While the gaming world stews in angry over the Xbox One’s pricing and restrictions, Sony is making the best of a fateful opportunity that’s been given to it on a silver platter.

While it’s already confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will not have any DRM, and definitely support used games, the big news now is that the new console won’t be region locked. This will be excellent news for gamers who love importing foreign games from Japan and the US, territories where certain titles remain exclusive to. It also means that on launch day you’ll be able to fly to any of the countries where the PS4 launches, pick one up, and bring it home to sunny South Africa – knowing full well that all your locally-bought games will still work. You might just need to find a new power cord, though.

This, of course, is to counter one of the other unwanted features of the Xbox One. Microsoft’s said that the hardware will be region-specific. This means you cannot buy a console in the US, to circumvent the delayed local launch, and then still play games that get sold here. You buy a US console, and you’re restricted to playing US-market games on it, for life. Conveniently, South Africa falls under the European region, so you could always import a console from the UK, where it’ll retail for a bit more than the US price of $499. British prices are inflated to £425 – about R6 750 at the current exchange rate.

The Japanese giant also confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will pack a 500GB hard drive, which will be upgradeable, just like the PS3. Microsoft, on the other hand, has a non-upgradeable drive in its Xbox One.

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Sony