GHills vs Bill Gates

[Stuckinstock]

from INQ7.net

Xbox 360 modification comes to Greenhills

By Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net
Last updated 08:02pm (Mla time) 08/17/2006


Owners of Microsoft Xbox 360 game consoles are making a beeline at electronic shops in Greenhills Center in San Juan City to have their units modified to play illegal copies of game titles.

A few shops at the newly built V-Mall in Greenhills are offering modification of Xbox 360s.

Most of these shops have been modifying game consoles for years. Among the units they modify are Sony Playstations 1 and 2, Nintendo Gamecubes and the first Microsoft Xbox.

A videogame retail shop owner who wishes not to be named told this reporter that the modification of Xbox 360s has been around for months since Microsoft launched the console late last year but the method only arrived in the Philippines in late July.

By modifying the console chipset, players can use copied versions of the game, some of which cost from 400 pesos to 600 pesos, compared to original boxed games that cost from 2,200 pesos to as high as 3,000 pesos.

The shop owner explained that there are two types of modifications. First is a method called "flashing" of the console's chipset while the other is placing a new chipset or "modchip" on top of the unit's original modchip.

"But what is being done here is the first method since I haven't seen the modchip yet," the shop owner said.

In the first method, only the chipset of the console's HD-DVD (high definition digital versatile disc) drive is flashed; its pre-installed application is erased and replaced with a new application that reads copied games.

Incidentally, the chipset can still be reverted to its software prior to flashing.

The flashing method requires a special connector called serial ATA (SATA) and a flashing software.

While SATA is a standard PC drive connector, the software is not available off the shelf.

The copied games themselves are not directly copied to a blank disc from an original source disc but are installed with corresponding software that identifies them with the new HD-DVD chipset application.

The shop owner said all of the HD-DVD drives are either from Samsung or LG.

The only risk is that if the drive itself is damaged, a replacement drive will be impossible to find since there are none being sold commercially.

"But so far, none of the units I have modified were returned to me for repairs," the shop owner said.

However, copied games cannot be played on Xbox Live, the online gaming service of Microsoft, since it asks for the original game's unique serial number.

Xbox 360s retail for about 21,000 pesos to 30,000 pesos. The modification itself cost 3,000 pesos.

Technically, flashing or modifying chipsets is not illegal unlike selling of copied discs, which is punishable by law.

[Isuzoom]

iba talaga ang pinoy....You invent...we modify...

[Camgen6]

I doubt kung Pinoy baka Chinese.

Hindi Illegal? pero void ang warranty and you risk ruining your unit...but hey kung saan makaka-mura di ba?

Meron din akong mga kilala na pina palitan ang mga hard drives ng mga Xbox nila to bigger capacities tapos kino-copy ang mga games (orig) to the Xbox' harddrive, kaya everytime they play they don't insert the game disc anymore. I think posible to sa Xbox 360 dahil may hard drive din to na pwedeng palitan to a much higher capacity.

[gearspeed]

Oo nga iba talaga ang pinoy kaya nga kung ako interview na ganyan kaso tungkol sa pirated cds.Isa lang sasabihin ko "gumawa sila ng maganda at mura na magaganda ang compilation"

Meron din akong mga kilala na pina palitan ang mga hard drives ng mga Xbox nila to bigger capacities tapos kino-copy ang mga games (orig) to the Xbox' harddrive, kaya everytime they play they don't insert the game disc anymore. I think posible to sa Xbox 360 dahil may hard drive din to na pwedeng palitan to a much higher capacity.

Oo nga noh.Para din pc pero hindi ba nakakasira yun?.Astig pala ng Xbox.Alam ko yung kaibigan ko meron siyang program na ginagamit para original pa rin yun nga lang pang PC hindi ko lang alam kung ano program yun.

[1D4LV]

what's next kaya with our friends from Greenhills? modification ng PSP?

[Horsepower]

hmmm, matagal na pong mino-modify PSP dun sir.

[1D4LV]

hmmm, matagal na pong mino-modify PSP dun sir.

OT:

huh? di ko alam to ah. namomodify na pala PSP? papamodify ko nga yung PSP ng anak ko..

mga magkano aabutin?

[Horsepower]

not sure but most probably 300-500 bucks.

[NightRock]

Meron na ba talaga modify PSP??? uh saan sa GH? magkano?

[niky]

Uh... there are certain PSPs, the newer ones, I think... that can't be modified locally without the modchip (which, I've heard, is coming in) For everyone else, there are services to load pirates into their PSPs.

And while modification itself is criminal, discussing the use of pirated games online is kind of risky... ...expect the NBI to be banging on your doors any minute now...

[theveed]

Version 1.5 and below na PSP pwedeng imod at pirata... mga higher ones hindi, kaya mas mahal ang 1.5 kesa mga newer ones...

As for the XBOX 360, di naman dito inimbento yung hack eh, tagal na nagaattempt mag hack ng blueray discs, XBOX360 ang mga Taiwan/HK/China underground folks... Lahat naman ng hack modchips na ginagamit natin sa PS2/XBox etc galing China eh. Inangkin nanaman achievements ng iba...

And di illegal ang hardware hacking, software piracy ang illegal. Microsoft could care less if you buy an Xbox 360 as a jackstand.

[mikmik316]

Oh well... another case of wrong product pricing by companies.... Dapat talaga i-apply dito ang "Asian edition" pricing to bring down prices of original games from 3thou to 1thou.

The only problem with doing mods is that you cannot play and log-in into Xbox Live service... walang multiplayer option ang hacked games so if your happy with that then go go go sa pag-mod!

[theveed]

Hehe, parang DVD lang yan, you can't compete pricing with "FREE" or almost free piratas...

Don't forget that gaming industry makes money with software licenses, not hardware, ever since they sell hardware at a loss.

It won't be long when hackers can put a switch on the unit to bypass the scanning of the modded unit.

With the first Xbox, X2 came out with a bypass switch wherein pwedeng ibalik sa stock settings ang unit and di madetect ng Live na modded na.

Later on, ginawa ng Live naglagay ng scanning ng hard disk, kung di stock 8GB di pwede pumasok sa Live... Again, may counter hack for that.

[GasJunkie]

Lookout for white vans in your vicinity...............:shiftyeyes:










toot toot toot

[kyle618]

wait so pwede na ang hacked games for xbox360? kung oo then its time to buy na!

[boybi]

these software/games companies should follow the steps of the movie DVDs, wherein R3 DVDs sold here in the Philippines is much cheaper than developed countries. an original DVD movie now costs as little as P250.00 with the same quality as its R1 version.

[Chip]

From the title akala ko some billionaire named G. Hills.. Grant hills hehehe

No matter what security measure they put in, there will always be a way to circumvent/crack it. Its like the age-old escalation between armor and weapon, dagger->chain-mail->crossbow.. bullet->kevlar vest->teflon-tipped rounds and so on...

[Negus]

guys do you think sinasadya talaga ng game console manufacturers na na-momodify ang mga products nila? sadya bang may "weakness" yung system? kasi more modified units = higher hardware sales. lugi lang nito yung mga software suppliers... balita ko na-"leak" nanaman daw yung protection ng blue rays...

[laklak]

As for the XBOX 360, di naman dito inimbento yung hack eh, tagal na nagaattempt mag hack ng blueray discs, XBOX360 ang mga Taiwan/HK/China underground folks... Lahat naman ng hack modchips na ginagamit natin sa PS2/XBox etc galing China eh.

as far as i know, xbox 360 comes with ordinary dvd drives. The HD version is available as an external add-on. PS3 on the other hand would be using Blue ray from the get go.

[laklak]

guys do you think sinasadya talaga ng game console manufacturers na na-momodify ang mga products nila? sadya bang may "weakness" yung system? kasi more modified units = higher hardware sales. lugi lang nito yung mga software suppliers... balita ko na-"leak" nanaman daw yung protection ng blue rays...

i think the reason for this is every time these manufacturers release their newer systems, they increasingly look like your ordinary desktop pc, albeit a different shell.