Rumours of PSP region-locking are false - Sony

By Ellie Gibson Published 27 April, 2005

Sony sets the record straight regarding foreign games on good old BRITISH PSPs and wireless interaction between different territories' PSPs.

Following the recent emergence of some strange rumours regarding the PSP's regional coding systems, Sony has stepped up to dismiss them as absolute tosh and nonsense.

Word was that although PSP games are currently region-free - unlike UMD movies - the hardware has some kind of crazy "region lock" capability. In the future, the rumourmongers claim, publishers could code their games to switch this lock on and prevent you playing them on PSPs from other regions.

But Sony told us the PSP will continue to use a 'worldwide' code system for games, "which means that games purchased anywhere in the world will run on any PlayStation Portable".

However, "Due to language and system issues, quality assurance procedures are done in each territory, and therefore we recommend purchasing both hardware and software in the same territory," Sony went on.

In any case, there's a rule against releasing games with region locking on the list of technical requirements Sony hands out to developers - so such a game would never make it onto the shelves. But how come UMD movies have region encoding, then?

"For movies or other UMD video content, it is up to the publishers of the content to decide whether to adopt a region code," says Sony. So don't blame them cos your US copy of Bella Loves Jenna won't work on your UK PSP, in other words.

There have also been rumours floating about regarding whether or not you can wirelessly connect PSPs from different regions, and Sony was also able to clear this up once and for all.

"Yes, wireless capability does work between different regioned PSPs," they told us.

But "To ensure great multiplayer, it is always best to use UMDs from the same territory between users."

Basically, it doesn't matter where your PSP's from, or where your mate bought theirs - what's important is that the games are from the same region. So you could link up a European PSP, a Japanese PSP and a US PSP and enjoy, say, wireless WipEout, providing you'd all bought your copies of the game from the same place.

Phew. Glad that's all sorted then.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Hicksy #1 7 years ago

    but shurely if there is no region locking on the game and therefore they are essentially the same product with different localised text etc. then a US wipeout would work remotely with a UK wipeout... non?

  • martyngates #2 7 years ago

    what about the region 2 movie restriction? will uk and jap be the same region as per dvds?

  • Blerk #3 7 years ago

    Oooh. Could Sony finally consider doing the 'decent thing' and remove region locking from the PS3 as well, I wonder? Come on, Sony - you know it's the right thing to do for the consumers! If nothing else, think of the vast number of complaint emails you'd no longer be receiving from me every month!

  • brutal #4 7 years ago

    Not necessarily - because they would be different versions of teh same game.

    There may be bug fixes in different regions of the games, the Jap version might run slightly faster (with the whole CPU capping thingy).

    Of course it may be possible to patch all versions of the game to allow different territories to communicate with each other.

    To make the first launched version compatible with all future releases in all territories would require all the important code to be locked down. with teh extra few months to add polish, I would prefer the devs to be able to improve the game.

  • ssuellid #5 7 years ago

    So will still don't know what the different film regions are?

  • Ellie #6 7 years ago

    Sony has confirmed that the UMD movie region code system "will be identical to the existing DVD region code system."

  • JaysonG #7 7 years ago

    How does Ellie know about Bella loves Jenna?

  • asphaltcowboy #8 7 years ago

    "But Sony told us the PSP will continue to use a 'worldwide' code system for games, "which means that games purchased anywhere in the world will run on any PlayStation Portable"."

    So the ability for them to enable the region coding for games does exist then?
    It'll all be fine til it becomes less profitable for Sony with all the importers... and then? :D

  • Tiger_Walts #9 7 years ago

    One way differing localized games may not work in multiplayer is player Tags. In-game your opponent can have their name displayed over them, iff different regions used different character sets then this could cause problems. A show stopper is unlikely in this case but some games may share other player specific data that could cause a crash.

  • Razz #10 7 years ago

    \o/

  • speedjack #11 7 years ago

    'So don't blame them cos your US copy of Bella Loves Jenna won't work on your UK PSP, in other words. '

    Excuse me ?!

    /whistles innocently

  • kincaide #12 7 years ago

    "There have also been rumours floating about regarding whether or not you can wirelessly connect PSPs from different regions, and Sony was also able to clear this up once and for all.

    "Yes, wireless capability does work between different regioned PSPs," they told us. "

    I can confirm this - me (US PSP) and a mate (JAP PSP) both played wirelessly against each other on the (JAP) Ridge Racer

  • Blerk #13 7 years ago

    Ace Grace makes a good point, there's a big fat region code called PAL.

    .... which most tellies are perfectly capable of ignoring completely.

    We're all grown-ups here - if we choose to import a game from another territory and it doesn't work then that's our own fault. It's about time Sony et all stopped trying to nanny us into 'correct' buying decisions. :-)

  • KraftWerk #14 7 years ago

    What, you need several copies of the game to play multiplayer? That's -so- 2004.

  • Blerk #15 7 years ago

    60hz isn't necessarily NTSC ;)

    True. But every telly I've had in the last 15 years has handled NTSC without blinking. And I've had some cheap-arse tellies.

  • Blerk #16 7 years ago

    We weren't talking about the PSP...

  • onyxbox #17 7 years ago

    It's simple IMO…

    The GBA and the DS don’t have region locking so Sony don't either because the whole idea of a 'portable' is that you take it with you when you go places and if that happens to be abroad people still might want to buy a game while they're out there (in the airport etc.).

    The Movie region locking probably has more to do with movie studio publishing restrictions and release dates etc.


  • Jmog #18 7 years ago

    "60hz isn't necessarily NTSC"

    Well, on consoles it actually is. I've done some testing and 60hz mode on both Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube is actually 480 lines (NTSC) and not 576 lines (PAL). I can't dismiss that the colour coding is still PAL, since I'm unable to test that, but essentially whenever you are running a PAL game in 60hz mode, it's really not PAL anymore.

  • dk_rare #19 7 years ago

    Isn't is strange that Sony always say that it is their policy never to comment on rumors, but a rumor comes along that dosn't suit them they go and make press releases on them?

  • rogermellie #20 7 years ago

    Ellie must be a pseudonym for a big strapping bloke. That or she’s a perfect woman.

    Anyway, the lack of region-locking is great news. I wonder if they'll release Katamari Damacy on it.

  • Danj #21 7 years ago

    Interesting that Sony decided to clear this up themselves. And I like that it's (allegedly) policy that games have to be region-free, that's definitely a step in the right direction. It's a pity they couldn't do the same for movies, but I expect the movie companies put their foot down on that score. Wonder if somebody'll be able to make a "UMD Region X" style product...

  • masterson #22 7 years ago

    "But since neither of us is the queen, it seems we're both out of luck."

    Top! :)

  • max #23 7 years ago

    Excellent news, and I hope they take the same approach for the PS3 so we can have gems like Katamari.

    As for "using UMDs from the same territory to ensure great multiplayer", I can confirm that my Canadian PSP and copy of Lumines does not work with my mate's Japanese PSP and copy of Lumines, which is rather annoying...

    Max

  • plasdas #24 7 years ago

    If you've a 7 year old tv, what are you doing buying the latest in gaming technology then? If you can afford a 300 quid console you can afford to buy a cheap ass portable from Argos or somewhere that has a scart.

    Tough titty if that's not the case.

  • dose #25 7 years ago

    Lies lies lies. You can't play UK Wipeout with US version or Jap. This is piss poor.
    Extremely disappointed.