Xbox to play multiregion DVD

GuanYin

Hopefully noone minds me asking but.....

I've heard you can get Xboxs to play multiregion DVDs
Does anyone know how or where I can get this done in Dublin?

monument

I don’t think you will be able to use Xbox Live* with a chipped Xbox.

Some people think chipping consoles is a legal “grey area”, however the UK games trade body the ELSPA says its illegal. For more see http://www.elspa.com/

(*Once its available in ROI (if ever), it has being available in Northern Ireland sense the 14th March)

GuanYin

I'm not really bothered about xbox live.

I want something that plays games when mates are around and shows dvds when they're not.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Matt Simis

Originally posted by monument
I don’t think you will be able to use Xbox Live* with a chipped Xbox.

Some people think chipping consoles is a legal “grey area”, however the UK games trade body the ELSPA says its illegal. For more see http://www.elspa.com/

(*Once its available in ROI (if ever), it has being available in Northern Ireland sense the 14th March)

Where exactly does it say "illegal"?

Closest I found is:

http://www.elspa.com/piracy/legal/advertchips.asp

"The supply and marketing of such computer chips and devices infringes The rights of our member companies."

As ELSPA dont have any real government power, they cant decide whats the law and whats not.



Matt

monument

I just posted what I found on the ELSPA's site (I think Microsoft takes the same view as Sony)...

They are more likely to go after chippers, not consumers. But I’m not saying its legal or illegal, as I can’t give you legal advice, I’m not a lawyer.

..."Is having your PlayStation chipped illegal?

Yes (oh, we're such kill-joys, aren't we!?). A Chip is a device which circumvents copy protection. The copyrights, designs and patents act deals with such devices as a civil offence. In conjunction with Sony we have a 100% success rate in the prosecution of PlayStation chippers."...

http://www.elspa.com/consumer/faqs.asp

CivilServant

MrModCHips

Altheus

I think the actually law around these things goes summit like this.

It is not illegal to mod/hack an xbox, that is your own property, do what you will with it. Therefore it's not illegal to put in a mod chip.

It is not illegal to sell a mod chip which does not contain any copyright material (the majority of mod chips are now sold non-flashed). It is illegal however to flash 'em with bios that are owned by Sony/MS, copyright yadda yadda yadda.

Basically they don't care about the end-users, they go after the chippers and companies who sell mod-chips preflashed..

I dont think that MS will ever bring any single person to court, but they do bring down the places selling them, usually through scare tactics, than any given court case. It's a gray area that helps and destroys the market.

Do it if you want to, but dont fool yourself into think that it's "right" by any means.

monument

Originally posted by Altheus
It's a gray area that helps and destroys the market.

Do it if you want to, but dont fool yourself into think that it's "right" by any means.

Yes, I should have made that point.

You might think you don’t care because they are all large corporations making profit, well that’s untrue, you will harm the large corporations, you will also harm small developers, the people with the new ideas and maybe the good ones.

Just because the game is on a big label doesn’t mean large corporation made the game, it could be just licensed or published by them.

More and more publishers see putting a game on the PC two much of a risk, because the games are two ease to copy, meaning less profit or even losses, that’s one more reason why publishing on a console is a “better” choice. Proof of this is the lack of PC games last year. If the same thing happens with console gamers, making games for any format will become unprofitable unless its shore to be a blockbuster.

Do what you want then, but you might end up harming the games you play.


On the other hand, if all the chip does is allow you to play games or DVDs from other regions all you will do is upset a few companies.

(Again noting above should be taken as legal advice.)

Altheus

I think a point should also be made about Microsoft attitude toward the Xbox. There's a lot of great 3rd party software out their, and MS's refusal to allow these to run unsigned on the xbox is a little annoying. If you want to use XBMP you'll need a mod chip, as with Xbox linux and multiregion dvds, not just to play DVD copies.

Also, the case should be made that I'm entitled to backups. It's standard practise for me to make a copy of any and every piece of software I have due to the fact I always get it scratched broken etc.... I've gone through 6 games for my PS2 already, because I dont happen to have it chipped so as i can play backups.

My attitude is, if you're gonna download it, play, if it's good, then buy it, if it's crap, dont buy it. That way your only gonna buy games that you would have bought regardless, and not buying games that you probably wouldnt, or at least brought back for a trade in.

freekhead

try electronic-devices they av all your backup needs..well if thats what u wana call it

astrofool

there is an x-region thing on amazon.co.uk that should work, and allow u to use your xbox on xbox live (it's just a piece of software),

upmanu

If you get your xbox modded and get the evolution dashboard installed along with region free dvd dongle then you have multiregion and trust me it is much better then ps2 dvd movie player..