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Speaking to press at E3 yesterday, Sony Worlwide Studios Europe boss Michael Denny has said that "to the best of his knowledge" PlayStation Vita will be region free, IGN reports.

This will open the door to the possible importing of systems and games to Europe if, as is now looking likely, the new machine launches in Japan ahead of other territories.

The original PSP was a region free machine. But so was Nintendo’s DS – a strategy the platform holder changed with the 3DS, which does feature region coding.

Sony’s PS3 is also region free on the whole, though digital releases and DLC is often region locked.

Microsoft leaves it open to publishers to decide whether or not to region lock their games, though the majority still choose to restrict their titles in this way.