http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/ Engadget Comments for PlayStation 3 to ship region free! http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 1:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 1:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 1:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
list of 360 regionally ambiguous games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Region_Free_Xbox_360_Games]]>Mar 23rd 2006 1:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 1:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 1:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 1:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 2:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 2:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
They wouldn't. Why would a US developer care what some importer is doing in Germany? Hell, they'd probably be happy that they're getting some German sales, whereas before, they'd have a guaranteed revenue from Germany of zero. Now they can just put up their hands and say "hey, we didn't release the game in Germany, why don't you go arrest the guy that bought it or the web site that has it up for sale?" German authorities can't enforce content restrictions outside of their own borders.

I remember saying when the PS2 and then Xbox were cracked how absolutely stupid it was for Sony and MS to be putting the region and copy protections apparently in the same chip. So all us guys that just wanted to play Japanese games end up inadvertantly helping pirates and encouraging copyright infringement. Well hell, the only reason I've ever chipped a console was so I could play imports. So I applaud this move.

It's about time people realize we live in a global economy, and you can't wall off content from one "region" or another. It just doesn't work. Worst case, all someone has to do is buy a system from another region. So what, really, is the point? And why are you, for example, attempting to lock out the approximately 3 million Asian-born American residents from playing games in their native language? It just doesn't make any sense. I'm surprised it's taken any company this long to figure this out - it's really about time.

Yeah, I know, it's the developers that want region coding so they can sell the publishing rights to their games overseas. Well, too bad. They've gotta wake up and smell the coffee too. Because if I want an import, I'm gonna get it, and if they don't want me buying that import, then they've just gotta do their distribution deals a little quicker and get their games released here a little earlier (and without stupid changes like replacing all of the characters wholesale a-la Hot Shots Golf 3 and 4).

So, now Sony is throwing down the gauntlet and telling developers "if you want to develop for our system, then you have to accept that anybody can buy your game." Which does sound like a completely ridiculous statement that you should never even have to say to someone whose job it is to sell a product, but that's the twisted way this industry has worked up to this point. Good for Sony for doing a good thing and injecting a little dose of reality into the industry.

Now if only the MPAA would get off the juice too and realize how much of a failure region coding has been for them too.
]]>Mar 23rd 2006 2:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 2:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
In Australia they legalized modchips a couple months ago because of region-locking. The ONLY way around this for Sony was to not region-lock the PS3. This was an obvious move on Sony's part and it should come as a surprise to no one. As IGN says: "The move was not unexpected"

It may appear like a 'pro-consumer' move, but it is not motivated as such... I'm inclined to say this blogger did not RTFA.]]>Mar 23rd 2006 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
Of course, Nintendo's portables have been region-free from the get-go and every one of their systems except for the GameCube has had region-locking only in the form of easily bypassed physical restrictions (i.e., notches on the cart in the US, no notches in Japan). Even the GameCube's region-lock was designed to be easily bypassed (and was separate from the anti-piracy measures)]]>Mar 23rd 2006 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 2:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 2:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 2:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
well the localization won't be a very big problem,
i bought a PSP the day it came outthe 24th i believe) in New York and could immidiately select Dutch as language, so the localization is done first anyway]]>Mar 23rd 2006 2:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 2:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 3:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/03/21/ageia_ps3_physics/
http://www.ageia.com
Way to whip, er “turbo charge” that CELL processor into shape boys! Keep up the good work.

You know, just for that I’m gonna get two PS3’s ;^)...
It will be soooo much cheaper than a new PC with this type of tech.
Wow! 2 super computers for under 1k. SIGN ME UP!!!]]>Mar 23rd 2006 3:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
Sony leaks information like this just to get people excited about something that will not happen. Consumers who trust Sony are stupid consumers... ]]>Mar 23rd 2006 4:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
But the fact is it was still a region lock, and I had to pay $50 to a shady Chinatown store to get rid of it. (Oh, I tried to do it myself, but when you've got 34 year old hands and you're trying to solder a point the size of the period at the end of this sentence, it just ain't gonna happen.) So your injection of Nintendo into this conversation is really unwarranted. They're part of the problem. They didn't stand up to developers and say "look, people don't want this, so we're not going to do it." Sony did. You can hate Sony as a company but in this case, Sony did something good and Nintendo didn't.

The portable angle is not really relevant either, because no portable that I know of has ever been region locked. Given that these things are *designed* to be used on airplanes, you'd be talking some major idiocy to lock the region on a portable.

If you want to talk about companies that have never region locked their systems in any way (for games), the only post-crash manufacturer you can name is SNK. No SNK system was ever region-locked. (Pre-crash, there was not really a consideration made of other regions, and there wasn't even really an idea of "importing" games made in other countries... especially since the vast majority of games were first-party anyway. So, it's true that systems weren't region-locked in those days, but then there was just no reason for them to be.)

As for MaxSmoke's comment... I don't even know where to start. I see a lot of other people apparently feel the same.]]>Mar 23rd 2006 4:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 4:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
The world could only hope that the Japanese will rule the world. If only so that all of the racist, Microsoft supporters like yourself, will commit suicide.

Seriously. Why even be alive if you can't accept the world for what it is. Please change your attitude or sleep on some train tracks.

As for the article, this is great news for expats that love their sports games (ie. Aussie footie in USA, or NHL hockey in France, etc) In the end, this will increase revenues for developers AND Sony. As well as increase the overall user satisfaction with the console.]]>Mar 23rd 2006 5:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
Is it 1945? Good lord, you and MaxSmoke should go jump from a very tall building...]]>Mar 23rd 2006 5:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
If sony pulls off a mainstream console that allows homebrew code and region-free gaming I think they will have a HUGE hit on their hands. It would even be able to justify the premium that is rumored to be charged for it. A casual gamer could buy the console and download numerous homebrew simple games and play those...then go out and buy the retail games when they want to. It would truly bring the PS3 a step closer to their true do-it-all "home entertainment" system.

Hopefully I'm not just dreaming here...]]>Mar 23rd 2006 5:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
With PS3, people will learn and love Linux. ~100 Million units of PS3 that can run Linux is huge and software WILL be developed for this previously "geeks only" market. So IBM will start to sell Cell PC/Workstations that utilize the processing power of Cell clusters in your household (TV, PS3, etc.) and that, my friends, will be the next evolution of PC. I'm ready to be a part of it. Bring it on Sony, Toshiba, IBM!]]>Mar 23rd 2006 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
It doesn't matter anyway, China produces some great things as well, so does Taiwan, Singapore etc etc.

I don't want Bill Gates to monopolise the market anymore than he already does, he needs a real competitor. I'm not saying Microsoft produces crap, I'm saying they need more competition. Sony, Apple, IBM etc etc are big companies and have the power to compete because they innovate, they take risks. Microsoft try and makes things shinier with each release without really trying anything new. I mean wtf is this origami crap? It's just a fat PDA.

To be fair I've gone off topic, all I want to say is Bill Gates alone? No. More competition, more innovation? YES!

Oh and thanks to Sony for going ahead with the same ideaology that made the PSP so awesome. Region free gaming ...]]>Mar 23rd 2006 6:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 7:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 7:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 7:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 23rd 2006 7:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
I was wondering if you could be a little MORE racist! My God, “FRINGIN JAPS”! What the hell, did you just step out of 1945!! The WAR is OVER!!!

And by the way – you are stupid! Grow-up.
]]>Mar 23rd 2006 10:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 24th 2006 12:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 24th 2006 4:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 24th 2006 4:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/The rights for region locking were handed over to publishers long ago which is articulated by the xbox, 360, gamecube, ps2, ds and psp ALL having region-free games. Everytime a hardware manufacturer touts region-free games I laugh as I know this is the reality.

That isn't to say that Sony won't do it right, maybe they will... but I prefer to wait and see.]]>Mar 24th 2006 6:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/

One idea is to stop making so many damn Nazi games. That's a thought.

I'm still waiting for a proper game based on the Russian Revolution. Or perhaps some more Vietnam games that are more than just last survivor toughing it out (but I do indeed love Metal Slug). Have there been any Alamo games? Or Spanish-American War? Or Cino-Russo War? Or the French Revolution? Man...playing as Robespierre would be a lot of fun.

There are plenty of historical conflicts that are ripe for adaptation. Why fight WWII over and over and over and over and over again?]]>Mar 24th 2006 9:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
try Red Orchistra it runs on Steam so you can try the demo]]>Feb 10th 2007 2:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
PLEASE tell me the region free encoding is also backwards compatible and doesn't only apply to PS3 titles....]]>Mar 24th 2006 11:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 24th 2006 4:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
]]>Jan 10th 2007 6:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 26th 2006 9:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/
Restrictions on that kind of material would come down to language -- don't ship it in German, so if they really want to play it, they can buy a copy in another language. Either way, if someone really wants it, they'll get it.]]>Mar 26th 2006 9:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Mar 28th 2006 1:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Jun 25th 2006 8:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Nov 8th 2006 8:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/Nov 13th 2006 5:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/23/playstation-3-to-ship-region-free/The claim was that it would be region code free for PS3 games.
Making it region code free for region coded products is a whole new can of worms.
]]>Jan 10th 2007 6:48AM