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?"

Comments

Of course there are

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course there are legitimate uses for mod chips. Think about most of the ways of getting Linux running on games consoles these days. Unfortunately, with the advent of the DMCA and the Patriot act, these aren't recognised as legitimate now.
Mention of this legal tyranny was conspicuously absent from the article though ... strange

Re:little kids?

[Archibald Buttle]

It is entirely irrelevant if the majority of people using MOD chips are doing so to play illegally copied games, rather than backups of legally owned material, or foreign region software.

You should have the right to protect your investment i.e. play backups rather than risk damaging expensive originals. This is not the exclusive domain of people protecting their games from their children either.

Region locking is also a dubious practice and amounts to an effort to control markets. In business areas outside the entertainment industry this kind of market manipulation is often considered illegal and monopolistic.