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GameSpot Video Games, PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PSP, DS, GBA, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

GDC 06: PS3 games region-free, movie/music download confirmed

Sony's next-gen console will play games from every territory; plans for media download revealed.
By Tor Thorsen, Curt Feldman, GameSpot
Posted Mar 22, 2006 7:59 pm PT

SAN JOSE, Calif.--At his post-presentation Q&A session, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president Phil Harrison dodged questions regarding the PlayStation 3's hard drive and controller. However, he was more forthcoming regarding other aspects of the console.

While he wouldn't say if it would ship with the console, Harrison did say that the PS3 HDD "will also allow download of movies and music." While the PS3's media storage abilities had already been previously touted, the executive's comments indicate Sony may be planning to extend its soon-to-be-PSP-compatible Connect download service to the just-announced PlayStation Network Platform.

"There's no reason not to use the network to access any digital content," said Harrison. "We want [the PS3] to download movies, music, TV, or some blended combination."

Harrison also revealed that, like the PSP, all PS3 games would be playable in any region, unlike current-generation games and DVDs. "Software will be region-free, so developers can put games in the TV format of their choice," he said. Films, however, would remain limited to their regions of origin, as with movies released on the PSP's UMD format.

In his presentation, Harrison said that due to the high-storage capacity of the PS3's Blu-ray Disc (BD) format, publishers would be able to release a single SKU worldwide with all localized versions on a single disc. At the Q&A, Harrison said a BD--which can hold up to 50GB--will also be able to store various video formats (PAL, NTSC, SECAM) on one disc.

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209 Comments

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jamsiecolst

Pineapple_Head, you fail to realise that the majority of TV's made in Europe now support NTSC standards, and have been this way for the past 7 or so years. That is all.

Posted Sep 29, 2007 5:58 am PT
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Pineapple_Head

It's funny that people from Australia say that "it will be easier for us to import games here than to import it to the U.S.".

You've got to realize it Europeans, Australians, and New Zealanders....

You've got PAL standard television systems.

Japan and U.S. use NTSC as a standard.

You better hope game developers put all television standard coding on one disc. (that includes PAL, NTSC, SECAM)

By the way, there is a possibility that both Japan and the U.S. will be
Region 1 for Blu-ray movies. Yes, I said both will use Region 1.

Lucky for us Americans, Japan's number 1 overseas market.

Posted Jun 4, 2006 12:00 am PT
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Kwzy

region free!! good sony! you made it again

Posted Mar 28, 2006 10:57 am PT
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alberto2045

Man they need to tell us the price of how much is going to be cause many people in the US will get dissapointed when they know how much the PS3 is going to be.

Posted Mar 28, 2006 10:07 am PT
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badr

Region free games at last. I hope Nintendo and Microsoft do the same.

Posted Mar 27, 2006 7:13 pm PT
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redman7t

Boy: Hey did u just hear ps3 is coming out with region free games! Add that with the graphics and HD TV. ITS SO AWSOME I"M GONNA GET IT!

Friend: Yeah.................I wonder how much its gonna cost?

Boy: Probably $1500 for the least, well u can understand why it might be so expensive. You know thats the only reason we by systems for the graphics and hardware right. What else would we want?

Friend: What about the games?

Boy: Oh yeah but who needs them with all the stuff the system comes with, besides i probably won't have enough money anyway to buy 80$ games each *laughs*.

Friend: Right........

Next Day

Boy: You heard they said its coming with online Internet to and guess what they lowered the original price down too $1650.

Friend: Right.......

Posted Mar 27, 2006 5:55 pm PT
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ctk96

not even going to think about buying it until the price is announced

Posted Mar 27, 2006 2:20 pm PT
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sharkman83

oh ya this is going to be the best gaming system ever. i cant wait. I am totally going to bye one.

Posted Mar 26, 2006 10:49 pm PT
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9469

the ps3 just gets better and better, i can't w8!

Posted Mar 26, 2006 7:25 pm PT
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couse18

it might be like the 360 was and theres 2 different deals... one with HDD, one without, u just never know.

Posted Mar 26, 2006 5:52 pm PT
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mike_escajeda66

r u kidding me!! i hate to break it to yall but being able to play games that u cant read or understand the language the characters r using is not all that fun!!! this just proves that blu-ray was not nessacary if they can put like 3 or 4 games onto one disk, just to say they can!! this is crazy and i HOPE i am not the only one who sees this cause this is just common sense. play ur games in foreign languages, i dont care, just stop making such a big deal about it.

Posted Mar 25, 2006 10:14 pm PT
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bunty_007

Awsome

Posted Mar 25, 2006 8:55 pm PT
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Kenzo287

well now we can import games but we still cant read them

Posted Mar 25, 2006 8:45 pm PT
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Briantb_2008

You just gotta love sony sometimes

Posted Mar 25, 2006 2:38 pm PT
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joshua05

I think it's alsome as well.

Posted Mar 25, 2006 8:43 am PT
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ILLPALAZZOO

50 GIG DISKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOA HOLY CRAP!!! I cant wait to play the next GTA for ps3 its gonna be huge!

Posted Mar 24, 2006 5:04 pm PT
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darkxinos

Bout time

Posted Mar 24, 2006 3:52 pm PT
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GranTurismo_559

Free region games........................damn I love Sony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted Mar 24, 2006 11:50 am PT
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Kfoss

ITS ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!! HORRAY!!! Hello imports!!! thats there best move yet!!!! ive wished for the indusrty to drop region codeing for EONS!!!... but too bad on the DVD side!! but i wonder since the *movie's* are limited to region of origion...is the player limited to region of origion too...i mean as in it being a region free dvd player...granted i all ready have one...but that would but the cherry on top..if the player in it self was region free...*wishfull thinking* ...lol

Posted Mar 24, 2006 11:37 am PT
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kaworu1986

Yesssssss!!!!!!!!!!
I just hope they don't change their mind between now and launch: some of you may not care, but here in europe we get regularly scr***d when it comes to JRPGS and most anime titles (which are by far my favourite games); worst of all is that a consistent part of them gets released in the USA but never comes here or comes after way too long (Squaresoft anyone?)

Posted Mar 24, 2006 10:45 am PT
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Blaze545

cool

Posted Mar 24, 2006 10:33 am PT
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Black_Sage89

I would laugh if all of there games were lauched worldwide at the same time anyway.

Posted Mar 24, 2006 10:00 am PT
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Pfilosophy

How can anyone think region-free games are a bad idea for the system? It means less warranty-voiding and chip manufacture. If you wanted to play something from Japan, you either cut the warranty sticker or had to buy a Japanese system - this is good news for us.

Let's just hope there aren't only war and racing games at the launch, even though that seems to be enough for some G4 watchers.

Posted Mar 24, 2006 9:57 am PT
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jaefrmbk2k

Don't forget to hold out for a Japan Only See-Thru, Glow in the Dark or Ribbed PS3 with the Resevoir Tip. Remember you won't be able to play any Blu-Ray movies from the U.S. without the chip-yes, there is a mod chip for the movies

Posted Mar 24, 2006 9:47 am PT
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jaefrmbk2k

I knew the games were gonna be region-free. guess why......cuz i'm from the year 3000

Posted Mar 24, 2006 9:24 am PT
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Sandman100

It better be ready by the beginning.

Posted Mar 24, 2006 9:11 am PT
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Sandman100

Region free games. Cool. And they're still not saying if the HDD is shipping with the console. They better ship the HDD with the consoles. Because what I'm hearing your going to need one to play games on in the firsted places.

Posted Mar 24, 2006 9:09 am PT
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Ernice

"until they announce the price, i'm not interested"

exactly

Posted Mar 24, 2006 8:30 am PT
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Pundan

Someone said that they hadn't said if they're ought to release the PS3 with a hard-drive or not. I think I've read that it's supposed to be released with a 2'5" 60GB hard-drive. Perhaps that was just rumours.

Posted Mar 24, 2006 2:25 am PT
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FOHAMMER

What websites can you trust.

Kinda makes you think. I wonder how they will review PS3 games. I will only count on the gaming community after reading this. This also goes for xbox 360 games.

http://thirdworldgamer.blogspot.com/2006/03/ign-gamespy-and-playstation-3.html

Posted Mar 23, 2006 10:46 pm PT
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mezonesxbox


Region free!!! I think they are setting their demise.....

Yes!!!

Posted Mar 23, 2006 9:06 pm PT
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ZEELIX

lets see take microsoft's move... eh.. OMG REGION FREE!!! yippe!!

Posted Mar 23, 2006 9:01 pm PT
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Achilles438

good news indeed, just hope it doesnt cost too much

Posted Mar 23, 2006 8:53 pm PT
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jams_shop

nice

Posted Mar 23, 2006 8:36 pm PT
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hervens

hmm
interesting...
But i still think the nintendo revolution will own all.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 8:18 pm PT
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K1LLSWITCH

Movies won't be region free, it's just games. It's been reported that movies on Blue Ray "MIGHT" cost $40. Hopefully they'll cut the cost and make it affordable to the public. If not, say bye bye to Blue Ray. I'm excited to hear that Sony is pushing technology to the masses. Risk = Reward. That's how they succeed. But be patient, E3 is just a few months away.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 7:59 pm PT
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swanlord

Ok so this dude is saying that there will be 3-4 versions of 1 movie on one blueray......so how much is that son of a gun gonna cost ..........60-70 dollars for a movie.....screw that crap.....or 3-4 verions of one game on bluray so that it can be played region free.....you gonna have too sell an eyeball to afford that game!!!

Posted Mar 23, 2006 7:34 pm PT
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mike53322

i don't really care about the region free games ps3 still sucks because its gonna be reeeaaaallly expensive i prefer REVOLUTION innovating idea of playing games

Posted Mar 23, 2006 7:24 pm PT
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Chedda925

Man I want to work at Sony Corp. because they keep giving us new things for resonable prices, think what the employees get.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 7:12 pm PT
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trancejeremy

While I like this in theory, just how many games will really be localized for a world wide release. It can take months to translate a game into English from Japanese.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 6:58 pm PT
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GOLIATHtheGREAT

Finally Sony comes with an orginal idea. Cuz everything PS3 is 360 rip-off.
And this coming from a Sony Fan.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 6:26 pm PT
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ssj4

At least they are taking one step in the right direction! Region free games? Man I did not see that one coming but am sure glad that it did! About damn time too, now if others(read: XBox & Big N) were to follow Sony's step, I'll die a happy man

Posted Mar 23, 2006 5:51 pm PT
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IcemanX5

Why call it PlayStation Network Platform, why could have been PSNet or Playstation Net. Oh well. To long of a name. It looks nice " Xbox Live "

Posted Mar 23, 2006 5:37 pm PT
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MibtS

Actually the price does matter. Sony is throwing in all this extra crap and it will end up costing even more. All i care about is the games. If games have too little capacity to fill up a Blu-Ray then what's the point in throwing it in there? I am not interested in buying a Blu-Ray player, so therefore i don't care. As far as games are concerned that is good that sony is doing regional...DS is that way as well.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 4:57 pm PT
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Hershey07

Finally...

Posted Mar 23, 2006 4:39 pm PT
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davahsa

Region free! that's sweet! But the HDD? I thought that was being bundled? More speculation from camp Sony.....and I still don't think they'll launch in Nov.:[

Posted Mar 23, 2006 4:16 pm PT
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wokisan

A nice development. I think all consoles should go region-free.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 3:43 pm PT
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cloud890

Everything is looking better and better for the PS3!!!!!!

Posted Mar 23, 2006 3:31 pm PT
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mcgrawgamer

Now that's good news. I always wanted to get my hands on some of those japanese rpg's. Now what's this i hear about the ps3 only playing console specific games. In other words no more buying used games?

Posted Mar 23, 2006 3:01 pm PT
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CHRONO14

We all know what the price for the PS3 will be. Core Unit is your first born child. The complete bundle including the HDD an extra controller and the system will cost roughly your soul and your non- dominant hand (you need your dominant one to play). I think I will still pick it up though maybe after the first price drop just your soul.

Posted Mar 23, 2006 2:38 pm PT
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