No territory lockout on recent Xbox games (Ninja Gaiden)?

[Sega Ages]

I've read brief mentions of this among forum chatter online, but haven't seen any confirmation. Maybe someone here knows.

Is it true that many Xbox games released in the U.S. recently don't have region protection / territory lockout?

Presumably this means a japanese NTSC Xbox could boot these U.S. NTSC Xbox games without needing a modchip, and vice versa. But can PAL Xbox owners without modchips import these U.S. games too?

In particular I've heard that the U.S. version of Ninja Gaiden has no region protection! If so, I want to import it instead of waiting for the possibly censored PAL version!

I'm sure many other PAL Xbox owners would do the same... Does anyone have a full list of exactly which recent U.S. and Japanese Xbox titles are region-free?

Sorry if this has already been asked. I did a search for "lockout" but didn't see an answer.

[ThoseOfTheUnlight]

Hey there,
There are some games that dont have region lockout, like SB line of contact, Rainbow Six, Unreal Championship and such others, but unfortuately Ninja Gaiden is not, just tried it!

[hankwangford]

A US Ninja Gaiden will work on a Jap Xbox, just as a Jap Ninja Gaiden will work on a US Xbox. However, neither works on a PAL machine. I guess this is because the two were released so close to each other, and are completely similar right down to the selection of language options.

[charlesr]

Steel batallion: Line of Contact is region free

[Dragon2k4]

I thought all xbox-live games were region free?

[NeilMcRae]

No.

It seems to be random. Camps told me that the new splinter cell is region free though.

[Richard.John]

I hope it is becuase I want to play the U.S copy on my JPN Xbox.

[Chief H]

[Mortal Kombat voice]RESURRECTION!
[/MK voice]

I believe they were talking about Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow back last year, which is region free. No news on SC:Chaos Theory's region protection yet I don't think.

[Richard.John]

If the previous two SP games were region free, I would imagine that the third will be as well. My fingers are well and truly crossed.