Those who enjoy importing obscure Japanese games that never make it to the US will be sad to learn that the DSi, Nintendo’s newly announced handheld will be region locked, with specific region coding for US, Japanese and European markets. That means that when it comes to DSi exclusive games, importing is forbidden.

Nintendo has stated that the region locking was critical due to the fact that "DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region. Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent bodies."

There is a silver lining to all this, however, as Nintendo has pointed out that the region lock will only be in effect for "DSi exclusive software," so older DS games and non-exclusive content will still be region free.

This is a bit of an odd move, as all Nintendo’s previous handhelds have been region free, letting anyone play any game anywhere, at any time. Now though, the company has suddenly switched positions, and for reasons that seem at least a little suspect.

So when it comes right down to it you have unfettered access to DS games, the Internet and photo sharing, but any DSi games you play have to be specifically made for your region. What do you think? Onerous burden, or harmless hardware addition?