Gamertell

Ah, the shady, questionable use of mod chips. Tons of fun for gamers, fattening wallets for makers and sellers but the cause of huge losses for many game companies.

In an effort to crack down on cracked game systems, US Ferdeal customs agents raided more than 30 homes and businesses (using 32 search warrants) in 16 states to stop the flow of game system mod chips.

The raids, performed Wednesday, August 1, 2007, were the end result of a year-long investigation and, according to the New York Times, took place in California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.

Soon after the raids, Nintendo sent out a press release applauding the effort which, it hopes, will help stop the sales and distribution of Wii mod chips.

“Nintendo and its developers and publishers lost an estimated $762 million in sales in 2006 due to piracy of its products,” said Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America’s senior director of anti-piracy. “Nintendo’s anti-piracy team works closely with law enforcement officials worldwide to seize mod chips and counterfeit software. Since April, Nintendo has seized more than 91,000 counterfeit Wii discs globally.”

In case you think these little devices are just groovy snacks, mod chips are small computer chips that are typically attached to the game system’s motherboard and allow the user to circumvent various aspects of the system. Often, these can be used to play games on copied CDs, DVDs or as downloaded apps, which can be considered piracy if you did not purchase the original game. mod chips can often also unlock other functions such as hard drive storage (for older systems), playing movie discs, FTP access and playing homebrew games. Very often the chips require the system bios to be hacked and rewritten, which is the most illegal part of the whole process. Mod chips can cost anywhere from $30 to $100 depending on the system and maker. Most mod chips appear to be made in other countries and, for many US buyers, redistributed through various US-based web sites. Modding your game system, obviously, void your warranty as well.

While game (and movie) piracy hurts everyone, the ability to play backed up, legit copies of games can be priceless to a parent with rough kids. Also, homebrew games can be a great way for young and indy developers to scratch that programming itch while offering more unique games.

Read [New York Times] Via [Joystiq] Also Read [Game Daily]