TR Forums

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=9946

Until now, I hadn't really known which side of the street to walk when it came to modifying xboxes and the discussion of such on these forums. But with this ruling, I guess the decision is made for me.

Feel free to discuss the ruling and it's implications in this thread.

Kevin

Eh, I think he was busted more pirating the games than modifying the xbox. Thats already covered in the rules. This just makes it more specific.

EDIT: Just noticed this part...

...it's worth noting that the EUCD also makes mod chipping for the purposes of playing import games or homebrew software illegal...

So yea, the rule makes sense.

200GB HDD, with 80 games...damn, wish i'd found that website to be honest, one of them would've gone down well.

It always takes only 1 idiot to mess things up for everyone else. 80 games? What in the hell was he thinking. Mod chips cost enough but that is pure greed.

On top of it being illegal to mod your console, he wants to sell 80 pirated games as well. What an ass!!!

Well, of course it's the UK and is (so far) limited to there; the TR folks who live in some of the more far-flung parts of the world could be forgiven for thinking it is rather irrelevant to them.

They picked a good case to test the law: the guy wasn't just mod'ing his own system; he was selling significant numbers of hacked systems with pirated games preinstalled. This is the difference, in narcotic terms, between busting a dealer vs busting a user for mere possession. I would likewise expect them to go after anyone selling the mod chips in the UK (and, depending on how the laws there work, possibly anyone publicizing how to obtain / make such chips). But the chips will get sold overseas and smuggled in, and the information is out there too of course.

Will they bother to chase down and prosecute someone with a mod'd Xbox that they quietly use in the privacy of their own home? Well, they could since it is technically illegal. But one would hope they have bigger fish to fry.

I understand conviction for the piracy but running Linux on the Xbox is much easier with a modded xbox.
I think it's like the seatbelt law in some states, where it's just one more reason to pull someone over (in case they're doing something else).

Much rejoicing!

I get sick of hearing my co-workers chatting about their modded X-boxes. Someone was talking about Fable and saying how they liked it "alright" but it wasn't the greatest... in a conversation with two or three others who were also playing Fable. I chimed in and said basically that I liked it enough to try to get my $50 worth of gameplay, blah blah blah.

The response was, "You paid for it??" Oh, I guess, when you get a modded X-box, then you can just pass a copy of a game around, and everybody can have it. How nice. So among the four co-workers in that particular conversation, only one of us had paid for the game. Those guys play with a number of other co-workers who also have modded X-boxes, and so it's safe to bet that most of them had tried Fable for free too. I can't see at all how piracy really puts a dent in a big company's profits. [/sarcasm]

So yeah, I like it when people doing outlandish and stupid things like this clown in the article go down.

SonWorshiper wrote:

Much rejoicing!

I get sick of hearing my co-workers chatting about their modded X-boxes. Someone was talking about Fable and saying how they liked it "alright" but it wasn't the greatest... in a conversation with two or three others who were also playing Fable. I chimed in and said basically that I liked it enough to try to get my $50 worth of gameplay, blah blah blah.

The response was, "You paid for it??" Oh, I guess, when you get a modded X-box, then you can just pass a copy of a game around, and everybody can have it. How nice. So among the four co-workers in that particular conversation, only one of us had paid for the game. Those guys play with a number of other co-workers who also have modded X-boxes, and so it's safe to bet that most of them had tried Fable for free too. I can't see at all how piracy really puts a dent in a big company's profits. [/sarcasm]

So yeah, I like it when people doing outlandish and stupid things like this clown in the article go down.

Funny thing is all they had to do was go down to blockbuster pay $6 bucks to rent the game Total paid: 6x4 =$24 bucks (I'd assume they'd only play the game for a week or so since it wasn't that great). But since one person bougth the game Total paid: $50 bucks.
Looks like the company made more in that situation but of course if they all played the game a lot it would be cheaper. (and i bet they did go to blockbuster to get the game in the first place

Now why are mod chips illgeal, just cause you can store games on the HD?