I'm honestly quite disappointed and disgusted with this move by Nintendo. One of the great things about the handheld generation (at least in regards to Nintendo) was that the lack of region locking actually encouraged more sales of the handheld. People were apt to pay silly amounts to import the games that didn't come over instead of merely downloading the rom and playing it on their computer. Despite the prevailing elements of flash cards everywhere, the DS has continued to do fantastic, and this locking with the DSi is a screaming, flailing step in the opposite direction. If anything, I feel like Nintendo is now openly coaxing people to try and find an exploit within the new built-in SD card in order to experience games that are not legally released in their area. Hell, I *bought* copies of Ouendan and Mother 3 because I have the option to play them on my system. Now it feels like the only thing I can do is either a.) buy two systems or b.) pray for more games to be released in the US.
Shame, Nintendo. For shame.