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Modder faces jail time after raid turns up counterfeit games, mod chips

arstechnica.com — One man's thriving business selling mod chips and counterfeit games as well as modifying consoles has come to an end after a raid on his home turned up over a thousand pirated games.

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  • DariusMonsef, on 10/11/2007, -3/+22I guess I'm glad my dorm room never got raided then...
  • geekfrom99, on 10/11/2007, -0/+69i'd feel bad if it was just his own xbox modded but this guy was running a business and advertising it on craigslist. not terribly bright.
  • Sabin, on 10/11/2007, -5/+61Good. I have nothing against mod chippers (its my console, i'll use it how i want) but people that make money off of software piracy made me sick.
    • norman619, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6I have tio agree there.
    • mem2, on 10/11/2007, -16/+3people who jump up on their soapbox about software piracy make me sic.
    • maurovz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6The fact that he advertised it on the internet was even worse.
    • Toast1185, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I think sabin should have the most dugg up comment for this article. it really sets back modding for legitimate purposes when something like this happens. And as much as people like to ignore the fact, piracy is illegal.
      • Ozzy73, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1In your country... I can go to the mall, have my ps2 modded and buy any PS2 game for $5 and its all ok with the government.
  • junk2006, on 10/11/2007, -20/+4I hope he chokes in jail, we should totally feed the corporations money and not mod crap
  • djh816, on 10/11/2007, -1/+25mod chips are perfectly fine but should be used for what there name suggests: modifying content. nothing wrong with putting on another dashboard or making your console media player but to sell counterfeit games along with them is just stupid.
    • Redfern, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Exactly, i use my moded xbox almost every day and it has no games on it at all. I just use it for a portable media center.
      • fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I miss my modded xbox every day.

        Can I have yours?
  • SaxxonPike, on 10/11/2007, -0/+12I didn't mind the mod chips so much as the counterfeit games. The mod chips still require the hardware per user. Copied games do not.
    [quoted from article:]
    "Some of our member companies had seen his listings on Craigslist," Hirsch said. "We started to make some inquiries on our own last year and eventually through our investigations accumulated enough evidence to bring it to the attention of the CATCH team."

    Now THAT's just stupid. If it were me, I wouldn't be telling people in such an open place.
  • NikoKun, on 10/11/2007, -11/+3The war on modchips... the next war on drugs... XD
  • zerodaysoon, on 10/11/2007, -7/+4@ sabin
    i agree, mod chips are awesome but not the pirated software, no wonder game companies keep jacking up the prices
    • PunishedOne, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4Publishers using piracy as a reason for increasing prices is a gimmick. Their games aren't selling well because most of the time they SUCK. Pirates buy great games, they're humans too.
      • dvsbastard, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Or unless you are like the guy from the article "Pirates SELL great games"...
  • whatever1, on 10/11/2007, -2/+21When you are in jail. ..And people ask you, "what are you in for?"

    Saying "I modded consoles." is equivalent to saying "ok, you can rape me now."
    • maurovz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0Haha that would have to be a little embarrassing. Good luck to him.
    • DaveV, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Maybe he should say "Software piracy", which is a more apt description.
  • Carsonauto, on 10/11/2007, -11/+3I don't know. Piracy is definitely wrong, and murders the industry. The music industry is getting ***** by P2P. We all should know that it's bad, and that prices are only going to go higher...... But no matter what, we'll always pirate music, games, videos. Simply because we can. If I can download a movie rather than spend $5 to rent it I will, likewise with games or movies.

    There's no stopping it : It'll all crash sooner or later.
    • theonlywizdum, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5What I want to know is if piracy is driving the price of games up, why are PC games (at least the ones not made for windows live) so much cheaper than console games? PC games are easier to copy and pirate.
      • Matt2k, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1I think the PC market is less lucrative. Maybe harder to crack. Last I read the console gaming marked dwarfed the pc gaming marked by almost a factor of 10.

        Also, and this is pure speculation, but the console manufacturers sell their systems at a loss and are subsidized by selling titles. Maybe they need to make up more with the next gen consoles. More than likely they do it simply because they can get away with charging $10 extra
    • Weebs43, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1The music industry is doing just fine with the whole P2P thing. Artists top singles may be seeing some issues, but albums and concerts are where the real money is at. Piracy isn't an "underground" thing, and I don't believe it'll ever be large enough to crash an industry.

      @theonlywizdum
      I'm just taking a wild guess here, but I'm guessing PC games are cheaper becasue they don't have to be liscensed by Microsoft/Sony/Etc, do not require extra dev kits, and PC gaming is somewhat of the standard in development.
  • apothekari, on 10/11/2007, -10/+7Well the streets are certainly safer now that this deviant is behind bars.
    What with the boys in blue protecting Paris from photographers and this excellent collar I for one can't think of a better use for taxpayers money than protecting the corporate assets of this fine, fine, country.
  • gcauthon, on 10/11/2007, -8/+4There must be too many tech geeks on the police force. I'm guessing this task force is designed to keep them busy so they don't get themselves killed while fighting real crime.
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1like copyright infridgement
      a federal crime
    • Radionesiac, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3this IS a real crime you ***** idiot.
  • diggdowner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7"Despite the hate from the ESA and console manufacturers, many gamers are big fans of mod chips, but not because of the piracy angle."

    Had to be said.

    Heck, I have a slot-2 flashcart for my DS Lite and firmware 3.40 OE for my PSP, but I'm still buying my games, dammit!
  • twigboy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3if he's selling pirated games, he deserves it
    but the "thousands of pirated games" bit... kinda makes it sound like piracy isnt a common thing
  • meatwadlurker, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2Lame.
    He probably made a total of less than 10k from pirated software, why are they doing this?

    I for one am glad this weed smoking bitorrent using criminal is behind bars.
    • TwistMyArm, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I doubt he only made that much. If you RTFA you would have seen that he "has since been freed after posting bail in the amount of $100,000". So unless he had $100,000 lying around from some other form of income...
      • Moobly, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0I know it doesn't take away from the facts, but for $100k bail, he would've only had to post 10% cash. That being said, who keeps 10 G's sitting around for a rainy day.
    • DaveV, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2"why are they doing this?"

      Because it is against the law and he was advertising on craigeslist where the software companies saw it and notified the cops.

      I guess you believe that if one doesn't like or agree with the law, one should not follow said law. But, I believe people like yourself should be shot. Should I follow your line of reasoning or law?
  • smurf22, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This is the piracy I dont like, when you start selling something, then it goes bad.
  • sarnia, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I always thought the modding and homebrew scene sort of made a good community; finding new things, exchanging new updates, creating skins, trading games, etc.

    Then, I go on Craigslist, and find people advertising "Best Mods in Town", posting the same annoying post six times a week.

    This guy just made a buck off of it, and ruined it all for everyone. Glad he's busted.
  • HitmanJustin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I only download games that are impossible to find in a store or buy offline, or to buy em you have to pay double the original retail price

    anywho yeah to sell games that you stole is wrong..reallly wrong I think every gamer should be able to go and kick him in the nuts
  • chriz2fer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Sorry but even back in the early 90s I paid 80 friggin bucks for Final Fantasy 3 and also Street Fighter 2. WAAAAY before online piracy was even fathomed, much less existed. Sorry, that's not why companies are jacking prices. They've always been high.
  • 9tendo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This idiot makes everyone else on craigslist look bad. Not to mention all the other modders in SD that have the same freakin name as he does. Thanks alot you ahole.
  • jeremyduffy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Viva modchips! Why the hell shouldn't I be able to play a Japanese game on my PS2? It's stupid.
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