PS2 - NTSC/PAL

the shutdown man · 17 January, 2008, 09:20:56 AM

Okay, I've never really been a console person, but I recently got a PS2, and I pick up cheap games here and there. I bought two games off a third-party seller on amazon.com, not realising that there's a difference between NTSC PS2s and PAL PS2s, and when I got them yesterday, they don't work. Foolishness on my part I know, but I just assumed that PS2s were universal (like I said, I'm more of a PC man). Does anyone know if there's any way to play NTSC games on a PAL PS2? I've heard of getting them chipped but that seems dodgy and expensive....

Satanist · 17 January, 2008, 10:10:21 AM

Chipped is the only way I know.

Mines chipped and its been fine.

the shutdown man · 17 January, 2008, 10:53:07 AM

Well, I may just end up trying to sell the games and getting PAL versions. From what I've heard it'd cost about the same as getting the thing chipped.

Bico · 17 January, 2008, 01:13:02 PM

US PS2s can be found here and there for buttons if you look (although with the dollar in the toilet, they're pretty cheap to import), and it might be worth considering getting one if you're a fan of RPGs and licenced titles based on anime properties, as quite a few don't get a PAL conversion.

Otherwise, your best bet is to sell them on and scour rental outlets' pre-owned sales bins for the PAL versions. Out of curiosity, what were the games?

the shutdown man · 17 January, 2008, 02:53:14 PM

Soul Calibur 3 and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent.

I've actually just gone and found them going cheap second-hand while out on my lunch break so I picked them up. And on a three for two deal, so I threw in an extra game as well. I hadn't been able to find the games anywhere locally before, that's why I had ordered them off the net.

But now, I have two useless versions, but I figure with the cheapo versions I've picked up, plus one game extra, all the money still balances out into an okay deal.

Bico · 17 January, 2008, 03:07:22 PM

Careful with Soul Calibur 3, as if you delete or modify the save data on your memory card while there's an SC3 save on it, it corrupts the save, making it unusable.

Keef Monkey · 17 January, 2008, 03:09:27 PM

I remember getting a US copy of the Evil Dead game for PS1, and there was a complicated combo of disc swapping during the initial loading which fooled the console into thinking it was british. Because of the disc drives on the PS2 that's not possible anymore though, and it did eventually kill my PS1.

the shutdown man · 17 January, 2008, 03:21:33 PM

"Careful with Soul Calibur 3, as if you delete or modify the save data on your memory card while there's an SC3 save on it, it corrupts the save, making it unusable."

How'd you mean? It corrupts the Soul Calibur savegame, or it corrupts all the other saves on the card?

worldshown · 17 January, 2008, 05:42:04 PM

From Wiki.

File corruption problems
Another issue that arose during the game's release was a file corruption problem. Players were finding their save files (usually the Chronicles of the Sword file) corrupted for seemingly no reason. This led to severe frustration since most of the game's content was unlocked in the Chronicles of the Sword mode. The corruption usually occurs when a player erases or moves any game data not related to Soul Calibur III that was saved before the file's creation date from their memory card when they have data from Soul Calibur III on the same card.

If you start your Soul Calibur III saves on a fresh memory card you will be alright. That's what I did and I've had no problems.

I, Cosh · 17 January, 2008, 08:06:51 PM

I'm not one to encourage software piracy (or criminal acts of any kind) but the main reason for getting your Playstation2 chipped was so you could buy cheap, knocked off games from the Barras.

Keef, your post has brought back fond memories of three of us spending a whole 24 hours trying to master the double-swap technique. Harder to master than any Tekken combo, but it quickly became second nature.

Satanist · 18 January, 2008, 09:06:23 AM

"you could buy cheap, knocked off games from the Barras. "

I've never heard of the place and I wasnt even there and you cant prove nufink!

ThryllSeekyr · 18 January, 2008, 11:19:58 AM

Same thing happened to me when I decided to order 'Dredd vs Death' and 'Rogue Trooper' through Amazon.com,UK as well.

They sent me the NTSC ( Made only for Distribution in Canada.) version of both games. I was annnoyed and I let Amazon.com,UK know about it.

They refunded my money. Which was good.

You should try contacting Amazon.com about this and get your money back.

You see, I understood that there were other versions of the same game that wouldn't work on my console if I ordered them from another country. So I even let them know I wanted console games that are meant for Australian distribution because I own a Playstation Two console made for Austrlaina standards and I thought it extremly slack of them to send two games that didn't work on my machine.

So, I now know. I got to look for the PAl logo on the top right hand corner. Sometimes It's hard to find. When You are looking at a small photograph of the plastic disc box. Looking at what is being advertised on Amazon.com or Ebay. Though they usaulley have this also written in the game specifications.

I asked Amazon.com if they have the Pal versions of this game in stock and they said. NO.

So later on that day, I ended up ordering the games throught a shop called 'DungeonCrawl' in Melbourne Victoria. They advertised the games on Ebay when I looked for them and a week later they arrived.

Great games they are too.

Which is good, considering no store close to me will sell either of these games anymore.

Anyway, how does this disc swapping work on the Playstation Two.

Satanist · 18 January, 2008, 11:33:53 AM

"Anyway, how does this disc swapping work on the Playstation Two."

You cant disc swat the PS2, that was back in the day of PS1.

You could stick down a tab at the back of the lid so the machine thought the lid was closed, boot up a UK disc and then at the right moment swap it quickly for the US version or ***ahem*** back up disc.

Or you could just buy the switch which plugged in the back or get it chipped.

PS1 eh, those were the days.

ThryllSeekyr · 18 January, 2008, 11:54:49 AM

I could still do that.

I do have Playstion One as well.

Actualley, I was abit dissapointed that the Paystation Two doesn't have a graphics equaliser like the PlayStation One for weh you are playing a musci cd on them.

I rung up Sony asking why the Playstion Two doesn't have the same feature.

They agreed with me as well.