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  Simon, 10 Feb 2005 @ 5:50am

  
  

  No Subject Given

  The linked article indicates that the platform these people were modifying was xbox - my understanding is that typically this would require circumnavigating Microsoft's copy protection. If this is accurate, then they could find themselves in a tricky position - whatever the moral position on modifying games that you own.
  Interestingly, many other manufacturers seem to embrace the enthusiast communities as they add value to the product being sold. Take a look at EA Sports ever increasing monopoly of official sports licensing; history shows that gamers prefer to play sport games with teams and player rosters taken from their real-life counterparts. Now compare EA's FIFA 2005 with Konami's Winning Eleven / Pro-Evolution soccer series - the majority of soccer gamers consider Konami's offering to be superior in terms of gameplay, but Konami, for the most part, are unable to offer real teams and players. Step-in the modder community, who provide updated graphics and statistics to the game. Maintained by an army of fans who do it only for their own enjoyment, this unofficial content blows away EA's ability to keep up with the real world changes - often being updated on a weekly basis.

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  • 

    Chris Wuestefeld, 10 Feb 2005 @ 6:46am

    
    

    Re: No Subject Given

    This is pretty much correct. In the absence of a "mod chip", an xbox is pretty well locked down. If you want to patch new skins in, you've got to use the mod chip to (a) install hacking tools, (b) run the hacking tools, and (c) run the patched game off the hard drive rather than DVD.
    I'm pretty sure that if nothing else, using the mod chip to make a copy of the game's DVD onto the hard disk violates the DMCA.

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  Freed, 10 Feb 2005 @ 6:18am

  
  

  No Subject Given

  The other thing that the article mentions is that they were modifying the games so that they included nudity. Personally, I think it's kinda funny. But I'm sure that there's some high-level suit at Tecmo deathly afraid that by someone changing nearly nude characters playing beach volleyball into completely nude ones, they would somehow become associated with being an accessory to creating digital pornography, or something equally paranoid. Tecmo probably thinks its better to sue some hackers than incur the wrath of some jingoistically conservative letter-writing activists.
  
  - Freed

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  The Mod, 10 Feb 2005 @ 10:29am

  
  

  Whats Next

  Are Ford or GM or any other car maker going to start suing people for modding their cars? Probally not, and I dont see what the difference is if people mod their software or hardware. You bought it, mod away, and if they resell it modded how different is that from reselling a car you modified using the original brand name. Next thing we know pc case makers will start suing people for modding pc cases.
  
  Im ranting now.

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  • 

    Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2005 @ 5:39am

    
    

    Re: Whats Next

    yes, but u BOUGHT your ford while your just LICENSING your xbox - isnt that extremely clear ?

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    • 

      Anonymous Coward, 11 Feb 2005 @ 6:35am

      
      

      Re: Whats Next

      and you get what you licensed ... shit.

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