NTSC-C

NTSC-C is a regional lockout created in 2003 by Sony Computer Entertainment for the official launch of its PlayStation 2 gaming system into the mainland Chinese market.

The system's original model, then called PlayStation 2, 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.

However, on the eve of Christmas, arguing an "unfavorable environment,"[3][4] Sony China delayed the mainland release to next year with the system's new "slimline" type PS2 and sales limited to Shanghai and Guangzhou.

[5] Meanwhile, Kenichi Fukunaga, a Sony Japan spokesman in Tokyo, reportedly declared "the company simply had not prepared in time for the China launch.

Games designated as part of this region will not run on hardware designated as part of the NTSC-J (that include Traditional Chinese 中文版 version for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, instead of Simplified Chinese for China), NTSC-US and PAL (or PAL-E, "E" stands for Europe) mostly due to the regional differences of the PAL (SECAM was also used in the early 1990s) and NTSC TV standards, but there is also a concern of copyright protection through regional lockout built into the video game systems and games themselves, as the same product can be released by different publishers on different continents.