Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Hey folks,

I've been looking into modding the box and as yet am still unconvinced.
It's one of the first boxes so well out of the warranty.

So i spoke to Caspar on the subject and below is his reply.

I would like to hear what others have to say on the matter also.
Thanks people.:)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Caspar has summed it up pretty well there, but just to add-you can also play 'backup' games, & there are a wealth of apps out there designed to run on modified XBOXs such as XBOX Media Player which will pay all your DivX/XviD films, a 'dongle free' (I.E you don't have to use the remote) DVD player that is also region free, so you can watch any imported DVDs on it.

There are loads of other apps out there, but those are the main ones that people use.

The downside is XBOX Live, there are varying reports out there that say there are now chips that can be 'turned off' prior to going on Live, so that your modified XBOX won't be detected. I'm still slightly sceptical about that, & if Live is your thing then I think considering the price of the XBOX now that you may as well just buy a new one just for live & modify your old one.

HTH.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

The brag factor is quite high too :D

"my Box has a 200Gb Hdd and a 1.4 Ghz cpu in it" is kinda a thing alot of boxers like :)


tbh though, i am thinking of getting a box at last ( i know worked for Xbox europe and doesnt even have one ^^) and when i do ill be getting a pre-modded one mainley so i can put linux on it.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

"Yeah, but it disabled my Xbox Live functionality when I forgot to switch off the chip! :dunce:" ... swings and roundabouts me thinks :)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

LOL, not the best advertisement from an Xbox employee, not a user and when you do become one you're going to mod it to put Linux on it!!! :rofl: :)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

EX! my venture into the gaming world was not a nice one.

i would never go work for them again.!

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Bit pointless changing the CPU (for games anyway), as they are all coded to the standard XBOX hardware.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

With the latest bios though xbox live is disabled anyway!!! There is no way to go live with the chip switched on!!!

I would agree its definatly worth doin!! Got alll my games installed on it as well as the media center thingy with lots of films.

Its a lot better just switching it on and playing rather than hunting around for games!!

Also just got hold of some emulators, currnetly got a SNES with 900 games and a mega drive with 1000's of games!!!

Really is worth doing!! :D :D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Yeah but like I said at the beginning...

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

emmm yes but xbox live has not only started checking for any abnormal bioses but now also scans the hard drive and if any abnormality is detected then you can get banned from xbox live. In my opinion there is no legit reason to mod an xbox, the ppl that say there are are obviously only out to play "backup" games (btw it is now illegal to even make a backup of a game you own) and thus rob the developers and retailers of any money. You obviously dont realise how much hard work goes into creating a game and throughout the process, playing copied games in my opinion is just as bad as if you went into a shop and stole the game of the shelf....

and as for using your xbox as a media center, that is what a pc is for, dvd player even......

and those ppl who said they wanted bragging rights with their faster xbox, sure your clock speed may be faster - no games take advantage of it mind and using non-standard hardware also cause sever instability in your machine

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

What is the advantage of flashing your BIOS? - How do you do it if you have an excuter lite

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

kRAyZZed currently i have what is possibly the cheapest pc in in existance running all my music, films games and linux!! why pay £250 for one of these dvd players that plays divx when your xbox can do it with a £50 upgrade?? :D :D

dont knock it till you have tried it!! :)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

who said i hadnt tried it?

but if you think that stealing is a good thing then go ahead, as that is what you are ultimately doing, i look forward to the day when your hdd gets scanned and you get banned from xbox live...

edit: you said you used it to play your music, movies and games then? of course naturally you legally own all of these and you mean playing them using your xbox? :P, its ppl like you who are making the prices of games, dvds and music cd's so high as the developers have to have a higher profit margin to make up for all those ppl illegally acquiring their intellectual property

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

lol suppose thats the risk!!. :)

But i must stress as far as im aware i am not stealing, i buy all my games from town just like every one else!!
The fact that i dont have to lug them round to my mates all the time is a bouns!!
The only thing i do at the mo that i consider dodgy is download the new series of 24 from the states!! couldnt wait for it over here!! :D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

yes but you are making a backup of your games, which under current uk law IS illegal, and carries up to 6 months imprisonment per disc you make a backup of...

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

yea but then things could get silly, surely everyones copied a cd at some point to play on the tape player in there car! etc

anyway i dont want to start a row about priacy lets keep it friendly and on topic :D :D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I believe this thread titled asked for opinions, did it not?

did i at any point personally attack you in my post?

i stated that you are breaking the law, and are being a hinderence to the industry and are likely to get banned from xbox live, now if you have a problem with hearing these opinions then maybe you shouldnt read a thread that asks for them... :D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

lol its a fair cop gvr'ner http://www.elspa.com/consumer/faqs.asp

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

However this is generalised and if you read the terms and conditions of your xbox games you would see that making backups of them IS illegal

also from your own source

now using legal precedent and the case of R v McIntyre 2004 this had been decided that ANY chip that is designed or has the quality of circumventing copy protection where also illegal :)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

The "new" scan is apparently for hard drives which are larger than the standard 8 (or 10) gigs - it isn't a file scan (yet).

It is also not confirmed that M$ are actually banning people who have bigger than normal HDDs in their XBox.

The code for the scan has apparently been around for months.

The recent news of the "new" scan was released by a modchip team called SmartXX...who happened to also say that they will soon have a new chip that can circumvent this new scan. PR stunt? Or just trying to help?

XBoxScene.com - www.xboxscene.com

Thread at XBoxScene: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.p...&f=53&t=183941

Story at Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/...s_6091238.html

Also, what use is banning people who have bigger HDDs? People with modded XBoxes that have a standard retail HDD will still be able to go on XBL as normal (with the chip off, obviously), so how does banning modded boxes with bigger drives do anything?

No legit reasons?

Playing import games - e.g. I ordered Deus Ex 2 from the US three months before it was finally released in the UK & Europe (we had to wait extra long because of all the translations needed for the PAL European version). Another recent game out in the US well before it was out over here is the excellent Prince of Persia.

Playing import DVDs - modding my XBox has meant I can use its (v good quality) DVD player to play my R1 discs as well as my R2 discs, enabling me to finally retire my crappy old budget multi-region DVD player (& also save some desk space).

Emulators - OK, it is technically illegal to download ROMs of old SNES, MegaDrive, N64 games etc. But....you're not depriving the companies of any money, as the games & systems are no longer made & can no longer be bought 1st hand - the only way is to buy 2nd hand e.g. on Ebay etc etc (in which case, Sega, Nintendo, etc still don't get any money from you). Plus, you may still actually own the old systems & games yourself anyway (I still have most of mine), but just don't want to have a whole pile of ancient consoles under your TV.

As for "Backups" - yes, that is piracy & is therefore illegal copyright theft. I do agree with you on this one, as pirating games does rob the developers of their hard earnt money.

Who says it is what a PC is for?

PC & XBox could be in different rooms. PC in an office or bedroom, while the XBox is in the lounge with the TV & HiFi & so on. The XBox would then be more useful as a media centre than the PC.

Why have a seperate DVD player, when the XBox can do it?

I'd also prefer to use my XBox than my PC for media simply because my PC sucks, plus my XBox is plugged into a nice big WS TV whereas the PC has a puny 17" monitor.

True. I don't really see the point in it myself.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Newer BIOSs have newer features.

e.g. Xecuter 2 BIOS v4981 "blocks" the ability to log onto XBox Live, & so helps prevent you from accidentally going on XBL with your chip turned on (& so helps prevent accidental XBL bannings). Other features could be improved ways of getting around region protection, bug fixes, etc etc. Some big updates, some little updates.

Try XBoxscene.com if you want to know how to flash an X2Lite. Lots of help there on the site & the forums.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Its not actually illegal to own a ROM if you have the original Cartridge/disc somewhere, as most of these games are from before backups where actually possible and as such carry no backup disclaimers in the liscence agreement.



You can link a PC to TV quite easily these days, it doesnt take top of the line hardware to do it either......
This is my baby....
[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]
Smaller than an X-Box and can do pretty much anything the X-Box can do without all that hassle filled modding (Except play high end games, add an extra £100 for that)
It cost....
Duron 1.1Ghz (£18)
2x 128MB crucial RAM (£16 each = £32)
3.2GB hdd (rather old so technicly Free :D )
Shuttle-X SN41G2 Mini Barebones system (£150)
ATi Remote Wonder Remote Control (£30
Slot loading DVD ROM (£16)
Total £246

It doesnt make a good Games system but makes a great entertainment system.

EDIT: Silly me, I forgot the Wireless Network, add £32 for that
New Total £276

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

very nice..n small aswell. i use a laptop which is ok for gaming

(20Gig HD, 2.0GHZ, 256mb Ram ect)

but use xb much more

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Wow,

I never thought this would get such replies to the thread.:)

I had previously spoken to Tez about this and pretty much new how he felt, and despite reading the post i must say that i'm still erring towards modding the box. Even more now that there bios' that stop you from logging into live whilst its turned on.

As for piracy, well i own all my games and if i were to back one up onto the hard drive it would be so i could play system link with my son on his hard drive without having to purchase another copy of already owned games.

Concerning this thread, I would like to see if there are any other people that feel strongly about this.

Bring it on people:D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

My god that is a very tall, or very high horse isn't it:D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

lol no you see i work in the games industry and i see business suffering everyday due to this kind of piracy :(

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Are we saying then that @ £40.00 per game the industry is struggling to survive.;)

Not that i'm an advocate of piracy !!!

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Lets see the suppliers charge £25.50 for the shops to get the latest game (no doubt the suppliers mark this price up at least £5 from the price they get it straight from the publishers from...then of course the developers get a further percentage of this....)

then the vat man takes 17.5% so your up to £29.96,

overheads etc and a new game at £39.99 (although we rarely sell anything at full retail anyway)

i dont disagree with ppl saying that a game is too expensive at £40 but its the fact that ppl dont realise how much work goes into them and the length of time alot of games are worked on..... ppl need to get paid for their months/years of work.....

edit: also as you saw in my post i did state that the prices would be cheaper if it was not for all this piracy - im sure the publishers mark up the price to counteract the losses they would have ensued....but this doesnt in anyway protect the suppliers or the retailers....

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

march edition of XBOXGAMER has the A-Z list of hacking an X-BOX

well worth the 3.99 :cool:

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

That's still illegal though.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

no one said they wanted bragging rites? i said people do use it as a reason though.

personally if xboxes could not be chiped/upgraded i wouldnt even think of getting one, i have more than enough pcs in my place. my main reason for getting an xbox would be...

me and myt flatmate have over 250 dvds, many of these i ahve recently started ripping to disk as divx (for home use only) as we have pcs in most of the rooms in the house but many without dvd drives. these can then be run in any room of the house with no problems. recently though i moved the pc from the living room back up to my bedroom and now i need either another pc or an chiped box for the living room.

that is my reason.

as for it being illegal...people will still do it whether its legal or not, everyone has their own reasons, some valid many not. a few years back i used to make easy cash chipping PS and PS2s for people, yet i have never owned my own games console ( unless you count a gameboy and a gamegear) purely because of my obsession with pcs, and the fact that i cant play a 1st person shooter on a joy pad :)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

you know maybe we should settle this little debate in the time honoured male way.... LETS FIGHT!!!!


:P RS3 Online anyone???

:D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

rs3?

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Raindow Six 3, the PC equivalent is Raven Shield.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

i prefer battle field 1942 DC mod :)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

There is also a rumour that MS are scanning hard drives to check that there is nothing on them that could only get there via a mod chip.
If thats true, then its an obvious breach of privacy.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

so basicly if you dont use live you dont have much to worry about....

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Pretty much.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

#

thinking about it...there was an issue similar to this a while back in diablo2/blizzard, they where scanning for files on peoples pcs, and got arround it by adding simple but complicated small print to the terms and conditions which basicaly gave them permission to access system details, although they said all they where looking for was system specs and perfomance.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

AFAIK, the scan is for HDD size, not content.

See earlier in this thread: http://forum.nthellworld.co.uk/showp...2&postcount=20

Although it has been confirmed that the code for the scan exists (& has done for a while now), I don't think it has yet been shown that M$ are actually doing this scan & banning people with non-standard HDD sizes. (Yet?).

Of course, if they wanted to, they could easily do an actual file scan of the HDD, to look for any non-standard stuff such as EvoX & so on.

The XBL T&Cs do say that you agree to only use XBL with an un-modded XBox (guess I've broken that then!), I don't know if they also allow M$ the right to scan your files though.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Tez,

How long have you been using your modded box on live?

have you had any problems?

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I got my modded box back in November last year.

I've not been on XBL much since Christmas, though, apart from playing a bit of CS last month, & downloading the KOTOR content last week. So I haven't been online enough to be able to tell if it is definitely still as safe as before! (although I definitely haven't been banned)

Although from reading the thread about the HDD check at XBoxScene (http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.p...&f=53&t=183941), it seems there are a lot of people who have been online almost non-stop & *not* had any problems.

As the new scan is not yet confirmed (well, the ability for it apparently exists, it's just that no-one knows if M$ actually do it, & if they do do it, no one knows if they *do* ban people), it may be safer to hold-off on getting a modded XBox for the moment, in case there are suddenly loads of reports of people being banned due to the HDD check.

Then again, the check is apparently only for HDD size, not content.

So if you got your XBox modded, but kept the original hard drive, there presumably wouldn't be a problem? (which is why this check seems so stupid to me: why would M$ only check HDD size? What use is banning people with modded XBoxes that have >8 gig HDDs, when people with modded XBoxes with normal original 8gig HDDs can still go on XBL? Odd).

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I'm not sure, but isnt there a clause in some equipment manufacturers T&C's that state you cannot modify or alter?

Surely if you then go ahead and do this then you are in breach of contract and wouldnt therefor be permitted to use the equipment?

Or am I talking ******** and that only refers to software?

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

There is this section in the agreement you agree to when signing upto Xbox Live & its most definately to be so while its within its warranty.

However, for someone who does not use XBL then there is no problem, if you mod it (as is your right to do so as its now your property) then as long as you no longer expect any support from the manufacturer the rest is just a legal mishmash over copyright & fair play issues etc.

If you wish to use the box on XBL then thats where the main problems start appearing, what with MS not wanting any Xbox's on thier system that have been in any way modified or altered. They have made up the excuse that its because they want an even playing field & for us all to be equal, but we know what the real reason for this is.
(no copys & hacks).

Whatever MS do, eventually those clever Richards who design the chips will circumvent any checks, any scans will be intercepted & get Xbox std reports sent back etc. (hopefully).

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

BTW, adding a modchip can be for reasons other than just using copied game DVD's.

It allows you to store your games on the HDD, access the box via your PC, install Linux etc, etc, etc.

So there are reasonably acceptable legal reasons for installing a modchip

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Ahhhh yes but, read that nice big manual of yours....although it is your property, m$ reserved the right to keep the machine unmodded, and thus by modding it you are breaching the T&C NOT of XBL but of your xbox itself too,
alot of products have this kinda feature that although it is your property the original owners keep a stake in the ownership of the item

dvd players, gaming consoles - all of these have had the same kinda condition for years now.....

making backups of your games to your HDD is still considered illegal and carries up to 6 month imprisonment per disc backed up.....

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Im pretty sure the only time imprisonment is applicable is if you ditribute the copied software, the maximum I have ever heard applied to backups is hardware confiscation, a writen offence and a warning basicly not to do it again.
If you can show me an instance where what you have said has happened I would appreciate it though :) .

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

A UK offense mind you.. none of thiat American stuff...

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Please could you show me where you got that piece of information?

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

kRAyZZed,

As I said before, there are legit uses for a mod chip: playing imported games & DVDs.

Technically illegal, but not unethical if you do still own the original game disc.

6 months per disc?! Really? A bit extreme for a crime with no victim (there is a big difference to backing up something *you own* & pirating something you do not own!). Also unlikely, I would think, seeing as our prisons are already overflowing, & Judges are saying people shouldn't even be locked up for burglary & other offences.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

6 months per disc, its simple really

the legal system in this country defines creating backups as an offence triable in magistrates court only, and ANY offence in the magistates court holds a maximum sentence of 6 months imprisonment and/or £2000 fine per offence....

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

No distribution comes under a whole different piracy law and carries up to 6yrs imprisonment per offense

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Sounds to me like someone obviously has nothing better to do than read law books and statutes.:o :zzz:

I myself however, have to go to work to earn my living for the family:rolleyes:

As for having the last word!!!!!:erm:

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

last word? :P

now just to clarify i do go to work to earn a living, not my fault i choose to study law (well actually it is lol but heh) :D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Who gives a stuff about the law & copying your software to an xbox, if someone is going to mod an xbox then they are not.

As for any T&C's that manufacturers put in with thier equipment, I cannot see that they are in any way binding or reasonable as once you own the equipment you can do to it what you want.
If the T&C said that I was as not allowed to modify it & I chnaged the fan or the HDD or the CPU etc I cannot see anyone prosecuting me, so why shoulld any other modification be any different.
Obviously if I was to thenn attach it to someones network then thats different as I would be putting an unauthorised bit of equipment on it then.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Thats just it, your xbox is not actually 100% YOUR xbox according to microsoft, they apparently still reserve the right to keep it as they intended, i know it sounds silly but you have only paid for the right to use their hardware, not actually the hardware itself...

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Somehow I think that that would only be applicable in the state of Texas or some stupid yank place.
Over here we see sense & a court would proberably declare it as ine, seeing as I have a receipt to show I paid for it & that I was not told that I was only allowed to use it before I paid for it...lol

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

lol well its true and it has been held up in courts :P, also one of the reasons why modding your xbox was declared illegal, but simply put no matter what you are doing with it, connecting it to a network, xbox live, or just sitting it in your lounge - fitting a mod chip in your xbox is illegal... the courts deemed that any chip that was designed to or adversely circumventer copyright protection within software is illegal - so whether you were told or not about the xbox being you complete property that is kinda beside the point anyway...
but you saying that you are allowed to fit a mod chip, which is illegal to you OWN xbox...that surely is the same as you saying you are allowed to commit any criminal act you wish on your own property....

as long as you live in this country and are thus bound by uk laws whether it is your property or not is of no concern, you are still breaking the law

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

So what!

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

heh noooo lets not just respond to a thread for the sake of responding eh?

i merely stated the legal facts, its up to you if you wish to obey them, but i dont really think your really contributing at all with a two word response to a post.

Been looking at your other posts and post count and now i see why you have achieved that so quick...
i mean "so what!" - are you like 10 or something? come now you can do better than that

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

OK then, Given that many people feel that the games are overpriced & that by using copied games etc they actually see no-one getting hurt they feel that it is a victimless crime & that its not as bad as say drink driving, so they have less qualms about doing it.

Myself I have 3 kids, each with thier own PSX, which I might have had to chip as I wasnt going to buy 3 copies of the games and they were too young to be able to handle the disks without getting them all scratched, so I might have copied the games for each of them. Now we have an Xbox the PSX is not used, so what to do with this?

Well as I use live I dont want to chip the Xbox as it may lead to me getting banned from live (a fate worse than death), however if we get another box thats standalone then I'd have no problems with chipping it.

Is that a long enough reply for you?
BTW, I have a high post count because I have been here since about when it started, posted a lot & joined in a lot of discussions, its quite rare for me to make a 2 word post.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

victimless crime? heh copying a game is the same as if you walked into my shop and stole the game.... i have seen several independant games shops close down over the last year or so because of ppl who seem to think that stealing games is a victimless crime... i have seen friends go bankrupt and struggle to support their famillies due to piracy....

a victimless crime? tell that to all the victims...

now i dont doubt that games are too expensive but thats not the retailers fault and as i have previously mentioned in this thread the publishers mark up the prices at their end - you would be suprised just how much we as a shop pay for games...

and i do apologise if i seem a bit worked up about this but its frankly cos i am, i think its disgusting that people decide they cant be bothered to pay for their games and steal them instead...

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Nah they dont steal them, they rent them, copy them & then take them back... :D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Hey Zoom,


Thats a good one, i never thought of that:D

Best join Blockbuster this weekend :rolleyes: he..he...he..he..

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Actually, it IS the retailers' fault! The retailers (not if you're an independent, admittedly) get paid TWICE for games they sell - once with their 45% discount when they buy them in and again when we have to pay the larger retailers to stock them! Retailers like GAME, on average, make nearly 20 quid on a 40 quid game. Publishers, on the other hand, make less than half of what retailers get.

But I'm with you on the stealing issue. Not a victimless crime - there's never any such thing. I own 3x PS2s and 2 Xboxes because I play Japanese games (I speak Japanese and wife and son born there) and so have a legitimate reason to want to chip. But I never have, never will, and will never buy a copied game.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

And which wholesale company do you work for? If your talking about the 45% discount i would guess one of the main ones, Pinnacle, Gem or Centersoft (possibly Ideal)?
But i do know for a fact that most wholesalers do NOT give 45% discount to even ppl like Game. Latest release retailing at £39.99 costs even them £25.50 per unit thats 64% and thus a 36% discount on retail for ordering in bulk, add vat to that and you get £29.96 so in actual fact it equates to 25% off the retail... now bear in mind the current trend with most supermarkets and whatnot using the latest games as loss leaders and selling the aforementioned games at £29.99 and making a loss on them to get ppl into their shop - this makes it almost impossible to actually ever sell anything at £39.99 and we ourselves tend to reduce things to £34.99 meaning we only get games at 15% less than retail not 45%..... now bear in mind that 15% is NOT alot to make on a game and as i have shown
incl. vat we pay £29.96 and sell for £34.99 making £5.03 per game we sell. Now work out wages, rates for your shop and all other overheads and your left with a fraction of that as profit... hence why more and more independants are closing down and only the mass chains with their complete lack of any knowledge in the actual industry are the only ones not to struggle...

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I think I did actually say that what I wrote wasn't the same for the Indys, but point taken. I work for a games publisher, not wholesaler, and can assure you that we sell games in a lot lower than you outline here. Your beef is with the wholesalers, clearly.
But enough of that. You are (rightly) obviously very angry about piracy and pricing, but you're taking a very simplistic stance and pointing the finger at the wrong people by blaming the publishers. And, of course, publishers get hit considerably harder than retailers by piracy.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

a bad thing is though if you go on live with live your xbox will be closed down for ever(not very fun then) so you have to turn of the chip(if you can, i dont know much about the subject) i heard this of xbox gamer, where they did a A-Z of modchipping

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

yep i can confirm this, because my mate runs a videogame's shop i have seen his invoices and it really is tight for profit margins these days.......

btw Gem are ****e at delivering on time :D

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Sorry Kronas i voted for Franz Ferdinand - Matinee rather than Avril Lavigne
:notopic:

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

oh come on, you can vote as many times as you want :rolleyes: :(

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

i have a modded xbxo - i mostly use it for shutting my g/f up by getting some films on it that are "girly" in nature and then lending her the xbox with the films on the hard drive.

it is handy as a media center pc - may have to get a new fan for it as id like a more silent one may get one from soadvanced.com.

the emulators are niffty as well and waste away a boring sunday full of eastenders repeats.

the ability to stream files off any pc is handy.

the ability to backup games is also good - so if im going away for a weekend i could copy all my games to my hard drive and go. no need for the dvd's. havnt tried making an iso from them files and burning my own backups - may look into that.

all in all im impressed - but only with the media featires the games are boring.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I use mine to back up games too. Save's carrying all the bleeders around with me when I take it out to a m8s. I'd never use for movies though. Not until they finish off that defrag and chkdsk app

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Why not mod the dam machine - your machine - your choice - take a hammer to it iy you want - and if Microsoft claim that you dont own 100% of machine then give them their share of the pieces.


As for copying games - your choice - your risk. We all take risks - thats life.

As for playing online - give Xlink a go - no problem with mod detection here - you can play Halo online too:) - Microsoft are the only group to offer online play for xbox games - take a look around at the alternatives.....

But most of all enjoy your Xbox.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

very nice stating there:)

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Ebay have recently taken a hard line on modded xbox banning adverts and the like

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I like the way you think Pluey

food for thought, even action i'd say

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

So which is the best xlink or xbconnect?

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

i must say im very unimpressed with the actual games on the xbox ..
ive played about 60 or so and only found my self coming back to some of the driving games - the fps games run to slow and aiming is silly with a controller, the adventure games like legacy of kain - ninja gaiden - popsot all treat you like a 4 year old for the first 5 levels - the racing games are fun to a degree crash racing was a poor mans mario cart :) and nfs + pgr were very sexy. i tried fifa and nhl2004 and didnt think much of them the megadrive versions played better in myu opinion but they certainly looked nice. im happy i got the mod chip so i can play emulators and watch some movies on the thing.

anyone know if there will be a resident evil game for the xbox?

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Bull, it's one simple word making the prices so high - GREED

programmers don't get paid per copy sold, the movies make back their money in the box office, and DVD / CD production and marketing is measured in the realm of PENNIES!

IF this were not the case then why are we, the brittish public paying in pounds what the americans are paying in dollars?

the publishing industry could sell the DVDs at £5 each and CD albums at £2 each but they won't because of greed.
I for one would be more than happy to buy my DVDs at the lower price, but I am loathe to pay more for a medium which costs less than a V?HS tape to produce and yet costs more from most major retailers.

Equalise the pricing globally and then start marketing the films at a price people are willing to pay and you have a cure for piracy.

Same goes for music and games.

Who are the games marketers targetting with an Xbox game? kids mainly, with adults as well.... yet they charge up to £50 per game??? how many kids have £50 available to buy games? of COURSE they are going to get copies as it's the only way they can play the things.

it's the companies who perpetuate piracy, not the users.

I build computers, I make £50 on a machine build, yet I would rather sell 10 machines with £50 markup than 2 machines at £200 markup.

the companies want to sell their 50 machines with £200 markup... it's greed and they are pricing themselves out of the realm of battling piracy.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I must admit i couldn't agree more Lord Nikon

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

I think it's ridiculous that you HAVE to chip your Xbox to play in high definition if it's a pal machine.

Why don't they just have an NTSC mode on the UK machine.

I will be modding my box, that's for sure. Even when I've modded it for an entirely *legal* reason I would still not be able to play Live.

What a sorry state of affairs.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

It is a bit stupid, but, then again, how many people in the UK have a TV capable of taking a high definition input?

What I find more annoying is that you have to chip it if you want to play DVDs on it from other regions.


You can still play on XBL with a modded XBox....just so long as you turn off the chip when going online.

Re: Q.? Modding the box! The pros & cons, your opinions would be appreciated.
 

Not in high definition though.