Which consoles/portables are not region locked?

DeeFrag

DeeFrag

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jan 14, 2005
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Hey all,

I'm going to be moving overseas in the near future and probably won't be able to take my gaming desktop or xbox with me, so I was planning on buying something whenever I move. But I wanted to get something that isn't region locked so I could still use games I buy in North America when I move back in a year.

I was thinking maybe only the Nintendo DS is regionfree. Is the Wii? I've heard rumors going both ways on that.

Thanks.
 
Only the DS is region-free, AFAIK. With every other console, I believe the region encoding is up to the publisher. The Wii has some region-encoded games.

I'm in (almost) the same position as you. I'll be in Japan for two months this summer. Of course I'll bring along my DS and stock up on some good import games while I'm over there... :D
 
The PSP and PS3 games are region free, however PS1/PS2 games and (UMD/DVD/BLURAY) movies are region restricted.

So depending on where you buy the system will limit your movie or backwards compatability options. (also blu-ray regions are different from dvd regions as well)
 
DS is.
GBA is.
PSP is. (only for games though, not movies)
PS3 is. (not for PS2 games/DVD)
Wii is NOT.
360 is NOT. (few games are region free)
Xbox is NOT.
PS2 is NOT.

It would help knowing where you are going :p
 
Wow, thanks for the info. I'll be going to Saudi Arabia to be oilfield trash over there :p
 
Is the PS3 region-locked?
Technically speaking, yes, though Sony has said that it doesn't plan on region-locking games. It's possible that third-party developers may choose to do so, in which case they'll flag the disc as so in software, but PlayStation 3 games have so far been region-free. Movies, however, will be region-specific, and PlayStation 2 and PSone titles will still only be playable in their set region.
Click to expand...

:p :D ;)
 
So, ppl in europe might just well buy a ps3 in US and get a better ps2 compatibility?
and i believe they can plug it fine on a pc screen to use with...(?)
 
eckndu said:
So, ppl in europe might just well buy a ps3 in US and get a better ps2 compatibility?
and i believe they can plug it fine on a pc screen to use with...(?)
Click to expand...

They would need some sort of power converter though right?
 
hmm...then maybe a North American PS3 would be the way to go.
 
There also still can be un-intended region compatibility problems with NTSC vs PAL formats. Thou many of the newer HD standards make this a mute point.
 
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