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Modchip Designer Taunts Microsoft
Thanks to Polygon for posting a follow-up to the article we ran about Australian Xbox modchip designers releasing their schematics to the public. They have a story quoting AussieChip creator Grant Sparks as subsequently saying "It would be a little disappointing if [Microsoft] couldn't sue me. You see, I'm quite happy for them to take us to court, I just want to see it happen under conditions where we win. In order for them to argue they have not agreed to the download conditions, they would have to acknowledge that click-through legal agreements are not valid - which is something that I think would be very funny to see Microsoft doing. There are many other reasons why people want to use a modchip, and only one of them is directly illegal. I'd be happy to stand up and explain that in court."
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Firstly I was going to moderate this topic, but being as there was only 2 comments (and they were about being the first post) were there. Common guys, is getting the first post all that great? I mean we an easily display in newest first order. Then your FP!!! will be LP!!!! :-P
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Now to my point. I think this is the right kind of attitude towards mod chips. Keep at it until modders get their way. As pointed out above mod chips have plenty of other uses than the illegal ones, we've all heard the arguments before.
What I am most interested is how MS will handle (cause you know they won't sit and take this) the catch-22 that has been set up here. I'm sure they will try and down play it, but its sure to come up. I predict that MS will try to "steamroll" this poor guy into legal oblivion :-(
Ah well information wants to be free so even if this falls apart there will be more mod chips to be had in the future.
100% Crunchier
what if the mod chip provided such an advantage to the consumer that xbox sales went up, and thus peripherally more of your game was bought?
mod chip provided such an advantage to the consumer
WHAT advantages?
The ability to copy games?
The ability to cheat online and ruin the game for everyone else?
The ability to run an OS on a system that was never designed for it?
Face it - the first two are immoral, the last two are stupid. A $200 computer is going to run Linux way better than an Xbox ever will. The most popular use of mod chips is to RUN ILLEGAL COPIES OF GAMES.
As a gamer, I sympathise with those wanting to make backup copies of their games - but I don't think the argument holds weight. I've never managed to destroy a game CD. I think my original Quake CD is a bit scratched up, but it still works.
As a developer (no, I'm not the same guy who started this thread) - I don't like my games being copied. When you've searched online for what people are saying about your latest game and found it available through Warez the day it hit the shelves, you'll understand. That is not an experience you easily forget, trust me - I know.
I also don't see why this would drive sales of machines. Joe Average Gamer doesn't really care too much about it - he's certainly not going to open his Xbox up. It's not worth pleasing the 10% that might - if they're only going to turn around and swap illegally copied games.
Piracy has already killed the PC gaming market in the UK. Subscription based games are the only ones immune to copied CDs (as people have to go out of their way to commit credit card fraud to get around that) - and I can only see them geting more prevalent as piracy continues.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has ruled that modchips are perfectly legal. So, his belief that he is protected by Austalian law is certainly reasonable.
So, all he is saying is: "Stop making vague threats and actually sue me, Microsoft", because he knows that if they do, they won't have a leg to stand on.
He's not hiding behind Australian law, he's simply saying that Microsoft's allegations about modchips being illegal is FUD - and he wants to get the matter settled once and for all, so that modchip users and designers in Australia can stop fearing Microsoft's bullying tactics.
If Microsoft took him to court, and he won, it would be perfectly reasonable for a LikSang style company to open in Australia and trade without fear of prosecution.
Only a fool would be for some telling you what you can and cannot do with something you own. Once a product is purchased it is 'yours'. How would you like it if I sold you some food but placed limits on its digestion or preparation? Would you be for me selling your grandfather a pacemaker and then deciding that it shouldn't be used by people over a certain age and remotely turning it off? How about me selling you a bottle of water and then suing you after its used to put out a small fire you created. If I was in court telling you it is not to be used to put out fires, that you should use another brand for that... You would call me crazy. GOD didn't create this planet so you could later copyright its fruits. Corporate Lawyers will be suing him next for defective gene sequencing. If you don't like the way something might be used then don't create anything or don't sell it to people its just that simple. As humans we change anything we come in contact with, Deal with it. Modding a (insert game system here) is not going to kill anybody. It is your entertainment system and you should be able to enjoy it however you see fit.
The way I see it is I spent part of the limited time I have on this earth earning the money to buy your POS system or games, learning how to program, disassemble, repair, or have to go back to return said system. Can you give me my time or energy back? I didn't think so. People always say time is money. What makes my time worth any less in this scenario?
Keep playing games with copyrights people and you will eventually be trapped in the web you weave. Are you ready to kill for your patent on mashing a button on a controller, buying something from a store or downloading/copying a CD? Oh! Sorry! A corporate ideal is always worth more than one persons life.
Reading stupid crap stories like this makes me tired.
this sig is classified..how about yours?
What I want is not schematics for the mod chip insertion, not the 'X Box Secrets' that the mod chips manipulate.
What I want is for crackers to start reverse engineering and releasing the code in the mod chips. I see no reason why we should buy mod chips from mod chip vendors. I have a PIC chip programmer and I could rig up an EEPROM programmer from existing known circuits. Let's liberate this knowledge from the mod chip vendors. It wants to be free!
Have you ever looked at a sales chart? Most top seller lists don't include a single PC game. PC developers have to produce a masterpiece to outsell even poor console games.