I think the difference is that creative works like a book, a movie, a song, are intangible data, they're an idea not a physical object. A house or rental property is a physical object it can't be used by an infinite amount of people at once, it can't be duplicated en-masse, and the bounds and rules governing it's ownership and usage are very cut and dry by comparison.
I think the key here is not so much about copyright limits and royalties but how you define ownership. If you want to define ownership of an idea in the same way that you do an object then there should be no limits, ownership could be sold to whoever wants it, and if desired can be donated to public use much like an artifact or a historical building. These "objects" would simply have the happy side effect of being leased out to an infinite amount of people at the same time. like an apartment complex with an infinite amount of rooms.
If you want to view an idea as belonging only to the person who created the idea, as if the idea itself is PART OF THAT PERSON, then maybe copyrights should be non-transferable... maybe they should become public domain with the death of their originator and if a record label wants exclusive use they should be required to exclusively lease that idea while the originator is alive. So when some musician signs with a label, or some writer signs with a publisher they always retain the rights to their works but they might sign a life time exclusive lease with the record label. the label could then sub-let it to other labels or terminate their contract etc. I doubt we'd ever see a system like this get put to use.
Maybe a happy medium that would actually bode with todays model is to set a limit of 50 years or until death, whichever is longer.
Based on these comments it would lend me to believe that Sony's biggest folley is not actually reaching people, not actually letting people get up close and personal with the experience they're actually offering. Because if the console is as solid as you, and other PS3 owners are saying then Sony is doing a very VERY poor job of getting that message across.
Owing a 360 and owing a Wii and having played the PS3 a number of times at a friends house I must be on the outside looking in because I simply haven't got the same impression of the machine as you're describing. There are a number of things Sony could do that would get me to go out to the store tomorrow to buy one but I've yet to see any compelling reason to do so. If there really is a good reason, or a few good reason to get one then Sony has failed in making me see that as a customer.
I bought a PS1 and a PS2 when I started seeing stuff offered on the platform that I wanted to play... I haven't see that yet with the PS3 so in the mean time I'm in no rush to buy one because who knows how far the price will drop before it even offers what I'm looking for.
I agree with you half way... I think the hardcore gamers do like unchanging gameplay... they want the FPS the plays like that other FPS they love that plays like that other FPS they love and is by that developer they love in that franchise they love... etc. etc.
Casual gamers will just play whatever looks like fun and move on when it stops being fun
On the other hand I think hardcore gamers demand more of a deeper plot and character development... they want to play Halo 3 not just because it's the gameplay/franchise they love but because it's like the next chapter in a really good book... I don't really think the casual market cares so much nor has the attention span for this kind of involvement with a game. Wii Sports might offer fresh gameplay but it's completely devoid of the kind of intellectual stimulation you'd get from something like Half Life, Halo or many of the other games hardcore players are known to love that casual gamers turn their nose up at.
I think in many ways hardcore gamers view their gaming experience as a solid form of entertainment that act in place of a movie, or book in terms of artistic value. I think Casual gamers view games more in terms of cheap thrills and as a completely different and alternative form of entertainment, rather than a replacement.
If owning a 360 that had 0 problems, just got a free 3 year warranty and is something that I enjoy playing on a daily basis for 4+ hours of my leisure time (which is more attention then I give to my Wii, or PS2, or any of the other consoles I've ever owned) is your definition of "screwed"; well then I guess I've been throughly screwed...
... sounds like you're bitter because you haven't been screwed.
Yup... I'm a NH native as well. Despite the fact that I loath the cold winters time and time again I'm very pleased with the way our state is run. Catching bits and pieces on the radio of local politics in Maine I would say they're run similarly as well. As for MA... well they're pretty much our polar opposite.
While not Libertarian we do keep closer to those ideals than any other state government I know of, and that pleases me greatly.
This is nothing new nearly every cross platform title last generation was held back by the PS2's technical limitations... Cross platform titles are limited by the weakest link on all consoles they're slated for release on. This isn't some "MS Tactic" this is business as usual the way it's worked since video gaming in the 80s.
As for the content, just because they commissioned the creation of exclusive content doesn't make them evil, it's content that wasn't going to exist in the first place and now it does. it's existence is inconsequential if you plan on playing the game as it was originally designed, and a great benefit if you're a fan of the series who want more out of the franchise.
It seems to me like you're seriously going out of your way to look for reasons to hate MS.
while I don't think it needs to be THAT cheap to be a success they already had a $500 price point that they ditched. IMO the extra 40GB of hard drive space (for a hard drive that you can swap out yourself with an off the shelf part) and built in WiFi wasn't really worth the extra $100 they were charging for the premium unit anyway.
If there was anyone with $500 in their pocket who wanted a PS3 they probably would have bought the 20GB model when it was still available, I'm pretty sure you can still find them lingering around stores today too.
If they want to be competitive they have to match the 360's price point... unfortunately I think if anything this price drop will cause Microsoft to follow suit, they've been hinting at a price drop for quite some time as well.
It will be much less costly for them to actually fix these errors than to pay for additionally two way shipping and replacement of 1/4 to 1/3rd of everything they produce.
dailytech had an article last week saying that reports from the BestBuys, Eb Games etc... that offer their own replacement services were seeing 25-33% return rates.
Microsoft is claiming that this will cost them 1.1-1.3Billion
The whole complaint about the lack of a HDD holding back the game on the 360 was that ALL version of the game were going to be the same (360, PS3 and whatever else) so the technical limitations of any one platform would hold them ALL back.
MS then paid for exclusive episodic content for the 360 on top of the core game. In terms of content on the disc, level design, etc. it should be identical across all versions.
I wonder if AV vendors would be able to deliver a better product if they cut overhead and simply focused on developing and maintaining a product that worked efficiently and effectively for a decent price. I know I would prefer an AV solution that just did anti-virus very well and didn't involve a hard-press sales call every other week to evaluate their "security suite."
I've been using NOD32 on my windows machines for a while now and have been quite pleased with it... my machine has been squeaky clean since I started, I never get pushed to buy some upgraded product, it hardly uses any resources to the point where the only time I even know it's running is when it catches a virus. IIRC it's not all the expensive either (I think I paid $35 for the software+ a years worth of subscription).
I had various versions of Norton until a friend recommended me NOD32 about 2 years ago and I haven't looked back. I only comment because it sounds like it fits your description for what you look for in an AV program...
it's kind of a bad comparison because they guy used two completely different methods to capture the data then he "upscaled" the DVD version to 1080p before downscaling both back down to 480p... no only that but he did is "scaling" with Photoshop. There's no good reason he couldn't have captured the DVD the same way he captured the HD DVD... and there's no reason he couldn't have simply captured both through the same mechanism and had the player downscale the HD-DVD before it even reached the capture device... That would have made for a much better comparison.
I don't know if Id say we're giving him a platform... I believe the GP is talking about "generic talk show" who invites Jack Thompson "video game expert" on the show to speak with the parents about the dangers of the murder simulators they bought.
Talking about him is one thing... putting him on a pedestal and parading him around like he's some kind of expert with a valuable opinion is a completely different animal.
I actually think it's benificial that/. talk about his goings ons because when it gets out of line we're prepared to deal with the inevitable aftermath that I'm sure most of us see from friends, family, and co-workers who just happened to see some expert on TV the other day who said that....
An attacker could simply select a hand writing at random till they get the right one.
Even easier than that.. analyze all options given, guess at random then when round #2 starts simply pick the one that matches a sample from round #1 if it's a string of numbers there should be enough numbers displayed to at least find one or two digits in common, and if they happen to show you one or more of the same alternatives displayed in round one you have at least one set you know it wont be (because you tried and failed) and a smaller set of choices to pick from (because you're only choosing from round 2 samples that match round 1 samples).
In all likelihood a fairly simple application could crack it on the 2nd try with consistancy. Heck if you're decent at picking out handwriting traits a human could crack it on the 2nd try with consistancy.
While I'm sure the Canadian healthcare system is all of those things, it requires tremendous Faith in the US government to implement such a system so light on bureaucracy that it can actually be effective. I for one lack that kind of faith and I think the real root of the problem is that most people in the US feel that way as well.
It's not that I think Social Healthcare is a bad thing... it's just that I don't even remotely trust our leaders to implement it anywhere near properly.
so in other words, you need a complete PC AND this box. sounds like a worse combo as the software is windows only.
That's what I thought at first as well... but after visiting the official website and reading through it... it sounds like it can function as a stand alone DVR. It simply needs a storage medium such as an external usb harddrive or Flash memory or it can store it's files on a networked drive/on some other computer. No idea if it actually does schedules like a Tivo or something else
I've been looking for a cheap (sub $300) solution for digital timeshifting and was considering trying to build a SageTV box using mostly spare parts an a cheap fanless mobo/processor combo. And reading this I started to think it would be a great alternative until I realized that the quality is generally crap. It only supports Composite video out, and S-video in for recording Meaning it doesn't actually have a tuner, so it relies on some other device to handle that (also meaning it probably can't do scheduling either). Once you start considering that it's really mostly crap IMO.
Before I'd consider buying one It needs:
-S-Video out (preferably Component and or HDMI)
-A built in Tuner and Scheduling capabilities
-At least a slot for a 3.5" IDE hard drive so I dump my own drive in there instead of having some ulgy external POS hanging off the thing.
Also if they made it look like a DVD player/Receiver or some other piece of home theater equipment rather than a mini satellite dish I'd be more likely to buy one.
I believe ANY nudity at all will automatically bump it up to AO... If you recall the nipple textures found on the Oblivion disc got it bumped up to AO temporarily after it was release...
Maybe we are seeing the return of whiskers when using the non-lead solder?
I had never heard of those before but it's entirely possible. The problem being that the problems are occurring in the BGA so it's impossible to do any kind of visual verification. You'd have to X-Ray or electron microscope or whatever it is they do to check the quality of a BGA and I think most of us don't have access to that kind of equipment.
I know a short run version of the Xbox 1 (the V1.6a I believe) suffered from problems due to using non-lead solder... from what I remember of the description of the problem the solder right off the motherboard was somehow shorting out on the chassis. I'd be willing to bet it was exactly the Whiskers problem. I believe they fixed it by changing back to a leaded solder... That sort of phenomenon could very easily cause the kinds of problems we're seeing if it occurred in the BGA.
Basically the most common error that people _REALLY_ have when they get the "3 red lights of death" is a 0102 which has been tracked down to an issue with the Graphics Processor. What happens is the processor runs exceedingly hot to the point where the PCB actually weakens and the solder in the BGA softens (it's eco friendly lead free solder too so it's weaker right off the bat). The heat syncs are held on by springy metal brackets referred to as "X-Clamps" mounted on the back side of the motherboard (so the screws go right through the mobo)... What this does is create a perfect storm for deformation of the motherboard and cold (figuratively of course) connections within the BGA.
Once a motherboard has been sufficiently deformed it doesn't really ever get better, like frame damage to your car it can be repaired but it's never quite the same again. A temporary fix is to pull off the heat syncs and reflow the BGA with a heat gun... but it only takes weeks to a month before you'll get the red lights again. A more successful fix is to remove the "x-clamps" altogether and bolting the heat syncs directly to the case chassis... This prevents the unnecessary flexing of the PCB below the GPU and even when the area gets hot from use does not deform the PCB and thus does not create cold connections in the BGA.
What does this have to do with the same person having 11 faulty consoles? Simply put... the consoles he's getting back are NOT NEW. He's not returning it to the store but Microsoft themselves and either getting his original console back "fixed" by Microsoft, or he's getting a refurb that originally belonged to some other poor schmuck who had the same problem... again "fixed" by Microsoft. Once a console throws that error it's prone to failure again and again...
I don't have a broken 360, mine has been working a-ok since I picked it up on launch day... but I know thousands of people who've experienced broken consoles and I know many people personally who take great care of their console and just had it stop working one day... and then the next one they got was DOA... and the next one only worked for a week... etc. etc. etc.
In most cases you either have had no problems at all or you've got through 2 or 3 or more consoles. The only people I know who have had to replace it only once after the 3RLoD were those who were out of warranty and simply bought a new one instead of sending it in for repair.
The DMCA was created to prevent non-infringing uses from being an argument in court, it only requires that one of the chip's features is permitting piracy, not that that's its only use.
Right... so where does that fall when the chip doesn't actually have any piracy permitting features in and of itself? Instead the user has to flash new firmware on the chip that allows them to do that?
For instance if you buy a Qoob chip for your Gamecube from an official reseller you CANNOT play pirated games using it in stock form. If the user wants to play pirated games they have to hunt down new firmware from some undisclosed location and reflash the chip. Xbox modchips are the same way, as are most modchips... which is why it's a gray area. Is the chip really a copyright circumvention device, or is the software I installed after the purchase the circumvention device? If I used my PC to perform the same functions as a modchip (which is entirely possible) does that make my PC a copyright circumvention device? How is a Dell any less of piracy device than a Qoob?
I think his point was that OpenGL platforms are technically capable of playing games, it's just a matter of them actually making the games for that platform.
To use your own analogy the Mustang is already 100lbs, air tight and has fusion reactor, they just decide to not use it.
The Modchips alone are either just your typical bios chip (like the Xbox and PS2) or they're you're standard PIC/AVR microcontroller (PS1, Wii, Saturn, Dreamcast, etc.)
The use of modchips is a very gray line and using a modchip in and of itself is not a crime even under DMCA... most are sold blank or with "legal" firmware that does nothing to aid in circumvention of protection mechanisms. Xbox 1 chips specifically come pre-loaded with "Cromwell" bioses that are based on Linux and don't actually allow the playback of backup discs.
The bioses that do allow the playback of backup discs are hacked version of the original bioses or development bioses, and themselves are considered pirated material (like the Evox and X2 series of hacked bioses for the Xbox 1).
Seeing as I know someone who was recently arrested for selling pirated Xbox games "and installing modchips" He was only ever charged with the piracy issues... It's my understanding that most of the time they'll report about the installation work in the papers but it's so far over the heads of the police and prosecutors that they don't even try to make a case for the modchip stuff... it's just too much work to make a sound case for it when they've got X hundred counts of piracy that they can easily nail them with.
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I think the difference is that creative works like a book, a movie, a song, are intangible data, they're an idea not a physical object. A house or rental property is a physical object it can't be used by an infinite amount of people at once, it can't be duplicated en-masse, and the bounds and rules governing it's ownership and usage are very cut and dry by comparison.
I think the key here is not so much about copyright limits and royalties but how you define ownership. If you want to define ownership of an idea in the same way that you do an object then there should be no limits, ownership could be sold to whoever wants it, and if desired can be donated to public use much like an artifact or a historical building. These "objects" would simply have the happy side effect of being leased out to an infinite amount of people at the same time. like an apartment complex with an infinite amount of rooms.
If you want to view an idea as belonging only to the person who created the idea, as if the idea itself is PART OF THAT PERSON, then maybe copyrights should be non-transferable... maybe they should become public domain with the death of their originator and if a record label wants exclusive use they should be required to exclusively lease that idea while the originator is alive. So when some musician signs with a label, or some writer signs with a publisher they always retain the rights to their works but they might sign a life time exclusive lease with the record label. the label could then sub-let it to other labels or terminate their contract etc. I doubt we'd ever see a system like this get put to use.
Maybe a happy medium that would actually bode with todays model is to set a limit of 50 years or until death, whichever is longer.
Based on these comments it would lend me to believe that Sony's biggest folley is not actually reaching people, not actually letting people get up close and personal with the experience they're actually offering. Because if the console is as solid as you, and other PS3 owners are saying then Sony is doing a very VERY poor job of getting that message across.
Owing a 360 and owing a Wii and having played the PS3 a number of times at a friends house I must be on the outside looking in because I simply haven't got the same impression of the machine as you're describing. There are a number of things Sony could do that would get me to go out to the store tomorrow to buy one but I've yet to see any compelling reason to do so. If there really is a good reason, or a few good reason to get one then Sony has failed in making me see that as a customer.
I bought a PS1 and a PS2 when I started seeing stuff offered on the platform that I wanted to play... I haven't see that yet with the PS3 so in the mean time I'm in no rush to buy one because who knows how far the price will drop before it even offers what I'm looking for.
I agree with you half way... I think the hardcore gamers do like unchanging gameplay... they want the FPS the plays like that other FPS they love that plays like that other FPS they love and is by that developer they love in that franchise they love... etc. etc.
Casual gamers will just play whatever looks like fun and move on when it stops being fun
On the other hand I think hardcore gamers demand more of a deeper plot and character development... they want to play Halo 3 not just because it's the gameplay/franchise they love but because it's like the next chapter in a really good book... I don't really think the casual market cares so much nor has the attention span for this kind of involvement with a game. Wii Sports might offer fresh gameplay but it's completely devoid of the kind of intellectual stimulation you'd get from something like Half Life, Halo or many of the other games hardcore players are known to love that casual gamers turn their nose up at.
I think in many ways hardcore gamers view their gaming experience as a solid form of entertainment that act in place of a movie, or book in terms of artistic value. I think Casual gamers view games more in terms of cheap thrills and as a completely different and alternative form of entertainment, rather than a replacement.
...if it weren't for /. I don't know where I'd SPAM!
I'd rather it be a forerunner to a Mr. Butlertron .... Wesley
If owning a 360 that had 0 problems, just got a free 3 year warranty and is something that I enjoy playing on a daily basis for 4+ hours of my leisure time (which is more attention then I give to my Wii, or PS2, or any of the other consoles I've ever owned) is your definition of "screwed"; well then I guess I've been throughly screwed...
... sounds like you're bitter because you haven't been screwed.
Yup... I'm a NH native as well. Despite the fact that I loath the cold winters time and time again I'm very pleased with the way our state is run. Catching bits and pieces on the radio of local politics in Maine I would say they're run similarly as well. As for MA... well they're pretty much our polar opposite.
While not Libertarian we do keep closer to those ideals than any other state government I know of, and that pleases me greatly.
This is nothing new nearly every cross platform title last generation was held back by the PS2's technical limitations... Cross platform titles are limited by the weakest link on all consoles they're slated for release on. This isn't some "MS Tactic" this is business as usual the way it's worked since video gaming in the 80s.
As for the content, just because they commissioned the creation of exclusive content doesn't make them evil, it's content that wasn't going to exist in the first place and now it does. it's existence is inconsequential if you plan on playing the game as it was originally designed, and a great benefit if you're a fan of the series who want more out of the franchise.
It seems to me like you're seriously going out of your way to look for reasons to hate MS.
while I don't think it needs to be THAT cheap to be a success they already had a $500 price point that they ditched. IMO the extra 40GB of hard drive space (for a hard drive that you can swap out yourself with an off the shelf part) and built in WiFi wasn't really worth the extra $100 they were charging for the premium unit anyway.
If there was anyone with $500 in their pocket who wanted a PS3 they probably would have bought the 20GB model when it was still available, I'm pretty sure you can still find them lingering around stores today too.
If they want to be competitive they have to match the 360's price point... unfortunately I think if anything this price drop will cause Microsoft to follow suit, they've been hinting at a price drop for quite some time as well.
Well they have fixed/will be fixing most of the design flaws
They've added a much improved heatsink to the GPU, They've reinforced the PCB around the processors to keep it from warping, and they should be pumping out the 65nm chips any day now (for all we know they already are).
It will be much less costly for them to actually fix these errors than to pay for additionally two way shipping and replacement of 1/4 to 1/3rd of everything they produce.
dailytech had an article last week saying that reports from the BestBuys, Eb Games etc... that offer their own replacement services were seeing 25-33% return rates.
Microsoft is claiming that this will cost them 1.1-1.3Billion
You can read a more in-depth analysis of the error on my site.
Oh and it's the "3 Red Lights of Death" not the "Red Rings of Death" There is only 1 ring and only 3 of the 4 lights glow red... to correct TFA
The whole complaint about the lack of a HDD holding back the game on the 360 was that ALL version of the game were going to be the same (360, PS3 and whatever else) so the technical limitations of any one platform would hold them ALL back.
MS then paid for exclusive episodic content for the 360 on top of the core game. In terms of content on the disc, level design, etc. it should be identical across all versions.
I had various versions of Norton until a friend recommended me NOD32 about 2 years ago and I haven't looked back. I only comment because it sounds like it fits your description for what you look for in an AV program...
it's kind of a bad comparison because they guy used two completely different methods to capture the data then he "upscaled" the DVD version to 1080p before downscaling both back down to 480p... no only that but he did is "scaling" with Photoshop. There's no good reason he couldn't have captured the DVD the same way he captured the HD DVD... and there's no reason he couldn't have simply captured both through the same mechanism and had the player downscale the HD-DVD before it even reached the capture device... That would have made for a much better comparison.
I don't know if Id say we're giving him a platform... I believe the GP is talking about "generic talk show" who invites Jack Thompson "video game expert" on the show to speak with the parents about the dangers of the murder simulators they bought.
/. talk about his goings ons because when it gets out of line we're prepared to deal with the inevitable aftermath that I'm sure most of us see from friends, family, and co-workers who just happened to see some expert on TV the other day who said that....
Talking about him is one thing... putting him on a pedestal and parading him around like he's some kind of expert with a valuable opinion is a completely different animal.
I actually think it's benificial that
In all likelihood a fairly simple application could crack it on the 2nd try with consistancy. Heck if you're decent at picking out handwriting traits a human could crack it on the 2nd try with consistancy.
While I'm sure the Canadian healthcare system is all of those things, it requires tremendous Faith in the US government to implement such a system so light on bureaucracy that it can actually be effective. I for one lack that kind of faith and I think the real root of the problem is that most people in the US feel that way as well.
It's not that I think Social Healthcare is a bad thing... it's just that I don't even remotely trust our leaders to implement it anywhere near properly.
I've been looking for a cheap (sub $300) solution for digital timeshifting and was considering trying to build a SageTV box using mostly spare parts an a cheap fanless mobo/processor combo. And reading this I started to think it would be a great alternative until I realized that the quality is generally crap. It only supports Composite video out, and S-video in for recording Meaning it doesn't actually have a tuner, so it relies on some other device to handle that (also meaning it probably can't do scheduling either). Once you start considering that it's really mostly crap IMO.
Before I'd consider buying one It needs:
-S-Video out (preferably Component and or HDMI)
-A built in Tuner and Scheduling capabilities
-At least a slot for a 3.5" IDE hard drive so I dump my own drive in there instead of having some ulgy external POS hanging off the thing.
Also if they made it look like a DVD player/Receiver or some other piece of home theater equipment rather than a mini satellite dish I'd be more likely to buy one.
I believe ANY nudity at all will automatically bump it up to AO... If you recall the nipple textures found on the Oblivion disc got it bumped up to AO temporarily after it was release...
I know a short run version of the Xbox 1 (the V1.6a I believe) suffered from problems due to using non-lead solder... from what I remember of the description of the problem the solder right off the motherboard was somehow shorting out on the chassis. I'd be willing to bet it was exactly the Whiskers problem. I believe they fixed it by changing back to a leaded solder... That sort of phenomenon could very easily cause the kinds of problems we're seeing if it occurred in the BGA.
I hear he makes some mean pancakes too!
Not necessarily...
I manage the largest (AFAIK) Xbox360 error code list.
Basically the most common error that people _REALLY_ have when they get the "3 red lights of death" is a 0102 which has been tracked down to an issue with the Graphics Processor. What happens is the processor runs exceedingly hot to the point where the PCB actually weakens and the solder in the BGA softens (it's eco friendly lead free solder too so it's weaker right off the bat). The heat syncs are held on by springy metal brackets referred to as "X-Clamps" mounted on the back side of the motherboard (so the screws go right through the mobo)... What this does is create a perfect storm for deformation of the motherboard and cold (figuratively of course) connections within the BGA.
Once a motherboard has been sufficiently deformed it doesn't really ever get better, like frame damage to your car it can be repaired but it's never quite the same again. A temporary fix is to pull off the heat syncs and reflow the BGA with a heat gun... but it only takes weeks to a month before you'll get the red lights again. A more successful fix is to remove the "x-clamps" altogether and bolting the heat syncs directly to the case chassis... This prevents the unnecessary flexing of the PCB below the GPU and even when the area gets hot from use does not deform the PCB and thus does not create cold connections in the BGA.
What does this have to do with the same person having 11 faulty consoles? Simply put... the consoles he's getting back are NOT NEW. He's not returning it to the store but Microsoft themselves and either getting his original console back "fixed" by Microsoft, or he's getting a refurb that originally belonged to some other poor schmuck who had the same problem... again "fixed" by Microsoft. Once a console throws that error it's prone to failure again and again...
I don't have a broken 360, mine has been working a-ok since I picked it up on launch day... but I know thousands of people who've experienced broken consoles and I know many people personally who take great care of their console and just had it stop working one day... and then the next one they got was DOA... and the next one only worked for a week... etc. etc. etc.
In most cases you either have had no problems at all or you've got through 2 or 3 or more consoles. The only people I know who have had to replace it only once after the 3RLoD were those who were out of warranty and simply bought a new one instead of sending it in for repair.
For instance if you buy a Qoob chip for your Gamecube from an official reseller you CANNOT play pirated games using it in stock form. If the user wants to play pirated games they have to hunt down new firmware from some undisclosed location and reflash the chip. Xbox modchips are the same way, as are most modchips... which is why it's a gray area. Is the chip really a copyright circumvention device, or is the software I installed after the purchase the circumvention device? If I used my PC to perform the same functions as a modchip (which is entirely possible) does that make my PC a copyright circumvention device? How is a Dell any less of piracy device than a Qoob?
I think his point was that OpenGL platforms are technically capable of playing games, it's just a matter of them actually making the games for that platform.
To use your own analogy the Mustang is already 100lbs, air tight and has fusion reactor, they just decide to not use it.
The Modchips alone are either just your typical bios chip (like the Xbox and PS2) or they're you're standard PIC/AVR microcontroller (PS1, Wii, Saturn, Dreamcast, etc.)
The use of modchips is a very gray line and using a modchip in and of itself is not a crime even under DMCA... most are sold blank or with "legal" firmware that does nothing to aid in circumvention of protection mechanisms. Xbox 1 chips specifically come pre-loaded with "Cromwell" bioses that are based on Linux and don't actually allow the playback of backup discs.
The bioses that do allow the playback of backup discs are hacked version of the original bioses or development bioses, and themselves are considered pirated material (like the Evox and X2 series of hacked bioses for the Xbox 1).
Seeing as I know someone who was recently arrested for selling pirated Xbox games "and installing modchips" He was only ever charged with the piracy issues... It's my understanding that most of the time they'll report about the installation work in the papers but it's so far over the heads of the police and prosecutors that they don't even try to make a case for the modchip stuff... it's just too much work to make a sound case for it when they've got X hundred counts of piracy that they can easily nail them with.