Regional lockout
Regional lockout is something used to prevent the playing of media for device, sold in another country. It can be programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier. Regional lockout may be used in movies, video games and computer printers. The DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and UMD media formats all support the use of region coding
Regional Lockout Media
Cases for SFC games in Japan and PAL regions (top) and North American (bottom) regions. Notice the slots in the bottom cartridge to accommodate for plastic tabs in the North American console.
Error screen indicating that a region-locked Sega Genesis game will not work on European or Japanese Mega Drive consoles.
