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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!
For the longest time I wanted a display device in the livingroom. Something that would play DVD/video/mp3s/internet streaming content. The Xbox seemd like the IDEAL solution based on the horsepower, ethernet and digital multichannel audio out. I'd heard rumors that it was CAPABILE of sending a progressive scan DVD video signal with just a software upgrade and it sounded even better.
Then a whole lotta nothing happened. I'd have been willing to spend another $50-$75 to microsoft/whoever for the capability. The modchip seems like the quickest way to get an unencumbered display device next to your TV in the family room, but at the expense of a lot of futzing around with the hardware.
Unfortunately, they missed their target opportunity as 99% of the world out there isn't gonna hack their Xbox to do this, and the only announcement I've seen from Microsoft is a software package that'll ONLY talk to a media center version of Windows XP. (here, you can do this, but first you have to buy this $2000 computer)
Meanwhile, I realized that internet radio sucks, and my iPod with iTunes fm modulator plus the dish network PVR provides everything I truely needed above and beyond the Xbox's DVD player.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
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. My hunch also says that there are more parents with little kids that have gaming consoles then "will fit in the trunk of a Cadillac".
I'll stop making backup copies of my software then the gaming industry offers to send me replacement copies of damaged CDs without charging me anything more then shipping and handling. You can't have it both ways -- I'm either paying for the software license (in which case I have the right to make a backup or archival copy and they don't have the right to include technology that stops me from doing this) or I'm paying for the CD itself. And if I'm paying for the CD itself then it ought to cost a few bucks -- not $50. Hell if I pay for the software license who says I have to use the software off the CD? Is it really illegal for me to go and download something off Kazaa that I already own? Ditto for mp3s of songs that I already own the album for.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Who is this "Chips" and what has he done to deserve to be modded up?
The DVD player in the PS2 is really, really cheap and it does not take much to damage a PS2 DVD to the point where it does not play.
I have several such disks that I can only play because I have a MOD chip and I have copied the scratched DVD's to new disks that the PS2 can read.
Plus there are some neat free utilities for working with save games on the memory card, multimedia players and othersoftware that is difficult to run on an un-modded PS2.
Modifying something you own is NOT illegal. You might be able to do something illegal as a result. Then that action would be illegal, not the modification.
When I was a kid, nothing was soldered shut. You could open any product you wanted to fix it or see how it worked.
Recently, I've seen companies try to scare you into not altering what you buy through voiding warranties and placing intimidating stickers on access panels.
I'm getting sort of sick of it. Once I buy something, it is mine to do with as I please. I can meddle with it, improve it, or smash it with a hammer. It's mine. And I'd appreciate if they could all remember that.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
What a liar. We make backups; just most of the backups are of games that we don't own. :-)
Tech, life, family, faith: Give me a visit
The majority of the mod chip users that I know are pirates.
Well you try to swap a disk with a hook for an arm without scratching it! It makes sense to backup in that case!
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