Question for European gamers

Handhelds are fine. When it comes to consoles, you're screwed.

If you bring a thisgen console, it's playable with the right power converter without any issues, but you'll need to import all your games if it's PS3/Wii and most of your games on the 360. Importing NTSC stuff isn't actually that hard if you know the right places to look, but it can be costly.

Also, haha, France.

So basically I should sell all my games at cheap prices to members of Honest Gamers?

PS3 games are region-free; they'll work anywhere.

Could be wrong, but I think PS3 are NTSC/PAL locked, so same NTSC-region will work (NA/JPN stuff, for instance, will run). Certainly was the case with the earlier versions, but there's only half a million strains of PS3, so I'm not going to pretend to be 100%

If you're traveling abroad and you bring any of your electronics - such as your laptop if you have one - you'll need a power adaptor so you can plug your thing into their sockets. Even if you don't need a 120/240 power converter (I think that's the US/Europe ratio...maybe it's 110/220; I don't remember)), I'm pretty sure you'll still need something that'll enable you to use their outlets. I got mine at the airport for about $30. Sounds kind of expensive, but mine is adapted to any part of the world, apparently.

So wait... NA PS3 games are or aren't going to work in a European PS3?

All the discs are region-free - the format itself doesn't have region locks. But extra content and so on is keyed to the psn-store the disc comes from. So I can play my Hong Kong imported copy of Demon's Souls (since the HK/Singapore region version also has english text - the Japanese version doesn't, even though it will boot up on any ps3), and get prompted to download patches automatically, and so on. But if they ever made some dlc for the missing keystone in the Nexus, I would have to log on to my HK account to get it.

Singstore and Guitar hero isn't so easy - since the songs there are licensed to a specific region. So I think they have an ip check of some sort on that - so that is a pain.

The power output isn't a problem either. Get a new power-cord (i.e., a standard power cord to €10), and use that. The ps3, like most new electrical things now) has a module ahead of the relay that will switch to the right input frequency.

What is a problem is that an American ps3 still has an NTSC output on the TV tuner. So if you're using the tv output (analog - the scart or a/v thing), then that signal apparently isn't compatible with PAL TVs..).

..Further complicating things - all dvds are keyed to NTSC/PAL, so those won't display on a foreign ps3. (Unless they're imports).

But all games and so on on a hdmi will work.

Problem is that some blu-ray film is still keyed to a specific region. It seems to be done to lower the licensing fee or something - I honestly don't know the reason, but that's what I've heard. And if they ever get the Blu-ray "Live" thing up and running, it will probably mean the end to blu-ray imports.

But yeah - no worries bringing your games over, or buying a game out of country, and so on. Even if you need a few different psn-accounts to get the extra content, and so on. Unless it is the "other" kind of content, such as songs and films.

(...really, don't you love licensing :p)

Fleinn, sometimes I wonder if you're human or an encyclopedic intelligence Jason programmed into the site (or maybe nicked from another site). Thanks for the usual awesome response!

Okay, so basically, if I move, the simplest thing to do is to sell my Blu-Ray discs and my PS3, keep the Wii and all my games for PS2-3 and wait for the Ps4 to come out.

:p

...but no, probably not. The ps2 discs are region coded. So it's a North American (or chipped) ps2, or a NA ps3 with backoverwards-compatibility..thing on it.

You get the same problem with ps1 games - the discs are region-locked, and the region lock scheme is programmed into the software on the ps2 and ps3.

So keep your ps3.. and sell the games, and wait for the ps4 to come with a full digital library for all previously released titles... ...hohohoho. ..sorry..

But if you have a 60gb version that can run ps2 discs - you could probably sell it to someone in France for bucketloads of francs, and get a bise on top as well.

It's beginning to look more and more like, if I move, it's going to be the end of my gaming days for a good long while. I'll still play Starcaft II and Left 4 Dead 2, but my long owned console collection will disappear.

And frankly, I'm not sure if that would crush me all that much. As I've gotten older, I've felt more and more like I'm slipping out of the audience that games are aimed at. I also have less and less time to game and less and less money to invest in it. I'll admit there are also days where I game and wonder why I'm doing that instead of finishing my novel or perfecting my script or, hell, even catching up on my reading or playing around with Inform 7 some more.

To a certain degree, I'll always enjoy gaming as a way to just veg out, because I'm not much of a television watcher and you can only sit down to so many films in a day. And, of course, right now I'm still enjoying writing reviews and articles on video games and I'll always be fascinated by the culture, history, and social motivation of gamers and game developers.

But maybe by the end of next year, I'll be ready to leave it behind.

..you know.. that's how I've felt since I played Tie-fighter and Fallout.. Xcom as well.. :/ That most games after that seemed to have been made for someone else.

But.. I-War, I-War2 to some degree. Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. Silent Storm. Sands of Time, I guess. Bloodlines (and Redemption). Resonance of Fate. Yakuza. ..MAG and Killzone 2 before the patching nightmare.. WipEoutHD (where they fired everyone who made the game, and put the advertisements in the loading screens, after I bought the game).. Those were good games.

So I guess it's GT5 (with fricking carts), The Last Guardian (and the ICO collection) and then I'm done for a while again..

..maybe I should get hold of my Lord of the Rings book instead..? There was a new Pratchett-book coming out as well..

I've been reading the Silmarillion... again, I should say, though I feel like now I'm old enough to actually appreciate it.

Hehe. Wait a couple of years, and you might think the opposite again. Funny things, childhoods. Some people never really have them.

I'm not quite sure what you mean.

I meant, some of us just have different phases.

Have you seen Dracula - the remake by Coppola? It's a strange film, because it can be.. apart from the George Lucas ending.. enjoyed from so many different perspectives at the same time. And you always have these crossovers in how the characters gain "adult" insight, or find "childish" joy in different situations. Maybe it just describes the same fascination for the unknown that we all have, from those different perspectives.

It's a bit of the same with Tolkien, no?

And I guess I wish there were more games that did these things as well - childish fun, without being ridiculous and constructed, by dreary people who imagine what "kids" want. Which either ends up as being what they themselves find funny. Or else is what they imagined they thought was funny when they were younger.. right :)

..I don't know. Sounded a bit like you were missing that part in the middle there.. in the games that come out now as well.

Oh. I see. I had thought you were still talking about Tolkein and childhood. Yes, I agree.

I also agree about the George Lucas ending. Otherwise an incredible film.

Welcome to the most glorious continent of Europe, citizen.

Even if it is France. Well, at least it's not Italy.