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Sony confirms that the Vita will be region-free

Get out your yen, everybody!

Words: on September 16, 2011
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Can’t wait until next year to get your hands on Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Vita? Well, you might not have to – as long as you’re cool with spending a few hundred dollars and playing games that are entirely in Japanese. According to the Twitter account of Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, the system is going to be region-free, meaning you can pick one up from Japan when it launches on December 17 and still play games on it when they are released in your home country.

But it means good things for more than just those looking to import the console early. The system will be able to play games from other regions, too, which means when the newest game in the obscure, underground Japanese RPG you’re obsessed with comes out you can play it even if the developer doesn’t feel like translating it for an American release. Awesome, right?

While we’re happy to hear it, we have to admit that it’s a bit strange that this wouldn’t come out in a more… official way. This is big news for Sony, and earns them brownie points with the most hardcore of gamers. We’re not saying they had to send out a press release or hold a media conference, but having the president of SCE Worldwide Studios send an reply on Twitter saying “Yes, it is” might be the most unofficial/unprofessional way of making the announcement. What a strange world we live in...

So, is anyone planning on picking up a Japanese Vita when it comes out this year, or is everyone cool with waiting until TBD 2012 to get it in America? 

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Platforms:

PS Vita

9 comments

  • minimaxi - September 17, 2011 9:53 p.m.

    isn't this old news? but reassurance is good nonetheless

  • D0CCON - September 17, 2011 2:48 p.m.

    I remember importing Picross 3D nearly a year before it hit America. It's cool that I could do the same here if I were to ever by a Vita (which I'm not, I'm not against it, but I don't feel like spending another $250 on games).

  • tareq - September 17, 2011 2:48 p.m.

    This is something I've always appreciated from Sony. They've never region locked their hardware

  • Smash_Bro - September 17, 2011 11:55 a.m.

    Fairly obvious observation, but............... Does he mean "Yes, it is region-free?" Or, "Yes, it has been confirmed whether or not it's region-free, but the decision's yet to be announced?"

  • Thequestion 121 - September 17, 2011 8:22 a.m.

    This is great news!

  • robertpopovic - September 17, 2011 12:42 a.m.

    More reason for me to get one :) The biggest fault the 3DS has for me (eventough I bought it) is the fact that it is regeion-locked. We're missing out on quite a lot of games here in Europe and the region-free bit was perfect with the old DS Here's to hoping that someone at Nintendo smartens up and creates a patch to make the 3DS regionfree.

  • Cyberninja - September 16, 2011 9:28 p.m.

    its not an announcement this has been confirmed unregion locked for a long time now after the 3ds incident with region locking but this great news meaning i only have to buy one vita to play all the games i want while i may have hack my 3ds to play some games that are in Europe first in English

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