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First Mod Chip For GameCube
Cuber writes "The first modification chip for Nintendo's GameCube console has been announced. It will allow users to boot homebrew applications, loaders and BIOS'. Until now hackers where using an exploit in the game Phantasy Star Online and a broadband adapter to be able to load homebrew software like GC-Linux over a network connection but now they'll be able to run code directly from flash memory.
The mod chip will require to solder only 4 wires and while the device comes empty it's not impossible to think 3rd party loaders will come that allow you to boot copied games."
it's not impossible to think 3rd party loaders will come that allow you to boot copied games."
I believe that you meant "impossible not to think."
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
why did it take so long to get one of these to market?
I mean....there a shitpile of mod chips for X-Box, PS-2, etc......
Just my 2c
Well, we could've just quietly assumed that it would be capable of running copied games, and celebrated it for its ability to run homebrewed software and Linux... but no, we had to go and give it that aire of illegitimacy.
Thanks, poster!
But a great tool, nonetheless. Especially with the low prices and great capabilities of the gamecube.
I'm looking forward to getting the chip for myself. The old method was annoying, and lacked the potential this has.
Check thebroken.org for a video explaining how to load software onto the GC using the optional ethernet port. It's Episode III.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
People who buy came consoles suddenly feel an irrational need to put new bits of hardware in and install 3rd party software.
Per.. perso... personal computer?
Just buy your local PC store's Family Friendly Box with Free Internet and achieve the same effect.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
I have seen Iso's floating around out there, but how can you burn them to a mini DVD, when as far as I know they use a proprietary media for GameCube games? I know thus far they have been running them over the ethernet port (as mentioned in the post) but with the mod chip the theory is that you could run them right in the console...so how would you burn them? Is hardware modification required to boot from a regular DVD, or does the factory hardware read from regular discs once the mod chip is installed?
> Never bite the hand that created you
I don't know about you, but most of us were created by a different body part.
How long till Nintendo DMCA's the crap out of this?
Why did it took so long for a modchip on the Gamecube? Is it because the targeted market isn't hacker friendly? Was there a market for the Gamecube at all, facing Xbox and PS2 competition? Not enough incentive (demand) to create / sell a chip, not enough potential 'customers'?
It doesn't seem related to poor marketshare, as GameCube seem to hold its fair share of the pie.
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Seeing as how there are still people at my local mall selling pirated NES games, it may take them a while.
How much more disappointed XBox users were in their console than Gamecube users. Obviously Gamecube owners, until now, were satisfied with they got, whereas XBox users almost immediately started trying to tinker with it and make mods. :-D
If you like what I've said here, and want to read more, go to http://www.krillrblog.com
I have a Game Boy Player accessory on my GameCube console. I can use it to boot original Game Boy Advance Game Paks, or I can use it to boot homebrew GBA games that I've developed on my flash card, or I can (rarely) use it to boot copied GBA games on my flash card. So my GameCube already boots copied games, albeit not copied GameCube-native games.
I do, and alot of people I know do; There are many excellent titles available for the GC and it's classification in certain circles as a console for kiddies is unwarrented and frankly incorrect. The majority of people I know who own Gamecubes are 20somethings, partly because as an agegroup we remember the haydays of Sega and Nintendo and partly because we're not drawn to the perception of having a console for 'mature' gamers with 'mature' games; we realise the marketing as such is infact aimed at 13-16 year old boys primerilly. Violence does not make a mature game, silly amounts of needless gore does not make a mature game...
There's mischief and malarkies but no queers or yids or darkies within this bastard's carnival, this vicious cabaret.
Phantasy Star Online downloads a piece of executable code from Sega's server every time you run it. The PSOLoad program pretends to be Sega's server. I'll take an educated guess that the bug was that PSO didn't check any sort of digital signature on the code.
Yet the gamecube constantly outsells the Xbox... which is the failure here?
Normally if I saw something like this, I'd say let the lawsuits begin! Nintendo is infamous for its fierce protection of its properties. But in this case I don't expect to see that anytime soon. Why? Because of the funky mini dvd format the GC uses, practically speaking, only homebrew software is going to take advantage of the mod chip. So Nintendo will be hard pressed to argue that the mod chip was created to facilitate piracy. By the time anyone comes up with a way to make pirate game GC disks cheap and easy, the GC 2 will be out and no one will care any more.
That said, I'm sure there's some factory in China pumping out pirate copies of GC games like crazy. But that certainly is not in response to the release of this mod chip.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
You don't need to do jack to hack the Dreamcast. It doesn't have any anti-copy protection that prevents it from booting off CDs. Instead it used a special disc format for the games called GD Rom that stores about 1.2 GB. So in theory, it was not possible to copy them. In reality, it turned out that there were a few groups able to extract the contents of the discs anyway and make them fit on 700 MB CDs, sometimes with ripping out movies and so on, sometimes not. Sadly, that's one of the reasons the Dreamcast tanked as hard as it did. Rampant piracy. Only a few of the release groups could make the discs because of the hardware hacking involved, but once they got made, they got passed around all over. It got so bad, there was even the rumor that Sega Japan approached the most egregious group with a bribe to stop doing it, which they allegedly took. But, nature and release groups abhor a vacuum, so when one group took a bow, others came in to fill the gap.
But the upside is if you want to run, say, MAME on it, just burn a CD with a bit of help and off you go. No hardware modding required.
I thought GC discs spun backwards? If you wanted to create pirate games with your DVD burner, wouldn't need to modify your burner to burn backwards?
/me breaks out the soldering iron and the ol' 4x CD burner... it's hackin' time.
Would you be able to just reverse the polarity to the motor...?
This really isn't as revolutionary as it sounds.
What this mod essentially does. is allow you to store DOL files on the modchip itself. DOL files are Gamecube executable files, so it allows you to send small apps across. Not bioses.
Do you guys remember the old PSO Exploit, where you could send small apps across to your GameCube using a bug in the network connection? From here, you could send across little 'loaders' that could stream the games from your PC...
This mod really doesn't provide anything that the previous method could not... it just saves you from having to boot up PSO.
This is a rather cool little mod if you would like your apps to automatically boot up when you turn in your GameCube... GC-Linux anyone? And you can send across the afrorementioned 'loaders' you boot yer Iso's... but this isn't going to help you play games from disc, nor is it going to help you use a hacked bios replacement. Sorry guys.
The main reason a 'proper' modchip for the GameCube does not exist yet is because it uses proprietory discs, not mini-DVD's as people seem to believe.
I gather it's theorietically possible to boot a DVDR on the Gamecube... but it would require hacking of the drive controller, as opposed to merely hacking the bios.
My understanding is the Gamecube uses a 3" disc which is a proprietary mini DVD format that holds 1.5GB. It cannot be read by the CD or DVD player in your PC meaning you have to invest in some slightly more serious hardware to try and copy these discs, pushing it out of the reach of the average user. A great approach by Nintendo to copy protection, I have heard rumour that the XBox 2 is gonna follow suit and have a proprietary disc format to help combat copying.
but what do i know, i'm just a model.
a nice personal touch making the press photo's of circuitry on someone's bedspread.
:-D
Just like Intel
It isn't read by spinning the disc backwards, as can be easily verified by opening the lid while it's spinning, but the laser moves from the outer rim inwards.
In other words, GameCube uses the DVD's second layer, right?
I wonder if this could be compensated for with a driver, or if a regular DVD burner could be hacked to write apropriate media with a firmware flash.
Depends. Does your burner support DVD+R DL?
Good for you. Continue to use and enjoy your GameCube. There are a few among us however that feel the need to disassemble things and look at them and attempt to study them, then enjoy tweaking what and how they do it. Irrational? Perhaps. But then again, what is art? Is it necessary? Not everyone's cup of tea, but some people enjoy things like this as a hobby.
One thing i hate about copy protection schemes in the PS2, for example, is that people aren't allowed to program their own games and distribute them. No, you have to get a contract with Sony, so they distribute your games in their uncopiable format, and they get their share. Oh, you haven't got the money? Sorry. "But the game..." NO DEAL!
Sometimes i wonder... have Sony forgotten their roots, when they were trying to sell transistor radios in Germany?
I'm glad that this has happened, but not so I can play copied games.
I'm looking forward to being able to play my imports without using a boot disc (I currently use freeloader). And being able to patch and update it against bugs in such handling (Japanese Namco games are quite well known for having serious problems with freeloader and save cards).
Homebrew software development also appeals to me, but not as much as the ability to handle those imports.
And why am I so interested in imports? Well, our local Nintendo office has seen it fit to destroy the gamecube by keeping the prices high, failing to promote the cube sufficently, being slow on the uptake of titles and withholding new accessories for the gamecube from market.
In Australia, you can't even buy the Official Nintendo 1019 block memory card, whereas I bought one during a visit to the US for the same price that a 251 block memory card costs us here. The broadband adapter was announced at one point, but you certainly can't buy them here.
Not only that, imported gamecube games cost LESS than their local counterparts, even after shipping in most cases. I bought R: Racing (US) for a whole US$20, whereas it was still priced at AU$90 back home. Given express shipping from Lik-Sang costs around AU$25, we still keep just below the $90-100 line for most games here.
Now, given the choice, would you give money to that division when you could just buy from overseas, with one of the foreign divisions of that company earning the profits instead?
As far as I'm concerned, it means I get my games, and I get them cheaper than buying locally, and Nintendo still gets the money they deserve for producing such a good (underrated) platform.
And, with some luck, I hope that the local branch will get their act together and start giving us prices that are even vaugely competative against their neighbouring branches.
Now this is something id like to see... Ive got more damnable copies of OSX to myself than ill ever use and no urge to go buy hardware to run them on... so getting my gamecube to use my OSX copy sounds wonderful
XML - A clever joke would be here if
I own a Gamecube.
Metroid Prime. And #2.
Eternal Darkness.
The Super Monkey Balls.
Super Smash Bros.
I have a PS2 also. For RPGs, it's where it's at. But the GC has a *lot* of high quality games, especially the ones coming from Nintendo. Yes, many of them are rehashes of old franchises... but they're well done, entertaining rehashes. And I just want fun games to play, so that suits me just fine.
---
Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
But the important thing is that it won't play "silvers" (pressed pirate discs) or burned CD-R/DVD-R discs, not even homebrews. As far as I know, nobody has yet gotten the GC's drive to read any data from a burned disc. Whether it's the reverse spiral or a wrong wavelength laser, proper piracy can't be done without being able to slap in a bootleg disc and hitting the power button. You can use this mod to play ripped game images, but only with a lot of effort, and only with a PC handy. Having to load ISOs over the Ethernet port is only for true die-hards, and is enough of a pain in the arse that you might as well go legit... or mod an X-box instead.
*The broadband adapter is connected via a 27Mbit serial interface, shared with the memory cards, and probably a few other things. And early attempts to use the 100Mbit mode of the Ethernet port weren't reliable.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Do you really believe that noone would associate a mod chip with piracy if the poster of a Slashdot article hadn't mentioned the possibility?
Come on now.
Fuck off.
Well John,
/. and found you never seem to respond to anyone without being an asshole. Some people just aren't gifted with social skills, and I understand this is a problem with many of my fellow geeks. So, you are forgiven for acting like a inciteful little twit.
I can only imagine the insecurity you feel. I read through your previous posts on
Anyway, I did not get sued for a mod chip. I was sued for supposedly pirating DirecTV. The vendor, White Viper (I think), was raided by the authorities about a year and half after one of my credit cards had been run in their system. I had moved several times since this, but they hired private investigators to track down the "culprits" and filed lawsuits on us in small groups. Upon fighting it, you become aware quickly that the cost of legal representation adds up pretty fast and they are happy to out-spend you in order to beat you into submission. After about $3k in to it, they appear to have dropped the suit. Either way, I learned the burn of our legal system and am not a happy camper. I'm an information security professional who was working on novel things to do with smartcards, and unfortunately, got caught in the middle of something nasty.
Think people with mod chips "can't" be sued, then go to http://www.hackhu.com/ and read up on their premise. It is very close to the approach MS or Sony could take if they wanted to help take care of piracy. I'm not saying it is right, I am just saying they could do it if they wanted to.
Why aren't they? They could just be waiting around to see how the DTV suits go and start enforcement with the next generation systems if their anti-piracy mechanisms are proved to be useless in the real world. Blindly assuming they will never do anything is dangerous, thousands of people thought the same way about DTV a few years ago and look how that turned out.
You're an idiot without a cause, and frankly I blame people like you for bringing our counter-culture down.
I am not part of your "counter-culture". Your need to label and define shows a painful amount of insecurity, or perhaps, a lack of intellect. Trust me, you will not find happiness by defining yourself by your pre-packaged music, movies, food, social setting and threads. Myself, I am just a man making a living and enjoying life on this big, stinky hell hole.
As a final bit of advice:
I would really suggest not sitting around on forums and harassing people. It is ugly and there is no way you would walk up to two people conversing in a public place and act like that. Try relaxing and not making terrible crappy accusations at the drop of a hair. It will help you get a friend or two, then life won't be so lonely and you probably won't feel the frustration and unhappiness which fuels your posts.