[Headly]

You can play discs without a chip but it is has a high risk of damaging your PS2. It involves prying the drive open with a screwdriver. Most non-solderchips will play all the games you need to. Depending on which one you get out of region games and\or EA games may need to be patched. Non-solder chips will also require a Action Replay disc to boot up with. Best way to go is a solder chip. Plays anything, any region with the swap disc and no patches. Best one out there is Messiah 2.