Sony vs Mod Chips

A UK High Court has passed a ruling making the use of a mod chip in a Playstation 2 illegal.  Now a mod chip or a 'chipped' Playstation 2 allows the owner to not only play games imported from the USA and Japan but pirated copies of games and backup versions of games and this is where the problem lies (Sony doesn't like it). 

More often then not games are released in the USA or Japan with no intention of a UK release and the only way to play these games is to buy the game via a UK game importer  and then play it on the Playstation 2 via the mod chip (I won't get into the PAL vs NTSC debate here).   With this ruling, this is no longer an option.

Surely an option to cut down on piracy would be to make the games cheaper.  It costs roughly 1 earth pound to produce a CD, and with some games costing upto £50 where does the other £49 go?  Few people can afford to pay out £50 each time they buy a new game, no wonder piracy is on the increase. 

Just to confuse matters an Italian Court ruled the other way making the mod chips legal, on the basis that it's up to the user, not Sony, how they use their PS2.

Whatever the courts or Sony for that matter rule, it won't stop people from pirating games and then finding ways to play them on their favourite console mod chip or not.

More information:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/21/ps2_mod_chip_win/

Things You Get In Your Inbox

Or technically things you get as spam.  Just received this incredibly useless offer in my inbox.  The subject of the spam was "Noticeably fuller sexier lips in 90 seconds - try it" and the accompying advert offered me (all under the title of Luscious Lips) the following benefits:-

• the ability to get full, sexy, desirable lips with no injections!
• a painless, inexpensive alternative to collagen 
• compatatible with your favourite lipstick.
• Dermatologist recommended.

Now as tempting as all that is, I don't think I'll bother.

Don't you just hate spam......

Outrun 2

So 18 years after the original and just under a year since the sequal hit the arcades, the Xbox conversion of Outrun 2 is almost ready for release. 
 
Now I have to admit to being a fan of the original arcade version (I'll review it one day) and I'm tempted to see whether it has the same addictive qualities as the original and whether the music is as catchy is ever (Magical Sound Shower anyone?) and I would but for small problem, I don't have an Xbox!
 
Now seeing as most Xbox games are being (or can be) converted to the PC, how about a PC conversion of Outrun 2 next? 
 
More about Outrun 2 available here: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=107060