The hardware market has traditionally set up region codes from as far back as the NES and MegaDrive so that US carts couldnâ??t be played on European machines and vice-versa. Itâ??s a practice thatâ??s continued through the generations of home consoles right up to Xbox and PlayStation2. However with the transition to the next-gen, Sony Computer Entertainment may be about to break ranks with PlayStation3.

According to a report on News Corporation website Australian TT, the Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia Michael Ephraim has commented that the next-gen console is unlikely to have the region restrictions placed upon it:

"If you look at the fact that it will support high-definition TV, which will be a global standard, there's a good likelihood that it will be global region, as for example we've done with the PSP (PlayStation Portable).�

Citing the advent of HDTV is certainly one argument, but that fact is that Australia was recently the place where SCE lost its battle to stop modded PlayStation2, and the court case brought the region coding issues to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The move would bring the PlayStation3 in line with the handheld consoles, which have been region-free from the beginning with the launch of GameBoy at the end of the 1980s right through the release of DS and PSP. Microsoft confirmed that Xbox 360 will be region-locked for both DVDs and games at a Press Conference held at Tokyo Game Show.

Weâ??ll have more news on PlayStation3 shortlyâ?¦