so how is the region lock with newer 360s?

[konakona]

I couldn't justify purchasing a console as most of my gaming is done on computers. Only if the cost of ownership dips below 100 I would bite, I thought, and it just so happened that target had a wonderful deal on arcade models. Went ahead and bought one for ~$86 (provided I could sell off that $50GC somehow)

Now, I am not all too keen on xbox 360 releases but I do get the message that FPS games tend to be most prominent on this platform. Aside Halo 3 and Gow2, I think I would enjoy it much better on my PC. Rather, what I am interested is import titles like Idol M@ster, Chaos head NOAH and Dream Club.

As I was doing my research on flashing the firmware, I was introduced to this evil known as region lock. Most of these games I am potentially interested in are locked to NTSC-J (some are open to NTSC asia but YMMV), which greatly reduces value of this console to me. The said games are being sold on Playasia, but I wouldn't commit to buying any without prior knowledge of compatibility.

I was told some of the earlier versions were moddable to become region free, but they might have **fixed** this in the later versions. Not sure if I really care for Live much (as in getting banned for JTAG mods is not such a terrible outcome), I would most likely play singleplayer games far often. Is there a working anti-region lock mod out there?

The one I got is a Jasper I believe, manufactured on 2010-04-06.

 

[konakona]

Well I did some more research on my own, and it turns out there is absolutely no way of getting around this stupid lockdown no matter what, short of buying another console with the appropriate region code

Seriously, I would gladly give up XBL, which I doubt I would ever use, if someone could just come up with a hack of some sort..

There is one I found at the end of this thread: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puz...s.php?topic_id=m-1-50474387&pid=958275&page=3
I think I am SOL since my Jasper is fairly new (how do you go about checking the kernel version again?)

 

[mmntech]

If you play a lot of Asian games, you might want to check out the PS3 instead. It's not region locked.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

I was under the impression that it was up to developers whether or not to region lock their games for the 360. But I may be wrong...

 

[konakona]

If you play a lot of Asian games, you might want to check out the PS3 instead. It's not region locked.

no, there are no games that appeal to me on the PS3 side. I think MS is specifically trying to address otaku population, hence you have games like chaos head series (no im@s on ps3 either). Plus I hate sony (duh), PS3 is too pricey. TBH I wouldn't have bought an 360 either if it wasn't for that target deal ($100 or less or no deal, period).

I was under the impression that it was up to developers whether or not to region lock their games for the 360. But I may be wrong...

no one seems to know for sure, but at least according to the thread that I have linked right there you might be right. Mushihimesama Futari did come out without a region lock (no localization) and earned some fandom in western coutnries; why can't Namco wise up and do the same?

 

[Queasy]

Look up games at play-asia.com. That will tell you which games are compatible between Japan and the US.

 

[konakona]

Look up games at play-asia.com. That will tell you which games are compatible between Japan and the US.

oops, I guess my initial post was somewhat unclear. I have already checked their list and confirmed the said games only work in NTSC-J. The part that remained unclear to me at the time of posting was whether they differentiate between NTSC-J and NTSC-asia consoles, the answer to which I already know. The remaining part of the puzzle is how one would go about flashing the console's firmware, if my version is applicable that is. The title for the thread really should have been rephrased to something like: Is there a working anti-region-lock hack out there?

 

[EightySix Four]

oops, I guess my initial post was somewhat unclear. I have already checked their list and confirmed the said games only work in NTSC-J. The part that remained unclear to me at the time of posting was whether they differentiate between NTSC-J and NTSC-asia consoles, the answer to which I already know. The remaining part of the puzzle is how one would go about flashing the console's firmware, if my version is applicable that is. The title for the thread really should have been rephrased to something like: Is there a working anti-region-lock hack out there?

You'll have to get a modded box, but it can be done. Check xbox-scene.com

 

[konakona]

Strangely, I found a bunch of threads in their forums that relate to the topic of my interest but unable to load the pages (no text after opening them in new tabs)!

One thing I did find though: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=621073
So I gotta draw the line there, I don't care for region free and well aware that it isn't possible at all. Rather, what I want is a region switch to NTSC-J. Another thread I have read suggests that is only possible with pre-HDMI models which mine obviously is not. Even if I had the right version, I would have needed infectus mod chip on top of that. No trivial matter indeed

Still a bit dated, but more recent discussion on the matter:

http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php...ee0925370d61225d6cc3&topic=12265.msg81245#new
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=693753

So I should probably look into JTAG hacking and KeyVault modder. The guy in the second link has a falcon, so there is no telling if the same applies to Jaspers however.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=698328
my kernel is 2.0.9199.0 so no XBR for me boohoo

Looks like Cygnos360 v2 + FreeBoot is the only thing that works for my console. Time to sit down and think if it's worth 40 some dollars and modding trouble

 

[Narmer]

Why don't you sell your American xbox and get a Japanese/Asian one? These cannot be too difficult to find considering how unreliable xboxes are.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Why don't you sell your American xbox and get a Japanese/Asian one? These cannot be too difficult to find considering how unreliable xboxes are.

Are there video signal issues doing this? Also sounds like he wants something cheap and imported xbox could be more expensive.

 

[konakona]

Why don't you sell your American xbox and get a Japanese/Asian one? These cannot be too difficult to find considering how unreliable xboxes are.

I have checked playasia's console section and all the cheaper versions (arcade variants) are sold out. The next cheapest thing I found was like $250ish. Plus I am not sure which version I would be getting in that case, I sure don't want anything that is more RRoD prone than Jasper is.

Sadly I know of no other channels for NTSC-J 360 imports.

Are there video signal issues doing this? Also sounds like he wants something cheap and imported xbox could be more expensive.

don't think so, people seem to play fine as long as the region lock is dealt with. NTSC is NTSC after all... Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember there being some difference in how blank signal (?) is treated. Sounded like a minor issue though.

 

[nastymoon]

crap there's a region lock on the new 360 well scrap that im buying a ps3 now

 

[konakona]

crap there's a region lock on the new 360 well scrap that im buying a ps3 now

what kinda games do you play? if you just play western games, most of them are region free other than PAL / NTSC incompatibility if any. I want to play some japanese games released for japan/asia only, which is when you start seeing tons of region locked titles (most if not all)

 

[bdubyah]

Might check xboxscene again. I was having issues a few days ago too, but it seems to be fine now.

 

[TekDemon]

If you have a modded box that'll run a backup you can rip the game, remove the region lock, reburn it as a backup then play that-which is a pain in the butt but would get rid of the region lock. Even modded consoles will read the region lock but since they can run backups you can strip the region lock on the backup.

 

[konakona]

If you have a modded box that'll run a backup you can rip the game, remove the region lock, reburn it as a backup then play that-which is a pain in the butt but would get rid of the region lock. Even modded consoles will read the region lock but since they can run backups you can strip the region lock on the backup.

Wait, so you are saying if you are willing to deal with the trouble of ripping, you could remove region lock on the backups without doing anything about the region lock on the consoles? Brilliant!

 

[AlucardX]

Wait, so you are saying if you are willing to deal with the trouble of ripping, you could remove region lock on the backups without doing anything about the region lock on the consoles? Brilliant!

yes, but that's assuming you have a modded xbox that would play burned games.

 

[snoturtle]

yes, but that's assuming you have a modded xbox that would play burned games.

From all of the searching I have done the only way that this works is if the 360 has the JTAG hack not just the firmware hack

If there is a way to do this without the JTAG hack I would love to know

 

[konakona]

yeah AlucardX I was on my way to flash my lite-on, but wanted to get everything done while at it without having to open it again soon for the cygnos360 v2. (XBReboot doesn't work on the newer models so this seemed to be the only way)

 

[Pia]

I'm finally going to get a JP 360 now that the slims are out. Either the normal, or the Arcade if the JP version comes out soon enough - I don't think they have announced it for JP yet.

 

[konakona]

I'm finally going to get a JP 360 now that the slims are out. Either the normal, or the Arcade if the JP version comes out soon enough - I don't think they have announced it for JP yet.

Only if they had pc ports of the said games grrr

 

[Pia]

Only if they had pc ports of the said games grrr

It's a no brainer for anyone who loves games to prefer everything to be on the PC, since it's the strongest and most versatile platform and doesn't require you to re-buy peripherals like consoles do, but the Japanese market in particular wouldn't support it. AFAIK, the bulk of their domestic PC games (which they have tons of) have low spec requirements, import games & "gaming" spec PCs are not common, so a Japanese dev making a more technically intensive game naturally targets a console.

Second best would be that the devs released on a region free console, of which PS3 is currently the only one. But Sony holds an iron grip on their system and wants everything to appear sufficiently "next gen" to not tarnish the image of their precious high-tech entertainment center (which also maybe plays games...). So the arcade games I love aren't allowed on there, and I buy two 360s instead of a PS3. Nice job, Sony.

I do hold out hope that JP developers will eventually start experimenting and e.g. bring something out on Steam. I wonder if Steam has any customer base in Japan?

 

[konakona]

tbh though there are enough japanese games on the pc side (visual novels) I could get myself occupied with, so I don't feel like spending too much time/energy/money over this.

you could be right about the platform choice from the dev's standpoint, but I don't see how im@s has high requirement by any stretch of imagination; more like a business driven decision (I heard DLC for that game outsold everything else by far, maybe xbl is the preferred marketing channel for such)

the problem with sony I also heard is their penchant to be "mainstream friendly" kinda like nintendo is/was/has been. Geeky games find their way more often on the 360 side, where they try to penetrate the adamant japanese audience thru niche segments.

 

[Pia]

tbh though there are enough japanese games on the pc side (visual novels) I could get myself occupied with, so I don't feel like spending too much time/energy/money over this.

In that genre I guess that is the case. In arcade games, there really isn't a viable alternative to the (JP) 360. The importable region free titles are really great, so someone who wants to try these games doesn't really need a JP region 360 right off the bat, but there is twice as much good stuff which is JP only.

you could be right about the platform choice from the dev's standpoint, but I don't see how im@s has high requirement by any stretch of imagination; more like a business driven decision (I heard DLC for that game outsold everything else by far, maybe xbl is the preferred marketing channel for such)

I didn't say high requirements - I said more technically intensive (than the ultra-low requirements of the visual novels and other games which form the bulk of the Japanese PC game market). I'm not so sure that im@s would run on the bulk of the PCs of the Japanese PC gamers.

the problem with sony I also heard is their penchant to be "mainstream friendly" kinda like nintendo is/was/has been. Geeky games find their way more often on the 360 side, where they try to penetrate the adamant japanese audience thru niche segments.

Might be more of a result of MS being the only game in town, since Sony and Nintendo flat out won't allow those games.