PS3 Fanboy

Blu Ray movies aren't region free? I just got Planet Earth from the US and it works fine on my (Irish) PS3. Perhaps that's a BBC thing though...

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Blu-Ray Discs (movies, games) have the "ability" to be region locked, but that is not to say that all blu-ray releases are locked to a region. It is up to the studio to determine whether or not they want to lock a release to a particular region. I found this website that appears to list out what movies are locked to what region. I do not know the accuracy of the info, however, since it appears to be compiled from various sources on avsforum.com:

http://80.161.213.38:81/

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Can someone explain to me the point of region locking?

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I don't understand some of the decisions that Sony/ their developers make ...

I'm just lost as to why some of these things occur.

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This week's release of "300" isn't region-locked either. The US import is working fine on my UK PS3... Quite a lot of the BD discs at the moment don't lock to a region.

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I pray this will not become a trend, since this has been one of the PS3's selling points in certain circles. And while I'm far from a heavy game importer (no more than, say, 4 titles a year), this is a feature that I was very pleased to have in the PS3.

Case in point: I skipped Pro Yakyuu Spirits 3 for the 360 last year since it was region locked. However, I picked up PYS4 for the PS3 due to the region free playback, and enjoyed the title quite a bit.

Even though the majority of HD movies (either HD DVD or BD) have no region coding, I too can almost understand Midway doing this for the special edition. However, I see no reason to do this on the standard edition.

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@#3

The point of region locking is primarily with respect to movie release dates. With the vast majority of movies, they are not globally released into theatres simultaneously. Often times, a movie will be released in the US (for example) one week, release in Europe two weeks from now, then release in Asia in a couple of months. Big blockbusters try to launch globally to capitalize on buzz and hype, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

So when it comes to the DVD release, the US DVD will be locked to region 1 (North America) because of licensing and distribution. The movie might still be in theatres in other markets, and cannibalize the much more lucrative box office sales.

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I just read the thread on the Midway forums, and now I'm slightly confused:

"PS3 is NOT region free.
From what I understand, XBox IS region free."

Is the Midway moderator speaking about Stranglehold on each of those platforms, or the platforms themselves?

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hollywood is fucking retarded and this is proof of that.

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If you read more on the Midway forums you'll notice the moderator doesn't really know what he's talking about.... he asks if PC games are region locked

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All BluRay movies are required to be region-free six months after they come out. For example, the first version of 5th Element brought out last year was region A only. The new remastered version is all region (ABC).

If they plan to region-lock this game, then in six months, they have to release a new version that isn't region locked. Sounds like a pain in the ass to me. They should just release it region-free from the start.

This moderator is a knucklehead, as the Xbox (original or 360) is not region free.

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@why not the LS2/LS7?

Region locks aren't mandatory on the Xbox 360. There are quite a number of region-free Xbox 360 games in fact. See here: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-14-71-fc-49-en.html

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Oh well... nothing we can do about it.

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Yes we can. we can choose not to buy it due to the region lock feature.
Region lock is an open invitation for PS3 hacking. I personally would like to see a firmware hack allows PS1/PS2 region free gaming too!

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And this marks the begining of the end for region-free games... wonderful! ='(

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Okay does this mean some countries won't get the collectors edition with the movie? Cos as far as i know Hardboiled was never released in Aus, if thats the case that the 2nd game I'll buy for the Xbox instead.

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This a special circumstance, because of the film, but it does have a "thin end of the wedge" feel to it. Region free is a big selling point over the other 2 machines, so Sony should be tough on this stuff and not let it become a regular fixture.

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I am in the UK and I answer "No" as expected, but from the other side of the fence - I have a US PS3 and I like being able to source games here - especially since Lovefilm allow me to rent them.

Blu-ray discs have the ability to be region locked, but most of the Studio's don't, however there are exceptions and peculiarities - like Fox using region B in the UK and Casino Royale being region A in the US and all regions in the UK. There are three regions, A, B & C, unlike the six (eight if you count airlines and screeners) for DVD.

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