Hello all! The recent question re: videogame systems got me wondering: do your language centers (or classrooms) continue to offer region-free DVD players? Do they get much use? What alternatives are out there (is there such a thing as an external, region-free DVD drive?) for the occasional screening of a non-North American DVD? Thanks very much! Hope Fitzgerald UVA [log in to unmask] From: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Arthur Orme Sent: Friday, April 14, 2017 9:01 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Video games set up Audrey: This is a tricky area- Most video games consoles have regional encoding. The main regions are: Japan and Asia- NTSC-J, North and South America- NTSC-U, Europe, New Zealans and Australia-Pal, and China- NTSC-C. Some Regional lockouts have also been achieved with software authentication, slot/pin changes, Cartridge/case differences, and IP blocking. According to wikipedia, All playstation 3 games are region free- but some individual publishers have chosen to region lock certain games. Microsoft Xbox and Xbox360 are region locked BUT the Xbox one is not region blocked- but again individual games may be encoded. Your best bet would probably be Xbox one or playstation-3. That being said- my son regularly plays japanese games before they are made available here using computer proxy sites- that takes up a lot of computer space and he regularly deletes to make more room. Many of the international games do have different characters, content and locations so it would no doubt be a good learning experience On Thu, Apr 13, 2017 at 11:15 AM, Sartiaux, Audrey <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Hello, I'm looking into purchasing a big screen LCD TV and an Xbox or playstation for students to play video games in foreign langages. I'm looking for examples of set ups and especially name and language availability of games. Also, let me know how you play international games on a US box or if you had to buy a game box from other countries. Thank you for your help! Audrey -- Audrey Sartiaux, Ph.D. Director of the Language Center Union College, Schenectady, NY Ph: 518-388-6216