PSVita likely to be region-free

The PlayStation Vita may be region free, a senior Sony executive has claimed.

Michael Denny, vice president of Sony Worldwide Studios, revealed to IGN that he was not aware of any region-locking technology for the new handheld's physical game format, NVG cards.

By contrast, Nintendo's 3DS is region-locked - only the second Nintendo handheld to do so, following the DSi. Sony's last handheld, the PSP, was essentially region-free too, as is the PS3 (although the option to use a hardware lock is present in the system).

However, Sony does employ regional restrictions for PSN purchases.