One of Sony's biggest announcements at E3, that of the new PlayStation Network video store, was also one of the least surprising pieces of news to come out of the annual industry shindig. Even more predictable to European PlayStation 3 owners was the news that despite the fact the service was launching immediately Stateside, they would have to wait for an unspecified period of time before getting a similar service this side of the pond.

　　One enterprising European has, however, found a way to circumvent the region lock, and has posted video proof of movies downloading to a PS3 based in the UK. On Saturday a report was posted on gaming blog vgwatchdog that demonstrated how to access the service, with instructions on the rather involved process.

　　This was followed up yesterday by a post with video proof of the workaround in action.

　　The workaround allows you to use a host computer in the US to present what is described as a "fake PS3" IP address, and requires the user to have access to a host in the USA through which they can route their PS3's Internet traffic. This circumvents the region lock by tricking the video store into thinking it is talking to a US PS3, when all the data is actually being routed to one in the UK.

　　According to vgwatchdog, the same workaround should work for those wishing to access the Xbox 360's US store, but this has not been tested.

　　Neither Sony nor Microsoft had responded to requests for comment by press time on either the workaround itself or any potential repercussions for users who exploit it.