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During E3, IGN spoke with Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata regarding their use of region-locking on the Wii U and 3DS consoles. It's worth noting that this interview occurred before the 15,000+ strong petition that asks them to remove these restrictive policies. A petition they have thus far declined to comment upon.
http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/07/03/nintendos-president-discusses-region-lockingIGN article said:During E3, I had a chance to ask Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata about region-locking.
"From some people’s perspective, it might seem like a kind of restriction. However, we hope people can appreciate the fact that we’re selling our products worldwide," Iwata told me, acknowledging that Nintendo has "historically" worked with region-locked systems. "
"There are many different regions around the world, and each region has its own cultural acceptance and legal restrictions, as well as different age ratings. There are always things that we’re required to do in each different region, which may go counter to the idea that players around the world want the freedom to play whatever they want. "
Iwata noted that the strategy behind regional approaches to hardware and content was something not unique to Nintendo, that it was something the entire industry had to "grapple with" and manage. "I hope that game fans can understand that the industry isn’t doing this solely out of business ego," Iwata said. "There are some reasons behind it."
Microsoft has since reversed its stance on region locking and the 360 had optional locking anyway, the PS3 was region free save for the blu ray, a single game and downloadable content and Nintendo's pre DSi handhelds have all been region free give or take the iQue (the Chinese brand for their consoles).
Most technical reasons for the region lock have long been unnecessary (PAL region TVs fully support NTSC signals and have done for decades at this point) to say nothing of handhelds having their own screen, the Wii U having its own screen and everybody supposedly using HDMI or an equivalent as well these days. Most power adapters do all the voltage and frequency combinations and things like Audio restrictions, censorship, safety and RF/Wifi compliance usually fall on the head of the one doing the importing though with the exception of the audio and censorship if you pass one in North America or Japan you will probably pass in Europe and Australia and vice versa.