No, they are not as easy. First look at the case you're trying to get in ;P I've also seen many different kinds of drives, so I suspect they are a bit propriatery. Even if they aren't, they are a good bit more pricey than your regular 5.25 drive.
I doubt the region has anything to do with it..., it might be a conflict between the fact that it is a computer optical drive and the encoding that they are now using on new DVDs to prevent illegal copying. I heard that when they were introducing this on CDs, one of Celine Dion's was frying computers because of the encoding that they were using. How you'd like to explain that one to your girlfriend LOL