I would probably agree with this, but the "um" was in reference to me not understanding what his reply had to do with the topic at hand.

@theblackdragon I can only make the unproven assumption that piracy of Sony games may be lower than the alternate universe in which Sony does region-lock them

Being region-free does jack when it comes to piracy. It's all about console support and hack blocks (which would be less common with good homebrew kits)

Wii (region-locked) = Piracy is rampant
DS (region-free) = Piracy is rampant

Or NOE could just shut down and move to a better country (UK maybe?)

Leapfrog seems to be selling good region-free devices.

+100

I miss the good old days where you could just import a G&W system and be on your way

We could keep going too.
PSP (region-free) = arguably the most pirated system ever if the DS didn't exist
3DS (region-locked) = no piracy as far as I'm aware.
PS Vita (region-free) = literally no piracy whatsoever

@moomoo, et. al — i think it's pretty safe to say that piracy isn't really a consideration when it comes to region-locking... let's move away from that particular tangent, please :3

I still think my suggestion was best... Nintendo won't do this. They've already set their words in stone for this console as far as region locking goes, so either go buy a Japanese Wii U($400), hack your Wii U(who's gonna know?), or don't buy Japanese games like they don't want you to. Saying how sh***y it is constantly is going to fix anything.

Perhaps one goal of region-locking may be to keep the people of Australia from buying foreign games at a cheaper price than the domestic copies D:

I know, huh? Australia has to make their 'local money' first.

There isn't any pirated Vita games because nobody owns the system... Actually I don't even think they exist. What's a Vita?

Yet PSP-Mode hacks exist for the Vita. There definitely is some interest in hacking the Vita, it just hasn't been done. If it came down solely to interest, the Wii would've been hacked day one, and the 3DS would have an exploit by now. The only place your argument applies is for stuff that really fall under "nobody owns one" like the Gizmondo.

I still fail to see a single benefit of region-locking.

Region-locking helps me buy less games

Maybe that's a reason: Atlus F'd us region locking P4Arena in PS3 because the release in Japan and USA was so similar they admit they didin't want the japanese to import the cheaper USA copy. And i still have to wait for it because we don't have a relese date yet.

Not the same. One is an artificial restriction put in place by Nintendo to restrict the movement of goods. The other is a law that they are not wanting to cross that is easier to obey by putting a blanket restriction across a whole region. Not having the "shops" open at certain times of the day is not protectionism.

It's the difference between having sniffer dogs at the gate or import taxes and deciding that your stores will shut at 9PM even in countries that allow you to stay open longer. The latter isn't protectionism at all because it doesn't restrict trade.

Well Australia is in the EU region so it doesn't really stop that much. We can still import cheaper versions of games from the UK although it's usually not that much cheaper to make it worth the wait and shipping costs. Prices for games have been dropping fairly quickly over here.

.... but basically yes. Not just for here obviously but across all regions. They don't want Americans importing games from Japan on Europeans importing games from the US. For early launch or lower price. Because they want to keep retailers happy. There was a shop in Australia called GameTraders who I think have gone bust now... but they were exactly the sort of thing Nintendo is wanting to stop. They did things like sell US import versions of major games (like Smash Bros, Pokemon, you name it) months before the official Australian launch at a damn good price. I wouldn't be surprised if similar companies exist in other regions.

Own a game-selling business in Australia and try competing with the US market. THEN try and say this