I have a zone 4 ps3 but live in japan. wondering if i download games in japan will they work when i try to play them in New zealand. I havent started downloading yet trying to find a answer thank you

Make sure that your firmware is updated correctly. Also make sure the games are the correct region for the unit you're playing on. You may have an incorrect region setup on the PS3. PS3 games are region locked, either being PAL or NTSC. If the PS3 is set to read PAL (by being set to a region that is PAL, like the UK, Europe, and Japan) it will not read or play an NTSC disc.

Misconfigured or corrupted firmware installations can also cause this problem. Furthermore, pirated games will not play, because they do not have the appropriate security key on the disc.

You can try testing this by creating a new profile on the PS3 and trying to play the games. If you can play them with the new profile, then there is a corruption with the old profile. If you can't play them in the new profile, then it could be the firmware.

Lastly you may have a blown drive. Most PS3 games are dual layer blu ray discs capable of storing large amounts of data. The blu ray drive in the PS3 uses a sequenced dual laser to read the game. If one of the laser emitters has blown, it won't read the game correctly. However, since it doesn't use both emitters to read blu ray movie disks or dvds they'll still play correctly.

Yes, you can use European PS3 in Philippine, only if you don't play any region-locked DVD or Blu-ray. Also, if you want to watch some Pinoy movies on your PS3, here is a post including many sites for free download: https://www.leawo.org/entips/pinoy-movies-download-1409.html?fx=1409

it depends on which region you bought the ps3 in. region 1 is north/central/south america canada japan new zealand australia and south korea

DVD drives in PS3 are not Multi Zone drives. there is no solution for your ? besides to by the game from some where in New Zealand.

2.40 and 2.41 are bugged firmwares, id say return to sony asnd get another ps3. alot of ppls ps3's crashed cause of theres firmwarws.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE YOUR REGION CODE 
PSP'S ARE REGION FREE
I BROUGHT SOME GAMES FROM CANAda and i livE IN THE UK
THEY WORK PERFECT

it might not be working because you havent left them to download longer anough

The problem with that is the PS3 that you bought is tuned for Japanese dvds and games, You may have to get your PS3 modded to support the French games. However I am unaware of the legality of having your PS3 modded.
Good Luck

ps2 discs are region locked ps3 games are not so are some dvds the are region locked if you seriously want to play the ps2 games buy them from japan