On the Benefits of a Chipmodded Games Console
Since the very first video games consoles 30 years ago, gamers have been compelled to tweak both software and hardware for fun or profit. Be it clever assembler code hacks on microcomputers such as the BBC, Spectrum, Oracle and Commodore to hand you limitless lives on computer games way back in the 80s, to DS Lite flashcarts allowing you to run a larger range of applications on their Nintendo DS.
Console producers and software developers have had a tricky relationship in regards to the hacking and soldering crowd. In one way, modders add worth to the games and systems - for example chips that have been modified give great convenience to gamers who can download non-sanctioned games from the net. To add to that, game hacks breathe new life into very challenging games, and nowadays it’s a convention for software developers to actually build in cheat codes for games players to find.
But to balance that out, software producers state that this kind of chip modification hurts their revenue, as chip modifications are also utilized to get around steps against illegal copying, and bypassing hardware that restricts cartridges to work just in certain countries. These are compelling causes for hardware and games manufacturers to forever develop new steps to make modding more and more tricky.
But whatever the arguments in opposition to chipmods, modding is a large market that isn’t going to go away.
