so i got onto Play Asia and decided to give it a go....
my first purchase was Halo 3 for the 360.....
when i received it it said "NTSC" on the box and i thought "s*** i've screwed up the first order" but low and behold it works fine!!! the game when i ordered it said "region free" and i think i confused this with meaning it wasn't NTSC or PAL....
now i understand the region codes.....these are lockout codes for DVD games & movies....but they are different to the NTSC V PAL system right?....and i know we use PAL.....so how come this game worked for me?? shouldn't it be PAL only??

i also want to make sure i don't screw up and that this wasn't a fluke....so apart from "region free" what "system" (NTSC, PAL) should i look for....
i'm assuming regon free and PAL would be ideal....but this one working has confused me??
thx all

PAL and NTSC are different video signals, and it comes down to whether or not your TV supports both (most nowadays do), whereas region codes are put on the discs to prevent consoles from other regions from playing the games.

PAL is a superior video format to NTSC, as it has higher resolution and more colours, so go for that when you can.

i am also curious about this, really want to play katamari damacy, are australian consoles 'asian' region?

found this on wiki....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PAL-NTSC-SECAM.svg
i reckon you'd be right with Asian or Europe.....
still a bit confusing though.....

generally we are UK unless it is w signed

Incorrect. For Xbox 360, games only come in 3 possible formats. PAL, NTSC (Japan) and NTSC (North America). Any PAL game will work on a 360 bought purchased here.

Some NTSC games are region free and will work fine here, others won't.

ok...think i have it sussed....
we are PAL.....but modern TV's play NTSC as mentioned...although not as high quality
on Play Asia if you select the game you want and scroll right down it advises you of compatability with big green ticks for PAL, NTSC, others....
so basically if you should go for the following
Best Option: choose region free/PAL
Next: region free/NTSC (but check compatability has a big green tick)

i really should start reading ALL the web page info.....

NTSC has higher frame rate, less lines and hence less colours.

In part the difference is because TV used the frequency of the power for timing. ie. US power is 60Hz, Australian is 50Hz.

However there is absolutely no excuse for regionalisation now.

ps. Death to blu-ray

crazymorton you really need to lay off the "...".

I agree that region locking really needs to die, why should it matter where I buy the game from? I've heard that region locking still exists because different companies handle the publishing in different areas of the world.

The playstation 3(I think it was the PS3) being region free is the right step foward. I hope Nintendo follows.

we are PAL.....but modern TV's play NTSC as mentioned...although not as high quality

No, Australian TVs play NTSC just fine, it's just that NTSC as a format isn't as high quality as PAL.

And the reason that some foreign games work on the Xbox360 is that region coding isn't mandatory for the console. Developers/publishers choose whether they want to region code their game, and most of them choose not to. I've seen websites (or maybe forums) that list the games and whether or not they're region locked, and the vast majority of them weren't.

So, if you want to import 360 games, chances are that it'll work on your console, but you'd best just do a bit of Googling, just in case.

PAL/NTSC video signal doesn't matter at all if you are running it on a HDTV since that is a new standard, ASTC. Once SDTVs are finally phased out the only confusion will be the region locking.

Although its not the most legit site, you can find region details for 360 games here: http://www.abgx.net/filename/?ch=6
Look to see if the release is USA or whatever, then look at the 'Region Free for EU' column to see if it is.

last edited by partyhat at 02:57:34 14/Nov/07

i know regarding the 360 and region coding comes down to the publisher, most games are region free, ea games being one of the biggest exceptions, they tend to lock there ntsc and pal (ntsc going to the states and pal going to europe/aus/nz ect)
as for asian games, again it comes down to the publisher, most asian games if region free still dont have english subs ect so ive never bothered researching it to much. either way buying games from the states at the moment is ftw if the game you want is region free.

Just wait until you get PAL colours with NTSC timing a.k.a. PAL60 (PAL color system @ 60hz refresh)

Wait? PAL60 games have been around for years. And they look no different.