While it’s far from a confirmation that Sony’s next-gen handheld will be region free, Sony Europe’s Michael Denny has told IGN that “to the best of his knowledge”, the device will be region free. Win! More »
A group of software enthusiasts are showing off a program that loads through the Wii homebrew channel and allows you to run international Wii and Gamecube discs in spite of existing region protection. Seeing as the hack is completely software-based and Nintendo has eliminated the functionality of older Wii region protection workarounds (Freeloader, specifically), the unnamed exploit looks like the next big thing for those of you willing to navigate Japanese menus to play titles a few days/months early. And it should be downloadable soon. [DCEmu via Kotaku]
While Sony was smart enough to make PS3 games region-free, they still insisted on putting those pesky regional restrictions on Blu-ray discs. Now Blu-ray Mods is selling a modified player that can run all of the world’s Blu-ray films and still accept firmware updates. A turnkey hacked Panasonic DMP-BD30, their system runs a steep US$781. That’s about US$300 over list. But if you’ve got a soldering iron and a bit of patience, the kit alone only costs US$108. Whatabargain! [Blu-ray Mods via Engadget]
Region-free gaming on the Wii is a whole lot simpler now with the new release of Gecko Region Free. Now you don’t need a Freeloader or any type of fancy hacking, but you do need the Twilight Princess disc and the ability to run homebrew apps. It’s not a completely optimal solution, because of certain restrictions and requirements, but it’s getting there. The upside is that this doesn’t use any “borrowed” Nintendo code, meaning there’s less chance of legal repercussions. It’s no fancy casemod, but playing games early from Japan is quite a feat. [TekSheen via Wii News]
