CNet Editorial: Console Modding Right or Wrong? Options

[Xbox-Scene]

CNet Editorial: Console Modding Right or Wrong? Posted by XanTium | August 4 21:05 EST | News Category: Xbox_Xbox360

From CNet news.com: [QUOTE] Banning modding is nothing more than a business ploy. And although organizations like the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the U.S. government claims that it raises our prices and maintains an unhealthy business environment, I'm not sure where John Doe, modding his PlayStation in the comfort of his home so he can play overseas games, is contributing to the "facilitation of multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering." I am strongly against the sale and distribution of modded video game consoles, but I can't help but be a proponent of modding video game consoles for your own pleasure, as long as you use it for the benefit of those who hold the software copyright. In other words: buy the legal software, not the pirated stuff. But what makes modding so awful? Is it because you agreed to an implied contract upon breaking the shrink wrap that you wouldn't own the rights to the system, no matter how much you paid for it? If so, that's a bunch of garbage. If I paid my hard-earned money for a game system, then I should have the legal right to open it up and make it do whatever I want. And if that means that my American Xbox 360 will be able to play a Japanese Xbox 360 game, then so be it. Sorry ESA, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony; I trust people. Maybe you should too--it might help your bottom line. [/QUOTE] Full Story: CNet news.com

[rippinitto]

As long as your not pirating games and you paid the several hundred $$$$ for the console. Do what ever the hell you want with it!

[JBmtk]

As long as your not pirating games and you paid the several hundred $$$$ for the console. Do what ever the hell you want with it!

yup

[FCTE]

Yes, there is a clear difference between pirating and making some homebrew game to play with your friends, but of course MS doesn't make any money off of hombrew like they do marketplace.

[Rustmonkey]

Amen brotha...
...we paid for the crap, if we want to light it on fire, no one will stop us...
...I paid for my car so if I want a high flow throttle body, headers, and a reprogrammed ecm for my car, no one will stop me....
...I paid for my house so if I want to turn my backyard to sandstone, no one will stop me...
...I paid for my children's toys so if take my childs battery powered swing and mod it to use a universal adapter so that I don't need to buy batteries, no one will stop me....
...I paid for my mower so if I take the engine off of my lawn mower and use it to power a junior dragster, no one will stop me...
...I paid for my computer so if I want to crack up my PC, upgrade it, and use it to run (GASP) unsigned code (*which also means it can easily bypass copy protection), NO ONE WILL STOP ME...
...but for some god-d!@*&d reason, if I want to open up my bought and PAID FOR console and make it as free and open to use as a PC, I've violated the law...

WTF.

This post has been edited by Rustmonkey: Aug 5 2007, 02:41 AM

[pirichios]

More truthful words have never been spoken.

[Deihmos]

How can you balance between those that just want to backup their games and those that want to pirate? I am positive the majority that modify their console do so to pirate.

[dneray22]

Alright,, I am completely for modding your consoles, I use my modded xbox mostly for its media center abilities and emulators, because I already own the few xbox games that I play on it.

But this doesn't mean that this is the way that all people use their modded xboxes/consoles, I believe that it should be legal to do what you need to do to get the full use out of your console, you paid for it, you own it, they cannot limit your use of the product.

But the truth is that probably 90% of people with a modded console use it for piracy, possibly among other things, such as imports or homebrew.

So to say that those major companies should trust the users with mod chips is just a little odd, I don't believe that they make those numbers up on how much money they lose to piracy.

I think that instead, we should ask companies like Microsoft and Nintendo to provide a way to run full power homebrew on our consoles, similar to what sony did with the ps3 and allowing linux, as well as to make the consoles region free, the same as the Nintendo DS, we should ask them to let us take full advantage of the systems, so that the only people buying mod chips are those who want to use it for piracy.

Basically, I just think that people here should see it from the other perspective, and we should change what we are asking from "turn a blind eye to piracy/circumvention because some of it might be legal" to "Let us do what we wanna do with our consoles, and then we'll leave you alone and you can sue the people doing the illegal stuff"

[luther349]

the copyright law is so dammed shaky on consoles its not funny.

This post has been edited by luther349: Aug 5 2007, 03:19 AM

[axess68]

After being involved in gaming and the computer/console industry for over 20 years, I honestly believe that these estimated losses due to piracy are more than a little exaggerated. They are overestimated like that in order to get a positive sympathetic response from the unknowing public.

The most blatant example of this was when 20th Century Fox's CEO claimed, on national TV, that pirates can get a perfect digital copy of any movie either before, or not more than a couple of days after, a movie's release. This is completely sensationalized and exaggerated information.

I DO NOT condone piracy. But, from what I've personally seen in the industry, and from my own research, I know it isn't nearly as big a problem as they claim it is.

I also see ABSOLUTELY no problem with someone backing up their own game. We don't pay peanuts for these games, we pay a decent chunk of change. Scratches happen... whether by kids, an accident, or the 360 itself. There have also been incidents of the discs cracking because of the 360. IMO, this more than validates the need to back up your expensive games.

Saying that the $60 price tag is due to piracy is just a cop out and an excuse to gouge people. It was blatantly obvious when the newest Harry Potter game released simultaneously for the PC and the Xbox 360 (among other systems). The Xbox 360 version was the token $60 while the PC version was $30. The games are identical. But, there is a $30 premium price to play the 360 version??? Even a blind man can see the disparity there.

The bottom line is this: No matter how much the Government and the ESA try to strong-arm the console modding out of existence, the more it WILL continue to exist. They tried banning alcohol in the 1920's. Speakeasy's appeared and Alcohol went underground. It's my view that if someone pirates games, they do so at their OWN risk. They risk getting in trouble. And they risk getting banned off of Xbox Live, etc.

I also honestly believe that if games were more reasonably priced, Piracy would be reduced greatly. Most people who pirate games, IMO, do so because they can't afford the prices.

This post has been edited by axess68: Aug 5 2007, 03:38 AM

[Rustmonkey]

Saying that the $60 price tag is due to piracy is just a cop out and an excuse to gouge people. It was blatantly obvious when the newest Harry Potter game released simultaneously for the PC and the Xbox 360 (among other systems). The Xbox 360 version was the token $60 while the PC version was $30. The games are identical. But, there is a $30 premium price to play the 360 version??? Even a blind man can see the disparity there.

Ontop of that, the 30 dollar PC game is much easier for the average joe to pirate than is the 360 version - PC games are what is REALLY threatened by piracy - often times, the copy protection on a PC game is broken within a few days of release, and it usually a simple install program or such, so the user can install a game, run the "crack", and simple as that, they have a working copy without so much as opening their PC....... but is it illegal to own a PC??? As you can see, it easily circumvents copy protection right at the get go....

Piracy is bad - no matter what anyone says, it is the theft of data that someone has put their hard work into with the intent to sell it, the same as someone taking a material product, someone worked on it - however, you cannot punish people for modifying something they have LEGALLY purchased and own, because they have committed no crime in that act, it may allow them to do illegal things, but as I stated above in my example, then everyone who owns a PC should be in violation of the copyright laws...

[Trevante]

The laws should be against pirating and not against modding, plain and simple. If Joe Blow mods his console but still buys all his games legally, who gets hurt? The companies still make their money and Joe Blow doesn't have to worry about his $400 console scratching his $65 games, leaving him SOL.

My friend bought a copy of Gears of War and his 360 scratched it and now it won't play. What does he do now? Spend even more money on another copy of the game? I offered to mod his console (for free of course) but he didn't want to for fear of getting banned and now his $60 game which could have been saved with about 1 hour of time and a 10 cent DVD is gone. The public always hears about how piracy screws comapnies over, but never hear about how anti-piracy can screw over consumers too.

[FCTE]

How can you balance between those that just want to backup their games and those that want to pirate? I am positive the majority that modify their console do so to pirate.

So everyone is guilty until proven innocent? What if I don't want backups, but I want homebrew games or open source applications?

What if I would really just like to make a Linux media center out of my 360? I could only do so with a modchip, does that make me a pirate because said modchip also circumvents the anti-piracy measures?

[Elemino]

What if I drop my xbox from the top of a building? Is MS going to sue me for improper use? Will I be taken to court and have charges pressed on me?

[aacore]

i believe if i bought the product i should be able to do whatever i would like to the product. I can catch it on fire, mod it, break it for fun ..etc . Its like they are telling you that you cant make modifications to a car after you purchased it. gay..