Xbox 360 might be region free

That would be pretty sweet if only for being able to import games...bring on the Japanese RPGs!

I'm sure MS leaves it up to the publishers. There's probably pros and cons for having region 0 on your game or not.

I think every region having its own region 0 superstar games would be pretty cool and I'd make sure to sample games from all kinds of zany places and see what's shakin.

Territory lockout is one of the dumbest ideas ever to be brought forward in both movies and games. I can see why there are differences with PAL and NTSC titles (because of the TV signal differences) but to prevent movie and game fans from importing versions of their favorite titles is downright stupid. I hate having to always mod my consoles to play imports. I say leave the lockout out.

Cool, I will test this... But I can't find an Xbox 360!

Yes! I agree completely. That way we woudn't have to mod the consoles to play an import game. C'mon Sony,MS, and Nintendo;think about it.

In other news..TRU in Japan still use the old school tickets? Cool.

i hate region encoding... it's so pointless, and it jsut causes me to miss out on japanese games because i don't feel comfotrable taking the risk to mod my consoles.

This would be so nice. I would definitely get a 360 if this is true.

Region lock is the most annoying thing in my opinion. The PS2 region lock just make me modded the system in the end. And after I modded it, I just download Japanese games and burn it myself. I would have gladly pay for the legal copies of the game through online retailers if they would have let me play it on my PS2 since the beginning. There's no way in hell I would buy it now since I paid 100 canadian just to modd the system

What exactly are the benefits of region coding?

Region coding allows you to "control" the "flow" of your content into different cultures and places all around the world.

So, for example, a region 1 Terminator 2 dvd might be edited *just slightly* than a region 4 dvd. To appeal to different sensibilities and interests and such. So locking it out allows the content producer to make a proper first impression of their stuff in the right language and all that. And maybe, hopefully, not look stupid in a different soceity.

I do believe that more publishers should try it out though and see what happens.

I believe the real purpose of region coding is protect publishers as it is not unusual for the same game to have different publishers throught the world.

I don't beleive this is anything to celebrate. The same was true of the original xbox, where region coding was optional. Needless to say everyone used it, so I see a similar thing happening with the 360.

Reply to gmrc:

That is a version of the truth with a slight spin on it. The REAL reason that region coding exists is to maximize profits by controlling when certain regions can purchase a title. You can make a higher sustained level of profit by slowly rolling out your titles to one region at a time. By the time your profits on a title in region 1 start to drop you the roll out that title to another region where demand is still high. The only reason its still high, of course, is because you denied them access to it in the first place.

A title with a worldwide release cannot sustain a profit for as long. Sustained profit is more important to shareholders than the actual profit value. Remember, corporations NEVER make a decision that is not directly influenced by money.

Its like cheapyD said. Games have different publishers in different areas and don't like to lose sales to their competition. I know despite both being "Sony", Sony Europe, Sony Japan, and Sony America used to not like blending sales since they're seperate companies, just the same owner. Just think of it as the McDonald's on 8 Mile Road doesn't share the sales with the McDonald's on 12 Mile Road, that's why they won't honor store credit from one store to another or have the same sales or policies from time to time.

How does the Xbox 360 implement its zone lock? When I set up my 360, I had to choose a zone. So is it feasible to just buy a Japanese 360 and set the zone to North America during set up? Or will the zone come pre-set through the hardware itself? I am hoping for the former, since my brother and I will be in Japan for the holiday season, and it would be great if I could buy a 360 as a gift for him at a $50 discount.

xanthmode:

It's always about money ;-)

I mean, region coding *is* about controlling the flowing of content around the world .... but ultimately it's *always* about money

Unrelated but cool...Xbox 360 Skins!

www.facetags.com

I remember modifying the old super famicom cartriges to fit into the snes system.

Yeah sounds good - but as the usual joy for "most" of us (US/EUR) with non region locking is to import JAP games.. I can't see there being as many cool imports for X360 as you would normally get for a Japanese developed system (Sony / Nintendo).

Tracking back the links to main source, I found this

"Although we haven't been able to get hold of any US games ourselves, word from Japan says that a handful of American Xbox 360 titles do not have a region lock, and work fine on a Japanese region console."

'word from Japan'...Wow, that's a real definitive source..... Maybe it is true...OR maybe it is just that the 360s hardware MS gave out early to media folks in Japan aren't region locked…maybe you should have ended the post with “purple monkey dishwasher”

'word from Japan'

LOL - Japan, can talk? Kind of reminds me of Celebrity Jeopordy on SNL...

"AAAASSSIIIAAA"

just want to say this the XBOX 360 is awesome i have the premium. I use the have the PS2 when it came put then switched to the regular xbox and my original xbox is so much better then the ps2 and the same for the 360 and the ps3 and anyone that doesnt have the 360 now wants it and why spend more money for the ps3 when even the console it self looks much better on the 360 the ps3 console so boring and the controller looks like a boomerang your just jeolous cause u didnt get an xbox 360.

Speaking for myself the issue of region coding is critical. I live in Japan yet I want to play North American games. I do speak Japanese but I would prefer to be able to play my games without having to pull out my electronic dictionary every cut-scene. As was the case with the Xbox certain publishers seem to generally ignore the region encoding. Most Activision (Call of Duty 2, Tony Hawk, Gun) Atari, Vivendi Universal, UbiSoft and THQ games were region free on the Xbox and will likely continue the practice with the 360. Groups like Microsoft Game Studios and LucasArts seem to issue some games region free and some have the encoding seemingly with neither rhyme nor reason. I would love to just pick up a launch Japanese 360 and play the games I get my brother to send over for me but likely I will be spending the extra $100 for a Canadian system while back home over the Christmas break... assuming I can find one for sale, that is.

@22/xbox360fan: Woo, spot the fanboy.

YUO AER ALL JUST TEH JEALOUZ!

Another American living in Japan who would love to be able to play American Xbox 360 games on his Japanese Xbox 360.

The EU launch was three days ago...no updates on whether or not US Activision games or the US version of Condemned work on the EU 360?

I am going to Japan in 3 days but I dont know if I should buy the Japanese version of XBOX 360 (It would be easy to buy due to its lack of popularity). I will be returning to the states in January. I do want to play many American software with the Japanese XBOX360 but dont know if all games would work. How about vice versa? Would you think the Japanese games would work on an american XBOX360? Of course it can't be confirmed yet until they realease the hardware and the software in Japan, but when it comes out, I'm hoping someone would immedietaly confirm this. Thanks for the help.

I positively despise region coding. Why? Because I'm an expat living in Europe who is in love with baseball. For some reason you can find American football games through mail-order places in England, but baseball? Forget about it! Games are also cheaper in the states (60 euros here is nearly $80 US), so I'm sure that has something to do with it. On the plus side, while it wasn't easy to find my 360 system here, it wasn't impossible! PD Zero online rocks!

Please bear with me, this is my first time in a site like this. I'm bummed about the region coding, too, as I just took delivery on a Japanese console in California! It also has a FFXI "B" version (all in Japanese) that I think is just for online play. Fortunately, "Quake 4" works! Others I have tried give me the "Unreadable, wrong region" message, which brings me to my question. I see in other posts that "modding" is possible, can anyone provide details on how to pull that off in the XBox 360 console? Is a chip or other modification available? Inquiring minds want to know!! :-) obilen