29th June 2003, 12:20 AM
That's just it, the article SAYS it doesn't break the law, but does it? Sure they went after mod chips because a lot of people use them for illegitimate purposes (and I hate them for it, ruining a perfectly good device for others just because they couldn't obey the law and just BUY the frickin' game). Mod chips were made illegal officially only AFTER a law was passed that said no one can defeat a safety mechanism, software, hardware, or otherwise, built into something. Stupid law if you ask me, but even though they aren't using a chip, they are still defeating a mechanism on the XBox, with alteration of the firmware. From what I understand, that's exactly as against the law as using a chip. There's no real difference except instead of adding a piece of hardware, you are just adding software.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)