Video Games Console ‘Chipping’ Criminals BUSTED
Yesterday saw the successful launch of a new multifaceted crime-fighting initiative in which three people from the North East of England were put under investigation for producing and selling modified games chips and ‘chipped’ Nintendo® Wii™ and DS™, Microsoft® 360™ and Xbox®, and Sony® PlayStation®2 and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) consoles.
In a radical new departure for the way anti-piracy operations are handled, Police officers from the Cleveland Police Economic Crime Unit in conjunction with Stockton Police, two Trading Standards authorities and members of ELSPA (the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) Anti-Piracy Unit, joined forces to hit three premises simultaneously.
The raids: two at separate addresses in the Billingham area and another in Lingdale were carried out at 7:30 yesterday morning, where an Aladdin’s Cave of illegal ‘chipping’ equipment, counterfeit and pirated games plus other infringing items were seized.
I do not have a problem with Mod ‘Chipping’ I like Mod Chips. I have one on my Xbox not for using pirated games, but for using EvolutionX menu system and functions. At the Time my son was 8 when I did this and well, he was not the best for taking care of his game CDs. With the help of the mod chip I was able to make back ups of his games and place them on the hard drive. I can play Homebrew games along with using it as a media player (Scheduled recording, fast forward, rewind, pause Live TV, almost like a TiVo).
It appears that at least two of the three suspects questioned were offering pirated games for sale over the Internet and a significant quantity of advanced electronic devices and chips that allow counterfeit gaming to be played on almost every current console; they were also selling illegal copies of the games themselves.
Prevention and disruption of illegal Internet trading is now the number one priority for all UK economic crime authorities, where traders of counterfeit goods and pirates have been operating with relative anonymity and virtually unchallenged. Criminals operating on the Internet or in the marketplace now face tough and effective counter-measures to deny them opportunities to profit from the sale of counterfeit goods and the theft of Intellectual Property.
Mod ‘Chipping’ should not ever be considered a crime. Its your game system you can drop it off the roof if you want and no one should care. Its only a crime when you use it to pirate games. I know the downfall of all the people busted in the raids, is that they also sold pirated games and that’s a NO NO. The mind set of people is that “Well if it can be used to pirate games then, Oh my that must be what you are doing with it”. That would be like saying “You own a gun you must be robbing people with it”. IT does not work that way folks. A DVR with a DVD recorder in it can be used to copy a movie off HBO. Should they be outlawed as well since you could sell them? IT is the game corps using the “I will Burn the town down to get the 1 person I really want” approach.
