PS3 Region Free?

pjjk90

I was wondering is the PS3 region free(all games), I have bought in a PS3 game from America for a good price, I was going to get more only I am unsure will they work. 0n the box it says Region 1, but I thought they were region free. Can someone please tell me all games are region free?
Thanks

AceCard Jones

All PS3 game at the moment are region free, however that doesn't mean it will stay that way, region protection could be introduced at any time.
And also, you will not be able to play our region Blu-Ray movies on it, nor will you be able to play our region PS1 and PS2 titles on it.

pjjk90

Thanks, see I have it pre-ordered in xtravision but I am not mad on their deals, I do think the price for 2 games and a controller is good, but some of the games don't appeal to me. I know this is a silly question but will accessories from other countries work? Thanx for help

AceCard Jones

I know the controllers and the memory card adaptor work, I have no idea if anything else they are going to release will work or not, I would have recommended you just wait for the EU model.

whupass

yeah i was looking at a mock ps3 box today in virgin in dundrum and it had a region 2 sign on the back, so i'm assuming that is for the dvds right? i only realised while righting this that the games are pal not region1 or 2 *slap on the head*

bluemachaveli

ya the region on the dummy box is for the movies.
my psp box has one and its only 4 the umd movies.
as far as i kmow all games will be region free!

McDermotX

Well, not exactly,
the game boxes do exhibit a region coding on the box..
i.e. VF5,Motorstorm (both Jap) carry the World 2 logo (similar to PSP games, both from Japan and Europe)..
i.e. Resistance,RR7 carry the World 1 logo (same as US PSP games).

Similar to PSP coding, its more to signify the games region of origin more than "lock the game"..
Its true that all games available at the moment (we can assume EU releases will be the same), do not carry region coding, but this is at the discretion of the publisher and while there is no reason to believe this will change, it is not set in stone. Just to be aware..
There was an ugly rumour doing the rounds about one of the upcoming sports titles being locked, will have to look for it again......probably nothing to it..

There has been evidence of "region determination" in games all the same i.e. the locking of online play to the games region regardless of console origin, and the blood censoring seen in Resistance played on Jap consoles (easy workaround), so it is a case of buyer beware..

Personally I think a US machine offers the best options and if it was a straight choice between a US and EU machine on a shelf, I know which one I'd recommend purely for BD playback reasons. But then the whole warranty/import reasons start to flag with people.

LookingFor

McDermotX wrote:

Its true that all games available at the moment (we can assume EU releases will be the same), do not carry region coding, but this is at the discretion of the publisher and while there is no reason to believe this will change, it is not set in stone.

It's not at the discretion of the publisher. I can assure you that if it was, EA would have locked their games, but they have not.

No territorial lockout is part of the licensing agreement for PS3 games that publishers sign with Sony, simple as that. I don't see that agreement changing. One of the reasons Sony has done this is to remove one of the legal defenses of mod chips that prompted legal defeat for Sony in certain territories. That defence - that you're modding your system for region-free gaming - no longer stands, and that's strategically important for Sony.

McDermotX

LookingFor wrote:

It's not at the discretion of the publisher. I can assure you that if it was, EA would have locked their games, but they have not.

No territorial lockout is part of the licensing agreement for PS3 games that publishers sign with Sony, simple as that. I don't see that agreement changing. One of the reasons Sony has done this is to remove one of the legal defenses of mod chips that prompted legal defeat for Sony in certain territories. That defence - that you're modding your system for region-free gaming - no longer stands, and that's strategically important for Sony.

Harrison also revealed that, like the PSP, all PS3 games would be playable in any region, unlike current-generation games and DVDs. "Software will be region-free, so developers can put games in the TV format of their choice," "While the PS3 will be region-free, the PS3 games will be publisher-controlled. This means that the game publishers will decide whether to place regional restrictions on the games or not. At the moment, Sony are not planning to place any regional restrictions on the games they publish. "

This isn't the only reference of course, if you can believe any words he says, but for a lot of people who will be using PS3 with non-HD screens, there is still a PAL/NTSC concern..........remember games will have to downscale to "normal" TV output, if no 720p/1080i/1080p is detected.....so there is a very real possibility that some games may be locked/incompatible with a region's machines.
Its too general to say, that games will always be region-free, as there is still a percentage of people who may have issues.
As it stands, if you've got a nice HD screen, then you shouldn't have any problems...

As far as I know the rumour stated above in the thread referred to a story about MLB 2K Baseball being region locked in the US for nonHD reasons, its not confirmed though..

LookingFor

McDermotX wrote:

This isn't the only reference of course, if you can believe any words he says, but for a lot of people who will be using PS3 with non-HD screens, there is still a PAL/NTSC concern..........remember games will have to downscale to "normal" TV output, if no 720p/1080i/1080p is detected.....so there is a very real possibility that some games may be locked/incompatible with a region's machines.
Its too general to say, that games will always be region-free, as there is still a percentage of people who may have issues.
As it stands, if you've got a nice HD screen, then you shouldn't have any problems...

As far as I know the rumour stated above in the thread referred to a story about MLB 2K Baseball being region locked in the US for nonHD reasons, its not confirmed though..

Two points

1) if that harrison comment is from GDC last year, then I think the reporter is getting confused by his comment that whether to use a global SKU or not would be at the publisher's discretion. A lot of people confused that with region-free, but they're not the same thing. At E3, Sony unambiguously confirmed games would be region-free.

2) re. SD resolutions in different territories, that's again a separate issue from being region free. A game can be region free and not support a particular territories TV standard (although as you say, HD standards are the same everywhere). So you might run into trouble with imports on a SD TV, but that doesn't make them region locked.

McDermotX

LookingFor wrote:

Two points

1) if that harrison comment is from GDC last year, then I think the reporter is getting confused by his comment that whether to use a global SKU or not would be at the publisher's discretion. A lot of people confused that with region-free, but they're not the same thing. At E3, Sony unambiguously confirmed games would be region-free.

2) re. SD resolutions in different territories, that's again a separate issue from being region free. A game can be region free and not support a particular territories TV standard (although as you say, HD standards are the same everywhere). So you might run into trouble with imports on a SD TV, but that doesn't make them region locked.

Personally, I don't think the region-locking of PS3 games will come about/be an issue, but nobody can say with absolute certainty..
Frankly Sony could use this to generate consumer approval at the moment

1.) Harrison was quoted directly when asked about region locking games to control sales across individual regions. Whether or not this is the case is unclear and unforseeable, and quite frankly Phil Harrisons' recent contradictory statements on various aspects of Playstation over the last year can be taken with a pinch of salt.

2.) The whole aspect of possible standard resolution implications for games, could very well lead to a region locking state. I'm not saying this is definite, but the rumour regarding 2K sports titles being NTSC only, could in a way lead to region coding on the most basic level. Not a simple incompatibilty with Joe Bloggs' SD display, but a coding to prevent is running on an EU console...full stop.
Or they could follow a similar path to some 360 (60Hz only) titles, which are coded region-free.. i.e. US DOA4. , in order to keep the region-free status
Again we're talking about not locking the console, but on the software status.
Regardless, once again, this is a publisher issue, but in the interest of ease of development, the developers should be ensuring compatibility with both SD standards.

As has been proved for years, the region coding of software is a needless act, and in these HD days, utterly pointless. But publishers still demand general control of their titles' sales within the premise of their licensing agreements and all of Sony's comments on these agreements point to publisher discretion.

"While the PS3 will be region-free, the PS3 games will be publisher-controlled. This means that the game publishers will decide whether to place regional restrictions on the games or not. At the moment, Sony are not planning to place any regional restrictions on the games they publish."

Fresh2000

it is region free but for movies only so if you bought your PS3 in US and A you'll not be able to play Europe released games

pyzon

Does it depend on the DVD itself, I received Black Hawk Down on Blue Ray and it is region free....the box says all regions, so I'm assuming this will play on all PS3's. Got it from sendit.com up in the north.

Site says it's region 2 but DVD box says ABC - All regions..?

KdjaCL

is it 100% that Euro Ps2 games wont work on a US ps3?

kdjac

McDermotX

KdjaCL wrote:

is it 100% that Euro Ps2 games wont work on a US ps3?

kdjac

Yes,
in the sense that none my Euro PS1 or PS2 games will not work on my Jap PS3, and none of my bro's Euro PS2 games will work on his US PS3..
Its pretty much 100% confirmed..

KdjaCL

Ah well bugger that, anyone want to buy unopened Okami may or may not work on a Euro ps3

Does the online stuff work in different territories? Not that bothered really but have a US ps3 coming soon


kdjac

McDermotX

pyzon wrote:

Does it depend on the DVD itself, I received Black Hawk Down on Blue Ray and it is region free....the box says all regions, so I'm assuming this will play on all PS3's. Got it from sendit.com up in the north.

Site says it's region 2 but DVD box says ABC - All regions..?

Blu-rays come in either Region A, B, or C........there are some which are coded ABC (these are region-free and playable on any territory machine)..
Jap and US PS3s are locked to Region A.......Euro PS3s are locked to RegionB..

The Fox titles there are available over here right now are region locked to B, the majority of the Sony titles are coded ABC, the Warners appear to be region free as well..
Helpful site ..... http://bluray.lindsite.dk/