By Christian Schaller
Ever been frustrated by the availability of a game you really want in the US or Japan, long before it becomes available here in Europe? Well all hope is not lost as Playstation 3 games are region free and and thus you can play US and Japanese games on your European Playstation without any problems. Well kinda, there are some things you need to be aware of before enjoying the wild and wacky world of importing your own games.
The first thing you need to consider has nothing to do with your playstation or the games in question, but is related to your local laws and taxes. Many countries here in Europe have quite low thresholds for when you need to pay customers and VAT on the stuff you order from abroad. So you should figure out what that threshold is before ordering and make sure your parcels stay below that threshold if possible. In addition to the actual VAT and customs you might also get handling fees from the post office etc., so the total price if you cross the threshold end up being very expensive. In some countries they include the cost of your postage into the total price of your parcel, so remember that if you buy something for 39.90 GBP and the threshold in your country is about 40 GBP, the postage could take you over the threshold. So make sure the place you order from send each item you order as a separate parcel, to keep the parcel price low.
The second thing you need to keep in mind is that while the games are region free, the DLC (Down Loadable Content) that might come out for it usually isn't. So if you have a US copy of a game you need to get the DLC from the US PSN Store. For free content this is not a problem, you just create yourself a US PSN account, but for content which you have to pay for this will basically make the DLC unavailable to you. This problem might go away in the future as value vouchers for the PSN store is supposed to become available, so you can probably order value vouchers from places like Amazon.com and use them in the US PSN store, but until the vouchers actually are available we can't be sure. Once these vouchers become available we will probably even be able to get full PSN games from the US store.
The third thing you need to be aware of is that for games which have online modes you might find yourself at a disadvantage in the beginning as the only servers available will be in the US or Asia, giving you bad ping times and thus issues like lag. Once the game is launched in Europe this problem will of course go away as European servers become available. Keep in mind thought that while all the PS3 games I have tried playing online so far have given you access to servers from all regions this might not be the case always, so worst case scenario you might be stuck having to play on US or Asian servers depending on where you got the game from.
The fourth thing to keep in mind is that of language. Especially if you order games from Asia there is a good chance they only come with Japanese or other asian languages. And US releases tend to only include English language (although I do detect a slowly growing trend of also including Spanish language support in the US). This issue might even pop up inside Europe, for instance my Spanish copy of COD3 turned out to only include French and Spanish language which was a slight irritation for me.
The fifth and last thing to keep in mind is that if you are using a non-HD TV for your PS3 gaming then you need to make sure your TV supports displaying NTSC content in addition to PAL when you order from the US. For HD this is not an issue as 720p, 1080i and 1080p is the same everywhere, but for standard definition displays this might be an issue. That said unless your TV is quite old it is likely to be able to deal with NTSC signals.
Personally I only import games which I expect to not get any DLC and which are single-player only. So far I bought Ratchet & Clank and Devil May Cry 4 from the US. R&C I ordered from the US to get it early and DMC4 I ordered from the US to save money, as the PS3 version of the game was priced quite a bit more here in the UK. I have also ordered quite a few Blu-Ray movies from the US, as most of them are region free.
In terms of where to order from, I have tried and been happy with MovieTyme for US stuff and Yesasia.com for Asian imports so far. Amazon.com is also a pretty sure option for US orders. I haven't ordered any games yet from yesasia, but I bought my DualShock3 controllers from them and a friend got Gran Tourismo Prologue. A plus about Movietyme is that they tell you which Blu-Ray movies are region free and thus viewable on your European Playstation 3. If you find a good deal on a website you don't know, I suggest googling them a bit to get a feel for if they are a serious business or not, it was recommendations from other gamers online, including in the threespech forums that pointed me to yesasia and movietyme.
I hope this little article is a useful introduction to the wild and wacky world of importing games from around the world for your Playstation 3.