Region free and backwards compatibility

[hey69]

so how does this work out?

lets say i'm importing a Japanese PS3 november 11th.
Sony said games will be region free so HURAAY for that , but what about those
ps2 and ps1 games you want to play.
Are these also region free? would it mean technical sense or not to
leave the regionchecking in place?

Most probably these still be region depended since there is a full ps2 inside the ps3
for this purpose

 

[StefanS]

so how does this work out?

lets say i'm importing a Japanese PS3 november 11th.
Sony said games will be region free so HURAAY for that , but what about those
ps2 and ps1 games you want to play.
Are these also region free? would it mean technical sense or not to
leave the regionchecking in place?

Most probably these still be region depended since there is a full ps2 inside the ps3
for this purpose

Well, I don't really know, but I suspect that the region code in PS2 games is a standard DVD region code. Moreover, that due to BluRay the region have been switched again, so with BR it North America + Japan = Region1. So you might run into multiple problems here.

But you won't know for sure until the first J-PS3 arrive in Europe.

 

[MasterDisaster]

so how does this work out?

lets say i'm importing a Japanese PS3 november 11th.
Sony said games will be region free so HURAAY for that , but what about those
ps2 and ps1 games you want to play.
Are these also region free? would it mean technical sense or not to
leave the regionchecking in place?

Most probably these still be region depended since there is a full ps2 inside the ps3
for this purpose

Sony PS3 is not region locked, but every single developer can choose to make a game region locked or not

so the final decision is by the dev annd producer of the game
same situation of the Xbox360

 

[hey69]

i guess i will see in 2 months how it turns out

 

[Pugger]

The PS3 is as region free as the 360. IE if the developers want to impelment it they will. I would say look at the 360 software and look at the publishers developers that region lock games and those who don't. I would say thay it will very similar on PS3.


http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=54517

 

[MrWibble]

Well, I don't really know, but I suspect that the region code in PS2 games is a standard DVD region code. Moreover, that due to BluRay the region have been switched again, so with BR it North America + Japan = Region1. So you might run into multiple problems here.

DVD region codes have nothing to do with games - the PS2 region coding is completely different. I don't expect the blu-ray regions to be applicable to games either.

The main differences between game region coding and movies, are that movies have many more regions, and Japan always overlaps with one of the other major regions (Europe for DVDs, US for Blu-ray). Neither of those things seem to be desireable for games.

 

[Bad_Boy]

I suspect the games will be just like the psp games, a large amount of games are region free if not all games, and it's still up to the developers IIRC. DVD's on the other hand will probably still be region encoded, as well as blu-ray movies (but they are different regions compared to dvd region encoding).

 

[MasterDisaster]

I suspect the games will be just like the psp games, a large amount of games are region free if not all games, and it's still up to the developers IIRC. DVD's on the other hand will probably still be region encoded, as well as blu-ray movies (but they are different regions compared to dvd region encoding).

the big part of ps3 games are multi-platform, so they will have the same SH policy of 360 version

maybe the first party games will be RF, maybe we don't knoww anything yet

 

[LunchBox]

If playing ps1 and ps2 games on the ps3 will be software emulated, region locks shouldn't be a problem... me thinks...

 

[thejeek]

Presumably Sony will be bound by existing licensing agreements for PS1 + PS2 games, which probably include restrictions on the regions those games can be sold/played in. Hence the PS3 may well be required to honor these region restrictions.

 

[Arwin]

Presumably Sony will be bound by existing licensing agreements for PS1 + PS2 games, which probably include restrictions on the regions those games can be sold/played in. Hence the PS3 may well be required to honor these region restrictions.

Yes, that would make a lot of sense. Otherwise things like certain cars available in Gran Turismo that are licenced only for certain regions could be a problem (in the Japanese version of GT3 there's a Porche and a Diablo, for instance, that aren't available in the other two regions).