A favour from US to Europe RB fans

[Varsps]

i was wondering once you guys get the game in US next week, how long it will be before you know if the 360 version is region free or not? can you tell from the disc or manual, or is it a case of waiting until someone tries it out on a european console? id love to find out as soon as possible so i can decide whether to wait till EU release or not, coz even with shipping i suspect it'll be at least the same price if not cheaper.

thanks

[parastroke7]

It's pretty pathetic that HMX can't even tell people whether the game is region free or not.

Why are they being like this? I'm losing my respect for them slowly.

[Dabog666]

Well, either way , could ps3 owners do the same for me, and other ps3 owners too please?

[jq71586]

It's pretty pathetic that HMX can't even tell people whether the game is region free or not.

Why are they being like this? I'm losing my respect for them slowly.

Well some of us do know. I know my PS3 version will be region-free. So it's not all.

[Terranova]

i was wondering once you guys get the game in US next week, how long it will be before you know if the 360 version is region free or not? can you tell from the disc or manual, or is it a case of waiting until someone tries it out on a european console? id love to find out as soon as possible so i can decide whether to wait till EU release or not, coz even with shipping i suspect it'll be at least the same price if not cheaper.

thanks

I guess it depends where you are in Europe if it will be cheaper to import, i know it wont be in the UK as UK customs will get you for import and duty fess as the rock band bundle is far to big for them not to notice, the most you can import into the UK is £18 or £35 if it's marked as a gift, which is kind of hard to fool Customs that the Rock band only costs that much, i don't know what the import situation is for other countries but i would guess it's something similar.

[Varsps]

I guess it depends where you are in Europe if it will be cheaper to import, i know it wont be in the UK as UK customs will get you for import and duty fess as the rock band bundle is far to big for them not to notice, the most you can import into the UK is £18 or £35 if it's marked as a gift, which is kind of hard to fool Customs that the Rock band only costs that much, i don't know what the import situation is for other countries but i would guess it's something similar.

I am in UK, I know what you mean about customs, but even adding on 17.5 % thats still at current exchange rate approx £100 plus shipping. Its going to be at least £100 when it comes out in UK i think when GHII with guitar is £70

[Ryder35]

I am working on it being at least 160 ukp when it is realeased. What you have to ask yourself though is what price you put on 3 months extra play vs waiting for it in the UK. Life is too short to wait IMHO

[Varsps]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-dh-49-en-15-rock+band-70-23dw.html

this site is pretty good at showing what games are region free or not. At the moment its coming up as playable on NSTC only, but there again its not released yet. i've signed up for email updates, hopefully this will show us and then can maybe pre-order from here as and when it becomes available. The other thing is that even if it is region free, will there be stock available before xmas? im not too sure given the pre-order situation

[sa_nick]

Well, either way , could ps3 owners do the same for me, and other ps3 owners too please?

All PS3 games are region free. I live in Australia and pre-order rock band like a month or so ago.


http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-dh-49-en-15-rock+band-70-23dw.html

this site is pretty good at showing what games are region free or not. At the moment its coming up as playable on NSTC only, but there again its not released yet.

NTSC is different to region coding. Even if it isnt region coded you still need a TV that is compatible with NTSC, i assume all xbox's no matter what the region, are capable of NTSC?

[Varsps]

sorry, yes you need a TV compatable with NSTC, but also it's saying on that site that its 360 version playable on US consoles only at the moment

[tbradshaw]

On this topic, if someone overseas would like to find out a way to determine region encoding that can be done with US equipment, I'd be happy to test it for you right away.

Anything reasonable that can be done on a US XBox 360, or on a PC using a DVD drive, I'm willing to try out. I like spelunking around inside of game data disks anyway.

Update: (By "right away", I mean after the 20th when I pick up my copy.)

[GHudston]

I'm sure there is a way, when GH3 was found to be region free someone posted a screenshot from their computer of a window full of information from the disk, part of which said that it had no region protection.

There must just be some software for download somewhere, surely?

Knowing a week early would really help, I know that several people have actually ordered a copy "just in case" which they could cancel and save themselves some money. And if we found out early (as some people already have copies) then there's a chance that those of us without pre orders MAY still find themselves a copy for sale somewhere or, if not, at least know when to start scouring the depths of ebay. :)

[Trondala]

The most probable reason for it not beeing released in europe yet is probably the production output of instruments. If everyone in europe starts ordering form the US it will cause a shortage there as well as postphoning the european realease, so it's not an ideal solution.

It's true that PS3 games are region free, and xbox games are generally not. What would really be interesting to know is how a us version would work in europe in regards to dlc and online play....

[GHudston]

In fairness, I don't see that as being much of a problem. Only the most hardcore rock band fans in europe will import due to the cost of importing such a HUGE box and also paying the tax and so on should customs start asking questions.

The number of copies that will be imported will be minimal, and if the 360 version is region free then I'll be importing it (if the DLC is a problem then I'll just play the US game until the european release eventually comes out and just buy the game by itself) if it's NOT region free... well, then I'm going to have to finally shell out for a ps3, aren't I?

Yeah... I'm that impatient. :D

[tbradshaw]

Do you know for sure that it's a simple as checking for traditional region encoding on the DVD? If that's all there is, I can post the results from that around 1:00am on the 20th.

[GHudston]

I don't know anything for sure, but I'm pretty sure that xbox 360 region encoding is different entirely from the region encoding used on DVDs.

I've had a good search and haven't found anything so far, I can't even find that screenshot that I mentioned. I'll keep looking, but like I said, my knowledge on this is limited so I'm not sure I'll have too much luck.

If you can figure it out when you get your copy, or someone with a copy now can find out that would be very much appreciated. Of course, don't spend too much time puzzling over it, I wouldn't want anyone getting in the way of my time with Rock Band on it's release date so I won't be expecting the same from you.

If worst comes to worst, us europeans will have to wait until someone brave enough to pre-order gets their copy and tries it out!