The State of Next-Gen Piracy in China - A Report from Frank Yu

Frank Yu reports the current state of (rampant) piracy and modding of the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, and DS in China. China has modded Wii's that can even get firmware updates online, mod Xbox 360 chips that can be switched on or off so that it toggles between a modded console and an unmodded one to go on Live, and the whole set of pirated DS library that is available for perhaps US$12.

Notes: Frank Yu is a program manager for Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) Advanced Technology Center.

[CRIMS0N_W0LF]

There is no PS3 Mod Chip yet...

[ENNO]

too expensive to mod a blu-ray drive...not worth there while...plus blu-ray disks have that AACS security...so in the near future im sure...

[tk]

More difficult to mod. Seems like the Wii is a pushover in this regard.

[ruibing]

It means that Sony doesn't have to make a big deal of piracy like MS has always been doing or make raids on mod makers like Nintendo. If a mod for PS3 ever comes out, I wonder if we can get an emulator for every other console (except maybe the 360) on it, that would be cool.

[Vojkan]

Moding of PS1, PS2 and PSP is in catastrophic numbers. I guess Sony learned their lesson and made it much much harder.

[Vojkan]

for now it is impossible to mod PS3. that makes me happy.

[Silver360]

It just says there isn't a large demand for the PS3 in China yet, so they haven't bothered to mod it yet. When the demand picks up so will the modding.

[Charlie2688]

Actually they have been trying to mod the PS3 for some time now, there are already certain PS3 games to download from torrents...but is probably more cheaper to buy an original than to buy a Blu Ray burner and blank discs at this point, and still they haven't figured out how to make them run, either by firmware modifications or physical chips but acording to the forums the Blu Ray format seems to be presenting the problem

The 360 was modded like 6 month after it came out and according to the forums its was pretty easy similar level as the PS2 in its time...BUT the latest MS measures seem to be targeting the pirate 360 games to ban you thru the DVD Driver so things might get a little more complicated

The wii...well...mmm...I think it was was like what 3-4 moths before it was modded? and according to the forums the Wii present almost no protection at ALL

If you want to learn more do a little google search most of them will point with links or translations to a single Spanish "torrent" site

Edit: why do I even have disagrees?

[gamesR4fun]

if they do get one I expect it to be dangerous to use online much like on the 360
but to be able to use the full power of the ps3 in linux might b worth it.

[ShadoWulf]

Yeah, talk about a powerful computer. Still, it may not happen for a while, according to the above comments.

[karlostomy]

It increased the functionality and usefulness. I loved it.

Will seek to do the same with the 360 now reliable mods are available.
IMO this type of thing INCREASES sales of consoles...

[Gina-get-u]

The pirates are ignoring the PS3, for now.

[CBaoth]

You can't actually believe that. You think any of the 3 companies would trade a minor sales spike of consoles for lower attached rates? Cuz that's what you're stating. I have a buddy that bought a Wii and modded it. Burns all the games and plays them for free. You think Nintendo is happy he spent $250 but has over $3000 (over 80 games) in pirated software. According to your logic, 250>3000. And how many titles did you fleece from MS for your xbox?