Japanese version PS3 issues... anyone else? advice?
 

Sorry if this has been covered... searched and found nothing...

i've got a Japanese version PS3... figured that its teh same as the north american version except it's region free... so how could u go wrong?

well... apparently the system is region free for ps3 and blueray... but NOT for region coded PS2 games!! (Same goes the other way around... apparently you won't be able to play japanese release games on a North America system?)

i call BS...

i've searched for some more info on this but couldn't find anything...
does anyone know of any software upgrades / ways around this issue?
(like "unlocking" your ps3)...

ALSO!
has anyone had to upgrade their ps3 software? At first start up, i had to upgrade... and then when connecting to a wireless network... i had to upgrade software again!!
(go figure, i couldn't connect to teh internet without the upgrade but the upgrade was downloaded from my INTERNET connection?!?!? wtf??)

any info would be appreciated!!

thx

oh and hi... new member... haven't gamed in about 5 years but had to come out of retirement for this monster machine!!

Taken from the PS3 Wikipedia entry:

"the backward compatibility function is not region-free[47] and as of this moment there are no known homebrew hacks or patches to solve this issue."

is waht i figured... i'll probably have to wait for someone to develop a hack..

how about the software upgrades? has anyone else had to do this or is it just on the Japanese ps3?

I think you can download the ps3 update from the official website, put it on a usb key or memory stick and update your ps3...

and yes the region free thing is only for the ps3 games everything else is region coded (and yes I'm pretty sure blu-ray movie are region coded too) and even ps3 games there's a chance that they could be region coded, because it's the games developers that decided if their game will be coded or not...

Uh yeah you're dumb. You could have gotten an NA PS3 if you wanted to play PS3 games and save yourself the hassle of having to deal with a Japanese console (Especially if you don't speak Japanese). I imagine that everything is pretty unified worldwide though, so it shouldn't be that hard to go into things like the PS store.

As for movies, I do believe they are region coded, but I can't know for sure right now.

For Bluerays I heard Japanese and US movies share the same region code but Europe has a different one. I could be wrong though.

On the money. Yeah, so there was no need to buy a japanese console if you wanted to watch movies from japan either.

Well... i know i'm a newbie on this forum... but here's an education about region coding and the japanese ps3 unit...

Ultima, you spouted from your ignorant snout:
Uh yeah you're dumb. You could have gotten an NA PS3 if you wanted to play PS3 games and save yourself the hassle of having to deal with a Japanese console (Especially if you don't speak Japanese). I imagine that everything is pretty unified worldwide though, so it shouldn't be that hard to go into things like the PS store.


First off: Read the original post... i have NO PROBLEM playing ps3 games...
Second: what does speaking japanese have to do with anything? other than the manual, the unit is exactly the same except for region free encoding and like the NA version, you can SET the language you want the unit to communicate in... and manuals are downloadable right from your PS3 online...
Third: again: read the original post... i got the unit cuz 1. it was CHEAP... (so i'm a cheap ass sorry... and i didn't see the point of paying more for a NA version when i was assuming the region free properties would give the japanese unit a slight edge in features...)... but i was thinking movies and it hadn't occured to me that GAMES were region coded too!!... hence my problem... i'm sure there'll be a hack upcoming... i'll just have to wait and download it when it's available...

Thanks for your useless input...
please lube in the future before you try sticking something up your @ss...

To the other guys... you're right about the region encoding... one of the points about Japan is that they don't have the same copyright laws we do, hence region free machines being a standard...
i don't know how bluerays will be encoded, but if you're right then i could play japanese movies on the NA unit, but i wouldn't be able to play anything from other regions (europe?/china?)
I've never needed this feature before, but i was figuring the two units were identical otherwise, why not have the extra feature...?
damn region encoding on games!! *lol*
(i seriously had no clue... )

just an FYI... as my japanese unit won't play region encoded PS2 games from North America, NA units won't play ps2 games from japan either... (not that it matters much for NA units in NA...)
As i understand it, all PS3 games are region free... so it doesn't matter what unit you have...
i'm just talking the backwards compatibility here...

Additional Spam:

I've had to upload two updates already... i was just wondering if this was because i had a japanese PS3 or if NA versions were also getting updates?
have you had to update your firmware?

yes at launch there was already an update and if I'm correct there were 2 more update that followed later...

like I said yes ps3 games are free coded, you just need to hope that the developers of the games you want to play don't decide to code their games...

I think it's to their benefit cost wise anyways... so i'm not to worried...

if worse comes to worse, i'll just get an NA version... but i'd guess that within the year there'll be a number of firmware hacks available for personalization of the machine...

but first things first...
LETS GET SOME GAMES RELEASED TAHT ARE WORTH PLAYING!!

...whew... needed to get that out...

in the meantime, i'll be making moves with my wii...

So I'll stick to my belief in buying consoles.... buy the NA version always. ;)

Simply indecipherable.

I guess I'll sum it up for everyone so this isn't a trash post.

On all PS3 consoles:
PS3 Games: Region free
Bluray Movies: Region locked
PS2 Games: Region locked
DVD Movies: Presumably region locked

Consider this before you import an expensive console for no reason.

Ultima actually you are wrong about the blu-ray movie they ARE region coded, they just don,t use the same region code as the DVD, like for example Japan and the US are in the same code. So yes you can watch a Japanese movie on a US ps3 but you can't watch an European movie on it...

just look at the post of metal sphere in this topic, there's a link that show what are the codes for blu-ray movies

Are Blueray discs region encoded? Everyone seems to have different opinions on this, it's getting harder to see what's the real deal here.... :p

Okay, I have a Japanese PS3 (pretty much the official version here in HK) and on the box it shows, for Blueray movies, an (A) which means "ALL" so I just assumed that Blueray movies were region-free, unless someone's gonna tell me that I can only play movies with an (A) on them! I had a look at some Blueray movies in the stores and can't find any region classification on them so again I assume there is none.....? (Okay, I re-read the above posts and Metal Sphere's link regarding the blu-ray region coding. Sorry for the mistake!! :D )

PS3 games are region-free? I heard about that, but again the labelling on the PS3 box shows all games (and PS2 games) are region (3) (Asia). All the games I currently own (only "RR7" and "Armored Core 4") also have the region (3) logo on the packaging. I haven't tried any import (US) games so I don't know if they work or not. Then again, the games for my PSP are also region-encoded but I can play any region's games on it so maybe it's exactly the same way with the PS3?

Sorry for rambling....


EDIT: Oh, to actually answer the question: yes, I also had to download the update before being able to go online. O_o

Actually, I couldn't get the network thingy to work so I couldn't actually go online. After messing with the settings for a while, I got a message telling me that an update was required to go any further. As I was wondering how to download an update if I couldn't connect to the internet, my modem suddenly went full speed and the download and installation just went ahead.

It was quite weird...... :eye:

Oh, well. Everything's good now.

:beer:

If you have a japanese model PS3 then your unit will be region free... (since Japan and HK don't have the same copyright laws as other countries...)

so you should be able to play movies from any region... and should be the same for the games as well...

As I mentioned before, Blu-Ray movies are region encoded. They're different from DVD's but they're still there.

Yeah I noted it, just too lazy to edit it.

Oh, well looks like that's settled. The last thing I'd want someone to do is go off and buy a machine expecting region free BR/DVD playback.

er... the player is region free...

so whats the diference between ps3 pal and ntsc?

Well there's two things. First is the fact that the PAL PS3 won't have the PS2 hardware inside of it which means that only about 1,000 PS2 and ALL PS1 games will be playable on day one. If the NA launch is any indication, Sony will have the PS2 emulation up to 99% in a few months later.

The other difference is just the PAL and NTSC standards. Pal runs 10Hz higher then that of NTSC TV sets which means that the hardware has to be adjusted to output a picture in this frequency, otherwise you won't get a picture. This isn't just with PS3s though. This has to do with all devices from DVD players to PS2s and all consoles.

"Pal runs 10Hz higher then that of NTSC TV"

Traditionally, PAL is 50 Hz, NTSC is 60 Hz.. Although that isn't really the case anymore and a lot of PAL tvs actually run at PAL60. I don't really know the technicalities behind all that though.

Quoted because this DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.

Elixir: What do you mean it doesn't make any sense? Is it what I said, or why Sony did that?

Kensuke: I'm not totally familiar with the technical difference other then the frequency, but there must be quite a difference if it takes so long to convert games from NTSC to PAL.

Thank you Slayer.

Both. You said that all PS1 games will be playable on a PAL PS3, yet only 1000 PS2 titles, and their emulation will be 99% in a few months.

That's because the PS3 NTSC already uses software emulation for PS1 games, it has nothing to do with the PS2 hardware. Therefore the software emulation for PS1 games on the PAL PS3 will already be fully compatible just like how NTSC systems are. Then that just leaves the PS2 which in the PAL PS3 will use software emulation instead of PS2's hardware built in, like the NTSC system had. Therefore it will take a bit of time to get the PS2 emulation up to snuff.