[JJ Rodriguez]

I wouldn't want to buy it just out of principle.

[Naren]

Originally Posted by JJ Rodriguez

I wouldn't want to buy it just out of principle.

Amen. +1

[Alpo]

I assume DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDorian has an XBox 360. Are 360 games region coded? If not, he could just import a US or whatever uncensored version. If they are, then I assume Australian XBoxes are the same region as European ones, which means he could probably import a European copy of the game. Or maybe I'm just stupid.

[Naren]

Originally Posted by Alpo

I assume DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDorian has an XBox 360. Are 360 games region coded? If not, he could just import a US or whatever uncensored version. If they are, then I assume Australian XBoxes are the same region as European ones, which means he could probably import a European copy of the game. Or maybe I'm just stupid.

That's the question. No one knows whether GTA4 is region-encoded or not since it hasn't been released yet. I assumed that it probably wouldn't be region-encoded because it's by Rockstar, but my friend pointed out to me that Rockstar's Tabletop Tennis game was region-locked, which made me worry. I already ordered my US copy, so I'm hoping it's not locked.

As for your question. The three gaming consoles: Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 have different degrees of region locking. The worst is Wii, the best is PS3, and the Xbox 360 falls in the middle. To explain what I mean by that, all Wiis are 100% region-locked to their region. Japanese Wiis cannot play American Wii games. American Wiis cannot play Japanese Wii games, etc.. PS3 games are 100% region-free. There are no region-locked PS3 games. A PS3 can play American, Japanese, and European games (the reason for this being that Blu Rays, unlike DVDs, are region-free regardless of whether it's a movie or a game). Xbox 360s fall in the middle with a little over half of the games region-free and the rest being region-locked to some extent. Region-locked games are usually only playable with a 360 from a specific region, but sometimes they can be played in 2 regions, but in no others (for example, this particular game can be played on US and European 360s, but not on Japanese 360s or another game can be played on Japanese 360s and European 360s, but not on US 360s).

So it's a little complicated, I guess. But the company making the game decides how to lock or not lock the game, which makes me think it'll probably be region-free, but... what do I know?

[Alpo]

I know about the region thingamajig with the PS3 () and the Wii (, Where's my fucking Super Smash Bros. Brawl?), I just wasn't sure of the 360. Isn't Australia a Pal region, though? So maybe a Euro GTA would work there.

[DDDorian]

I'm quite sure the UK release will work over here and if I play my cards right it'll actually be cheaper than buying from New Zealand. I'm just annoyed at the fact that Rockstar had made a point of letting people know the game would be entirely uncensored only to spring this on us at the last minute (not entiely their fault, I know, but surely they could have been more upfront beforehand). This means that those of us over here who have pre-ordered the dexluxe versions of the game have to choose between getting a deluxe censored copy or a regular uncensored one. Plus, it's extra annoying for me because if I want to try out multiplayer I'll probably have to buy another X360 to play on. I've totally forgotten what it's like to actually pay for a game, so this is really testing my patience

[Se7enMeister]

man austrillia bans everything

[Korbain]

Originally Posted by DDDorian

I'm quite sure the UK release will work over here and if I play my cards right it'll actually be cheaper than buying from New Zealand

very true. My mates bought lots of games from UK and they work fine on his PS3!

[Alpo]

Originally Posted by Korbain

very true. My mates bought lots of games from UK and they work fine on his PS3!

Everything would work fine on his PS3. But DDDorian has a 360, which isn't quite as region-free as the PS3.