Last year, it became apparent from distributors and retailers that the NMC, National Media Council, prohibited the sale of NTSC games in the UAE. It was a disaster of epic proportions for us gamers living in the country.
Note: In the UAE, US region games are usually referred to as NTSC, while PAL are European region games. To my understanding, the terms are a product of the pre-2000s when most televisions weren't sophisticated enough to run multiple standards.

Here is a map of the TV standard distribution around the world (via Wikipedia):

As you can see, NTSC is centered in the Americas while the rest of the developed world uses PAL; please ignore SECAM.
The UAE is a PAL territory, so naturally we’re supposed to have PAL DVD players, games, TVs, etc.
The NMC was just enforcing the standard, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

So why did we make this nasty little din over it then?
Well, it’s because  PAL games are prohibitively pricier than NTSC games.

Gone were the halcyon days of buying cheap games, we were doomed to paying double of what we’re used to. It was quite the blow to most of us, especially since the majority of people who play games are usually students; if you had a job, it’s quite easy to import games yourself.
As for the rest of us, we were at the mercy of what the smaller stores could smuggle through customs.

Some people accused major game retailers with conspiring for this to happen so that people have no alternative but to buy games from them and put the smaller stores, that thrived on this competitive edge, out of business. 
We’ll never know why the NMC suddenly had the urge to enact this, so it’s not worth dwelling on; It largely went unnoticed to the mainstream media and after spending an evening scouring our local newspapers' online archives, I came up with nothing.
What we do know is that retailers everywhere were getting their NTSC games confiscated.

In the end, all we had was PAL... black/grey market non-withstanding.

I find it worth noting that piracy took off as a result of that; I noticed a sudden increase in R4 flashcarts for the Nintendo DS and people bringing their Xbox 360′s and PSPs to be modded. Unfortunately, there isn’t an organisation here that keeps stats on these types of things and makes estimates on piracy and such; if there is, then they aren’t making their results public.
All I have is anecdotal evidence from what I witness at several of the small shops I visit. 

Now here's my line of thinking:

Our currency, the Dirham (AED), is tied to the US Dollar (USD).
PAL is a European standard.
In the US there aren't any PAL products, all they have NTSC.
Oh look, they’re cheaper than PAL products.
Given the choice between the exact same goods from two different sources, anyone would naturally go with the cheaper offer.

Also, I encourage you to take a look at the United Arab Emirates’ PSN.
The content distributed through it is maintained by SCEE, Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe, who, obviously, is in charge of all the PSNs in Europe. We’re getting the same stuff, aside from music and movie rentals, as the UK, Germany, France, and the rest of Europe.

Yet, there is one difference.

We pay for our purchases in DOLLARS, not EUROS.

Speaking of Sony, all their products are “Multisystem”; they support all standards; well that's how we get them here, not sure about the rest of the world.
What about Microsoft? Well, they’re an American company; saved ourselves a lot of headache there. Finally, Nintendo, whom recently released the 3DS worldwide.
Much to fans disappointment, it’s region locked.

Now to throw a wrench in the gears.

According to TBreak, “the Middle East will be getting the NTSC version which will include a 220v power adapter. Here’s the best part, the 3DS will retail for AED 1,099 which is slightly more than US retail price but still cheaper than UK retail price.”
The launch titles will be sold for 169dhs each; that’s 49dhs higher than an NTSC DS game’s price and the same price as a PAL DS game’s price! (Depending on where you shop for games, you can haggle that price to as low as 120dhs if your bargaining stats are up to snuff.)

There you have it; NMC BE DAMNED, we’re getting NTSC 3DS’!!!

Now the whole point of this wasn’t just to rant or argue, it was just a statement of facts that, in my opinion, contradict any and every reason the NMC had. The only thing they have going for them is the regional power outlet differences, but that’s why we have adapters.

Originally posted on Lochal Archade under the title "Case File: NMC vs NTSC", edited and beefed up for a global audience.