Hi. I have been looking at various threads in the forums and it seems that a lot of people have a casual attitude about modding consoles and adding chips in order to play illegal copies of games. Does no-one feel that this is reprehensible action both morally and legally. How can anyone justify playing illegal copies of games when it means that the industry suffers form it. Ultimately by not buying the official legal products it means that future developments have a smaller budget to work with and progress within the industry is slower. Basically, modding = sabotage. Also games would be a lot cheaper if piracy didn't exist becasue the companies wouldn't need to try and subsidise their losses. Does anyone agree? does anyone who has modded their console not feel guilty. If everyone fully endorsed official products it would be better all round and for the long-term.
I just modded my first Xbox today with a Xapter - now I have no idea what that portion of the Motherboard does ie the holes the mod chip sits in - nor do I know the purpose of D0 ie the bit the wire drops into that bypasses the Microsoft BIOS. And even more so what the point of the screw hole was for that allows a solderless adapter to be screwed down. Thinking that these where all in use during the design of the Xbox - and thinking that the engineers that designed this thing are a hell of a lot smarter than any of us on here - does it not seem slightly dubious that they didn't see the potential of using those very same parts of the Motherboard and remove them. Am I right in thinking v1.1 boxes had those holes filled with solder - and yet, knowing Modchips where being installed, on later versions they unblocked the holes, making Modchipping even easier? If Microsoft DIDN'T want the Box to be modded it would have been simple to alter the design of the board to stop it - and yet they never did. The ease at which software can be installed - the ease at which an internet connection can be established - the ease at which a bigger hard disk can be installed can only mean two things. 1. They where all a bunch of complete morons who by mistake made a really usefull bit of kit and only tapped into 50% of it's potential. 2. They knew damn well that if a modding scene could develop that the potential for Xbox sales would sky rocket. Take your pick. As for ripping games - it's a tricky one. Mine is for films and music - the games are a bonus - I have a PC for games - and I pay for them. I never had nor do I ever have any intention of buying Xbox games (this is getting a bit touchy) therefor should I decide to get one in another manner it is FAR from stealing money from anyone. If I borrow a DVD off a friend and watch it am I guilty of Piracy. Theoretically YES - in reality NO. If I lend a game or a DVD to a friend I am also guilty of Piracy. Do you worry about borrowing a CD off a friend and sticking it on your MP3 player?Where do you draw the line? You also have to think this way - how many people bought an Xbox because it could be modded, that wouldn't under normal circumstances of bought one? I wouldn't. That's £100 to Microsoft. At the end of the day the companies that make good films/games/music are the ones that stand the test of time - the ones that ram crap down our throats vanish without trace - I think greed as opposed to piracy is to blame. Just my 2 cents.
This is a debate that has been going on for ages. But 1. Most people that pirate games, never intended to buy the game. So these cannot be looked at as lost profits. 2. Currently most xboxs (I know mine is) are used for XMBC exclusivly. I picked mine up just so i could have a cheap media center computer. I have told my buddies about XBMC and how easy it is to mod, (After some headachs, thanks again Return ) XBMC blew them away, and hence they purchased new xboxes. IMHO
prose=tool, its an xbox and they have billions of dollars, i think ripping off 50 dollars for your own use isnt that big of a deal
When you talk about billions your talking about microsoft.. piracy effects the game developers who do not have billions and it adds up. So when you say it's not a big deal, I think it is because think of how many people have modded xbox and burn games that they don't own. That really effects the gaming industry if not everyone is paying for their games..
