PlayStation Vita does not have Region restrictions, it really does do everything
Without being too pro-PlayStation Vita, which is hard to do considering everything Sony’s next generation handheld portable gaming device is capable of and at the price it is set to be sold for, the device is set to be region free when it hits the market.
For those readers who do not know, current video game titles are Region locked, or restricted, meaning that games made for certain regions will not play on consoles of certain other regions. As any gamer who has bought a game from United States and tried
playing it on other regions will know, that unless the PlayStation 3 is ‘international’ or ‘US’, it will not run the game. The same is the case with Blu-Ray movies, which are region bound as well.
However, the PlayStation Vita seems to want to buck that particular trend and according to the President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, the portable gaming device will not be region free.
That is not a rumour or speculation by analysts but rather a statement issued by the man in charge. If one wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth, the words he or she would here on asking whether the Vita was region free would be, ‘Yes it is’. The horse
in this case is Mr. Yoshida and the words of course, coming in the form of a Tweet on the popular social networking website, Twitter.
For those who do not know the implications of the announcement, it basically means that it allows free trade between games. Region locked or Region exclusive titles (read ‘Japan exclusive games’) can be imported to any Vita anywhere in the world. The games
will also run without any issue, though there might be slight problems for those who cannot read Japanese.
The Vita was the true star of this year’s Tokyo Game Show with a number of announcements, much like this one, being made at Asia’s equivalent of E3. It seems that there is no stopping the already astronomical hype surrounding the portable gaming device from
reaching even more dizzying heights as each announcement seems to outdo the last.
From the first reveal which showed dual analogue sticks, to the rear touch pad and two cameras, to the $249.99 price which took everyone by surprise and then the other announcements as well, which to be honest are too numerous to even begin to mention.
All that said, however, the Vita may end up becoming a victim of its own expectations and judging by the way the Nintendo 3DS is doing in the market, things may not be all sunshine and rainbows when it finally does hit shelves. At the same time though, the
PlayStation Vita has enough promise not to share the same fate as the 3DS.
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