With the recent news about the New 3DS being region locked (https://games.yahoo.com/news/nintendo-3ds-region-locked-170200180.html), I am yet again perplexed on Nintendo's position on the issue. Their stance makes no sense, especially considering that both Sony and Microsoft have both taken off any and all regional restrictions from their consoles.

What gets me even more is Nintedo's excuse on it. Am I the only one that has no clue what in the world Iwata is trying to say?

"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 said at the time.

"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."

It's bullshit, and a policy that completely restricts gamers. This and their NNID console locks need to go.  

We can change from Gaming discussion to Nintendo discussion. PlayStation, Xbox and PC Users are free from this kind of shit policy. lol

It goes beyond merely locking out imported games too.
Every single DS/DSI/3DS/Wii/WiiU in japan is locked to Japanese and does not allow changing the system language, even though every other non-japanese handheld does allow you to change system language.
The only reason they lock japanese consoles to japanese language is to prevent people importing japanese consoles, or buying them here while on holiday, to circumvent the region lockout, thus restricting japanese gamers to japan only language options.

It really is a shitty, retarded practice and people need to make this clear to Nintendo on a large scale, but the sad thing is, some nintendo die hards actually defend it.

True. Clicked "post" before choosing the topic. Ah well, region-locking is a plague on the game industry in general, even if Nintendo is the only (current) supporter of the policy. 

If a mod could change it though, that would be great.

I agree completely. No one else does it (not that I know of), so why should Nintendo. It's ridiculous.

Yea! Like, I just don't get it... The DS wasn't region locked so why in the tits is the 3ds region locked? It baffles me! Come on Iwata, quit sucking already and make it region free! Region locking in 2014 is just stupid

I mean, come on, the 3ds homebrew is offering region free for gods sake... When will companies learn that if hacking the console offers a better experience at such a basic level, they have truely done goofed and it needs to be fixed

Yeah, I really can't figure out the reasoning here. There are tons of exclusive games in Japan that never see the light of day in the west, why punish gamers by making it impossible for them to play those games?

Yeah, it annoys the hell out of me. I would've bought a 3DS already if it wasn't for region lock. Last time I was in Japan I wanted to buy a 3DS and Youkai Watch for the kids but I gave up knowing they wouldn't be able to get games easily except at higher prices in import shops.

Critisizing this will be seen as hate sadly. Region Free gaming is the best thing gaming has offered me since the PSP began the practice. I wouldn't support a console ever again if it didn't offer this basic function.

Square Enix made twice the money off me because the PS3 isn't region locked.
Yeah it really sucks that Nintendo is such a spoilsport. I'd love to import some japanese releases.