3DS could be region-locked

Is this the end of Nintendo's region-free handhelds?

Nintendo has supposedly confirmed that the 3DS will be region-locked barring players from importing 3DS games without illegally modifying their console.

The news apparently came from the translation of a newsletter published by Nintendo of Japan and translated on NeoGAF.

The newsletter seems to explain that the 3DS will hav region locking imposed on both the console itself and the individual games making it the first DS console to bear region-locking on retail games.

The translation reads: "3DS has Regioncodes. The Region Codes are installed in each games and the 3DS itself. If the codes don't match you can't play."

Thanks VG247.

By Ewan Aiton