Modchip raids have gone too far - do something about it!

i see piracy as a clever game of table-tennis.

Pirates create a mod chip? Company X finds a better way to protect its console. And so on and so forth.

It's a nice sport, why make it monotonous and one way? I support both sides equally, because both have interesting arguments that I wouldn't reject in favour of the other.

As such, I d rather have piracy and legitimate products co-exist in a non-ending struggle that would ultimately be won by the most clever party.

come on, let's challenge the big bucks, it's not like a good game doesn't sell enough copies by its own.

 

It would be illegal however to use a number that isn't yours to say make phone calls, technically it wouldn't cost the phone company any money if you dialed numbers on their network but technically it won't cost the games company any money if you use pirate games on an chipped system...

 

Yeah but is costing them indirectly since otherwise you would've had to pay for those games

 

I was being flippant...

 

I hate the "demo" argument. If you pirate a game and save yourself $30-50, what are the chances that you will then go out and buy said game? Almost zero. You'd use the money you saved buying something else unless you are Mr Moneybags. And if you had that spare money you'd have bought the game without worrying about demo-ing it beforehand.

You can try any game out in any Gamestop/EBGames before buying it, and I am sure the majority of independents would allow you to do the same thing if you only ask them. Failing that you could rent the game.

Arguments are made for positive benefits that piracy brings to a console based on userbase. Let me make a point. The DC had rampant piracy problems and AAA titles for the format sold like shit. Piracy negatively affected the DC.

Likewise, the PSP has sold over 25million units, but publishers and developers show a distinct lack of interest. The reason? Software sales are poor. A large number of PSP owners buy the machine and mod them to play ISOs and ROMs.

Ultimately piracy harms a format and it does not help the industry in any way whatsoever.

 

Thing is fellas, even if they made a modchip that allowed you to play imports but not play copies, under the law it would still be illegal. That's why I think it's too strict.

 

Yes, but no such modchips exist. You seem to be on a crusade for an idea, but the reality is that in the vast majority of circumstances, people don't care about some ideal, they use modchips to pirate games, depriving videogame companies of revenue. Piracy, no matter how much people try to justify it ("I am trying out the game", "I wouldn't have bought it anyways", "Capitalism is wrong"), is illegal, and the governmant and video game companies have every right to try and stop it.

That being said, in my mind modchips for imports? No problem. Modchips for piracy (360)? Unjustifiable.

 

Easy way to fix that. Australia and New Zealand have region free DVD players by law (as it should be) Wiki gives me this handy quote:

"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned that DVD players that enforce region coding may violate the Trade Practices Act. The government of New Zealand has also made a similar ruling. This, supposedly, means that all DVD players sold in their territories have to be Region 0."

Make that law for consoles, and hey presto, MS has a choice: Region free or piss off.

 

Does anybody have any real proof of this being the case?? I have heard this numerous times but I have never really seen any hard data that can back it up.

 

Dunno about PSP, but the DC? I doubt that...

The fact is that at the time (2000) DSL conections were still rare, so even if you had a CD burner (who didnt?) there was no possible way to copy the GD (SDKs werent easily available at the time, and the BBA was yet to be released) so you had to either download the game or get a bootleg and copy it.

 

The Internet has only recently become a means for pirating software, popular because it is 'free'. Previous to that, in the days of the PlayStation and DC people would buy discs from the dodgy bloke in the pub, flea markets, car boot sales etc.

 

HA! Well said friend! :lol: :thumbsup:

Reading that guys story on Xbox-scene was pretty sad though... :crying:

Thats definately an interesting way to look at it... but at the same time I like it. I like it alot as a matter of fact!

 

True words, I must say.

Since The Gulfwar (1 & 2 combined)
And the Afghanistan war, has become in my eyes. Vietnam 2 and 3, and soon people will begin shouting, to the troops "Hey GI have you killed any Arab women, and children ?". And whether it is Afhanistan veterans or the Iraq war veterans, then they probably will run out in the woods, like some of the Vietnam veterans did. So I agree, it is time the soldiers came back NOW ! and the Danish support troops has now come home for now. Untill they are deployed in Afghanistan...

 

PS3 is already region free we need to spam nintendo to make the Wii region free and even threaten to not buy them or even return Wiis En mass to nintendo until they do.

The day consoles are made region free is the day that we don't need mod chips.

 

My 2 arguments are in bold (as I stated earlier) - Your comeback is "this is not true/wrong". why not?

The Dreamcast was 'killed' by 'rampant' piracy?!!

Jeebus!

It is a widely known fact that most people who have a playstation will 'wait' for a Playstation 2 > and a ps3...etc. The Dreamcast was never going to dominate the market because of the Saturns earlier untimely demise. period. If I am wrong then let's wait till fiscal year 2008 is over and we see the Ps3 on top (by far) dramatically outstripping the 360 which has already had a good year or so head start. Sony has the userbase installed - and all the others will do is chip away at a bit of it, very slowly.

The sales figures already indicate that this is happening. Every machine has a slow start (initial cost of the product) but as the price drops sales will accelerate dramatically for a long while.

Of course Sega did have a chance ( ...much like the rivalry between the SNES and Genesis where they came out of nowhere to take a decent position in the market.) But...they blew their marketing and PR, they made some very, very big mistakes getting the DC into the buying publics mind + already disgruntled with Segas lack of support for the Saturn previously store owners were never going to be pleased with Segas return with the DC. Poor management toppled Sega - Not the 0.001% of people who copied their games before they bought them. Most people who own a console buy their games from shops....Statistically they also only own about 5 or 6 games throughout their consoles existence in their living room.

How many games have you played lately?

Believe the hype or not - Hollywood and the VGames industries make 'record' profits each and every year. Check the stats, do a google search. Where the heck are pirates hurting them exactly? Specifics would be great...

Tying piracy to 'Billions of lost dollars of lost revenue'....and then linking it to the 'funding' of terrorists is what people are being led to believe. It's called scare tactics - and it keeps the rest of them down and ignorant.

 

Eh? I was able to get the DOA 2 Iso the night it showed up on the internet. Piracy on the internet has been going on for years (specialy via newsgroups).

 

Not to the average Joe though. That was more my point. In 2000, broadband was not the norm and few people would download a 650 ISO via dial-up. Some did, I am sure, but not most people.

 

As someone who only ever mods consoles to be able to play legit imported games, I'd offer that the only solution to this debacle is for every console to be sold as region-free from the factory.

This way, at least the console makers would be able to pursue modchip makers without any ambiguity, they wouldn't be able to say "oh, we just want to play imports".

I do generally have a problem with piracy on any "live" system (i.e. not on Dreamcast or PSX these days, thus). I'd rather Nintendo just sell region-free Wii's and squash the people trying to play backups.

 

oh but backups are so pretty!

 

This is a decades old battle, between the capitalism, and the socilism. Now, it is just called big fucking companies, and their private pigs army, attacking pirates. New name, same game.