This may sound pathetic, but I'm not sure about this one.

I know that the Blu-ray movies are not region free, and are broken into regions ABC...and yes some films are released as a ABC region encoded film (Cars is an example).  But what about the games?

I will be going to the States next month for 10 days and was wondering if I bought a game, for example Uncharted, would it work on a Uk PS3?  I don't have a PS3 yet, but have noticed that there are little boxes on the back covers of the games that include a world like symbol and a number 2...does this mean it's a region 2 game...or what...or does this only apply to the networking abilities of the game?

I know with my PSP that I can play US games, but won't be able to use any networking features in the UK as it's US coded...is this the same with the PS3?

Also, the games are much cheaper in the states and with the good exchange rate, I'm sure it would be a good investment if I could do it?

Also, I'm thinking about getting Manhunt 2 for the PSP...I know the reviews aren't good...but it doesn't look it will be released in the UK anytime soon and the whole controversy thing has gripped me as well. 

Yea dude.

store.playstation.com

All ps3 games are supposed to be region free.

Yes they are. Most of the minor retailers here carry imported US games here (like R&C and Lair).

PS3 is region free for PS3 games "ONLY", keep that in mind! So if you're buying a PS3 with backward compatibility you're only able to play American PS2 / PS games on your PS3. Not sure about the Blu Ray region in the US but I do know the DVD region in the US is region "1" so you can't play European / Japanese DVD's on a US PS3.

Despite the fact the PS3 games are region free, some stuff will be censured by the hardware. I don't think this will ever happen with the US PS3, depending on what's acceptable when it comes to Japanese games, but I know Uncharted for instance, all the blood is being censured via the Japanese PS3.

It's region locked for BD, PS2 games and DVD, as far as i know. But it earlier had this issue (i don't know if it's fixed), that at least NTSC PS3 couldn't play PAL games on a SDTV. I don't know did the problem occur on PAL PS3 with NTSC games. But, if you use HD output, then you don't have any problems with games from different region.

If it is not, that's £30 for Uncharted down the drain (should come by the end of the week)

Yes, it is region free.

Region free PS3 games is one of the best features of the PS3, from the consumer perspective. It's a shame that unlike HD-DVD, they didn't implement the same concept in Blu-Ray movies.