Regional lockout

Regional lockout is the programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed on the version of the same device marketed in another country.

Movies

Main articles: DVD region code, Blu-ray region code, and UMD region code

Movies, released on DVD, Blu-ray and UMD may be region-locked.

Video games

In the video game industry, Nintendo was the originator of regional lockout. Regional lockout in video games is when a piece of hardware is designed such that only software for that region is compatible. Most commercially-released console video games have region encoding.

The main regions are:

• Japan and Asia (NTSC-J)
• North America (NTSC-U/C)
• Europe, Australia and Oceania (PAL region)
• China (NTSC-C)

Nintendo

Games for the Nintendo Entertainment System are region-locked. The regions are:

• NTSC (North America)
• PAL-A (United Kingdom and Italy)
• PAL-B (other European countries)

A game's region is recognized by the console using the 10NES chip. If the chip inside cartridge conflicts with the chip inside console, the game will not boot. Famicom, which sold in Japan does not contain a 10NES chip, but cartridges for Famicom are different shape than NES ones.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System hardware is not region-locked. Removing the plastic tabs at the bottom of the cartridge slot in North American units will allow insertion of Japanese Super Famicom cartridges and they will run. Cartridges sold in North America, are of a different shape than Japanese or European ones.

Wii is region-locked. The regions are:

• NTSC-U (North America, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines)
• PAL (Europe and Oceania)
• NTSC-J (Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan)
• South Korea

The first model of the Nintendo DS is not region-locked. Its redesign, called Nintendo DSi, is region-locked, but only in terms of its downloadable games. Physical Nintendo DS game cards will play on it regardless of region or origin, though DSi-only and DSi-enhanced games are region-locked. In China, the iQue Ltd and Nintendo released iQue DS series which are the Chinese version of Nintendo DS series. The iQue DS system itself has no region locking, but the original iQue DS software cannot be played on the Nintendo DS system.

All Nintendo 3DS hardware and software is region-locked, however original Nintendo DS physical game cards and software, including iQue DS software, is not affected .

The upcoming Wii U will also be region-locked .

Sony

The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles are region-locked.

All PlayStation 3 games released between 2006 and mid-2012 are region-free. Even though publishers could choose to region-lock specific games based on a mechanism that allows for the game to query the model of the PS3, none did so during the first six years after the launch of PS3 . The first game to be region-locked on PS3 is Persona 4 Arena; publisher Atlus declined to reverse its decision despite substantial outcry by some of their fanbase. The decision was made to avoid excessive importing, due to all versions of the game sharing the same features and language support, but differing release dates in each region. There is region locking for backwards compatible PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games, as well as DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies. Additionally, some games separate online players per region, such as Metal Gear Solid 4 Online. PlayStation Store only contains content for its own country, for example the EU store will not supply usable map packs for an imported US copy of Call of Duty 4. In addition, downloadable content for the PlayStation 3 systems is region locked, so you need to buy DLC from US PlayStation Store to use it in a US game. More specifically, the PS3's file system includes region-of-origin, so DLC cannot be shared between different region games much like save files cannot.

PlayStation Portable has no region locking for UMD games. However, UMD movies are locked by region. Furthermore, the firmware will disable features based on region. For example, Asian region PSPs will not display the "Extras" option on the XMB despite having been upgraded to the US version of Firmware 6.20, preventing owners of such PSPs from installing the Comic Book Viewer and the TV Streaming applications. Sony's states that the "Extras" function will remain disabled on Asian PSPs until the features are officially launched in the region and gives no reason for the option being disabled aside from that it is not yet launched. Nevertheless, this denies Asian PSP owners from using the above mentioned applications on Asian PSPs, as the applications are installed through a PC and users from the region are not blocked from downloading the application, allowing installation on non-Asian PSPs that have been imported into the region.

The PlayStation Vita has no region-locked games thus far.

Sega

Older Mega Drive games are region-free, but some new games can be region-locked (for example, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are region-free, but Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is region-locked).

Microsoft

Xbox 360 is region-locked, although it is up to the publisher if a game is region-free or not. A number of games are region-free and will play on a unit from any region.

Other

The Philips CD-i and the Panasonic 3DO are region-free.

Amongst PC games, regional lockout is more difficult to enforce because both the game application and the operating system can be easily modified. Subscription-based online games often enforce a regional lock by blocking IP addresses (which can often be circumvented through an open proxy) or by requiring the user to enter a national ID number (which may be impossible to verify). A number of other games using regional lockout are rare but do exist. One of the examples of this is the Windows version of The Orange Box, which uses Steam content delivery service to enforce the regional lockout.

The Nest Labs Learning Thermostat works only in the U.S.A. (excluding outlying areas such as Guam), and Canada. The device partially functions outside those countries but it is impossible to set the clock leading to erratic behavior.

Printers

HP print cartridges have been regionalised since 2004. As such, they do not work in printers with a different region code, unless the user calls technical support for the device to be reassigned to the appropriate region. Canon print cartridges for the Pixma MP 480 will not work in printers of that type with a different region code either (even when listed on the packaging of the Canon printer cartridges in question).

Reasons for regional lockout

Some of the reasons for regional lockout are as follows:

Pricing. It is difficult to maintain a single pricing structure that can be applied worldwide. Region-locking a console means that there is no need for pricing parity across the world; different territories can have different prices for games without people simply shopping "wherever is cheaper".

Sensitive regions. Some games could be regarded as offensive for religious or political reasons, and regional lockout may be required to prevent these games from being distributed in sensitive countries.

Staggered launches. If a console is region-locked, then staggered launches of the games would be easier, as console producers could easily control the huge bow-wave of people wanting a game the moment it is released.

See also

• 10NES
• CIC
• NTSC
• NTSC-J
• NTSC-C
• PAL region
• Regional converter
• Fan translation
• Trusted Platform Module
• Modchip
• Parallel import
• Parallel importing in video games