QUOTE(steveo1978 @ Feb 25 2010, 09:54 PM)

That almost sounds like piracy so go no farther on that statement.
People hack systems for more reasons then to just play backup games. The core reason most people want a system hacked is to make it do something it was not meant to do. If you wanna say that a company is gonna lose money because a system gets hacked look at the Wii its been hacked for a while now and is still outselling everything. I dont own a PS3 but if they had it hacked to where it could do more then what it does now I might buy one. I like to customize a system so it feels more like mine and not only do what Nintendo, Sony, or MS tells me I can do on it. The PSP doesnt sell cause the price is to jacked up and the only reason I have one is because I bought 3 broke units and made 2 working for less then what one new one would cost.
Personally, I think you're giving the public way more credit than they deserve...
Sure on this site where its against the rules to talk about piracy, everyone seems to want hacks for the purposes of "back ups" and homebrew. But if I went up to a random friend and asked if they would pirate if the PS3 got modded, most would say yes.
I'm not saying the people you described don't exist. I mean I for one want the system modded mostly for a potential XBMC (though not likely gonna happen), but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't partake in anything less than proper.
Then even worse is that even though I pay for what I think deserves it, some would never pay for a game if given a choice.