Since the very first video games consoles thirty years ago, individuals have had a compulsion to subvert and modify games and also the systems they’re run on. Right from the classic POKE hacks on the ZX Spectrum handing you invincibility on Night Lore way back in the 80s, to DS Lite flashcarts enabling one to run a bigger range of apps on their Nintendo.
Games makers and console developers have had an on/off relationship in regards to the soldering and hacking crowd. In a sense, modders add worth to the systems and games – for instance modified chips give great convenience to games players who can download non-sanctioned games from the internet. To add to that, game hacks brings extra value to very tricky games, and nowadays it’s de rigeur for software developers to actually secretly plant cheat codes for gamers to seek out.
But to balance that out, software manufacturers state that this type of chip modding hurts their profits, as chip modifications can also be used to bypass piracy measures, and short-circuiting firmware that limits cartridges to play just in particular locations. These are compelling causes for console and software manufacturers to continually add new measures to make chipmods all that more dificult.
But whatever the causes against modifying chips, chip modification is a large industry that isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.
