At this year's E3 conference, the tug-of-war centered around Sony and Microsoft with Sony scoring a major public relations victory by debuting with no region locking or Internet connectivity requirements.
In response, Microsoft did a complete reversal of its policy to match the PlayStation 4 as well as what fans demanded. That has sparked many fans of Nintendo, the third biggest gaming console to do away with region locking in its Wii U console.
Fans of Nintendo have started a petition to try and convince those behind the popular gaming console to end the practice.
"Following Microsoft's U-turn on its DRM policies, including making the Xbox One region-free alongside the PS4, Nintendo is now left as the only major console manufacturer that maintains a region-locking policy," the petition said. "This practice is restrictive to customers, including those who enjoy playing foreign games not available domestically, speak foreign languages, serve in the military, or otherwise travel or live abroad. If anything, region-free policies encourage the additional sales of legitimate software that cannot otherwise be obtained in a given country; the money would still go to Nintendo, the developers and the distributors behind each game."
Region locking is a system that allows gaming consoles to control content based on the user's country. For example, if content for a game was allowed in the U.S. but not in Japan, someone in Japan could not play a game obtained in the U.S. on a Japanese console. It's a system that many gamers have found horribly restrictive and unnecessary given that Nintendo's competitors have gotten rid of region locking.
The driving point behind the petition is simply about customer's rights to purchase and play games as they please. While it may seem like a nice gesture on behalf of Nintendo to implement region locking to comply with the moral and legal standards of a given country, it's restrictive to developers and gamers who know the content exists but are simply unable to play it due to the often uncontrollable circumstances of their living situation.
