Job Discussion Forums

Ry · Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 12

Does anyone know if a PSP purchased in Japan will play games purchased in the USA.

As you may know, a Japanese Playstation cannot play US purchased games and visa-versa. (Unless you mod it).

Thanks!

Ry

rue_meridian · Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 18 Location: Scotland

PSP games are region free. However, I believe the UMD movies are region sensitive.

diva · Joined: 15 Oct 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Tokyo

I disagree. Not all PSP games are region free. Sony has left the decision to impose regional barriers with the individual software companies.

Nintendo, however, is region free. So a DS might be a better choice if you are worried about playing games around the world.

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

The above is wrong. ALL PSP GAMES ARE REGION FREE. Movies are not, and they do not even follow DVD regions - Australian games, for example do not work on Japanese PSPs.

All DS games are also region free.

diva · Joined: 15 Oct 2005 Posts: 22 Location: Tokyo

I stand corrected!

It should be said, however, that at the moment all games are region free but the capability to impose regional barriers is there.

A lot depends on how long you are going to be in Japan and what you want to do with the PSP.

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

It depends on how many films (movies if you will) you want to watch.

I tried some Australian films on mine. The only one to work was Hellboy. About six didn't, then I gave up.

Of course, films from your memory card will work fine.

There was a rumour that Sony would leave it up to the developers but in the end they didn't. Presumably they realised that doing so would just hand huge slices of the market to Nintendo DS.

Ry · Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 12

Thank you all. I have done some research on this as well, and I can confirm:

PSP games are region free. The confusion resulted from the fact that the manual does not differentiate between games and movies. This also happend in Japan. Both times Sony publically said it was a misunderstanding, games would all be region free... but not movies.

Some movies may be region free, but it will be on a case by case basis. As far as I could find, PSP in Japan is region 2 which includes Japan and Europe, while the US is region 1 (we're #1! we're #1, Wink

)

Music is fine of course, as long as it is MP3, but the Sony download service CONNECT only works in the US. You cannot even download it in Japan.

Thank you all for your help! I bought the shiny new white PSP. The screen is brilliant and I love it so far.... but I am looking forward to getting some US (ie: English language) games, such as the new GTA release....

Anyone know if there is a place in Osaka or Tokyo that sells PSP imports?

Thanks again!

Ry

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

Ry · Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 12

Dude, you rock! I'm gonna try to check it out Monday night.

I am not an expert on Akihabara, only been there once. Can you give any advice, map, directions on how to get to one of the shops you mentioned. (I can get to Akihabara no problem, but once there...) Otherwise, I'll try to just figure it out. I'm sure I can find someone to help me out.

Really appreciated!

Ry

(Ain't this site a great resource..!..!)

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

There are branches of Laox all over Akihabara - just ask any one of them how to get to Asobit City. Asobit City is split into two - one half for models of Gundam and the like, the other for games.

Game Hollywood is a bit harder to find. It is on the other side of Chuo Dori - the main road running through Akihabara Electric town. Not actually on the main road, on one of the side streets at 90 degrees to it, more or less opposite Asobit City. It is on the fifth floor, next to a shop called Trader, which also has a few import games.

Here is their homepage, mostly Japanese I'm afraid.

http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~ex/

TLL · Joined: 01 Oct 2005 Posts: 10

Thanks for the info too, I've been looking for a place to get some PSP games, the Japanese ones just aren't doing it for me.

Side question, has anyone checked out the XBox 360 Lounge in Aoyama? I went the other day and it was good fun. Looking forward to that in December.

Ry · Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 12

Notes:

Went to Akihabara. Exit for Electric Town. You will see a LAOX across the main road. Cross, go in to B1 (English Software). I got the GTA Liberty City Stories, ~7400 Yen!! But worth it for me. Been playing about 2 hours now.... a lot of fun, looks great, etc....

BTW: My PSP is the Japanese one, but (as mentioned above) the US games are not region coded, only the movies. There are hacks you can download to bypass the region coding also... though I think they have not yet been made for the latest OS... Anyhow, the US game works fine just to confirm for everyone.

Thanks again for all your help!

Ry