modding consoles

[sherrin_footy]

has anyone modded a console before, or had theirs modded?
In particular, im talking about modding a wii so it can play copied games..

I know it voids the warranty, but does it have an increased risk at breaking the console or anything like that i should be wary of?

 

[Viney]

has anyone modded a console before, or had theirs modded?
In particular, im talking about modding a wii so it can play copied games..

I know it voids the warranty, but does it have an increased risk at breaking the console or anything like that i should be wary of?

Just buy the games.

The developers work hard to give us a product, why not reward them buy BUYING their product?

 

[Strike Swiftly]

i agree. the games are quality and they deserve to get paid accordingly

 

[pinkus maximus]

i agree. the games are quality and they deserve to get paid accordingly

agree but $120 is a little steep

 

[The Slitherin' Snake]

So you guys have never downloaded a song, movie or tv show?

 

[Viney]

agree but $120 is a little steep

I just bought 2 brand new games. Dead Space $79 and Farcry 2 $89

Also, when the Aus Dollar was good, was picking up games from Play Asia for about $55AUD delivered.

So you guys have never downloaded a song, movie or tv show?

You won't believe me, I'm sure....but I can honestly say No I have not.

I have never d/l'd a song, movie, tv show.....anything.

And I guarantee you I am being 100% serious

I have in excess of 700 dvds and about 400 - 500 CD's.

I don't have an MP3 player (except on my phone) and that has 3 albums on it, all of which were copied from the actual CDs I own

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

So you guys have never downloaded a song, movie or tv show?

What difference does it make if we have or haven't? If I say yes, does that justify everyone stealing everything?

 

[Strike Swiftly]

very true LLD. It is also my opinion that a lot more hard work is put into the games industy, than the music industry nowadays. the music industry today is nothing more than a sausage factory. same goes with movies and tv.

also, the government lifted a tax about 8 years ago on cd's. it was supposed to reduce cd prices by a third. the day the tax was lifted, the music industry lifted prices by a third keeping prices the same. the only people who lost were you or me.

but anyway, I dont download music or movies or tv or whatever. I buy them. I am just very picky with what I buy. Same with games.

 

[Jabso]

I download music because I actually listen to a particular genre that receives little to no radio airplay and the only way to judge whether an album is good enough is to listen to it. If the album is good on first listen or second listen I usually buy it. That's only for artists I'm not that familiar with, with others I'll just buy the albums anyway (or check out reviews).


I've never downloaded a movie, I've downloaded TV shows a lot of times because of how Australian TV networks delay the airing of them, but when the particular episodes air on Australian TV anyway I watch them, therefore still contributing to their revenue. I never keep the episodes on my comp, I usually buy the DVD if the series is good I don't burn my own dvds.

With games, especially those that are niche market games (such as a cricket management games and even the Football Manager series) you should support the developers. Even for seemingly faceless companies such as EA, a lot of people at lower levels of the company work for an average wage and are affected by the amount the companies effectively allow for piracy.

 

[The Slitherin' Snake]

What difference does it make if we have or haven't? If I say yes, does that justify everyone stealing everything?

It doesn't justify stealing at all, but it makes you a hypocrite if you have a go at someone who wants to play copied games. Not specifically meaning you LLD.

With games, especially those that are niche market games (such as a cricket management games and even the Football Manager series) you should support the developers. Even for seemingly faceless companies such as EA, a lot of people at lower levels of the company work for an average wage and are affected by the amount the companies effectively allow for piracy.

I think you are kidding yourself if you think the the video game industry is so different from the movie and music industries in terms of piracy. Do you believe that the bloke making the coffee on a movie set is payed anything other than minimum wage?

 

[TheMase]

Some time in the future, the middle man jacking up the price on all these goods will be removed, and you'll be able to download the game off the internet direct from the producer. This should save money.

(IMO)

 

[KaLL]

lol at justifying downloading music rather than games

 

[Jabso]

It doesn't justify stealing at all, but it makes you a hypocrite if you have a go at someone who wants to play copied games. Not specifically meaning you LLD.


I think you are kidding yourself if you think the the video game industry is so different from the movie and music industries in terms of piracy. Do you believe that the bloke making the coffee on a movie set is payed anything other than minimum wage?

I did say I don't download movies, and I agree as they also sometimes may seem like faceless studios there is a trickle down effect, and obviously smaller films it applies more. However working in movies, no matter how low level is a much more glamorous career than working in video games. Piracy may cost movies and TV more money than it does the games industry, but as far as affecting the future quality of these mediums, it has a bigger affect on the games industry.

As for TV shows, yes it is slightly hypocritical, but in the end I end up watching the show when it airs on Australian TV and even purchasing the DVDs.

Where I hate it is the most when people see a game like Football Manager or International Cricket Captain and people seem to think while they aren't made by big name companies (arguably FM isn't) they are rather small games with minimal graphics and marketing and they don't think they should have to pay full price for them, yet they will spend just as much time (in a lot of cases, many more hours) on those games as others.

Music is probably the worst thing to pirate. Especially from artists on smaller labels. Even Australian artists who get major airplay on radio could struggle a little. I only do it to try out new bands I still buy the CDs.

I'm not totally anti-piracy, only selectively. Yeah it's hypocritical, so what?

 

[sante]

Modding consoles is against the law.

If you get a modded console and it breaks down, you may lose your games.

 

[Jabso]

I don't know if it is against the law. I saw something on TV that said it's not against the law if the modification allows you to play different region games (even if it has some 'extra features').

 

[HorseHead]

has anyone modded a console before, or had theirs modded?
In particular, im talking about modding a wii so it can play copied games..

I know it voids the warranty, but does it have an increased risk at breaking the console or anything like that i should be wary of?

Seeing as nobody else has actually responded to your questions, I'll give it a crack.

I've had a number of consoles modded over the years (PSX, PS2 and Xbox). I know absolutely bugger all about the Wii, but I'd suggest that if you find yourself a reputable modder (a lot of them actually operate out of shops nowadays) you shouldn't have any problems. There's a store near me that does Wii and Xbox 360 mods. They offer a warranty on the work they do (I think it's for twelve months), so by all means shop around. Prices do seem to vary a bit as well.

 

[HorseHead]

Modding consoles is against the law.

That's simply not true.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/playstation-mods-ruled-legal/2005/10/06/1128562920702.html

"Playstation mods legal, says High Court
By Sam Varghese
October 6, 2005 - 12:35PM

Sydney small business owner Eddy Stevens has won a four-year legal battle against Sony, with the High Court ruling that modding of PlayStation consoles is legal.

The decision has far-reaching implications for consumers and the manufacturers of computer games.

Mod chips allow gamers to ignore manufacturers' regional coding systems and run cheaper games - made for markets outside Australia - on their consoles.

The free trade agreement which Australia signed with the US last year and which came into effect this year stipulates that copyright laws here have to be aligned with those in the US by 2007.

According to the FTA, consumers cannot circumvent "effective technological measures" that control access to a tech device.

All six judges of the High Court held that widely used mod-chips are legal and that playing a game on a consumer's machine does not constitute an illegal copy.

In 2001, Sony filed a suit against Stevens who was running one of many businesses in Australia that supplied and installed mod-chips, which rendered Sony's regional coding ineffective.

Nathan Mattock, a senior associate of Gadens Lawyers who acted for Stevens, said the decision would be good for consumers.

"It will increase competition in the games market and also among games retailers in Australia, which should result in lower prices," he said.

Mattock said the team acting for Stevens had been confident of winning as they had handled similar cases in the past.

The firm successfully represented the Australian Video Retailers Association against Warner Home Video in a Federal Court case. Also a test case, it dealt with the issue of copying and explored the nature of the technology used for playing DVDs.

"Fortunately for the consumer, the court has prevented a multinational corporation from further eroding consumer rights," Mattock said.

In July 2002, the Federal Court, after analysing the way in which the PlayStation console operated, concluded that playing a copied game did not involve breach of copyright.

Sony appealed against the ruling in September 2002. The full bench upheld the appeal on July 30, 2003.

Following this decision, other modders shut down operations.

Stevens' lawyers then went to the High Court.

The High Court appeal was based on two issues. The first was whether the “mod-chip” bypasses the digital rights management on the console and breaches Section 116A of the Australian Copyright Act.

The court accepted Stevens' argument that while making a pirated copy of a game is illegal, playing a game by using a mod-chip is not.

The second issue was whether playing a game - which requires copying data to a console's Random Access Memory or RAM - breaches copyright when the manufacturer does not specifically grant a licence to copy this data to RAM.

The court held that by merely playing a Playstation game, the consumer was not making an illegal copy of the game.

Asked for his reaction, Stevens said; "Geez, news travels fast, doesn't it? Well, you can say I'm pretty happy with the verdict."

"We always figured we would win because we were in the right," he said. "The whole point is, what we are doing helps consumers."

Stevens said he would now restart the modding business which is a small part of his operations.

A spokesman for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which stepped in at the Federal Court level as a friend of the court and argued that regional coding was detrimental to consumer choice, said it would comment after going through the judgement.

A spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment said any statement would have to come from the UK operation."

 

[Viney]

Modding consoles is against the law.

If you get a modded console and it breaks down, you may lose your games.

It's a funny one.

Technically it's not against the law, yet it is against the law to pirate games.

Also, in terms of the Xbox 360, it is against the Terms of Use of Xbox Live, so you can have a modded 360, just not connected to Live as then you are breaking the ToU.

I personally would never mod a console, I prefer to buy the game and show appreciation to the developers

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

I personally would never mod a console, I prefer to buy the game and show appreciation to the developers

Never have, prob never will.

 

[HorseHead]

I personally would never mod a console, I prefer to buy the game and show appreciation to the developers

Aside from the obvious benefits of console modding, there are a number of other advantages.

On the original Xbox, having a modchip installed with an alternative dashboard meant you could play all sorts of media files (divx, xvid etc.) as well as play DVDs without having to buy the DVD playback kit. Furthermore, you could also play "homebrew" games (a lot of which were emulators for old consoles/arcade games).

On top of all that, you could also gain access to games that have been "banned" (refused classification) in Australia.

 

[Viney]

Aside from the obvious benefits of console modding, there are a number of other advantages.

On the original Xbox, having a modchip installed with an alternative dashboard meant you could play all sorts of media files (divx, xvid etc.) as well as play DVDs without having to buy the DVD playback kit. Furthermore, you could also play "homebrew" games (a lot of which were emulators for old consoles/arcade games).

On top of all that, you could also gain access to games that have been "banned" (refused classification) in Australia.

That's fine, people want to do it, no worries.

I myself wouldn't.

I don't know jack about divx / xvid etc., I've always had DVD players for playing DVDs and the amount of games RC'd in Australia was so minor it didn't phase me.

Simple fact, I would never mod a console