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Mod Chips Up, Game Industry Revenues Down?
securitas writes "In his latest Game On column, the Boston Globe's Hiawatha Bray describes Xbox and PS2 game console hackers as software pirates who use mod chips and damage game industry revenue. The focus of the column seems to be on the use of mod chips as a way to circumvent game copy controls and glosses over legitimate uses, although he mentions some of them. Without offering any research or concrete numbers, Bray facetiously writes, 'But how many mod chip users are interested in making honest backups? You could probably fit them all into the trunk of a Cadillac, with space left over for a spare tire.' Are the majority of mod chip users 'pirates' or are they legitimate users with legitimate applications for the modifications that Bray hasn't considered?"
I think Bray has a good point. I think the vast majority of people who own 'modded' consoles have had them modded so they can hire a game from Blockbuster and pirate it. My PS2 is modded, and I used it for coding on before the PS2 linux kit and SPS2 came along (haven't used the mod-chip since), but I'm definitely the exception rather than the rule (well, if my circle of friends are anything to go by, anyway).
The flipside however is that it should be the act of piracy that is illegal, not the act of modifying your own (paid-for !) hardware. When a law is enacted, it should make provision for exceptions, and as far as I know the various copyright/IP/whatever laws don't do this for mod-chips. If the exceptions aren't there, it is percieved as a 'bad' law, and people are less likely to respect a 'bad' law...
As for the manufacturers staying ahead: whatever one man can do, another can undo. Until the entire console is a single chip, the traces to the storage devices are all encrypted, and the thing is hermetically sealed with cyanide gas within, people will find a way around the restrictions. The more the challenge, the more will try.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
how many mod chip users are interested in making honest backups?
Those of us with young children who love playing with shiny discs...
The DiscDoctor can't do a lot when they scrape off the top of the disc, or you have resurfaced it so many times the disc gets too thin for the laser to focus..
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
I'm amazed how fragile PS2 games are, one decent-size scratch on the printed side and its a goner. You and I might put such a sensitive and expensive item carefully back in its jewel case, but kids drop them behind the TV or use them as impromptu cutting tools or space weapons. I've lost count of the tearful occasions when things won't load.
Their console isn't modchipped - but I wish it was.
"Don't belong. Never join. Think for yourself. Peace." V.Stone, Microsoft Corporation
I know lots of people who use mod chips to play legal? import games.
Legal or not, you cannot ban mod-chips, theres simply no way. The chip itself is just a blank microprocessor (usually a PIC) which is perfectly legal, and the code which goes on it is tiny and you just cant stop a tiny file spreading around the net. As far as im concerned the moment manufacturers started putting restrictions in their consoles they decided to play by the game of technology and if they have the right to do that then you have the right to modify something you own.
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Does it really matter?
I have noticed a trend lately. People see something that they effectivly can't stop, that is people modifying the hardware THAT THEY BOUGHT AND PAID FOR. To get around restrictions that were built into it.
Now some people want to ask "Does this have a legitimate use?". Can it possibly matter? They arn't making WMDs here, they are modifying some game hardware that they bought and paid for, they are modifying their own property.
I think it absolutly audacious that restrictions of any sort were artificially built into these products for any reason other than operator safety. Even more so that someone would question whether modification of ones own property has "legitimate use".
The most fundamental legitimate use of a mod chip is "because I wanted to". End of story.
-Steve
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
First off, why is it never mentioned that there has been a significant increase in video game RENTALS in the last few years as more and more video stores (esp the Mom&Pop rental stores) start stocking more and more games? Hell, why should I pay 50+ for a game for my PS2 that I can rent for 5 days for 4.95? I usually have the games I play beat in under 10 days, so for 10 bucks, I get the game, get the play, and dont get stuck with a disk I dont want afterwards.
As for Mod chips, I dont have a modded PS2 or XBox yet, but if I did, the sole reason would be to play imports from Japan. There are some pretty slick games in Japan that will never make it to market here simply because of the cultural differences. So what choice do I have? Move to Japan, or a Mod chip... since technically, it is illegal for me to go to Japan, buy a PS2, XBox, or GameCube, then bring it back into the country with assorted games.
Maybe if game companies, like the DVDCCA would get their heads out of their arses for a bit, and realize that the very idea of region coding is stupid, and that gamers are getting tired of paying 50+ per game, for games that are NOT that expensive to design anymore, lower the prices and get rid of the stupid region coding crap.
I mean, if a new game comes out, that is truely new, with a new engine, new graphics, etc, then yeah, its probably worth 50 bucks or so. But a sequal, or a sequal to a sequal, running on the same base code that the original did, with the only real changes being maps, images and avatars, is NOT worth 50 bucks.
I certainly would not pay new car price to get my old car re-painted, so why should I pay new game price to get my old game re-mapped?
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
The other important legitimate reason to have a modchip is to play games from a different region. I have Final Fantasy X, but I hate the people doing the voices (except for a couple of them). I've found a few clips online of the Japanese version, and I love the voices there. I want to buy--legally, from Square--the Japanese version, so I can play it through with the original voices. But I can't play it on my US PS2 without a modchip. Thus, I intend to get a modchip.
I don't have any backups (though, once I have a modchip, I might make some, for exactly the reasons you state), and never plan to get PS2 games illegally. I just want to play games from Japan. If there were a modchip that allowed me to play legal imports, but not backup games, I'd get it.
There is, so far as I can tell, no possible legal argument against this, unless they take the DMCA and twist it even farther than the printer manufacturers have. Having bought the original media, why can I not access it? Heck, I'll even wait until the game comes out in the US (if there are plans to) before buying it, so they don't even have that stupid argument!
I want to give them my money, but Sony won't let me.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
My hunch says anyone who has small kids and doesn't want them to destroy a $40-$80 CD would be a likely candidate for such a mod chip and backup copies.
As a parent, I highly, highly doubt this. Parents with multiple children don't have time for 5 minutes of sex at night let alone sitting in front of a computer trying to make backup copies of some Spongebob Squarepants game. Most of us (our circle of friends with kids) require the younger children (9 or so and under) to ask for assistance before playing a console. The kids of all ages are simply taught how to use the console and the discs, and that not taking care of the discs will result in a game becoming unplayable. Most of us are from the school of thought that children should learn from an early age that they are responsible for their actions, and that expensive items should be treated with care and respect.
Kids have a high propensity to break ANYTHING, so making a backup copy of a $50 game is fine and dandy, but you can't make a backup copy of the $200+ console and the $50 mod chip that you bought to make backup copies so your kids didn't break the game.
Sorry for venturing off into some offtopic territory, but I just don't see that many parents modding a console and spending time doing backups of every game. There are far too many things fighting for parental time, and at the end of the day sex takes preference over burning game discs.
Most drivers go over the speed limit in their cars. Yet cars are still legal. Cars are used in homocides every day, yet cars are still legal. Guns are used to commit crimes, yet guns are still legal in the US. Alcohol is consumed by underage people, yet it is still legal in this country.
If you want to outlaw something because it has illegal uses, let's be fair across the board.
Having said that, I think that the *main* users of mod chips use them to pirate games. There are certainly legal uses of them however. There are legal (and quite useful) uses for P2P, even though the majority *right now* is for illegal activity. I think the key is to develop those legal uses, to have something to back up the technology.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
>> 99% of the world out there isn't gonna hack their Xbox
exactly. and that's why every single one of these articles is bunk. I'm getting tired of companies/industries continuous stream of "we know why we aren't filthy rich!!!! It's the pirates!"
It couldn't be that 1st world cultures are so inundated with such a variety of things to do, from theaters, dvd, cd, games via console, games via pc, games via handhelds, cell phones, satellite tv, cable tv, broadband/web surfing, monster truck events, rock concerts, bowling, sports, excercise, learning to play a musical instrument, studying, working, spending time with the family...yada yada yada.
the shit is endless.
just like most people thing Microsoft has a great reputation, most people don't warez, most people don't hack their anything.
the miniscule minority that do...well they were not going to spend the money in the first place.
this constant barrage of "it's your fault(general consumer) we're not making crap loads of money", is just creating ill will.
there's gonna be fewer and fewer homeruns in the entertainment industry....just a fact of our current culture.
Now I will say that yes, I do know that it's illegal. I don't kid myself by thinking "well, it's for a good cause, so it's OK". And that it probably wasn't the best morality lesson to teach the kid. But you know what...sometimes the moral thing to do isn't the best thing to do. So what....one kid who wasn't born to rich parents gets to enjoy his childhood a little more. I don't feel guilty about giving him that pleasure. Maybe that say more about society then piracy...
I'm don't want to slam you or anything for doing this, after all, I don't really know what I'd do myself (although I've never had/used/installed a mod chip).
First of all, as sad as this is going to sound, if someone couldn't afford a playstation they probably shouldn't have bought one. For someone that a playstation is a big purchase, they ought to have done their homework and figured out that the console is just the start - there's the memory and extra controller, and that doesn't even include a game.
Now ask yourself, is that kid going to be better off in 10 or 20 years because he had a playstation? I doubt it.
And indeed, the lesson you taught him was that if you can't afford it it's OK to steal it. Now, we're not talking about a loaf of bread to feed a starving family, we're talking about something entirely luxerious. TVs, video games, cellphones... these are all luxeries, not essentials.
So you've made the kid and his mom happy, which is fine, but I personally don't find your contribution to society positive. If you wanted to be magnanimous, you should have just bought him a couple of legal games. As others have pointed out, there are plenty of bargain priced and used games out there.
Really, when faced with a situation like this, ask what is going to be the best for the boy in the long run. Receiving stolen goods probably isn't the answer to that question.
Stupid sexy Flanders.