There's a possibility that the Japanese GameCube modem might not be compatible with US GameCubes. Read on...
Online import store National Console Support posted a little tidbit to people importing PSO today. It seems there's talk that the Japanese GameCube modem will not be US compatible.
Overnight, a supplier asked us to reconfirm our reservation for GC PSO Episode 1+2 due to a rumored incompatibility problem with the Japanese modem. Apparently, the modem will not work on USA Gamecube consoles but we will research this further in the next few hours and post another update tomorrow morning. We are also waiting for news on the Japanese broadband adapter and whether or not it will work with USA consoles when it is released in October.
We would advise the many, many customers who have preordered PSO to not panic yet as the rumor may not pan out or the information may have been misconstrued by our supplier. At this time, this is all the information we have - do not email us asking for further clarification as we don't have any additional news and any updates we receive will be posted on Friday morning.
Whether the North American modem and broadband adapter will work in the Japanese systems is also unknown at this time.
Updated! As promised, NCSX updated today with some more news...kinda.
Sega is advising Japanese distributors that the Gamecube modem will not work properly outside of Japan. However, it is highly unlikely that Nintendo would enforce a territory lockout on any Gamecube hardware and unlikely that Sega would lock out the PSO software. Sega may be putting out this information to discourage international users from bombarding/using their servers in Japan before the USA network is up. We suppose that a raft of foolhardy clans from the States could eat up a lot of system resources if 48 hour marathon sessions are cobbled together. NCS will proceed with our order for the PSO + modem bundles next week but please be advised that our warning has been issued and customers will be purchasing the bundle with the knowledge that the modem may not work. We are fairly certain that the modem will function properly on a USA Gamecube but that's just a supposition on our part and we won't be able to test it for ourselves until next week. Until then, we'll continue checking with our sources at Sega and Nintendo for information.
We'll keep you posted on the situation...
