NTSC-C is a

regional lockout A regional lockout (or region coding) is a class of digital rights management preventing the use of a certain product or service, such as multimedia or a hardware device, outside a certain region or territory. A regional lockout may be enforced t ...

created in 2003 by

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

for the official launch of its

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

gaming system into the

mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC) ...

market.

Mainland Chinese market

The system's original model, then called

, was launched throughout 2000, 2001 and 2002 in Japan, North America, Europe, Oceania, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, but it was not introduced in mainland China because of rampant piracy. In November 2003, Sony China Chairman Hiroshi Soda explained the situation: However the situation changed in November 2003 as Sony China announced the PlayStation 2 (SCPH-50009 "Satin Silver" type) was planned to be launched in mainland China for Christmas, official release date December 20, 2003. Sales would be first limited to five large industrialized cities

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

and

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, then distribution would start in the whole country. However, on the eve of Christmas, arguing an "unfavorable environment," Sony China delayed the mainland release to next year with the system's new "slimline" type PS2 and sales limited to Shanghai and Guangzhou. Meanwhile, Kenichi Fukunaga, a Sony Japan spokesman in Tokyo, reportedly declared "the company simply had not prepared in time for the China launch."Sony delays PlayStation 2 launch in China, China Daily, 2003-12-25
/ref> The "NTSC/C" regional lockout for mainland China was specially created as the system is also a home

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

DVD player A DVD player is a machine that plays DVDs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards, two different and incompatible standards. Some DVD players will also play audio CDs. DVD players are connected to a television to ...

with its specific Zone 6 regional code which is not compatible with the bordering countries (Japan is Zone 2; South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are all Zone 3, etc.) The first batch of NTSC/C games was released in December 2005. Along with

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Japan Studio was a Japanese video game developer of Sony Interactive Entertainment based in Tokyo. It was best known for the ''Ape Escape'', ''LocoRoco'', ''Patapon'', ''Gravity Rush'', and ''Knack (video game), Knack'' series, ''Ico'', Shadow o ...

, third-party publishers included local branches of

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered ...

and

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

among others. The model types of NTSC-C PS2 for mainland China were SCPH-70006 CB, SCPH-75006 CB, SCPH-77006 CB, and SCPH-90006 CB.

Marketing definition

"C" stands for

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. However

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

are part of the

NTSC-J NTSC-J or "System J" is the informal designation for the analogue television standard used in Japan. The system is based on the US NTSC ( NTSC-M) standard with minor differences. While NTSC-M is an official CCIR and FCCNational Television Sys ...

region which was initially created for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The term NTSC-C is used to distinguish regions in console video games, which use televisions of

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

display standards. NTSC-C is used as the name of the video gaming region of continental China, despite the country's historical use of PAL as the official TV standard instead of NTSC. Games designated as part of this region will not run on hardware designated as part of the

(that include

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

中文版 version for Hong Kong, Taiwan,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, instead of

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: ...

for China), NTSC-U and

(or PAL-E, "E" stands for Europe) mostly due to the regional differences of the PAL (

SECAM SECAM, also written SÉCAM (, ''Séquentiel de couleur à mémoire'', French for ''sequential colour memory''), is an analog color television system that was used in France, Russia and some other countries or territories of Europe and Africa. ...

was also used in the early 1990s) and NTSC TV standards, but there is also a concern of copyright protection through

built into the video game systems and games themselves, as the same product can be released by different publishers on different continents.

References

Video game development Digital rights management Hardware restrictions

Mainland Chinese market

Marketing definition

See also

References