Stueyb

Sad day guys, no more backups or homebrew !


Taken from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07..._mod_chip_win/

The UK High Court has judged that the sale, advertisement, possession for commercial purposes and use of PlayStation 2 modification chips is illegal in this country.

Under the UK's implementation of the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), Europe's answer to the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it is illegal to bypass copy protection mechanisms. On that basis Mr Justice Laddie ruled that David Ball had acted unlawfully by selling 1500 Messiah 2 mod chips which enabled such circumvention.

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Correction - PS2 Modchips are illegal

Nimbus

LOL. how long before x-box as well...

Illiegal to sell or to own?

Graz

How utterly ridiculous, hope this gets heard in the European Court, if they're legal in Spain and Italy why not here

It's not as if it's going to stop anyone from doing it, just import the modchip from one of the European countries where they are legal.

Okay the chips can be used for pirate software, but what about those of us who want to play imports, backups, homebrew, or any region DVDs?

Once you have bought the hardware surely it's up to you what you do with it after that. What next, no multi-region mods to DVD players? My Sony DVD player was hardware modded when I bought it.

Iain Young

Actually, apart from using pirated software, I cannot really see any really legit purpose for chipping a console.

• Imports - why not just wait for the uk release.
• Backups - why do you need to backup a game. Why not just use the original. I've been doing this for more years than I care to remember and have never had a disc go bad.
• Homebrew - substandard dodgy homemade games - I'll use the pc for that...
• Any region dvds - you can get a multi-region dvd player for about 30 quid these days, which I believe is a similar price / cheaper than the mod chips, and it doesn't void your warranty. Besides, uk discs have a better picture quality than those from the usa as PAL has more scanlines than NTSC, (assuming you were talking about region 1 that is).

Anything that can help cut down the amount of software piracy around at the moment can only be a good thing in my book....

Iain (poor underpaid software developer )

EddScott

I decided not to chip my PS2 for two reasons.

I only wanted to play racing games (Intial D, Kaido Battle) which won't be released here.
Chipping was quite expensive and I didn't want it goin wrong in a months time.

I went for a flip top lid and swap discs. Works great making import games work.

gregh

>> Actually, apart from using pirated software, I cannot really see any really legit purpose for chipping a console

XBox Media Centre no.1 reason

Graz

Not all PS2 games get a UK release. I have some. Why shouldn't I be allowed to play them? Just the same as some DVD's, I have entire Monty Python TV series on DVD, not available in the UK, only R1.

Iain Young

Why?

gregh

probably best to read this re XBox Media Centre

http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer...511/index.html

"The ideal home playback system for audio and video has yet to appear-at least that was our conclusion up until now."

Iain Young

Still better to buy a multi-region dvd player IMO. Saw one down my local Aldi the other day for 29.99, you don't void your warranty, and the playback quality is better than the ps2 dvd playback.

As for import games, fair enough if you want them. I couldn't be bothered myself. There are far too many available in this country for me to get time to play them all anyway

Iain Young

Hmm, interesting. Still don't see the point though. If you're after an mp3 player then I suppose it's good, but personally I'd rather listen to the original cd and I can do that in my cd player with no mods.

gregh

>> Still don't see the point though

Cos I can have access to all my MP3 music, all my digital camera pics (for showing to other people), videos etc all from one box and on my TV from one box.

cheers,

greg

Iain Young

Fair enough. Personally, I don't listen to mp3 files at home because the quality isn't good enough imho, and if I have any videos / pictures I want to keep / show, I write them to dvd (with menus etc). That way I can take them round a mates house and show them as well

Each to their own, but I think the potential abuse of these mod chips (i.e. software piracy) means that they do need to be banned. It's the age old case of the criminal element spoiling it for people with genuine (legal) reasons for having one.

Iain

gregh

>> I write them to dvd

So DVDwriters cause the same issue surely? Let's ban them as well!

Not getting at you Iain, honest!

regards,

Greg

Iain Young

Yes they can, however if software is protected correctly you should not be able to copy it using a dvd writer without deliberately hacking it, (i.e. the software version of a mod chip).

These hacking programs are already illegal and there are numerous legal battles going on at the moment concerning various programs which allow copying of commercial dvd by breaking the protection etc.

Didn't think for a moment that you were

Cheers,
Iain

dsmith

I reckon 85% of my xbox use is XBMC.

All my own CDs and all my own DVDs are ripped to the server - I can watch/listen to anything I want. All the discs are kept nice and clean and safe out of the way of sticky fingered nephews/nieces/god daughters.

I'm in the process of getting a PC based DVR together - I will also use XBMC to allow playback of recorded FTA material (VCRs were legal last time I checked )

I personally can't hear the diff between a high bit rate MP3 and the original so whether its my ears or my kit I dont much care - they sound the same. I rip DVDs to high bit rate DivX with AC3 soundtrack. Dig output from XBox to Amp so the sound is identical to DVD. Very (very) occasionally i see additional artefacts on the DivX picture to the DVD - but usually when I'm looking for errors rather than actually watching a film.

If I couldnt chip it and add XBMC I wouldnt have bought an XBox. I dont have a single "backup" game at all.

Deano