I think I read somewhere once that the PS3 will play games from any region, so if I picked up some PS3 games on the cheap from ebay when Im back home in the UK would they play on an Asian region console?

How about controllers etc too?

So far EVERY game on the PS3 is region-free

However Sony introduced the possibility of region-locking games a couple of firmware upgrades ago but so far no games have been region locked

Controllers, camera's etc are also region-free

Indeed, as mentioned the PS3 games are region free. On my PS3s I use games purchased in London, Houston and Vancouver (Canada) as well as a couple I got here in BKK, and all work fine.

cool, gonna pick up some older titles like Metal Gear 4 on ebay when Im back home next week