Australia: Sony loses chipping case

[Class316]

Sony has lost a legal battle in Australia over the modifying of its PlayStation games console.

The High Court has ruled that chipping the console so that it can play imported games does not breach copyright law.

The ruling ends a four-year legal battle between Sony and a supplier of so-called mod chips, which bypass regional controls on the machine.

In the UK, the selling of mod chips was ruled illegal in 2004.

Consoles such as the Xbox and PlayStation 2 can be modified by chips that are soldered to a console's main circuit board to bypass copyright and regional controls.

The chips allow people to play games purchased legitimately in other countries, as well as running backup copies or bootleg discs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4315172.stm

[were]

ill say it again..that country is ((fucked))

[Silverhaze]

Australia is great fun! Where else could they ban Manhunt but allow legal selling of mod chips?

[Jewboy]

Man Hunt is not banned, well it wasn't before we rented it

It about time that people recognise that the gaming/video industry only wants to monopolise things, thats why they don't bother selling region encoded dvd players here. Otherwise they'll just charge and arm and a leg more than they already gouge us. Having over 500 dvd's (legal ones) i know i'm gouged well and truely.

[Silverhaze]

Hi JB how goes it ya bogun!

[Jewboy]

Yeah i'm alright, I check in most of the time but don't have alot of time these days. How is everyone?

[Lesoot]

So we all know where to get our ps3's from

[Silverhaze]

I got my Xbox in Australia. It has the drawer on the wrong side lol

Im cool thanks JB. You still cracking the concrete with those massive forklifts?

[Jewboy]

Yeah i still drive my 28 tonne fork (weighs 50 tonne on its own). I was hoping to get a job with another mob that have a 40 tonne fork, but i don't think i got that job.

Unfortunatly PS2s and Xboxes were region coded so you won't benefit from buying ours, from what i heard the US ones or Jap (can't remember) didn't have region coding. There are some dvd players that are coded but most aren't because the government doesn't like the idea of the monopoly they have and restricting our choice of movies.

[Class316]

I believe all PS2s and Xboxes are region coded. But a mod chip takes care of this.

[release]

yeah they ban all sorts of games over here - manhunt and postal 2 come to mind, while GTA San Andreas is up for review, and some others I can't think of right now. But you can still d/l them with p2p clients.

[Silverhaze]

Hahaha Postal 2, I nearly installed that for a laugh over the weekend.

Its more hilarious than anything else. Far too silly to ever convince anybody that it was really offensive. Well, you'd think that wouldnt you?


JB I dont know how you drive those bloody things! I remember the pics you sent of the smaller ones, how the hell big is a 40tonne one?

[Jewboy]

The pic you saw may have been of a 40 tonne'er as i couldn't quite find a pic of mine

[Silverhaze]

Too big and too scary for the likes of me.

Although I bet I could do it if they brought out a virtual forklift simulator. I mean lets face it, they've done most other things you can think of lol