A noobish question about Region Coding in the current console generation

[Shoggoth2588]

As I'm sure everyone knows at this point, Most game systems are region coded. The American Playstation 3 for example can play region 1 blu-ray discs. I remember a time [back when everyone wanted Dragon Ball Z games in America] when one could order a video game from overseas and play said game IF they had done modifications to their console. The Nintendo DS came along and brought about completely region free gameplay allowing gamers to import games from all parts of the planet and play without cracking open that plastic shell.

My question is this ... Can a region free blu-ray disc play on my American Playstation 3 without the need for me to have it modified? Hokuto Musou is being released soon and I have found an online retailer which offers it in a region free disc but, I would hate to order the game only to have it not work. I haven't done a search on this topic and am sure the issue has been addressed before but a mixture of slow browser speed and a apathy have made me reluctant to search ...

I have ordered games from overseas on my DS but as stated; the DS is completely region free. The PS3 is so different: some are backwards compatable, others are anorexic ... mine is a thin one by the way if that makes any difference at all *shrug*

 

[Gigano]

Do you have an HDTV? If it's region free, the PS3 should play it no sweat, but PAL, NTSC, or other formats may not display (properly) on a CRT-screen. Some claim that many American HDTV's too can't display PAL (though I know for a fact that most PAL HDTV's can display NTSC), but if the content (Hokuto Musou?) can be displayed in 720p or another HD-resolution, there should be no differences. So if it's a PS3 game or Blu-ray you should be fine, a DVD encoded in the wrong format may be a problem. I think Japan's use the same format as the USA though.

 

[LeonLethality]

I hear a few consoles these days are not really region coded, or at least not all that well. Sort of like Japan exclusive PSN games, all you need to do is make a Japanese PSN account (can be done on any PS3) and there you go, you can DL those games. I heard the PS3 is pretty much region free. I haven't tried since I have both a NA PS3 (Birthday gift from a few years back) and a JP PS3 (paid for it while I was importing a game last year) for my imports

 

[ribonuge]

I bought the American Demon's Souls off of eBay and it played fine. Not too sure about Blu-Ray movies though.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

The PS3 is region free. Or so ive read on several places, i don't actually own one to tell from experience. I've read about people importing Demon's Souls from Japan earlier this year and apparently it worked just fine for everyone.

Besides, regions aren't usually enforced, meaning publishers are the ones to decide whether their game/movie should be region coded. So if Hokuto Musou is being offered on a region free disc, it should work in any region coded PS3, which i dont think are region coded at all, as iv'e already said.

This is of course all theory and a little bit of wikipedia, not personal experience, but i think its safe to say you should order and not worry about it.

edit: take a look at this: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/697/697656p1.html
Basically your only concern should be your TV set, as already mentioned by Imperator_DK a few posts above.