Is it possible to 'English Up' my Japanese PS3?

As the title suggests, i'm having a little trouble with my recently received Japanese PS3. After receiving it from my parents who thought they were getting a bargain but were actually getting a box unable to play Aussie DVD's and Blu-Rays I finally got over my trepidation at blowing it up (Unsure as to whether it was multi-voltage) and plugged it in. I set the language to English and worked through the rest of the menus. All of the games work in English (Except my Japanese MGS4, damn you Sony) however my internet browser homepage is the Japanese one and the news bar in the top right hand corner keeps scrolling 'Japanese Language Only, Please Change Back'. Putting aside the utter absurdity and narrowmindedness at creating this message where there could very well be English speakers in Japan I'd like to know if there is any way of making this English? Is there another settings change or is there a way to install and English firmware?

Any help appreciated and, please, as I already stated, the Japanese PS3 was NOT my idea and I'd very dearly love to play those lacklustre DVD's on the upscaling beast. Till then I'll just pray for a region free hack so I don't have to import the damn things.

Cheers:)

Make a US PSN account and connect to it. The news ticker sucks anyways, you should turn it off. You are stuck with the O=ok, X=back thing though. Don't think there is a way to fix that.

Region 2 is japan, so I guess 3 is HK/Asia?

Parents grabbed it off Play-Asia, their foray into the online shopping world. My MGS4 is region 3 so Japan and because Sony says 'there was not enough room' on their next generation massive capacity disk there is no english on it. I might keep it though and after learning the nuances of the english version play some Japanese folks in MGO

What would the US account do? I've set up an aussie one.

Parents grabbed it off Play-Asia, their foray into the online shopping world. My MGS4 is region 3 so Japan and because Sony says 'there was not enough room' on their next generation massive capacity disk there is no english on it. I might keep it though and after learning the nuances of the english version play some Japanese folks in MGO

What would the US account do? I've set up an aussie one.

Borzi_767

If you've got an Aussie one thats good. Just saying you should take it online! I figured it might help non-your region games pick the English track if its available (I know mgs4 it isn't), but I never tried a Japan game without it so I dunno.

As the title suggests, i'm having a little trouble with my recently received Japanese PS3. After receiving it from my parents who thought they were getting a bargain but were actually getting a box unable to play Aussie DVD's and Blu-Rays I finally got over my trepidation at blowing it up (Unsure as to whether it was multi-voltage) and plugged it in. I set the language to English and worked through the rest of the menus. All of the games work in English (Except my Japanese MGS4, damn you Sony) however my internet browser homepage is the

Borzi_767

I'm an English speaker in Japan and I have a Japanese PS3. It sounds like you parents made a mistake, but I don't see why you should take your frustration on Sony Japan and call them narrow-minded. To be frank, you and your parents were not the intended customers. And if you are a foreigner and live in Japan long enough to purchase a PS3, the Japanese is easy enough to understand.

As for your questions, my answers aren't favourable. Other than changing the menu (which I knew about before purchasing the Japanese PS3), there isn't much you can do. Using non Japanese firmware will do more damage to the machine (potentially...).

Based on how frustrated you seem from your message :), my suggestion to you is to sell it. I can think of many people who would love to get what you have, but I can understand how getting something not in your language/region just ruins the whole experience of getting a PS3. I don't know where you are in Australia, but there are probably enough Japanese to try selling it to a Japanese person studying English in Australia. Sell it for a reasonable (i.e., lower) price and use that money for an Australian PS3. Whoever buys it will take it back here some day. Your parents made a mistake...but if you start hacking it, you will make a bigger mistake some day.

But, if you are still adamant about keeping it, I suggest you import games from America. America (and Canada) is in the same BluRay and game region as Japan...something that was not true for the PS2, which I am glad they did right (another thing I found out before I bought it). All my games are imported from the USA (actually, you can buy it here at one or two shops).

I hope this helps you...

PS: As someone else said, MGS4 is Konami's "fault"...Sony had nothing to do with it; in fact, multi-lingual support, if any, is up to the game publisher. Sony is too busy trying to get v2.4 update working. sorry...that was low... :)

Update: My mistake...BluRay is the same region and games are multi-region on the PS3; DVD is still different with the USA.

Unless you are in Japan, why would your parents buy you a Japanese PS3? They don't sound very bright to me._Classic_Gamer_

[QUOTE="_Classic_Gamer_"]Unless you are in Japan, why would your parents buy you a Japanese PS3? They don't sound very bright to me.MusashiSensi

True. If they bought it at a store in Japan on vacation, I can understand that they didn't understand what the storekeeper said. I'm surprised, though, that a web site in English didn't have multiple warnings since they can easily detect that you are in Australia.

I should add that Japanese storekeepers (the ones I met) were very conservative and said that it doesn't work anywhere and has no English (despite there being a way to change the menu). I presume it was a combination of not knowing and fear of accepting responsibility...thank goodness for the Net and this message board where I got the real information. :)

Unless you are in Japan, why would your parents buy you a Japanese PS3? They don't sound very bright to me._Classic_Gamer_

[QUOTE="MusashiSensi"][QUOTE="_Classic_Gamer_"]Unless you are in Japan, why would your parents buy you a Japanese PS3? They don't sound very bright to me.rayjapan

True. If they bought it at a store in Japan on vacation, I can understand that they didn't understand what the storekeeper said. I'm surprised, though, that a web site in English didn't have multiple warnings since they can easily detect that you are in Australia.

I should add that Japanese storekeepers (the ones I met) were very conservative and said that it doesn't work anywhere and has no English (despite there being a way to change the menu). I presume it was a combination of not knowing and fear of accepting responsibility...thank goodness for the Net and this message board where I got the real information. :)

Whats the ps3's price in Australia? I have a sneaking suspicion its MUCH higher than Japan. Similar to Europe's prices, I'd reckon. His parents wanted to save alot of money by importing, and PS3 games (and technically BD movies since Japan and US are both region 1) are region free. His menu's are in English other than the crappy newsticker, all he's missing is DVD playback and ps1/ps2 game playability. I don't see the need for insults CG.

[QUOTE="rayjapan"]

[QUOTE="MusashiSensi"][QUOTE="_Classic_Gamer_"]Unless you are in Japan, why would your parents buy you a Japanese PS3? They don't sound very bright to me.mbrockway

True. If they bought it at a store in Japan on vacation, I can understand that they didn't understand what the storekeeper said. I'm surprised, though, that a web site in English didn't have multiple warnings since they can easily detect that you are in Australia.

I should add that Japanese storekeepers (the ones I met) were very conservative and said that it doesn't work anywhere and has no English (despite there being a way to change the menu). I presume it was a combination of not knowing and fear of accepting responsibility...thank goodness for the Net and this message board where I got the real information. :)

Whats the ps3's price in Australia? I have a sneaking suspicion its MUCH higher than Japan. Similar to Europe's prices, I'd reckon. His parents wanted to save alot of money by importing, and PS3 games (and technically BD movies since Japan and US are both region 1) are region free. His menu's are in English other than the crappy newsticker, all he's missing is DVD playback and ps1/ps2 game playability. I don't see the need for insults CG.

I was reading an article just a couple of days ago about how Australia overprices PC games compared to America because of the stronger American dollar years ago. Now that the Australian dollar is almost on par with the American dollar, game distributors in Australia don't seem to want to lower the prices.

If the original poster wants to keep it, then go with importing from America. buy heaps of games at a time to save on shipping.

BTW, he's missing out on something else -- warranty. I can bet that his Japanese PS3's warranty won't be honored by Sony Australia. As the PS3 is "for sale only in Japan", even taking it to Japan might have problems since the receipt doesn't match. The only hope is Play Asia... I have to admit...even to save money, I've always been weary of buying things on-line.

i to had a *** ps3..
and thats exactly what i wanted to do
was change the home page..i couldnt
figure it out though..and i just turned
the information bar off..i sold it to a friend