Which Playstation 2?....... American or European....you decide.

chris007 · #1 10-07-2001, 18:05

Please help.

I've done it. I've gone out and purchased an American Playstation 2.
Whats wrong with that you ask. Well, I live in England and I am getting fed up with new titles coming out in America sometimes 6 months before us. The deciding factor was that of "Gallop Racer". A game which will NEVER hit these shores, but is massive in Japan & USA. Why can't somebody just see that these type of games ARE popular here.

To be honest I am a total novice when it comes to the Playstation 2 and (as my PS2 will take 5-10 days to arrive) can anybody tell me the positives and negatives of having an American PS2?

I know a "chipped" European PS2 will play backups etc but it WON'T play original Imported games, ONLY copies. Which means I need to patch copies which I just can't be bothered with.

Does anybody think I've made a bit of a mistake or am I "ahead of the game", as I now can play games 6 months in advance of my friends AND play region 1 DVD's.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

Dal · #2 11-07-2001, 06:56

Hey Chris,

Was there quite a difference in price between a Uk and Us PS2?? only that you can now get a mod chipped ps2 with AR2 cart for just over £230.00 which will play any games. then if you want it muti region DVD you can now buy a swap disc which is an extra 20 quid. The only reason i ask this is because im just about to purchase a PS2 and want to know all the facts before i buy.

Hope your pleased with it

Dal

chris007 · #3 11-07-2001, 12:31

Hi Dal

Thanks for the reply.

The best price you will get an imported Playstation 2 is $320 (£220 I think) + around £20 to import it.

If you want a list of importers let me know.

Please can you list which company is offering chipped PS2's at £230. The best price I could find was around £320 + cost of P+P and also you've lost your guarantee etc before the machines out the box. (could be very costly in the short term)

I still think I've made the correct choice but I would like to here from users of both machines please - chipped and unchipped.

Can anybody tell me what sort of power supply I need to use as I think the one which will come will "blow up" my PS2.

Thanks again
Chris

chris007 · #4 12-07-2001, 04:24

Just found a good site.

####://www.d3world.com/

You'll find here a CD which when inserted in your PS2 will allow you to play region 1 & 2 DVD's. This means NO CHIPPING!

The CD is only £19.99 so is worth a look.

Chris

chris007 · #5 12-07-2001, 04:28

Here's a few sites which sell PS2's:

$299 (£212)
####://www.kbkids.com/genProduct.html?WebID=000d579f5b3300474b9f5b330024 749f5b3300bc1d9f5b33&ctid=19&ls=vgames
-------------------

$339 (£234) PS2 + Gran Turismo 3

Leave your e-mail on this site if you want the link to the above offer.

Dal · #6 12-07-2001, 05:42

Hey Chris,

Thanks for your post, i double #####ed that price i gave yesterday and your right the cheapest around is £320.00. I reckon it was a type error.

If you could post some importers addresses then that would be great and please include where you got yours from if poss.

From looking around you can buy a replacement power supply, or a down convertor for your US PS2, i hear if you dont change the Power supply or get a down convertor you risk blowing the PS2, and you dont want that.

Hope to hear from you soon

Dal

email : dal_ramsay**********com

#7 12-07-2001, 08:03

To add a little spice ...
I bought a JAP PS2. You get a boot disk with it!

Thus got GT3 three months ahead of US!

Modchip the thing (with a US Modchip) and I didn't need the damn game ur supposed to have. Plays everything (except I haven't got UK DVD movies going) and I haven't bought any mod-chip protected games.

chris007 · #8 13-07-2001, 01:42

Hi Charlie.

Could you explain a little more about your Jap PS2.

Do you mean you have a disc which when inserted can then play all region PS2 games with no chipping?
How much did you pay?

(Dal-I will e-mail you the site that I have ordered my PS2 from. Spoke to a reviewer from PS2 magazine yesterday and he said he prefered the American PS2; I suppose he knows better than anyone. Can get a transformer for £35.....if someone knows where to get one cheaper please leave a post.)

Cheers
Chris

#9 13-07-2001, 06:14

Jap PS2 was bought in Hong Kong (but can be bought at Computer Exchange, Rathbone Place London). Came complete with UK mains adapter (because HK is UK mains compatible). The Boot Disk is actually a Utility Disk that enables drivers to be loaded into the memory card.
Used with a modchip.com mod chip, the boot disk gets the system booted and via the swap trick, the backup copy is inserted. We could just as well use any Jap Original Game if we had one (which we do).
I'm not sure if the current modchip version can use this boot disk and indeed I didn't upgrade my modchip to their latest version when it was sent to me. (www.modchip.com). No probs to date.
With a PAL TV and AV leads I play NTSC backups with a NTSC-PAL convertor in place; I play PAL backups with that device removed. US PS2 will require the same treatment I reckon.

Good luck

chris007 · #10 13-07-2001, 06:52

Thanks for your reply Charlie. Very interesting and informative.

There seems to be so many combinations that you can do with the PS2 I think some people can't see the wood for the trees!

Anybody else got an American PS2 or a Jap PS2?
I'm sure more people want to know more about this.

This is ####ting to get a bit of an interesting thread!

Chris

Dal · #11 13-07-2001, 12:51

Hey Chris,

Thanks for your reply, ##### your mail when you have a sec cos i have replyied and your find out when you read it that i cant find a replacement power supply that cheap for your US PS2. Hope all goes well and let me know how you get on when its delivered.

Dal

chris007 · #12 13-07-2001, 20:16

Hi Dal

Thanks for the e-mail.

You can get a step down transformer for £35 at:

####://www.projectk.com/

cheers
Chris

chris007 · #13 14-07-2001, 05:45

BUGGER!

Just had an e-mail from EB Games (where I purchased my American PS2) to say they "no longer take orders for the UK". Eh!

I have tried to purchase a PS2 from KBKids games ($299) and they don't take orders from the UK too.

Whats going on?

Anybody recommend a shop which DOES take orders from the Uk.
I've #####ed with Amazon and guess what....they don't take orders aswell.

Oh well, back to the drawing board........

Chris

#14 14-07-2001, 14:10

As I said - Computer Exchange Rathbone Place. I think they do US PS2s as well. But you're not looking at $299 I'm afraid. Crunch time eh?

Dal · #15 15-07-2001, 07:16

Chris,

Sorry to hear about your problems in the US i have decided to get my PS2 from the Uk with a new chip already pre-installed.

Let me know how you get on

Dal