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Lik-Sang Back Online, Minus Modchips
DrEldarion writes "Lik-Sang is back, and it turns out that it wasn't just Microsoft that filed the lawsuit - Sony and Nintendo both joined in. The end result is that the modchips are gone."
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...but back again tomorrow. When will these people learn that they will never be able to stop people inclined to play around with new technology playing around with new technology?
learn to program the right way
Rake Free + Mac Poker: CardCrusade
All the Court Orders have been issued before hearing a single word from the company
remind me not to have legal problems in Hong Kong
Hint: It's not because they care if you play pirated games.
Frankly, it's not as though mod chips are a very good deal for the consumer. They're expensive, they're a pain in the ass to install, and whatever you "save" in money (which, given the expense and risk that you ruin your console in installing them is already marginal) you easily outspend in time wasted copying lousy games. Frankly, the biggest problem facing today's gamer is not "games are too expensive" but "there are too many lousy games out there, how do I determine which ones to play?" A few well-chosen rentals are a more effective way of saving money than spinning your wheels doing surgery or CD burning.
No. Very few consumers -- other than those addicted to piracy on general principles, or who get a kick out of feeling like they're getting away with something -- will ever install or use mod chips. The copy protection isn't there to prevent you from playing pirated games. The real target of copy protection in consoles is -- other game companies.
For every PS2 game made, Sony gets a cut. For every Gamecube game made, Nintendo gets a cut. For every Xbox game made, Microsoft gets a cut. The copy protection on these consoles is the console manufacturer's way of making sure that they are not squeezed out of the transactions between the game developers and the consumer, the way Atari was with 3rd-party 2600 games.
--peterb
There are about a billion other websites that pop up in your face if you want modchips whenever you go to a good ol' http warez site. Just close down enough porno banners and eventually you'll find a modchip site -- it's a lot easier to find than the actual warez on the site itself.
My brother installed a PS1 modchip when he was 11 years old, and it's not that hard at all to DIY.
Lik Sang does sell tons of other cool stuff; modchips aren't their only resource.
Lik Sang and it's employees couldn't even speak about the case due to an injunction of the High Court
and
All the Court Orders have been issued before hearing a single word from the company.
I can't talk about the case and the injuction is issued before can I say anything? Honk Kong really looks like a nice place to live...
I think the reason that "modchips" finally got nailed is they often use parts of the original bios of the machine which is copyrighted. Thats trouble no matter what you call the machine.
"You can now flame me, I am full of love,"
"...it turns out that it wasn't just Microsoft that filed the lawsuit - Sony and Nintendo both joined in. The end result is that the modchips are gone."
... indeed it merely confirms their behavior. The fact that others behave equally despicably doesn't make Microsoft any less despicable.
That must be plenty embarrasing to all the people that cried "MS is enforcing law in China!!!" when this whole BS started.
By "MS is enforcing law in China" I assume you are either (a) disingenuously putting words in people's mouths no amount of perusing the old comments can corroborate, or (b) you were characterizing (for whatever reason) comments accusing MS of defining the law in China, export US law to China, etc.
All of which may be true, to one degree or another. No one should feel at all emberrassed to have made such accusations, which appear on may fronts to be demonstrably true. Now, if someone said "Microsoft is the only company defining law in China/exporting US law to China" then they should be quite emberrassed. After all, it is clear, at the very least, that the member corporations of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have been doing likewise, and others may well be engaged in similiar behavior. Yes, even other software companies *cough* Adobe *cough* or, in this case, a trust of gaming companies.
The fact the Microsoft has been shown to be part of a trust, a consortium, or if you prefer, a cabal of corporations engaging in the same ill-mannered and obscene behavior shouldn't make anyone feel emberrassed for having pointed out the fact
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
The way you've written it, it sounds like you think that there is some need for Japanese games to be different than American games and Sony and Nintendo should just create a licensed adaptor. Why would they want to solve a problem which only exists because they've created it?
As a customer, I don't think that Sony or Nintendo are any more worthy of my money than Microsoft. I think that the current business model of the console market should end. I mean the whole protection racket which the console manufacturers have with the game publishers, "Give us a kickback or we won't let your games run on our machines." It would be better for gaming if console makers made their money from manufacturing consoles and selling them for a profit and game publishers made money from publishing games without having to give kickbacks to the console companies.
The trouble is, allowing the model to change would shift the power from the console companies to the game publishers. I think that would be a better model. I'd love to see some of the great Japanese game publisher slip the leashes that have been put on them by the console makers and operate more like PC game companies. I'd like to see what they would do with that freedom.
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)