Regional lockout

Regional lockout is the programming practice, code, or chip used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed on the version of the same device marketed in another country. It originated in the video game industry and, with the advent of DVD, was adopted by the motion picture industry. Nintendo is the originator of regional lockout. Critics consider regional lockout a form of reverse piracy, because it promotes game piracy and modding. Region free, especially in DVD players, means that the device does not conduct regional lockout and has no modification chip. That term has not yet applied to video game consoles.

See Also: console converter, fan translation