NTSC-C - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Regional lockout

Regional lockout is the programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed on the version of the same device marketed in another country.-Video games:...

created in 2003 by Sony Computer Entertainment

Sony Computer Entertainment

Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...

for the official launch of its PS2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

gaming system into the mainland Chinese

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

market.

Mainland Chinese market

The system's original model, then called PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

, was launched back in 2000 in Japan, North America, Europe, Oceania and South East Asia, it was not introduced in mainland China because of the local mass piracy system. In November 2003, Sony China Chairman Hiroshi Soda explained the situation: "Sony was previously reluctant to introduce PlayStation 2 into the Chinese market due to the piracy problem. But we changed our minds as we think that the piracy situation cannot be controlled 100 percent, not only in China but also in many other countries and regions in the world. We have to be courageous, to face the reality."

However the situation changed in November 2003 as Sony China announced the PlayStation 2 (SCPH-50009 "Satin Silver" type) was planned to be launch in mainland China for Christmas, official release date was December 20, 2003. Sales would be first limited to five large industrialized cities Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

, Shenzhen

Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...

and Chengdu

Chengdu

Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...

, then distribution would start in the whole country. However on the eve of Christmas, arguing an "unfavorable environment", Sony China delayed the mainland release to next year with the system's new "slim" type PSTwo and sales limited to Shanghai and Guangzhou. Meanwhile Kenichi Fukunaga, a Sony Japan spokesmans in Tokyo, reportedly declared "the company simply had not prepared in time for the China launch".

The "NTSC/C" regional lockout for mainland China was specially created as the system is also a home NTSC

NTSC

NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...

DVD player

A DVD player is a device that plays discs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. These devices were invented in 1997 and continue to thrive...

with its specific Zone 6 regional code

DVD region code

DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

which is not compatible with the bordering countries, Japan is Zone 2, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan are both Zone 3, etc.

The first batch of NTSC/C games was released in December 2005. Along with Sony Computer Entertainment Japan

Sony Computer Entertainment

, third part publishers include local branches of Bandai

Bandai

is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...

and Namco

Namco

is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...

among others. NTSC-C PSTwo type is SCPH-70006 CB ("Black").

Marketing definition

"C" stands for China

People's Republic of China

. Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

and Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

are part of the NTSC-J

NTSC-J

NTSC-J is an analog television system and video display standard for the region of Japan.While NTSC-M is an official standard, "J" is more a colloquial indicator as used in Marketing definition but not an official term.-Technical definition:...

region which was initially created for Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

though.

The term NTSC-C is used to distinguish regions in console video games, which use televisions of NTSC

NTSC

or PAL

PAL

PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...

display standards. NTSC-C is used as the name of the video gaming region of continental China, despite the country's use of PAL as the official TV standard instead of NTSC.

Games designated as part of this region will not run on hardware designated as part of the NTSC-J

NTSC-J

(that include Traditional Chinese 中文版 version for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

and Malaysia, instead of Simplified Chinese for China), NTSC-US and PAL

PAL region

The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...

(or PAL-E, "E" stands for Europe) mostly due to the regional differences of the PAL (SECAM

SECAM

SECAM, also written SÉCAM , is an analog color television system first used in France....

was also used in the early 90s) and NTSC TV standards, but there is also a concern of copyright protection through regional lockout

Regional lockout

built into the video game systems and games themselves, as a same product can be edited by different publishers from a continent to another.

Mainland Chinese market

Marketing definition

See also