Regional lockout
Encyclopedia
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.
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:
The immediate successor to the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo DSi
, is region-locked, but only in terms of its downloadable games. Physical DS game carts will play on it regardless of region of origin (DSi-only and even DSi-enhanced games are region-locked though). 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 DS software, including iQue DS software, is not affected.
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 "Extra" function will remain disabled on Asian PSPs until the feature is officially launched in the region, and gives no reason for the option being disabled aside from that it isn't 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 3
is region-free for PS3 games. There's only region locking for backwards compatible PS2 and PS1 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. A PSN store only contains content for its own country, for example the UK store will not supply usable map packs for an imported US copy of Call of Duty 4. The PS3 actually supports hardware region locking for PS3 games as well, based on Blu-ray Disc regions, but as of current it is unused and all current region lockouts and separations are about online services. The PS3 also restricts the access to PlayStation Network by region, such as the online store, news and upcoming releases.
and the Xbox 360
are region locked, so games imported from other countries cannot be played on foreign versions of those consoles
without some form of alteration to bypass the lockout. However, a number of games for the Xbox 360
have been confirmed as region free and will play on a unit from any region, although it is up to the publisher if a game is region free or not.
The CD-i
and the Panasonic 3DO
are region-free, too.
Amongst personal computer game
s, 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 address
es (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.
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.
Staged launches. If a console is region-locked, then staged 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.
Piracy. Piracy is more common in some countries than others. For example it is particularly common in China as compared to North America. Region locks can prevent pirated games from these countries from being played on systems outside of their designated region.
Video games
In the video game industry, NintendoNintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
was the originator of regional lockout. Regional lockout in video games is when a piece of hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
is designed such that only software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
for that region is compatible. Most commercially-released console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
video games have region encoding.
The main regions are:
- JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(NTSC-JNTSC-JNTSC-J is an analog television system and video display standard for the region of Japan.While NTSC-M is an official standard, "J" is more a colloquial indicator as used in Marketing definition but not an official term.-Technical definition:...
) - North AmericaNorth AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
(NTSC U/CNTSCNTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
) - EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and OceaniaOceaniaOceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
(PALPALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
, PAL/EPALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
) - ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(NTSC-CNTSC-CNTSC-C is a regional lockout created in 2003 by Sony Computer Entertainment for the official launch of its PS2 gaming system into the mainland Chinese market.-Mainland Chinese market:...
)
Nintendo
Most of Nintendo's handheld systems do not have regional lockout; because of this, import games can be played on those systems. In other words, a Japanese game would work on an American unit, although the game would likely not be in the user's native language and might be different from the product as released in other countries. Many people import games if the game is not released in their region or if it was released years or months before in a different region before it is released in the importer's region.The immediate successor to the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...
, is region-locked, but only in terms of its downloadable games. Physical DS game carts will play on it regardless of region of origin (DSi-only and even DSi-enhanced games are region-locked though). 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 DS software, including iQue DS software, is not affected.
Sony
The PSPPlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
has no region locking for UMD
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...
games. However, UMD
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...
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 "Extra" function will remain disabled on Asian PSPs until the feature is officially launched in the region, and gives no reason for the option being disabled aside from that it isn't 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 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
is region-free for PS3 games. There's only region locking for backwards compatible PS2 and PS1 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. A PSN store only contains content for its own country, for example the UK store will not supply usable map packs for an imported US copy of Call of Duty 4. The PS3 actually supports hardware region locking for PS3 games as well, based on Blu-ray Disc regions, but as of current it is unused and all current region lockouts and separations are about online services. The PS3 also restricts the access to PlayStation Network by region, such as the online store, news and upcoming releases.
Other
The WiiWii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
and the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
are region locked, so games imported from other countries cannot be played on foreign versions of those consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
without some form of alteration to bypass the lockout. However, a number of games for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
have been confirmed as region free and will play on a unit from any region, although it is up to the publisher if a game is region free or not.
The CD-i
CD-i
CD-i, or Compact Disc Interactive, is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V. CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc standard used by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book, which was developed by Philips and Sony...
and the Panasonic 3DO
3DO Interactive Multiplayer
The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...
are region-free, too.
Amongst personal computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
s, 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 address
IP address
An Internet Protocol address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing...
es (which can often be circumvented through an open proxy
Open proxy
An open proxy is a proxy server that is accessible by any Internet user. Generally, a proxy server allows users within a network group to store and forward Internet services such as DNS or web pages to reduce and control the bandwidth used by the group...
) or by requiring the user to enter a national ID
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
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
The Orange Box
The Orange Box is a video game compilation for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS X and PlayStation 3. The Windows and Xbox 360 versions were produced and published by Valve Corporation and released on October 10, 2007 as a boxed retail copy...
, which uses Steam content delivery service to enforce the regional lockout.
Printers
HP print cartridges have been regionalised since 2004; as such, they do not work in printers with a different RC. Canon print cartridges for the Pixma MP 480 will not work in printers of that type with a different RC 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.
Staged launches. If a console is region-locked, then staged 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.
Piracy. Piracy is more common in some countries than others. For example it is particularly common in China as compared to North America. Region locks can prevent pirated games from these countries from being played on systems outside of their designated region.
See also
- 10NES10NESThe 10NES system is a lock-out system designed for the American version of the Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. Various companies found ways to bypass the authorization chip.-Design:...
- NTSCNTSCNTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
- NTSC-JNTSC-JNTSC-J is an analog television system and video display standard for the region of Japan.While NTSC-M is an official standard, "J" is more a colloquial indicator as used in Marketing definition but not an official term.-Technical definition:...
- NTSC U/CNTSCNTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
- PALPALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
- Import gamerImport gamersImport gamers are a subset of the video game player community that take part in the practice of playing video games from another region, usually from Japan where the majority of games for certain systems originate.- Reasons for importing :...
- Regional converterRegional converterA console converter is a video game console hardware device used to bypass regional lockout on a video game console, allowing imported video games to be played on domestic video game consoles. Unlike mod chips, console converters do not circumvent copy protection. For example, a Super Famicom...
- Copyright misuseCopyright misuseCopyright misuse is an equitable defense against copyright infringement in the United States. Under this defense, a copyright infringer may avoid infringement liability if the copyright holder has engaged in abusive or improper conduct in exploiting or enforcing the copyright...
- DVD region codeDVD region codeDVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
- Fan translationFan translationA fan translation, in video gaming, refers to an unofficial translation of a computer game or video game.The fan translation practice grew with the rise of video game console emulation in the late 1990s. A community of people developed that were interested in replaying and modifying the games they...
- Trusted Platform ModuleTrusted Platform ModuleIn computing, Trusted Platform Module is both the name of a published specification detailing a secure cryptoprocessor that can store cryptographic keys that protect information, as well as the general name of implementations of that specification, often called the "TPM chip" or "TPM Security...
- ModchipModchipA modchip is a small electronic device used to modify or disable built-in restrictions and limitations of computers, specifically videogame consoles...
- Parallel importParallel importA parallel import is a non-counterfeit product imported from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner. Parallel imports are often referred to as grey product, and are implicated in issues of international trade, and intellectual property.The practice of parallel...