HDTV isn't either PAL or NTSC, right? So the next gen consoles on the horizon won't have that distinction anymore...right?
HDTV isn't either PAL or NTSC, right? So the next gen consoles on the horizon won't have that distinction anymore...right?
Do any of the new consoles still have an RF modulator built in?
Were it so simple - my lovely upscaling Samsung DVD player outputs 1080i over HDMI, but my equally lovely new Toshiba TV accepts NTSC signal only. Doesn't sound like an issue, until I plug one into the other and I get sound, no video. Hook it up via composite and I get typical PAL-on-NTSC-only-TV nonsense.
The HDMI cable works as it is connecting my new DVD player I had to buy, but the damn Samsung won't output acceptable signal over HDMI. Worked fine on my old multisystem HDTV I had in Malaysia...
On this shitty sliver on evidence I concluded there's still some NTSC/PAL issues to resolve for the formats to go away, but it could be that I don't know what the hell i'm doing instead.
In theory no.
But in the same sense that games are now 'regionless' (PS3 and Xbox360 no longer are required to be region locked according to MS and Sony) its up to the publisher/developer to decide if they are going to keep it to a region and all the 'decent' Japanese 360 stuff is region locked to prevent importing and them loosing out on the American dollars when they eventually port it over here. I'm not sure of the full state of PS3 region locking though i'm sure its more or less in the same realm as the 360 region locking.
Because it makes no attempt to be great, it is therefore extremely great.
Some of My Game Collection Mah Mac n' Cheese Blog
Thankfully the only thing I know of that's been region locked was the Uncharted demo, which was quickly replaced by a region free version once people started bitching. Sadly, they had to redownload all 1.8GB or whatever it was over the slow PSN connection, but hey...free demo! Haven't tried the PS1 stuff on PSN outside of Xi, which was not region locked...not sure if the other PS1 releases maintain the region locking of the physical copies or not.
Anyone care to blow some cash finding out?
I'm a bit irked by the whole 360 region locking, though. For some Japanese games, we'll never see them in the US with Tetris Grand Master Ace probably being the most notable. Is there a region free Asian release of the game out there?
Open Game Lister | Partial Game Collection
Games Completed in: 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | Unknown
Oklahoma DP Roll Call!
The next generation of consoles will surely still support SDTV sets, even if only a small minority of people will be using them by then. So there will still be a PAL and NTSC. HDTV penetration is lower in Europe, and very low in Eastern Europe and Latin America. So unless they decide these markets aren't worth staying in, we won't have HDTV-only consoles just yet. They might make it so that all consoles support both PAL and NTSC, though. Most games already do.
Originally Posted by TheShawn
I didn't have to blow any money, but I got an answer for you, something I posted to my blog a little bit ago:
Since the U.S. PS1 downloads play just fine on a European PS3, this tells me that Sony is putting software locks in the U.S. PS3 to prevent it from playing PS1 downloaded games from the European PSN Store. Now why the hell would they be doing that?Originally Posted by breakingwindows.com
Last edited by meancode; 12-30-2007 at 05:47 PM.
Ken Edwards
Blogcritics.org Editor
Unless it breaks within the next several years, I'll still be using a standard-definition TV. So will my parents. And my friends. And everyone else I know.
Seriously, out of all of my friends, relatives, and coworkers, I only know four people who own HDTVs. They're still too expensive...and the various technologies (LCD vs. plasma vs. DLP, 720p vs. 1080p) are too confusing for many people.
Last edited by Rob2600; 12-30-2007 at 09:52 PM.
Five or six years down the road during the next console cycle, I guarantee there will be more than four people you know using HDTVs...just look at the price difference between six years ago and now on plasma and LCD TVs--there's no way that price isn't going to continually drop every year.
I'd guess it has to do with licensing. I absolutely can't think of anything else it could logically be. I've heard the rumor that the powers that be at SCEA think that providing classic PS1 games for download would gimp sales of original PSN titles... But that concept is very very stupid.
Or it could be that SCEA is headed up by idiots who hate making free money.
.... Probably that licensing thing.
As far as the PAL/NTSC thing goes, probably, assuming a few very important things; like something approaching a global signal standard being adopted, and worldwide software distribution agreements being put into place.
Does anyone have any real idea of how things work between different Sony companies? They don't seem to play nice together very well.