In another Nintendo rumor, Gamingbolt is reporting that Nintendo’s next console, the NX, will be region-free. Previously having been notoriously known for popularizing the practice of region locking for the entire video gaming industry, Nintendo now seems to be going to revert their direction with the new NX. Up until the DSi, most of Nintendo’s consoles were region-free but once the DSi came out, Nintendo started to region lock. This comes as no surprise, however, as Nintendo attempts to stay on par with competitors PlayStation and Xbox. These two giants have been bring about the era of systems that are region free – the PS4, PS Vita, and Xbox One are all region-free, while Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS remain region locked. This means that gamers in the US missed out on popular titles that only came out only for Japan or Europe.
If the NX does in fact include a region-free system, then fans will be able to import exclusive games that did not come out in their home country.
Famed Nintendo insider, Emily Rogers, released several specifications for the NX prototype:
• In May, I said Nvidia was involved with the system.
• The screen is around 6 inches (6.2 to be specific)
• The portable screen has a 720p resolution.
• Multi-touch touchscreen (Haven’t heard anything about a stylus.)
• 32 GB of internal storage is on the NX dev kit. (They may increase storage to 64GB for the final retail unit, but I doubt it.)
• There is an SD Card port.
• Dock Station has at least 2 USB ports on prototype. Not sure about final product.
• NX will support Unreal Engine 4 and Unity engine
• NX is below Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in raw power.
• Dev kits and prototypes are region free. I heard retail units will be region free too.
• Nintendo still plans to support the 3DS with software through 2018.
Nintendo’s handhelds have not always been region blocked however; before the 3DS, their handhelds were traditionally region-free. It’s not certain whether the NX will in fact revert their region blocking due to Nintendo not releasing any official reports on the NX, so until they start to confirm some of these reports, fans will only speculate more and more on these rumors. The only thing we’re certain on (at this point) is its launch date, which is still scheduled for release sometime around March 2017.