Modchip.  However you will probably be banned from XBoxlive if you have a modded unit and the warranty will obviously expire (and 360 units have like a 100% failure rate as we all know so).  I once looked into a way to get some sort of mod that unlocks region locked games without being a full piracy-supporting modchip but I don't think that exists.

So anyway yeah get a modchip that is designed for pirating games because they usually play imported games too.

Also the American Arcade 360 was just dropped to $199.99!  So if you have a friend in the US who you trust to ship it to you, you could do that also without voiding your warranty.

The best way is to basically buy an import 360.

Trust me, I suffer the same thing down in Australia. Fuckin' hate this country for videogaming shit.

EDIT: Mala, they do modchips that do that? Hot damn. Maybe worth looking into.

you must region unlock them

noob..

THINK BEYOND THE NORMAL.

I don't really want to buy a separate 360, especially since I got Full HD and I want HDMI support, and I specifically bought Elite for that. I'd just rather wait the few months to get them here than to buy another 360. I would mod my 360, but if it gets me banned from Live (can they even detect it?), then I'd rather not. I don't really care about voiding the warranty.

I don't know the details but yeah they can detect it and they do ban you.  Major Nelson talked about it on his podcast once.  It might be worth looking into!  There might be around getting caught especially if you aren't playing burned games or anything but playing legitimately purchased imports?  But there have been court cases decided on a company's right to play off of the "excitement of the market" so I am pretty sure importing games is something they don't want you to do.

As far as modchips, it's a risky deal. Microsoft can't detect if you're actually playing a burned game. However, they can detect that you're using a custom firmware on your Xbox, so even if you were playing a legitimate copy of a game online you could still get banned. You don't actually need a modchip, you just need custom firmware.
Microsoft bans consoles in waves, though. They won't just track one console down and ban you, the bans usually come in updates so they get everybody at once.

But if you really need those games, buy another Xbox and install custom firmware on it. Just don't go online with it.

There's a very easy way to mod your 360 and still be able to use live. You have to get a mod with an "on/off" switch so you can turn it off before you connect to live. That way you can just disconnect your 360 and turn the chip on when you want to play imported games. Obviously, this means that you will not be able to play the games online, but they're programmed to connect to US servers anyways.

There's a very easy way to mod your 360 and still be able to use live. You have to get a mod with an "on/off" switch so you can turn it off before you connect to live. That way you can just disconnect your 360 and turn the chip on when you want to play imported games. Obviously, this means that you will not be able to play the games online, but they're programmed to connect to US servers anyways.

This is no different then flashing the drive yourself and using custom firmware though.
There's a popular custom firmware called iextreme, which does pretty much everything that does, and doesn't require soldering. Unfortunately, the only way to play region free games is if the game is patched or region unlocked like DS said(as far as I know). I know there are people who play region free games on their custom Xbox 360, but the game needs to be unlocked or something. As far as playing a game on live, all you need to do is stealth the game. Stealth pretty much eliminates all of the code that allows Microsoft to detect you playing on live with that specific game(but that is a whole separate issue and involves pirating =( ). As long as you know what you're doing, you'll be fine. Oh, and just disconnect your ethernet cord from the back of the Xbox 360 when you want to play a game offline.
It's a waste of money to buy a chip, since flashing the drive is the same thing.

Either way you go about it though, there's no guarantee on your safety with live. A modchip can still be detected, as well as custom firmware. Not to mention the huge software update coming up, I would wait until it's released before trying anything.