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US & European game formats


ThetaOrionis01

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Could someone enlighten me please as to the difference between US and European game formats? Is the difference solely in the display (NTSC rather than PAL)? How would this manifest itself? Does this apply only to older/newer games, or any game?

 

And most importantly, does this make a US region game unusable on a UK computer?

 

I've seen some games I'm after on ebay, but only in the US format.... :undecided:

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PC games isn't a problem. You can download a US abandonware game and it'll work fine on any EURO PC.

 

However for consoles its a different story. US games can't play on UK consoles and vice-versa.

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As Dark0ne said, absolutely no problem with PC games.

 

In case of video games, from a technical point of view there is no difference except how the game is displayed (i.e. either higher frequency and less character rows or more character rows and lower frequency). What is necessary to say, this is less the developers' decision, but is based on the fact that TV's in America and Europe work differently (and since consoles usually require a TV...)

Of course, programmers sometimes make minor alterations to the game content when a game is converted from NTSC to PAL, but that differs from game to game.

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Older PAL tv's can't display NTSC except in black and white, but that's a non-issue with modern tv's. To play console games from other countries you'll need to have your console chipped - it does void your warranty but it isn't illegal (unless it's an xbox).
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