Nintendo UK on Wii Region Locks

GameSpot spoke with Nintendo UK's product manager Rob Lowe (...!) about the recent launch of Wii in Europe, which he calls "the biggest launch we've ever done."

He also spoke on the whole region-locking fiasco:

Well, there were a number of reasons for that. Obviously in the
UK you've got Wii Play coming out and in America they haven't got Wii
Play--we try and cater for different audiences. We have to localise all of it in loads of different languages: America is just English and
Japan is just Japanese., which is why it takes a little longer here.
Also we always have specific software for specific regions, so we try to keep it that way. Obviously, it helps against game piracy as well.
There are a number of reasons why. But I don't think it will be a problem, because a very, very small minority of people import games anyway.

This is what they mean by "talking in circles".