AskMefi Q about Trans-National XBL Access

[GilloD]

I'd like to get an XBox360. I live in Japan, but I'm not really interested in playing Japanese XBox360 games. The two options are buying a US XBox360 and importing US region games, or buying a Japanese XBox360 and importing Asia region games (unlike Japanese region games, almost always in English). Since I'd be playing English language games either way, and importing either way, the deciding factor, then, is XBox Live US Marketplace access.
"
How is XBox Marketplace access restricted? Would I be able to access the US marketplace from a Japanese XBox360 physically located in Japan with a registered US gamertag, or would it be impossible because the XBox region would not match the marketplace region? Could I even register a US gamertag, considering that I don't plan to use a credit card, but just point cards? Would I be locked out because my IP address is in Japan but the marketplace I'm trying to access is in America? If I were to buy point cards, would the point cards have to match the region I'm trying to use them in? If so, I'd import US point cards, but would they even work on a Japanese region XBox360?

The information on the net is incredibly contradictory, and apparently there was a patch in the last year or so which increased the restrictiveness, so some old information and new information is getting mixed and making it even harder to figure out.

I tried asking the folks at XBox, but they clearly didn't know what they were talking about, and contradicted themselves a lot, because these are not the really common questions.",

http://ask.metafilter.com/73201/Questions-about-XBox360-Marketplace-access-from-outside-the-US#comment

Maybe one of you guys has a better answer?

[brawndolicious]

if you say you're from the U.S, Japan, EU or whatever and give a legitimate address from there and select an appropriate language, you would use the marketplace for that region.

demos usually get released all in the same marketplace but I heard that in the Japan marketplace, the movie selection is dwarfed by that of the US one so it would make sense (if you're going to live in japan) to make a (silver) Live account with a US address to download marketplace movies.

however, XBL might also check your ISP so if they see you're actually from japan, they might not let you download it anyways.

it says you have to pay to register there so could you please post that.

[demi]

Would I be able to access the US marketplace from a Japanese XBox360 physically located in Japan with a registered US gamertag, or would it be impossible because the XBox region would not match the marketplace region?

You would need to use a gamertag registered for that particular country.

Could I even register a US gamertag, considering that I don't plan to use a credit card, but just point cards?

Points are region-locked I believe. You would have to find someone who would sell US point cards.

Would I be locked out because my IP address is in Japan but the marketplace I'm trying to access is in America?

No

If I were to buy point cards, would the point cards have to match the region I'm trying to use them in? If so, I'd import US point cards, but would they even work on a Japanese region XBox360?

Yes, No

The information on the net is incredibly contradictory, and apparently there was a patch in the last year or so which increased the restrictiveness, so some old information and new information is getting mixed and making it even harder to figure out.

That was just for the Video Marketplace, due to content licensing restrictions

[bugbread]

Thanks.  I was the asker on MeFi, and I'm just a little clear on one thing: 

Demi, you indicate that I would have to buy US point cards (not a problem for me) to use the US Marketplace, but then say that US point cards will not work on a Japanese XBox360.

Does that mean, then, basically, that my choices are:
1) Buy a US XBox360, US point cards, create a US gamertag, and access the US Marketplace from Japan, or
2) Buy a Japanese XBox360, Japanese point cards, create a Japanese gamertag, and access the Japanese Marketplace from Japan?

But not:

3) Buy a Japanese XBox360, US point cards, create a US gamertag, and access the US Marketplace from Japan?

(Oh, and I probably should have mentioned, I want Marketplace access just for the demos and added content. I don't care about downloading movies or TV shows)

[demi]

What I meant was the codes from US cards wouldnt work on Japanese marketplace, I dont believe the machine matters. Option #3 is still viable.

What I would imagine you can do is

* Buy Japanese 360
* Make Japanese default tag (since you live there)
* Make US gamertag for accessing US content
* Buy/import US point cards for use on US marketplace

There are some caveats to this. For example, some DLC is not compatible with other regions (Forza 2 comes to mind).

There are other Japanese X360 users here who could answer your question better than I can, I'll get them to post in this thread.

[bork]

I live in Japan too, and have a Japanese 360.  The J360 is better for you since it's cheaper, plus you get all those cheap Asian games to play, and Japanese-only titles.  Many American games are region-free, too.

This is what I do regarding the marketplace- I have two Xbox Live gamertags.  My main account is my old Xbox Live tag, an American account.  There is no restriction with buying content or XBLA games even though you're outside the U.S.  The only thing locked out are movie rentals and TV show purchases.  Those are for the U.S. region only.  I buy point cards online; it's very easy to find online retailers you can buy the points from and get the codes instantly via e-mail.  This is absolutely no problem; don't worry about it.

My other account is a silver Japanese tag that I use to download or purchase the occasional Japanese only content off of.   If you buy something on a J account, you CAN use it on an American account, BUT should get another Xbox 360 (because, you know...it WILL break on you at some point) and use the same hard drive, the content becomes locked to whatever account you purchased it on.  In other words, it's best to stick to one account, and I'd highly recommend the American one.  A Japanese gold account is gimped in terms of content. 

Basically it really doesn't matter what hardware you buy; just make an American Live account and you're good to go as long as you have a valid credit card.  IIRC the site I get my points from even takes Paypal.

[bugbread]

Thanks!  You've been extremely helpful.

One last question, not related to Marketplace, that y'all may be able to answer:

On the XBox1, the region for games was preset in the machine (i.e. a Japanese XBox could only be used for Japanese games), but the DVD region was not set until you put in a DVD for the first time.  So if you the first DVD you ever put in your Japanese XBox was an American (region 1) DVD, you'd have a Japanese XBox that played only Japanese region games, but played only region 1 DVDs (not Japanese region 2 DVDs).

Is the current XBox360 like that?  Or does it come preconfigured to only play region 2 DVDs?

[demi]

I think it's pre-configured this time around

You could always stream media from a PC, I suppose

[bork]

Thanks!  You've been extremely helpful.

One last question, not related to Marketplace, that y'all may be able to answer:

On the XBox1, the region for games was preset in the machine (i.e. a Japanese XBox could only be used for Japanese games), but the DVD region was not set until you put in a DVD for the first time.  So if you the first DVD you ever put in your Japanese XBox was an American (region 1) DVD, you'd have a Japanese XBox that played only Japanese region games, but played only region 1 DVDs (not Japanese region 2 DVDs).

Is the current XBox360 like that?  Or does it come preconfigured to only play region 2 DVDs?

It's region-locked.

[bugbread]

Ok, cool, thank you all very much.  You've helped me finally make my purchasing decision.