Kingrocka over at game site CAG pinged us, letting us know that he's done folks living in The Land of the Rising Sun a huge favor by compiling a huge backwards compatibility/region-free list for the Japanese Xbox 360. Hit the jump for his post in full. Brian Ashcraft

360 JP Backward Compatibility/Region-Free List if you feel this doesn't belong here, i apologize. i thought this might help some people decide on the purchase of a jp 360. it has been a really nice added feature for me. ninja gaiden can still hang with the best of the next gen (but NG black cant for some reason).

-
UPDATE: Jim's Attic
http://home.netyou.jp/cc/jimkanoh/region.htm
this is a site run by a guy in japan who appears to be xbox superfan #1. it may not be an exhaustive list, but it's bigger than mine. if you want, you can cross reference it with the BC list to find some games that should work for you.

UPDATE: Added for reference
US XBOX BC List
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/back...ygameslist.htm

JP XBOX BC List
http://www.xbox.com/ja-JP/games/back...ygameslist.htm

tested out the BC titles i had. i was pretty disappointed to find some in particular were region-locked.

All titles were tested on my JP 360.

game (version) notes

PLAYABLE
ghost recon 2 (pal) stutters, maybe NTSC US is better
buffy: chaos bleeds (jp) full english
thug 2 (us) hiccups in menu
prince of persia (us)
ninja gaiden (us) no emulation of the original NES titles, but they
suck anyway
halo 2 (us)
fatal frame 2 (us)
rainbow 6 3 (us)
splinter cell: pandora tomorrow (us)
counter-strike (us)
dead or alive: ultimate (us) both 1 & 2 work

NOT Playable (all games below are US versions)
shenmue II
buffy the vampire slayer
soul calibur II
evil dead:fistful of boomstick
fatal frame
rallisport challenge
burnout 3
tom clancy's ghost recon
dead or alive 3
jade empire
manhunt
max payne 2
medal of honor: frontline
medal of honor: rising sun
ninja gaiden: black
star wars: jedi knight: jedi academy
star wars: knights of the old republic
halo
star wars: battlefront
fable

Here's the cross-referenced compilation list (Jim's Attic and The Official US MS BC List) of region-free BC titles. I cannot personally account for the validity of this list, but it should be good. I followed MS's ordering system.

Atari Anthology
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
Battlestar Galactica
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds
Cabela's Deer Hunt 2005
Cabela's Outdoor Adventures 2006
Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Conker: Live and Reloaded
Constantine
Counterstrike
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Destroy All Humans
Doom 3
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
FarCry Instincts
Flatout
Forza Motorsport
Half-Life 2
Halo 2
Indigo Prophecy
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System
MTX Mototrax
MX vs. ATV Unleashed
Ninja Gaiden
Pariah
Over the Hedge
Predator: Concrete Jungle
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Rapala Pro Fishing
Raze's Hell
Rocky Legends
Rogue Trooper
Scarface: The World is Yours
Scrapland
Shellshock: Nam '67
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Splat Magazine Renegade Paintball
Star Wars Battlefront II
Stubbs the Zombie in "Rebel without a Pulse"
Tecmo Classic Arcade
Test Drive: Eve of Destruction
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
The Punisher
The Simpsons: Hit and Run
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
True Crime: Streets of L.A.
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan
Ultimate Spider-Man
Vietcong: Purple Haze
World Soccer Winning Eleven 9
XIII

Just in case there was still a hope fleeting through that last ounce of grey matter that Nintendo UK's David Yarnton was drunkenly ranting over a pint about the Wii not being region-free, you can officially dash it.

According to Nintendo of America — the same guys who told Wired last week that region-free Wii was a certainty — comes an official correction.

"Wii will be region encoded by territory."

Which I'm sure is excellent news for all the people who pre-ordered an Asiatic Wii via Lik Sang seconds after Perrin Kaplan randomly blurted out a complete lie. Florian Eckhardt

It's turning into a Nintendo he said, she said. Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan told Wired that the Wii would be region-free like the DS, but now Nintendo UK honcho David Yarnton is telling GamesIndustry.biz that Wii games and online content will be region-encoded. His exact quote:

We are region-locked.

He then stated Nintendo America made a mistake in claiming otherwise. Can Nintendo make up their mind and tell us the answer we want to hear? 'K, thanks. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [GamesIndustry]

That's right: the Wii will be region-free. And from whom comes the word? That's right: Kotaku's ex-own, Joel Johnson.

Will the Wii be region-free? Yes. Like the Nintendo DS, the Wii will be able to play games from other regions, such as Japan, without any restriction. Kaplan implied there might be a region lock that publishers would be able to flip on, but it doesn't sound like the first-party titles from Nintendo will be restricted.

Joel — that sultry mynx — also asked some informative questions about how the Wii VirtuaConsole would work (the games will be tied to an account, but be re-downloadable, much like XBLA) and whether hard-drives would be connectable for extra storage (No.) Florian Eckhardt

Region-Free Wii [Game|Life]

Clearly, the success of Nintendo DS has offered a lot of lessons about what works in the marketplace — and we certainly intend to keep our fans satisfied. For the Wii system, we are finalizing all the relevant details and will be making announcements in the coming months. We know that isn't what you all want to hear (or read) but at least we are being honest! We will share a lot of ways people can play globally, regionally, without boundaries. You're right that the region-free approach has proved to be a successful and attractive feature for Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on Nintendo DS — we have even blown the doors off our own anticipated numbers! Cost, ease-of-use and player privacy are the three things that were a focus for us with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Those priorities also will apply to the Wii system.

That's not a clear 'yes' response, but it at least makes us optimistic that Nintendo understands how good for gamers region-free is and wants to accommodate us if they can. It is nice to hear a response from a game company that isn't just an attempt to evade the question. Florian Eckhardt

The Nintendo Minute, Vol. 32 [IGN]