XBOX 360 Games For $39.99 Courtesy of Asia

Here’s how it works: Xbox360 games are sold in four regions at the moment including Japan, Asia, US, Europe. Now as most of us know, the set price for Xbox360 games in the US is $60, in Europe it’s closer to $70-80, in Japan once again it’s around $65-75. But over in the Asia region…every game sells for $40 USD.

Now here you may be thinking, “So what? I speak English. Not some Asian language!” Well the catch is that Asia versions of English games are all English! Unless noted they are 100% identical to the US versions of the games and if they aren’t 100% it just means they also have a bonus Chinese language option but are still English.[more]

Interested yet?

Now Asia versions of English games basically come out on the same day as the US versions or maybe a week later. The key here is that the $39.90 price is going to stick for every game out and that will be out for the next 3-5 years.

Sounds too good to be true, right? $40 games for life that are 100% English and come out at the same time as the $60 US versions? Well there is a catch:

You have to have either an Asia or Japan Xbox 360 system because most of the games are region-locked to the R3 region (Japan/Asia). There are a few games that have no region lock at all and you can go out and buy them for $39.90 right now and play them on your US system (check the compatibility chart at Play-Asia: XBOX 360 Regional Compatibility List). But if you want every single next-gen game to cost you $40 on day 1 for the entire lifespan of the Xbox360, you’re going to be forced to by a Japanese or Asian system. Though this might not be a bad thing as US systems are still a bit tough to find, and Japanese systems are plentiful in stock and easy to get (If you know someone in Japan they could probably get you one used for below $300 at this point with all the fixings of the US premium pack).

Every once and a while a game won’t get an Asian version of it such as Condemned and Full Auto. So does this mean you won’t be able to play those games? No, the reason they don’t get Asian releases is because the US versions are already REGION-FREE and will work perfectly if you pop them into your Japan/Asia system.

There’s also the added bonus of being able to play any Japanese import software right when it comes out such as Ninety-Nine Nights, which is out in Japan on April 20th. So by buying a Japanese or Asia X360 you’ll have a system that can play EVERY SINGLE GAME IN EXISTENCE on X360 and you’ll be paying $40 per game for the majority of them.

Here are the pros and cons:
+All games are $39.90 US
+Every major US game will be released either on the same day or within a month in Asia
+All US games are 100% English
+Ability to play any Japanese X360 game (which should start showing up at $39.90 down the line). This may come in handy for both quirky games that never make it over like Metal Wolf Chaos on Xbox and also getting games early from some publishers.
+Systems are widely available
+No tax and cheapest shipping takes about 2-3 weeks and is about $3. If you order multiple games at $40 with $3 shipping, you will save A LOT vs. buying them in the US at $60+tax

-You’ll still have to buy the occasional game in the US at $60 if it’s region-free and not being released in Asia
-You can’t rent games
-If your system breaks…chances are that MS in the US is not going to fix it for you. Luckily Japan and Asia X360’s having been manufactured at a later date seem to be reliable and no reports of mass breakdown or red lights of death have been reported.
-You can’t sell them back to stores like EB/Gamestop/Any US store. So if you are the kind of person that sells back games, this isn’t a good idea.

If you don’t have an Xbox 360, this may be the perfect route for you if you’re not the kind of person that rents and trades in their old games. Even if you do have an X360 and you’ve been interested in importing future Xbox 360 games, selling your system and getting a JPN/Asia one might not be a bad idea.

One important final note is that if you live in the US and are interested in doing this. You should get a Japan Xbox 360 and not an Asia one because Asia is 220 voltage and would need a step down converter to match the US 100 voltage. Japan on the other hand is 110 volts and will work fine in the US without the need of a converter.

You can buy Asian games at Play-Asia:

PlayAsia Full Asian XBOX 360 Game List

Good luck on whatever you choose.