Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has, in an interview with IGN, spoken about the region locking issue on Nintendo consoles, and re affirmed Nintendo's stance on the matter, saying that  "I hope that game fans can understand that the industry isn't doing this solely out of business ego...There are some reasons behind it."

Back in the days of the N64 and even the GameCube, here in Europe we would often have to wait an eternity for games to reach our shores. The GameCube had a solution in the form of the 'Freeloader' disc, which essentially allowed you to unlock your console to play any regions' game on it (You haven't played Animal Crossing until you've woken up at 5am to join in a fitness class run by giraffe, only to remember too late that you need the Freeloader disc to get it to work...) 

"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...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 raises the obvious point that, being an international company, Nintendo have a duty to themselves and consumers to make sure they adhere to laws and regulations wherever they sell games, if for no other reason than to keep themselves out of hot water and compliant with the law. For anyone who has a console from one region but now lives in another, Nintendo will point to their eshop as a source to buy games when they come out, rather than shipping from the original location.

However, is Iwata being sincere, or is this just a smokescreen for Nintendo to continue to enforce their restrictions on us and dictate who can play their games and when? As always, get involved in the comments section below, or on the forums.