Is the PS3 region free?

[Jill's Boob]

Could I, for instance, play a USA Sony PS3 game on a Japanese Sony PS3 system?

[Stu]

For the timebeing, yes.

The games themselves are region free though, not the console, something Midway tried to exploit with Stranglehold before changing their mind.

[Jill's Boob]

For the timebeing, yes.

The games themselves are region free though, not the console, something Midway tried to exploit with Stranglehold before changing their mind.

So, if I bought a PS3 in Japan, I could play any PS3 game on it, no matter what country the game came from?

And when you say "for the time being," does that mean Sony could change that in the future...?

Damn. I hate being so inept when it comes to tech.

[Stu]

haha yeah you could but a Japanese PS3 and play any PS3 game on it.

And for the time being, means that it's down to the developers. But for now, they're all going for keeping things region free. There's no hint of that changing anytime soon, just letting you know what's happened in the past.

[Jill's Boob]

Cool. Thanks a lot.

[Darkmoon]

Are Blu-Rays region free as well?

[Stu]

Nope!

That was Midway's (it WAS Midway behind Stranglehold right?) reasoning behind at first having Stranglehold as region locked. The special edition version of Stranglehold came with Hard Boiled on bluray, and because that was region locked, they thought the game should be as well.

But obviously they changed their minds in the end.

[Borman]

And just note, PS2 and PS1 games (Disk based, not downloaded) are region locked, along with DVDs

[Stu]

A very good point well made!

[ZERO]

i am just curious,what if i download the software to play ps2 games in the japanese psn in a old US 80GB unit,it will play US or japanese ps2 games??

[Skunky]

Zero, I'm not sure what you're referring to. The only little software download I know about is to let you put PS2 HDD enabled games such as Outbreak, onto your PS3s HDD.

Yes, all PS3 games are region free. But I've heard that a few have a sort of online region locking. I think maybe if you say, buy COD4 from Japan, you will only be able to play online with other Japanese. I think only a few games do this, though.

PS1, PS2 and DVD disks have their own region locking, so the PS3 will still recognize this and refuse to play stuff from other regions.

A lesser known fact is that MOST blue-ray movies ARE in fact region free. Even though you may see a film at Amazon or wherever and the box states that it's 'region whatever', the region locking is not enforced. So it will play on any blue-ray player/PS3.
There are lists you can find, like this one: http://bluray.liesinc.net/
that show what films do and don't enforce region locking. The list in the link shows US releases and you can click up the top of the page to see lists from other regions.

[adamthegrave]

yes its free

[ZERO]

thanks skunky but thats is not what i meant,let me explain better,to play ps2 games on a 80GB(MGS4/motorstorn bundle) is nescessary to download a software from the psn right,what if you download the software from the japanese psn in a US 80GB unit,it will play japanese games??

[Umon Daisuke]

The firmware is always from the same server and is identical, so that won't change anything as far as regional locking. The lock is on the disc, not the firmware.

For example, all PS1 games on the Japanese PSN or any store are playable on any console once they're on the HDD. I have quite a few JPN PS1 games from the PSN and they're playable on my US PS3.

[ZERO]

thanks a lot umon daisuke.