US Playstation games USSR

December 1, 2004 7:18 AM

Is there a difference between US and European playstation games? I want to get games for my nephew and brother-in-law who live in Moscow but my sister says that games bought here (the US) will not play there. I have googled and asked at a bunch of stores and have gotten many different answers. Has anyone here had any experiences with this?

They could not use that playstation that they got here and had to get a new one over there but I thought that had more to do with the voltage and type of television.

posted by GrumpyMonkey to technology (6 comments total)

European games are for PAL TVs, North American games are for NTSC. And ne'er the twain shall meet.
posted by yerfatma at 7:26 AM on December 1, 2004

According to answers.google.com, the Playstation 2 systems (and thus, games) are made for 3 regions: North America, Japan (which includes all of Asia), and Europe (which includes Australia). Games for one region won't work on a system from another region. Of course, there are modifications that can *cough* circumvent these restrictions. As far as PAL vs. NTSC, there's solutions to that, too!
posted by bachelor#3 at 7:37 AM on December 1, 2004

I used to play Japanese games on my european NTSC playstation, but I did have an extra 'widget' fitted in it to make that possible.....
For the PAL vs NTSC problem I think it's actually the television, I have a TV and VCR that handle both, and another older telly that can't handle PAL even though the VCR connected to it can. NTSC uses 30 FPS and 525 horizental lines, PAL 25 FPS and 625 lines if I remember correctly. SO, in conclusion, if their modern hip TYV set can handle more than one thing, the games should be able play.
On preview, drats bachelor#3 said it better than me.
posted by dabitch at 7:39 AM on December 1, 2004

PS2 games bought in the US will not work with European consoles without some sort of modification (chip or boot cd)...

The PAL-NTSC converter will let you use a PAL (European) console with an NTSC (American) TV. The NTSC-PAL converter will do the converse. Neither have anything to do with games, and neither is helpful for your situation, because your relatives' console and TV are both European already (would have helped them before they bought a new Euro console though).

In your situation, i'd see if I could buy European games for your relatives, maybe through Amazon UK or something?
posted by thirdparty at 8:45 AM on December 1, 2004

Thanks for all the answers - since one is 7 years old and the other is a technophobe then I am leaning towards the amazon.uk route rather than modding or using a converter.
posted by GrumpyMonkey at 9:06 AM on December 1, 2004

Amazon.co.uk is fine, but getting it shipped outside of the UK will be a problem. play.com is another UK site with similar prices to Amazon, but they ship to a few more European countries.
posted by quiet at 3:33 PM on December 1, 2004