Heat

My friend was telling me about chips that you can change in the PS2 which would let you play copied PS2 games. I just have an N64, the main reason I haven't gotten anything else is that I don't want my 5 year old handling $40 or $50 DVD games, but if I can make backups for $0.10...

Are mod chips legal? Are there different qualities of chips? Price?

Is it "legal" to make backups for personal use?

And I assume that any PS2 warranty would be void.

Gallant Pig

Since we can discuss XBOX mods and GCN mods, I'm sure discussing this is perfectly legal.

-I believe it's legal to make backups for personal use

-I also believe it will void your warranty

... Are mod chips legal? I think so. Maybe someone can post more info about them on here. I don't know all the specifics.

Gideon68

Back-ups are legal as long as you own an original.

As I understand, mod chips are legal. It's the use of pirated copies or back-ups without owning an original that's unlawful.

I check around for the article I read.

cubanx

1)MOD Chips are Legal.
2)Pirating Games is Illegal.

If you can't find the information you need about mod chips with the power of the web I advise just leave your PS2 internal's alone.

Noonan

As long as you do have the original copy, making back-ups, and owning mod chips is perfectly legal. It will void your PS2 warranty because it involves opening up the unit to install it. I haven't tried it myself, but it seems like backing up PS2 games would be somewhat difficult since most of them are DVD's. If you want to check them out, go to gamegizmos.com.

Zodo

I don't want to get a mod-chip for my PS2 b/c I had one on my PS1 a long time ago and eventually the newest games just wouldn't work anymore on my system. It came up with a message on my screen basically saying 'mod chip detected...this game won't work'.

That really made me mad.
Of course, if they come out with some external, removeable mod chip, then I'd gladly go for it.

Btw, DVD Burners out there now will allow you to backup your PS2 games. Of course, they cost around 150-200 bucks...

Outlaw

modchips are kind of grey area products. I used to think they were legal but then lik-sang was sued by Microsoft for selling them, so now i'm not so sure anymore. I'm pretty sure in the back instruction manual of your PS2 games it says that unauthorized copying of the CD is prohibited. But still 95% of people who get modchips don't even own the original anyway . The discs themselves are a lot tougher than they look, i'd suggest getting him some greatest hits games that don't cost too much, that way it won't be that big of a loss if he breaks it. If you mod you void the warranty and run into the problem of new encryption on new games that detect modchips and won't run legitimatly purchased games from the store, i believe MS recently released a new version of the Xbox to prevent modchips, sony is probably doing the same, new "versions" of systems always go undocumented though.

illfrozn

I think there is an external mod chip.I can't remember the name exactly,but I remember it being in development about a year or so ago.After that,I forgot about it and never thought about it again.Personally,I think you should put your PS2 in a place where your child can't reach it or get to it easily.In your room or some where high in the living room,etc.

Young Vito

Both Microsoft & Sony have unlimited resources and a legal team that probably take up several buildings, these big companies often take smaller companies to court because they know that they have the upper hand and can survive a decade-long court case while the smaller companies they sue will run out of money before the 1st month is over. They often try to scare small companies by having their lawyer send a threatening letter.

I feel and know that mod chips are legal, and video games are just WAY too expensive...$50 bucks for a game? come on now! id gladly pay $50 for GTA3 or VC, but 99.9% of games arent worth that much.

just my .02

PixyJunket

Which makes theft perfectly legal, right?

kuyax

it's called SBOX. My friend had one...

I don't know how to post a pic, so

http://www.modchip-sbox.com/ps2sbox.shtml

Young Vito

theft? assumptions are a b%#@ arent they?who said anything about theft?

PixyJunket

Yes it was an assumption, but with a statement like "Games are too expensive!" in a thread about mod chips.. 1+1 can only equal 2. Was not meant as an attack, just part of the discussion..

KingSmoth

I'm almost certain there is a USB mod chip for the PS2. I remember not too long ago a guy on [H]ardforum had two for sale for I think $24 shipped each, with pictures and a website about the chips.

Young Vito

some people get hoed for 50$ a game, others take advantage of technology and hit the big companies where it hurts.

its called the "NEO-Key", a quick search in any search engine will yield the results needed

jw2299

OFF TOPIC - Sorry

I don't have any moral dilemmas with playing backups. I don't only b/c I don't have the time to fool with making them, but if I could play them easily, I would. It's no different than burning a copy of a friend's cd or duplicating vhs tapes.

Am I a thief? (well, technically no because I don't have access to play any backups) Maybe. Do I care? No.

Spicollidriver1

Ok I here is the deal the neokey usb chip is not a good solution one you still have to open your system to soder one wire, and there is a lot of different modchips all except for one have limitations on what you can use, and many you need a gameshark, and also swap techniques. Most were waiting for the 3rd wave which are out now, and currently on sale at www.consolesource.com . This chip does it all without any hassles, except that you need to soder a lot of wires, a lot harder then the original ps1. As far as games not working in the future most chips now use the stealth technology were basically the chip shuts off on original games so those never know that the chip is there. I have a stealth chip for my psone, and have played almost all the psone games, including ones that weren't supposed to work, and I found only one game that didn't and I think we wired the chip wrong because that one should worked so as far as stuff not working I wouldn't worry.

Static Cling

Mmmm. I'm kinda hungry. Some mod chips would really hit the spot right about now.

Oh, wait. You meant...

jw2299

Try the piracy ranch flavor, their delish!

Heat

For your snacking pleasure, have you tried Bandobrand Potato Chips? They are the best tasting potato chips that I have ever had, I highly recommend them. The anal leakage problem associated with eating them really isn't that bad, once you get used to it.

Thanks for your post, that is what I was looking for. $20.

Keep in mind that I don't have a PS1 or PS2... yet.

So backups cannot be made for the Nintendo Gamecube because the disks are an odd size? What about the XBox?

Snowmaker

Mod chips are legal, as long as the required flash program is not included on the chip.

They cannot sell a programmed Mod chip. You must download the flash program and put it on the chip yourself. At least, that's the case for the XBOX chips.

Exzavier00

There is another chip that plugs into where the laser ribbon
is but you have to open up the PS2 and then use a game shark to load games.
but to wires to mess with