Nintendo Petition Hopes To End 3DS And Wii U Regional Locking

A Nintendo petition that is making its way around the web is asking that the gaming giant end the practice of regional locking on its popular 3DS and Wii U gaming consoles.

Both the Xbox One and Sony Playstation 4 decided to ditch the restrictive practice, and Nintendo gamers are now demanding the same treatment.

So far, there have been very few Japanese exclusive Wii U titles but that could change, and gamers are now worried that they will miss out on those games as they did with the Nintendo Wii.

Popular games like the cat office simulator Sukeban Shachou Rena and RPG Earth Seeker required Wii owners to mod their gaming consoles or buy a second console from another region so they could play Japanese exclusive titles.

Now the Nintendo petition is making the rounds on Facebook, Twitter, and other social network where users are sharing a link to the petitions change.org page.

Nintendo petition crusader Josh Stevens explains why Nintendo gamers want regional locking to end for the 3DS and Wii U:

We don’t want region-free consoles just so we can purchase and play some games earlier than usual. We want region-free consoles so that we may exercise our consumer rights to choose what games we play and to thus expand our horizons.

You may recall that, two years ago, Operation Rainfall was successful in having three Japanese-exclusive Nintendo games released in the United States: Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower.

So will this new Nintendo petition be successful in regionally unlocking the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS? Truthfully, we have no idea, but, if Nintendo wants to play with the big boys, it may want to follow the practice of ditching regional locking.

Would you be willing to buy Japanese-specific titles if Nintendo stopped locking those games into a specific region?