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MS Employees Debate Mod Chips
Via 1up, a post on Xbox strategy group member Andre Vrignaud's blog discusses the view of mod chips from inside Microsoft. Not surprisingly, he concludes that they're a barrier to a viable business model. Just the same, the post has some good consideration of the issue from both sides. Especially interesting is his comment that "a friend of mine at Microsoft once demonstrated a modded PSP to Bill Gates and showed off all of the interesting things that enabled. According to my friend Bill was intrigued and asked the audience what we might be able to do to encourage this sort of thing without damaging the business." Even if it's a sticky wicket, at least they're thinking along the right lines.
Importers don't care about the cost or time that goes into localization because they're playing a game without localization. None of those reasons make a lick of sense. Why should importers be affected by the costs of things they don't benefit from? And the cost of ads is beyond irrelevant to the ethicality of importing games.
This guy said it better than I did:
http://ozymandias.com/archive/2006/07/31/The-Prob
Complain to the game companies who choose different distributors to distribute games in different regions.
Except that's not the case, the person who says there's different regions is Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo. Nintendo makes a game and Nintendo of America will distribute in America, That game is not able to be played in Japan unless I own a US version of the Nintendo console. Getting that US version of the console is also abnormally hard as it is. I should be able to buy a Japanese 360 if i wish to, I have to go to less than reputable organizations for that. Japanese Amazon can not sell me one because of agreements. That's not a console decision, not a distributor decision.
Hook your 360 to your network and use Media Center Connect.
I don't want to have to dedicate my system and my network to Media Center Connect. I run Windows XP and it is already screwed up enough to the point I can't bridge my connection so my Xbox 360 connects to live through it. Microsoft doesn't have an answer except "it should work". However it doesn't. I don't know why, Microsoft created BOTH the XP system, and the 360, and yet it doesn't work? So why should I use that when the only way I can get online is going direct to the router. Do I have to choose between being online and getting my music?
I'm sorry you think it would be harmful to people if they could run stuff off the hard drive while the disc was still in the system. I've laid out situations that the console developer themselves decide on, which is Microsoft. They have chosen to force people to use their product in their way or else.
If Sony said that there will be no region coding on their system would it kill the system? nope. At least that's not the reason the PS3 is dying. No one thinks selling more games will hurt their system. The fact I have to break the copy protection to buy a foreign copy of FF12 before the american version comes out which I will buy again is beyond retarded. The fact they want to lock me up for moding my PS2 because I wanted to give them more money is hilarious.
Since the DMCA was passed. Since mod chips defeat copyright protection in the consoles you are in violation of the DMCA if you mod (or soft mod) your console.
Wheee!
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Independent game developers can't afford to buy licenses from Microsoft.
Memory cards didn't open the market for longer games; with the NES, longer games had some kind of battery backup built into the cartridge, like Zelda. The PS1 was designed to feature memory cards because saves cannot be written onto game CDs.
I don't know how long ago you wanted to softmod your xbox but these days its very simple providing you aren't afraid to open your xbox up.
4 96263
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=
Follow that tutorial and in a few hours you will have a softmodded xbox.