Sadly the New Nintendo 3DS is still region locked

Because they like to squash your life dreams, Nintendo has just confirmed that the New Nintendo 3DS models are still region locked.

That means unless you can read Japanese and are happy playing Japanese games importing one of the new models from Japan isn’t the wisest of ideas.

Disabling the region lock on a mid-generational update of  system wouldn’t have been a crazy idea, after all they did add region locking to the DSi when that was released. All traditional DS games are and will always be region region however.

In 2013, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata was asked by IGN about region locking, he loves it but at the same time knows why we might not. “From some people’s perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we’re selling our products worldwide,” Iwata said.

“There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we’re required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want.”

Still sucks balls.