In Q&A with Wired News, NOA VP of marketing and corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan said, among other things, that Nintendo's upcoming Wii home console will be region-free. Kaplan said Wii will be able to play games from other regions, but did suggest there was a region lock that publishers would be able to use at their option, though Nintendo was unlikely to use that feature.
In addition, when asked about Virtual Console downloads, Kaplan offered reassurance that paid downloads aren't permanently tied to the console they were bought on. In the event your Wii is destroyed, serviced, or the like, Nintendo will permit you to redownload titles to your new Wii.