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NTSC-UK Xbox 360 Import FAQ (by HumanEnergy)

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    #31
    MS can't be faulted as far as dates go, though other companies like Bandai Namco aren't as reliable. It's up to you, though as I said, most games (including RPG's) are available in Asian regions in English, and they work on Japanese machines. The two you mentioned seem to be the exception though... =/

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      #32
      Originally posted by Shakey_Jake33 View Post
      as I said, most games (including RPG's) are available in Asian regions in English, and they work on Japanese machines. The two you mentioned seem to be the exception though... =/
      Yeah, it's pretty bizarro if you ask me. I'd understand the region lock if some European publisher were interested in the license

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        #33
        I don't think there is a single Japanese game that's region free, they're very strict about it. Western games tend to be region free, though not always.

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          #34
          Originally posted by Shakey_Jake33 View Post
          I don't think there is a single Japanese game that's region free, they're very strict about it. Western games tend to be region free, though not always.
          Atlus USA also mentioned that these two would be region free but suddenly few weeks before they went gold, they updated that they had to region lock the games

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            #35
            Sounds like Japanese publisher pressure With the specific games you mention, the Japanese publisher maintains the publishing rights in other Asian regions, and have done dedicated Korean/Chinese language version. Companies like Namco Bandai and SquareEnix just released the English versions of Tales of Vesperia and Infinity Undiscovery respectively. Sound like Atlus US are conscious of US versions being purchased by Asian consumers. Plus potential European licencing deals, I guess.

            Still sucks
            Last edited by sj33; 12-09-2008, 16:52.

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              #36
              Originally posted by Shakey_Jake33 View Post
              Sounds like Japanese publisher pressure
              Ouch, I'm suprised that they actually go up to that length in hampering people.

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                #37
                Originally posted by Shakey_Jake33 View Post
                I don't think there is a single Japanese game that's region free, they're very strict about it. Western games tend to be region free, though not always.
                The JPN releases of Crackdown, Lost Planet Colonies, Soul Calibur IV and Too Human are all region free. That's all though

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                  #38
                  When I said 'Japanese game', I means NTSC-J releases :P The western versions are region free, but I doubt the Japanese ones are. Updated my previous post btw.

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                    #39
                    Originally posted by Shakey_Jake33 View Post
                    When I said 'Japanese game', I means NTSC-J releases :P The western versions are region free, but I doubt the Japanese ones are. Updated my previous post btw.
                    The NTSC-J releases of the games I mentioned are region free according to Play-Asia.

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                      #40
                      *stands corrected*

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                        #41
                        I'm with you, Graus - just bought a US 360 for much the same reasons.

                        First "Culdcept Saga", then "Operation Darkness", then "Spectral Force 3", and now "Tales of Vesperia"... OK, PAL gamers will supposedly get that last one in June 2009 (9 months after the US!) but it looks like we're never getting the others. That's FOUR titles that I badly wanted to play, all denied (or ridiculously delayed) in just the last 7 months. That did it for me.

                        To quote Auric Goldfinger: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action." Well I dunno what FOUR times is, but there's a definite pattern forming - and as a fan of RPG / Tactics games I'm feeling more than a little shafted!

                        In fact it feels a lot like I've been here before... Back in 1998 when PAL PS1 owners were denied "Final Fantasy Tactics" I vowed never to buy PAL hardware again. Why the hell would I want to buy a console that in effect contained a chip designed to deliberately lock out my favourite genres? Loving RPG / Tactics games and buying a PAL console is like a fan of heavy metal music buying a specially-modifed CD player that recognises and refuses to play heavy metal CDs. Totally insane!

                        Well, I broke my own rule and bought a PAL Xbox 360 because I was concerned about running into hassles with the online aspect if I imported one. It was the first PAL console I'd bought in 8 years, and I had zero cause to regret that choice ... until now. Deja vu, or what?! Shame, because for a couple of years there I actually thought things had changed!

                        Never mind - you live and learn!

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                          #42
                          Originally posted by ghostgate2001 View Post
                          I'm with you, Graus - just bought a US 360 for much the same reasons.

                          First "Culdcept Saga", then "Operation Darkness", then "Spectral Force 3", and now "Tales of Vesperia"... OK, PAL gamers will supposedly get that last one in June 2009 (9 months after the US!) but it looks like we're never getting the others. That's FOUR titles that I badly wanted to play, all denied (or ridiculously delayed) in just the last 7 months. That did it for me.

                          To quote Auric Goldfinger: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action." Well I dunno what FOUR times is, but there's a definite pattern forming - and as a fan of RPG / Tactics games I'm feeling more than a little shafted!

                          In fact it feels a lot like I've been here before... Back in 1998 when PAL PS1 owners were denied "Final Fantasy Tactics" I vowed never to buy PAL hardware again. Why the hell would I want to buy a console that in effect contained a chip designed to deliberately lock out my favourite genres? Loving RPG / Tactics games and buying a PAL console is like a fan of heavy metal music buying a specially-modifed CD player that recognises and refuses to play heavy metal CDs. Totally insane!

                          Well, I broke my own rule and bought a PAL Xbox 360 because I was concerned about running into hassles with the online aspect if I imported one. It was the first PAL console I'd bought in 8 years, and I had zero cause to regret that choice ... until now. Deja vu, or what?! Shame, because for a couple of years there I actually thought things had changed!

                          Never mind - you live and learn!
                          completely agree. I also broke that rule and went with a UK 360 Elite, hoping that things would change and that every RPG wouldn't be region locked. Aside from Mass Effect - every RPG has been locked and I can't see it changing. In addition to the Elite being largely a waste of time (no game offers the option to install so lots of necessary stress is being put on the laser because M$ just "had" to make that stupid Core/Arcade version.)

                          Not only FF Tactics, PAL gamers were also denied the other two of the holy trinity of ps1 rpg greatness - Valkyrie Profile + Xenogears. Now FFT + VP were eventually ported and released in europe - but for me, its too little too late. The EU publishers have treated us like crap for years now, which is why I import everything. I mean, the EU market is still a complete joke - Persona 3 FES in october - sorry guys - played and completed it months ago. And Disgaea 3 - TBA 2009 - lol - completed it and playing through the postgame thanks.

                          As for why Atlus is locking everything I'm presuming its because they hope to license their localisation(s) to EU publishers - region locking means the product won't have been "exposed" to the EU market and is subsequently seen as more desirable by Euro publishers, who can proceed to slap a huge markup on the game and 50hzify everything - excellent stuff. I've got Zoids Assault on the way now - and guess what - region locked.


                          *
                          Anyway - in response to Graus' question though (I think I've spoke to you b4 on Atlus' forums btw) - I'll talk a bit about my experiences with a US 360 thus far before returning to the warranty issue later - bear with me lol.

                          I'm not 100% sure how the warranty works when you have a US console in Europe (but I have a feeling I'll be finding out soon. I've been getting "Disc Unreadable/Dirty Disc" errors from my Tales of Vesperia using my US Premium console, bought from VG+.) The dvd drive is spinning the disc FAR too fast especially when its in the vertical state and it can't balance the disc properly - the drive then "clicks" and will spin down and dump me unceremoniously back to the dashboard... bye bye 2hrs of levelling...

                          I've switched my x360 to horizontal and the problem has gone away. Operation Darkness + Spectral Force 3 have done similar things while the 360 is in a vertical state- drive whirs up, clicks while FMV + music are cutting out and then resuming - I'm hoping that the horizontal trick will resolve it (everything seems good so far) otherwise I'll have to contact Sidney at VG+ as I can't have hours of progress being lost at random intervals.

                          One thing I'd say is I would email VG+ and make sure they send you a new Falcon model as they are far more reliable+quieter than the older models (no problems with my UK Elite machine). The older machines, along with Rrod errors, are notorious for their crap + noisy dvd drives.

                          I'm still a bit annoyed with VG+ for sending me an older model 360 (considering the VAST amount of stuff I get through them) as I thought even the newer, non-HDMI models were now Falcons and featured superior drives, but the excessive amount of noise from my US console indicates otherwise.

                          I've heard some ppl say they've been able to send their US 360 for repair here in the UK. Some ppl have said they got their US 360 back fixed, some ppl have apparently got a UK Xbox back (which you don't want to happen obviously.)

                          Some ppl have also said they've been able to send their console back to VG+ and take it from there, but I guess you've still have to cover postage which would be pretty expensive to Canada... On the whole though VG+ are very good and aside from the above noted issue I can find no fault with them, they have excellent customer service for importers so I'm guessing they would be willing to help you.

                          Apologies for the wall of text, if I get any more errors from my 360 now that its in its horizontal state rest assured I'll be contacting VG+ and will report here whatever I learn - hoping it won't be necessary though.

                          I too wouldn't mind hearing from someone who has got US 360 from VG+ and has had issues with it, as nobody appears to have answered Graus' original question.
                          Last edited by TerraEx; 13-09-2008, 11:20.

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                            #43
                            Originally posted by TerraEx View Post
                            Apologies for the wall of text, if I get any more errors from my 360 now that its in its horizontal state rest assured I'll be contacting VG+ and will report here whatever I learn - hoping it won't be necessary though.

                            I too wouldn't mind hearing from someone who has got US 360 from VG+ and has had issues with it, as nobody appears to have answered Graus' original question.
                            Hey thanks for the reply, I wouldn't be suprised if we've bumped into each other over at Atlus forum. You can usually find me "whining"/defending some obscure game's right to get published in the western world.

                            Thanks again for your post, it helped me clear some issues

                            EDIT: Had to do some cutting so the post wouldn't look so huge.
                            I read that using a stepdown converter/whatever the thing is called that lets you power the 360 in EU Zone will harm the 360 in a long run. Any truth to that?

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                              #44
                              Originally posted by Graus View Post
                              I read that using a stepdown converter/whatever the thing is called that lets you power the 360 in EU Zone will harm the 360 in a long run. Any truth to that?
                              Had my US 360 a little while now... 60Gb Pro console, with HDMI. Got mine from VGP as well :-)

                              When I first got it, I ran it on my trusty stepdown. It's a powerful floor-standing stepdown, totally capable of keeping my PS3 running happily - and I guess a PS3 has a big power-draw, similar to a 360. Anyway, there I was, only had the console for a couple of days, happily playing "Operation Darkness" when the 360 suddenly shut down mid-game and gave me the dreaded RRoD. Yep, the nasty 3 lights kind :-(

                              Thought I was going to have to bite the bullet and find out what VGP's returns policy was for faulty consoles, but instead (because under the circumstances I thought there was nothing to lose by trying it!) I rigged it up with the power supply from my UK Xbox 360.

                              It's been running happily ever since, and I've put in many hours of gaming on it, mostly on "Tales of Vesperia" :-) I don't know for sure what caused the RRoD that one time, but I'm guessing it was a power fluctuation through the stepdown because that's the only part of my set-up that's any different.

                              So, it seems to me that Xbox 360's are very touchy about their power supply, and you're probably far better off running an import console with an Xbox 360 power adapter from your own country rather than with a stepdown. Hope this helps!

                              Comment


                                #45
                                Originally posted by TerraEx View Post
                                I've been getting "Disc Unreadable/Dirty Disc" errors from my Tales of Vesperia using my US Premium console, bought from VG+.) The dvd drive is spinning the disc FAR too fast especially when its in the vertical state and it can't balance the disc properly - the drive then "clicks" and will spin down and dump me unceremoniously back to the dashboard... bye bye 2hrs of levelling...
                                TerraEx, if you haven't had the console replaced then hopefully the "Install to HDD" option that just arrived as part of the new dashboard has helped with this? It should be an effective workaround for that unreadable disc problem. As long as you can get the console to read all the data onto the HDD once, you should be fine. After that, it only wants a quick verification check of the game disc when you first start to play the game and then parks the disc drive for the rest of the session.

                                No more racket, no more read errors. Nice! :-)

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