XBOX360 'ZONE'

I'm told that when you first boot up your 360, you have to choose a 'zone'... is it true?

and if so, do you think this determins the region lock?

 

Well, it depends on which you are referring to. On initial boot up you have to specify your location, but the 360 specifically mentions this has no effect on the DVD Region (and one assumes game region as well).

But as part of Xbox live you also specify a "gamer zone", descriptions as follows:

The 'zone' you choose determines how you get matched up with other people on Xbox live, but you can always change your zone if needed. For example, on my gamercard below you can see i'm on the 'underground' zone. Basically the zones are there to try and seperate people who are playing for fun, from "pro" players, or keeping kids away from people who would be cussing up a storm, etc.

 

You can also choose your country, which is what hes getting at I think, but that can be changed anytime.

 

Indeed. Country can be changed at any time.

 

But that does not determin the whole region lock thing, right?

 

No. Just like on the PS2, the Xbox 360 is region locked to the country it is purchased in no matter what you set you local country settings to.

-hl718

 

No the 360 is not region locked! The games are meant to be region locked however its up to developers to do this. Aparently several of the launch games are not region locked.

There are also various xbox games that are not region locked.

 

Paulo, the *games* may not be region locked, but the *console* itself is.

An Xbox 360 bought in North America will identify itself as North American for games and Region 1 for DVDs.

An Xbox 360 bought in Europe will identify itself as European for games and Region 2 for DVDs.

Now, if you put in a game with a world region code, of course it's going to run just fine in a European Xbox 360. Same as if you put a DVD with a region code of ALL into a Region 2 DVD player. It simply plays.

Now if you put a game with a North American region code into a European console it'll pop up an error message and refuse to run same as if you tried to play a Region 1 DVD in a Region 2 player.

The only Xbox 360 consoles that are not region locked are the devkits. All the retail consoles do have a region. It may be possible in the future to change the region via third party tools (just like you could edit your Xbox settings by editing the EEPROM on a modded system), but no one knows when or if that will happen.

-hl718

 

Eh, DVDs are no worries, thats when you use DVD shrink to make them region free