Potential issues with using a US 360 in the UK?

YerMum

Hi chaps, does anyone know if there are any potential pitfalls with buying a 360 (elite) in the US and then bringing it to the UK beyond the odd region locked game? My google-fu is failing me...

Thanks!

Einhander

How long do you plan on staying in the UK? A lot of games are region locked, and it's something that might grow in the future (especially EA's games, it seems). If you are moving to the UK, I'd reccomend you just wait it out and pick up a native system there.

Or, you could buy a 360 and sell it before you go, taking the hit on your wallet. But, if you think of it less like losing money and more like spending $100-$150 to rent a 360 for however many months it'll be before you move it might be a slightly more attractive deal (assuming the games you buy in the US will be playable on your UK 360).

Also, you'll need some kind of voltage converter to plug a North American power plug into a European outlet if you do bring an NA 360 over there.

bsjezz

yeah power will be your biggest problem. stick a uk (~220 Volts) power source into a us machine (~110) and it won't be red rings that leave you with a bricked console. usually the only workaround is to buy a step-down converter, and they can be quite expensive - you can't just get one of those universal plug adaptors, you need a big heavy box that accepts one voltage and outputs it as something else.

i'm not certain that this issue will affect the 360 (laptop transformers, for example, will accept both voltages) but chances are that it will. i'm sure you can find out easily enough - it'll say on the bottom of the case what input is suitable

Marx

They're not terribly expensive.

Something Witty

I'm using an American 360 in Germany ATM but I wouldn't reccomend it if you're moving to the UK. I mean it's fine with me because I have acess to the American bases here, where they sell American games and the like but if I didn't then I'd be SOL in the gaming department. Anyway I was under the impression that Europe uses the PAL format for DVDs and games, while Canada and the US use NTSC, and an NTSC game won't work in a PAL Xbox and vice versa. If you're living there long term it would probably be best the get a native 360 while you're there.

UltimaGecko

Marx wrote: »

They're not terribly expensive.

The problem there is that converter's usually aren't designed to run constantly. They get hot, and generally they recommend use for only about 15 minutes (although I'm sure there's probably a good one somewhere that takes care of that problem).