I'm wondering why they are still doing region coding on all the current gen consoles?

I suspect that this is one reason (not the only one, of course) why the handhelds are selling better than consoles. Handhelds have no region coding

If you look at the prices of the same games from region to region, they are not that different. After factoring in for shipping, any savings is wiped away. So many people get their consoles "fixed" with a modchip to play multi-region (a legitimate excuse) and end up buying no more games because they can now play DL'ed ISOs from internet.

This is hurting the the VG business. So why do they all still do it?

PS3 games have no region coding.

One reason is that different console manufacturers sell their systems at different prices depending on which region they're in and how well they're doing in that region.  For example the Xbox 360 is cheaper in Japan than the U.S., Nintendo's Wii doesn't come with Wii Sports in Japan, etc.  If there was no region coding it would be much more difficult to lower or raise prices in one region without it impacting greatly on another.

Another reason is the same as the reason DVDs are region specific, and that has to do with distribution deals and intellectual property rights.  For example a company may license out the distribution rights to a hit game (say Rockstar allowing Capcom to produce, sell and market copies of Grand Theft Auto IV in Europe - not a real life example just hypothetically).  There would be far less incentive for Capcom to do that if they were competing against copies of the game being imported from North America.

There are other reasons as well but it all boils down to console and game manufacturers having tighter control over the distribution of their products.

Because everyone hates Europe....

 No seriously, quite alot of the time it is because they want to stop importing, and in the old days, american games played at NTSC and europen games at PAL, I think that was the main reason. The other reason is that soem things may be taken out of some versions of games, eg. no blood in R: FoM in Japan (I know PS3 is not region blocked apart from bds)

Of course, all of this is stupid thinking from them.

In Europe, it is because of UK that we get region coding, so that they don't get USA titles, and thus, we all suffer, even non english speaking regions.

But for Japan, it's just stupid. Europe (at least France) and Japan have same region coding as Japan for DVD.

It never hurt DVD sales in Europe, as few people talk japanese (all fans unlock their DVD players anyway).

Same for gaming handhelds, never a problem.

I know that for Nintendo, that's the stupid and greedy NOE that does that, they are morons.

I'm sure to mod my Wii, given all the games there is in Japan. Or perhaps I'll get a japanese Wii.

Honestly, I don't give a crap about region coding.

I don't speak Japanese and don't have any desire to buy Japanese games for my NTSC Wii.

Because the company is greedy and wants to exploit poor suckers in Australia/Europe who they can charge more for their games because it's not really an important market.

Luckily mod chips are completely legal in Australia (since region coding is deemed anti-consumerist), and technically I believe Nintendo is breaking the law by selling region coded harware here (don't quote me on this one). I wish they were forced to honour the damn warranty after installing a mod chip though, because they really are trying their hardest to convince me to install one

It really is an unfair practice.

Even though the PSP is region free, you can't import games from the US that incorporate Online features and still use those features.

Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops is one.  Released in Japan and the US in December, yet us Europeans have to wait until May....thankfully though, the original date was September...which is a scandal.  I don't understand why they just don't release them all at the same time.

Monster Hunter Portable 2 is another....released in February in Japan, yet we've to wait until September...but okay they need to translate the language...but I wouldn't be surprised if a new Monster Hunter was released later this year in Japan just after the US and UK release of the renamed Monster Hunter Freedom 2. 

You can better ask why they make consoles and handhelds region free as the companies in mostly Europe are completely against import. So why the heck a regionfree handheld but forbid people to import Pokemon Diamond / Pearl? Seriously! Some shops are not allowed to ship the game to Europe. It's not like with Sony and Play Asia that each PS3 / PSP game, movie, handheld / console isn't allowed to be shipped to this stupid European Union, but I've got the feeling we haven't seen the last from it yet.

One of the reasons why is because a Nintendo Europe and Sony Europe loose income when everybody starts importing games from out of the US and Japan. It hasn't only got to do with the fact if you pay import taxes or not it only has to do for their own sakes. That's also the reason why Lik Sang is dead and not only because they did a few things which wasn't allowed according to Sony Europe. They just said.... you export to Europe, you're dead. That's basically it. Also because of certain games which has violence in it and are forbidden in a few countries without censures, the companies try "to protect the youngsters", this way.

A company doesn't tell me if I'm allowed to import or not, as long as it's allowed according to the law, they can screw. (Pardon my Frensch)

Doesn't PS3 have region coding in Europe? For region coding, there are many other reasons, than being greedy. 1. For a company, it's much more easier to see where games are being sold. 2. Localization. Game markets would be a lot smaller if everyone would order their games from Japan, where they would get them cheaper. Localization isn't cheap, since you usually have to translate the whole game to different language. In PAL region of course those french, german, spanish and italian translations just raise the price for nothing for those who don't understand those languages. 3. Taxes in different regions. For example in Finland you pay 20% more VAT from a products price than, what you have to pay in USA at lowest. 4. Price. If you buy your games from your local store, don't complain about region coding, with this way you can get your games cheaper. If people would buy their games abroad to get cheaper games, this would lead stores raising their prices to get the same profit.