XBox Ring Of Death Blog |

Here are some more interesting web posts about the XBox. Check them out. Some are a bit technical but none the less informative:

• American Film Institute goes Machinima - In the last few months I was involved in a machinima project organized by the American Film Institute (AFI), more precisely by their Digital Content Lab. The final project - titled Leaving the Game - will be presented during the AFI …

• Information Technology and the Law » Blog Archive » Response to … - COS 491 Student Writing, Spring 2005 « Provisions Prohibiting Reverse Engineering in EULAs Reverse engineering is GOOD. Josh Probst gave an interesting hypothetical situation in his post on Tuesday evening. In other words, what if the Xbox were able to emulate PS2 games? Would this be legal? What would happen if Sony took Microsoft to court for copyright infringement or tarnishment? Josh implies that the courts might not rule in the same manner as they did in the Sony v Connectix case, but I disagree.

• Perfect Parsimony - The following problem arises when phasing genotype data. The details of the biology are not important, but it shows up when trying to separate the contributions from two chromosomes- one inherited from each parent. …

• UMBC Instructional Technology Blog » Blog Archive » MS Boku: eToys … - Boku is a (experimental) tool that allows kids to use their xbox or PC to create interactive worlds to teach them logic and programming fundamentals. It looks really sharp but I know of at least two other environments that are free and available now: ALICE and eToys/Squeak. This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Technology.

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So what is an XBox modchip? A modification chip or modchip is a device that when used enables you to play import games, backup, and, or homebrew games.  Modchips first came around when hard core gamers, who were tired of the lack of game selections that were available for them in the USA. They wanted to get the better and more unique Japanese games that were coming out for their game consoles.

Modchips have become available for all major video game consoles, including the Xbox and Xbox 360. Most modern gaming consoles have a hardware-based system that ensures that only officially games may be used with that particular system and implement a regional lockout, very similar to the system that is used with DVD movies.

Modchips require a certain level of technical ability to install. Commonly, modchips have to be soldered on to the console motherboard, there are no-solder install kits which rely on the a precise positioning of contacts within the case which work with some revisions of the Xbox hardware.

As consoles got better, a whole following of homebrew developers began making their own software for their consoles. Software such as the Xbox Media Center as well as their own games and programs to stream video and audio. In order to play and run this software, you are required to have the ability to load unsigned/homebrew codes onto their system. This is where the modchip comes in. They will allow you to play the latest game offerings from Japan, and as said before, they are often much better, graphically and in originality than the games that are available for the North American market.

When the modchip first came out, they suffered a lot of compatibility issues. The first modchips were for a very specific version of the XBox 360 so you really had to know which drive you had in your XBox to know the version.

As with any product purchase, customers would require peace of mind to know that what they buy will just work, no matter what XBox version they had. So further developments saw a modchip that did away with version checking, it was compatible and it would work no matter what XBox version you had. The only thing was the installation would vary for each model.

The Globe Modchip. The Globe 360 modchip is the first XBox modchip to be compatible with all DVD drives. No longer do you have to check which model drive you have, it’ll work in any model drive and allow you access to some outstanding homebrew software and also be able to back up your own original games.

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