"NTSC Format Games and Compatible Countries "

In the past when television was first devised there were different "standards" of encoding signals that were in use in different countries. These different television standards have been maintained for many decades and play a large role in the picture display for video games as well. The two most common formats on a worldwide basis are NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) and PAL (Phase Alternating Line). There are other systems as well such as Secam, PAL-M, and the defunct MESCAM that was once popular in Iraq decades ago.

PAL would generally be considered the more popular standard system on a worldwide basis since it is used in most of Europe with France being the notable exclusion as well as parts of Africa and many Asian countries. NTSC is used predominantly in the United States, Latin America, the Philippine Islands, South Korea, Canada and Japan. Admittedly, the color on PAL systems is much superior then NTSC systems but there is an unfortunate problem for those who live in PAL nations – the United States and Japan remain the main producers of games and gaming systems. Remember, NTSC games would not be compatible with PAL systems and vice versa. Because of this, a number of popular games are not made in PAL format. This can leave a number of PAL gamers out in the proverbial cold. Or are they really?

Yes, it is true that if you live in a "PAL oriented world" then you will find access to NTSC games limited. Then again, while you might find such games tough to find – if not impossible to find – on store shelves there is always the internet as a viable method of ordering these games. In fact, through an internet order there really is no such thing as not having access to the aforementioned NTSC games. But, this does not answer the question of how to actually play the games on a system that does not support the format. Well, there really is no reason to worry, as a solution does exist.

But what happens if you live in a part of the world where the only standard is PAL? Does this mean that you are completely out of luck when it comes to being able to play NTSC standard games? Actually, there are still options available to you. Granted, you will not be able to plug an NTSC console into a PAL outlook but you can purchase a NTSC to PAL converter. At one time (20+ years ago) a television converter would run into several hundreds of dollars. Today, a decent converter can be purchased for less than $50 and it will open up a number of wonderful gaming options that were previously not available. As such, there is no reason for anyone in a PAL serviced country to despair!

So, if you live outside of an NTSC supported region you can still purchase the video games and then play them with a converter system. As such, there will be no need to feel left out or unable to acquire your favorite cheap video game. So cheer up!