canton
03/03/09, 10:05 am

In fairness, NoE has been better than NoA of late. And I doubt it’s a decision that’s been made by NoE. After all, the Japanese DSi is region-locked too. It’s the higher-ups to blame this time.

Retroid
03/03/09, 11:26 am

Yeah… but that’s like saying you can’t blame the idiot half-brother for messing everything up for us when it’s his older bastard sod of a wanker who made these decisions!