Australia Legalizes Modchips
The High Court of Australia has ruled in favor of legalizing modchips for the PlayStation, stating that since there is no actual copy of a game being made, there are no copyright laws being broken.
In practical terms, this ruling allows for the legal mod chipping of consoles in Australia to play imported PlayStation games which typically cost less for the consumer than those available within the country itself. Many observers of the case stated that the High Court ruling represents the death knell for Sony’s region encoding protection system which many Australian officials believed represented an artificial trade barrier that reduced competition and ultimately hurt the Australian consumer.
This is a decision that could - and hopefully will - have a world-wide impact, forcing other countries to reevaluate their take on regionalization.
In consoles like the Xbox, however, the legalization of circumvention is likely a far-off dream, as its built-in hard drive and the addition of modchips allows for saving and therefore copying games.
Regardless, hardcore gamers will continue to find ways around the obstacles, while there are obstacles in place.
Meanwhile, it’s nice to know there’s a bit of hope in the horizon.
Australia 4tw!
(via IGN)
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POSTED IN: News
2 opinions for Australia Legalizes Modchips
Matt
Oct 7, 2005 at 5:08 pm
My God, I love our modded xbox. Not only can we download games and then transfer them over, but the games load SOOO much faster. It’s hilarious to see things the developers hardcoded into the load times (like hints) get “broken” because the game loaded too fast.
Jason K. Dove
Oct 7, 2005 at 5:57 pm
yet another law with absolutely no real purpose..who is going to enforce this? the PSPolice?
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