Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U will be region locked like the 3DS, so no importing games for anyone unless they own the territory's respective consoles.

Source

I'm not surprised. I used to import new 3DS games rather than buy them here in Sweden. $35 + a tiny tiny bit of sihpping import VS what converts to $70 nationally purchased. 
 
Still going to end up getting a WiiU in the future (Monolith!) but this detracts from the fun that can be had with weird imports and not waiting for games to get godfucking full on translations to French German and Spanish because those three fucking countries apparently cannot handle reading or listening to fucking English.

Obviously. It was never going to be region free.

As expected but still a bummer. DS being region free was a major plus and I expected it to continue with the 3DS, the main reason I don't want to buy one. Less of a problem outside Europe but still.

Yeah i pretty much assumed as much, it used to just be handhelds that went region free but they have that locked down now too. Not too bothered about the WiiU being region locked...at least im not until they start bringing out Super Robot Taisen games and those awesome Naruto fighters that Takara make...

I am more than content to declare my love of what Nintendo produce, but putting in region locks is the single biggest thing about Nintendo that pisses me off. It is just so unnecessary. The PS3 isn't and that is a BIG plus for it. At least Microsoft leave it up to the individual distributors to decide for themselves.

I hope hackers open this baby up real quick and I can load Gecko on it, just as I did with the Wii. I never once used it for anything but bypassing region lock and don't feel the slightest bit guilty about it.

Stupid move Nintendo - but yeah, I am still buying anyway, eventually.

Well so was the Wii, and even the 3DS.

What surprised me was the 3DS, since the DS wasn't region locked, and that's plain awesome, if nothing else because DS games are mad cheap in the States (in comparison to EU prices). Honestly, the lack of region lock is just cool. Bless the PS3 for that. I can import a game from Japan and play it if I'm so inclined, without having to spend hundreds of dollars in a new console.

Are freeloaders still a thing? I remember needing one to use my japanese copy of Pokemon BOX for the gamecube... If so, $15 will solve this problem, right?

I'm shocked...

@AsperGamer said:

I hope hackers open this baby up real quick and I can load Gecko on it, just as I did with the Wii. I never once used it for anything but bypassing region lock and don't feel the slightest bit guilty about it.

Me too brother. Like you said knowing that I can put in any PS3 game into my system is a huge plus for me. I only ever needed to bypass the region lock for Wii twice but I would have liked for it to be like that out of the box.

I don't get why region-locking is still a thing. People who really want to import games will find a way to bypass the system. Also, from what I can gather, most games that are imported are games that will never see the light of day in other territories so what's the big deal?

Expected of Nintendo, but still a completely shitty deal and one we should continue to rail against as consumers. Nintendo can change.

Not surprised at all.

@BabyChooChoo said:

I don't get why region-locking is still a thing. People who really want to import games will find a way to bypass the system. Also, from what I can gather, most games that are imported are games that will never see the light of day in other territories so what's the big deal?

The people who most want to get around it will, but it at least reduces the number of people importing. Additionally, while many of the games that get imported are never released outside of their original territory, it's beneficial for the console manufacturers and publishers to have the region lock there just in case they want to localise it to other territories later on.

@TooWalrus said:

Are freeloaders still a thing? I remember needing one to use my japanese copy of Pokemon BOX for the gamecube... If so, $15 will solve this problem, right?

Possibly. A system update for the Wii meant that it's Freeloader was disabled only so long after it was first put into action. It may be possible to hope for a Wii U Freeloader, keep your machine offline, and hope that if they're deploying system updates via disc again, none of it will disable Freeloader, but it's at best a gamble and leaves you with an offline console.

Really, I think we all know this news isn't surprising, but it's sad to see Nintendo doing this, especially considering that one of the key events towards the end of the Wii's lifespan was a situation in which fans had to basically pester Nintendo to death to even get some of the most desired non-U.S. releases localised to North America.

@TooWalrus said:

Are freeloaders still a thing? I remember needing one to use my japanese copy of Pokemon BOX for the gamecube... If so, $15 will solve this problem, right?

System updates made the Wii Freeloader into nothing more than a waste of money. That's why you hack the Wii and use Gecko for your region-free needs. Will something like that be possible on Wii U? Only time will tell.