US and Japan included in the same BD region

[Taisen]

Here is some Christmas Day good news for you! IT Media has announced some details on the Blu-Ray region coding and it holds a nice surprise. Japan, North America, and East Asia will all be sharing one region code. This potentially means that American gamers will be able to import Japanese PS3 Blu-Ray games, and will definately be able to import Japanese Blu-Ray Anime/Movie titles without any hassle. Europe unfortunately will be sharing a region code with Africa so likely not much cross-gaming there. Sorry Europe, looks like you will be getting the gaming bone again. Oh and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all from all of us here at GR!

Masakazu Honda @ ITMedia reports about the final review version of the AACS contents management system for HD formats such as Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD. AACS LA consists of IBM, Sony, Toshiba, Warner, Intel, Microsoft, Matsu****a, and Disney.

+ ICT (Image Constrain Token) must be supported by AACS software and hardware as Warner wanted. ICT is utilized to limit hi-res analog output. But in countries such as Japan in which the laws prohibit ICT, it's not required until 2011. Contents providers except for Warner say they don't use ICT, but according to Honda even Warner won't use it because of commercial reasons.

+ Though Warner was eager to abolish region code and there were no objection until the final decision, film companies not in AACS LA opposed it and it was decided that region code stays in BD-ROM. But it undergoes reorganization. Basically, Japan and other East Asian countries except for China are moved to Region 1. The new region codes are

Region 1: North America, South America, East Asia except for China (India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia etc.)
Region 2: Europe and Africa
Region 3: China, Russia and other countries

IMHO, most likely, the handling of region codes in the PS3 BD will be the same as PSP (no regions in games).

http://gamersreports.com/news/705/

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Yatta !

Good bye disk swappers/mod chips..welcome PS3

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[Toshiro]

Finally, looks like I wont have to worry too much about getting a chip then, saves me money to get more imported stuff.

[D.D.]

i feel sorry for europe

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[__Xzyx987X]

Of course, ideally I would've preferred no region coding at all, but I'm not complaining as long as I can import stuff from Japan to my heart's content.

Incedentally, the main region for the region coding being kept in this iteration of video discs is to keep the countries with rampant piracy locked up their own seporate region. Personally I doubt if it will make much of a difference, but I guess it's the movie industry's call if they want to waste their time on it.

Not to get off topic, but does anyone know what the HD-DVD region coding sceme (if any) will be?

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[Samor]

meh.
pass.
;p

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[Cid Highwind]

Nice....

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[Evil_Neko]

I live in Europe. IF I planned on getting a PS3 this would have made me think twice about getting a european one. Having mega import costs for the system or having to buy a chip that might break the system and will void the warranty are not the best choices in the world.

Fortunately I think that PS3 will be rather crumby anyway (judging by how bad, IMO, the selection of games for the PS2 are)

I do hate how we always get screwed over though.

[F-3582]

Doesn't this region coding only apply for MOVIES only? My guess is that in the GAMES sector the world will once again split into three

Should Sony ever consider merging regions, merge America with Europe!!! Almost everybody has a TV capable of displaying a 60Hz picture and the new HDMI interface should solve lots more problems. Besides, almost everyone is capable of reading English.

P.S.: Off-Topic - It seems that due to the fact that it emulates - the Xbox 360 is capable to play old Xbox games of all regions

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Last edited by F-3582; December 31st, 2005 at 12:15..

[Player-X]

You didn't know about video game region lockout? I belive it started in the NES and on, and I also tought that everyone except Nintendo announced that thier next gen consoles are finally region free, aparrently for Sony is means everywhere except Europe

[Metalmurphy]

Well this just sucks :S No more anime DVDs (or blu-ray) for me

More then half the world in 1 region why the hell did they put a second one. Put the whole world in 1 region while ur at it... Like its not enough we get everything several months after the rest of the world...

Oh well, guess i'll be using a Mod Chip again.

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[D.D.]

well at least we know theres not going to be any region locking for games

but i really don't know why europe isnt in the same region as america. everyone there knows english anyways....right? mebe some kind of law or regulation system thats different preventing that...

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[Cid Highwind]

Originally Posted by D.D.

well at least we know theres not going to be any region locking for games

but i really don't know why europe isnt in the same region as america. everyone there knows english anyways....right? mebe some kind of law or regulation system thats different preventing that...

And even if people don't know english it's a good reason for them to start learning it. Most gamers hate localized games and dubbed movies anyways. The only problem I can think of is the NTSC vs PAL thing. While most tv's support PAL60 (and if yours doesn't it's most likely it's 20 years old and about to be replaced), there might still be the difference in colour signal.

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[Taisen]

I also tought that everyone except Nintendo announced that thier next gen consoles are finally region free, aparrently for Sony is means everywhere except Europe

According to the article Sony is apart of the AACS LA which was going to do away with region coding but those not in it opposed the idea so they kept it. In the end region coding for BD movies and ps3 games may turn out to be two separate issues with no correlation. Also the x360 isn't exactly region free. It is up to the publisher/developer if they want a region lockout on a game which is the same way it was handled on the xbox.

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[Kazuya Mishima]

Originally Posted by D.D.

well at least we know theres not going to be any region locking for games

but i really don't know why europe isnt in the same region as america. everyone there knows english anyways....right? mebe some kind of law or regulation system thats different preventing that...

There a law in Spain that states that every content oficially published (not just imported) must have spanish atleast in the form of subtitles but preferably in the form of voice acting. This applied to movies in the past but was extended to games in the snes era IIRC.

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[F-3582]

Originally Posted by Player-X

You didn't know about video game region lockout? I belive it started in the NES and on, and I also tought that everyone except Nintendo announced that thier next gen consoles are finally region free, aparrently for Sony is means everywhere except Europe

Of course I know about region lock-outs in consoles. Guess why I modded my PS2...

I was referring to the article quoted in the initial post. From what I read in that article, it seemed that the region coding issued there only applied for Blu-Ray movies.

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[Celine]

Fortunately I think that PS3 will be rather crumby anyway (judging by how bad, IMO, the selection of games for the PS2 are)

Not to turn this into a which-console-is-betta thread, but gotta disagree on this one. I'm currently residing in one of those countries famed for piracy (lol), and guess which console has the most titles here. The ubiquitous $3 dvd shops - you can spot them from miles by the number of people walking out of them loaded with full plastic bags - carry only PS2 titles.

From my point of view, it's the other consoles which don't have a good selection of games.

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[Evil_Neko]

Originally Posted by Celine

the other consoles which don't have a good selection of games.

I agree with this too I don't think any of the systems of this generation had many decent games, all sports, party games, over-hyped garbage, racing, fighting games and a very, very bad Final Fantasy sequel. There were a few I enjoyed though, LoZ: Wind Waker, Katamari Damacy, Smackdown Vs Raw 2006 and... well... nope, that's it!

(OK, that's not entirely true, there were a good number of DC games that I liked, and had remakes on the Big Three of this generation, but Im not counting them since I played them all on DC first.)