How to use the Playstation shop when it's not available in your region?

Question

While I am a proud PS3 owner, I live in a country where the PSN isn't really available and as a direct result have absolutely no access to the Playstation Shop, unless I create a fake account which "lives" in some other country which does have access to the shop. Of course, from what I understand, that won't get me far since my credit card won't match my declared location.

I know there are ways around it and to my best of knowledge this circumvention of the system does not constitute as anything illegal, correct me if I'm wrong (after all, I'm just trying really hard to give them money in exchange for services).

I am aware there are guides for this, but plenty are outdated and some not so trustworthy. I'd much rather rely on the experience of the fine people of this site (or on their recommendations of a specific guide).

Also, there are some specific issues which concern me more than others:

• Where is a recommended place to buy PSN prepaid cards online. Why is said place recommended?
• Are there any considerations regarding multiplayer/region/whatever when buying PSN games in this "illegitimate" manner?
• Will the games I buy with my fake account behave nicely on my actual account?
• What if at some point in the future the Playstation store becomes available over here? Will it affect me in some adverse manner?

Answer 1

• Where is a recommended place to buy PSN prepaid cards online. Why is said place recommended?

I use http://maximuscards.com/ to buy US PSN cards, instant delivery by e-mail.

• Are there any considerations regarding multiplayer/region/whatever when buying PSN games in this "illegitimate" manner?

All the multiplayer games works on all regions (at least all that I played so far), but...

Be carefull about DLCs.

The only consideration (and the only problem I had so far) is with DLCs from different regions.

I have games from various regions (US, EU, Asia) and in some of them, like for example, Little Big Planet, Killzone 2, Rock Band, etc the DLCs for one region doesn't work on the other.

I bought a EU LBP and then bought the Metal Gear Solid pack in the US store. It didn't work, the game couldn't find the DLCs

So be carefull about buying DLCs from other regions, most will work, but some will not and you will lose your money, that's the only problem about this kind of deal.

• Will the games I buy with my fake account behave nicely on my actual account?

Yes, the game will work just fine on other accounts on the same PS3, but if you delete the account the owns the game all the games will become unacessible, so you MUST keep you "fake" account in order to play the games.

• What if at some point in the future the Playstation store becomes available over here? Will it affect me in some adverse manner?

That I can't answer because PSN isn't available here yet (Brazil), common sense tells that it will not affect you (if you already have an account in your country), but anyway I doubt that IF the Playstation Store is available here in some far far away future it will have the same content as the US or EU Store, so basically everybody will have 2 accounts or just stick with the old account.

Answer 2

You can buy PSN prepaid cards on Amazon. It's a little cheaper than the original price tag.