Xbox 360 (UK version) in the US

Question, for google is letting me down. If I take my UK-bought Xbox 360 to the US, will it a) work and b) play US-bought games?

I'm all questions these days, eh.

Comments

[Pixel Kill]

I hear a lot of US games aren't actually region encoded (hurrah!), http://vgplus.blogspot.com/ sometimes tests 360 NTSC games on PAL machines and posts if they work. For example I believe Dead or Alive 4 US worked in UK 360s.

You'll probably need some power converter doohicky too though.

[tom armitage]

Probably not.

Several games aren't region encoded - DOA4 and Ridge Racer 6 spring to mind - but most still are. Then there's the power issue; not sure if the transformer's multi-voltage or not.

So whilst some games might work, most won't, until there's some form of "chipping" style solution to multi-region play.

This is a bummer.

Still, DS/PSPs are multi-region, so you can take _some_ of your consoles without too much of a hit...

[Alice]

*sob*

I was fine with the DS, but my 360 has BARELY BEEN TOUCHED! it is not going into storage! that's too wrong.

[Alan Benard]

If you wish to use your 60-cycle AC game in the 50-cycle DC environment in the UK, you will find that the video is wack. That is, if the TV you are using is NTSC compatible -- the TVs there use PAL, a different system.

In short, I wouldn't bet on it.

Alan

[Kim]

Asked a friend on the xbox team:
- As far as teh display output: your box will output PAL and not NTSC. However, HD formats are teh same in either place. Good reason to go buy that HD set you've always wanted :-)

- Most retail games are region coded. Sorry, you'll have to order games from teh UK.

- Xbox Live Arcade titles are not region coded. Thus you can share in my Marble Blast Ultra addiction.

[Chef Booyadee]

Also, you can just get a VGA cable to hook up to any monitor and fuhget about the PAL/NTSC rivalry.

[soco]

it's possible to do, but there are some games that are region coded. it seems it's about half and half at the moment. all of the MS published games appear to be region coded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_360_games_without_region_encoding

is a semi-regularly updated list. there are some more recent ones linked to that.

the bigger problem may be finding a replacement power supply or decent power convertor that can handle the power draw of 360.

as everyone else has said US tvs don't support PAL, or even PAL60. you'll have to use VGA or HD to get around that.

[Alice]

Whoever invented region coding in the days of globalisation and the internet has the BRAINS of a MONKEY. And a greedy one at that.

[Ben Metcalfe]

- As far as teh display output: your box will output PAL and not NTSC. However, HD formats are teh same in either place. Good reason to go buy that HD set you've always wanted :-)

I think most Plasmas and LCD's (including non-HD) take both PAL and NTSC so if you have one of those you might be fine.

I doubt they'll be XBox360 chipping because of the way they've incorporated the "chipable parts" in the processor. You'd have to replace that, which would be difficult to produce and expensive to buy.

Region encoding is nothing short of cartelling - ensureing that prices can controlled in different countries and that releases are staggered to the benefit of the publishers.

At a national level, that kind of behaviour wouldn't be legal, or tollerated. But at an International level it's near-impossible to police.

[toony]

ive brought staints row from a store but it has ntsc on the top of the case will it still work on my xbox 360 which was brought in uk?

Has anyone got a specfic name/brand and specificatons of a power converter that works for a uk xbox 360 in the states?

[Dan]

Hi, can someone give it to me plain and simple - if i buy an Xbox 360 Premium Edition from America which is NTSC formatted will it work in the UK and also what games will i have to buy, American or English?

Thanks!

[Denis]

----Hi, can someone give it to me plain and simple - if i buy an Xbox 360 Premium Edition from America which is NTSC formatted will it work in the UK and also what games will i have to buy, American or English?

Thanks!

I was wondering about the same thing. And do most UK TVs support NTSC?

[Dave]

Hi - I've just moved to the US and have been going through the same hassles because I've brought my Xbox with me from the UK (brought my PS2 as well). But I've picked up a transformer from this site - http://www.voltage-converter-transformers.com/step-up-down-transformer.html - hope it helps.

I went for the 300W converter ($25) just to be sure on having enough power and spare capacity - I think the Xbox is only rated at 50-100W anyway - so it only cost me about $40 all in ($25 cost +~$15 postage) so that at least gets it powered on.

The problem then is the screen rate. I'm in a rented flat right now with a standard TV so I can't get a usable picture because of the whole 50Hz vs 60Hz thing. Guess I'm going to have to move out and get an LCD TV!

Unless anyone else out there knows of a way of getting the picture to convert somehow?

[Ritchie]

I've just bought saints row 2 from america through ebay, and i live in ireland, now, not knowing it was from america as it never said the address where it is, and it never said what region it was, i went ahead and bought it anyway.. so when it came i put it into my xbox 360 and i got the Region Not Supported error so i connected my xbox up to the internet and it asked me to download a dashboard update, so i downloaded it, xbox 360 restarted, saints row 2 was STILL in the xbox, and then, all of a sudden! the disk drive makes the noise it does when you put a game in and its loading up, and saints row 2 came on and worked 100%
so what that means is, you download the new dashboard and NTSC games should work, it might ask you to update for the game also, and it should work

[Ritchie]

also, the answer to all the t.v 50 HZ and 60 HZ, i think you should be able to buy a converter for the xbox to convert 60 HZ into 50 HZ and 50 into 60, they had one for the ps2, but im not sure about the xbox 360, if not, then buy a PlaySonic HD TV or else one of the old Panasonic 32" T.v's, the 60 and 50 HZ always worked for me on that. or you could just buy any new T.v in the shops now, every newly made tv seems to support 50 and 60

[d]

I got a question? Will UK 360 games work on the US consoles?