Microsoft foils Xbox hackers with new Config 445
randomizer9 writes was among several readers who noted that Microsoft has changed the configs on the XBox and really messed up the hackers who have been trying to coax the box into being divx players, linux boxes, microwave ovens, white noise generators and so on. Kinda doubt the conspiracy angle, but it certainly is annoying.
Why do you doubt the "conspiracy angle"? (Score:3, Insightful)
Nonsense. If *course* they made changes to the system to foil hackers (described as 'security' chances).
Even the article says "Microsoft has tried several tactics to discourage such hacks."
Microsoft has a *LONG* history of doing this sort of thing, going back to the Dr-Dos days. And, for them, it is a legal and legitimate response to a threat on their business model.
An arms race will ensue..
legal and legitimate (Score:4, Insightful)
- adam
Re:legal and legitimate (Score:4, Insightful)
If M$ were to ignore the modders and in effect saturate the markets with below-cost 'doze boxes, such behavior would be startlingly similar to what got the anti-trust ball rolling in the first place.
Re:legal and legitimate (Score:3, Interesting)
And before anyone tells me that I am full of it, think about what this would mean for them. They are already in the position to do this... They just need to do it before it is too late. The X-Box was never intended to be only a gaming platform, and we all know that. Microsoft has other reasons for protecting this hardware.
Re:Why do you doubt the "conspiracy angle"? (Score:5, Insightful)
The XBox is thier creation. They put many hours into the design and building of the machine. Okay, how convenient that it runs on x86 hardware. The rest of the programming is thier own.
I understand that most OSS programmers would likely be willing to let others mess around with thier creations, but look at it from the other point of view.
Microsoft has clearly, from the beginning, shown that they are in in for the money, and not to let others mess around with their products. As much as many of us do not like the idea of that, It is perfectly legal, and valid. Car makers void warranties if you modify them past a certain point. (besides that is could be unsafe) It is becasue they don't want you messing with their products, and spending money with other after-market compaies.
When you hack an XBox, and put linux on it, you are now using the box as a computer. You likely won't be playing XBox games on it anymore. Thus, Microsoft is loosing business becasue you are not buying games. True, they are still making money from the box itself, but they still want more, which i guess is thier perogative(sp).
If you were also in it for the money, and created a very good system, would you want others hacking into it, and possibly loosing business becasue of it. Okay, you are still making money from selling your product, but you want more. That is your choice, and your a FREE (yes, Freedome still exsists in America) to do that.
Microsoft is simply trying to protect thier products, and business. Yes, we have the right to critisize them for it, and maybe we can make a difference, but by saying "this is illegal, MS can't do this, etc.." I dont think we that the right to say THAT.
Now, great, I am all for hacking or moding the XBox, but if something goes wrong, it's your fault, and MS has nothing to do with it. Don't blame them for putting DRM in the box, or anything like that. Blame you for not listening to thier warnings about what could happen if you mod it.
Again, dont get me wrong, I am far from MS's #1 fan, and I dont agree with most of thier practices. They are free to do that. It is one of the great ideals of capitalism. Now, Monopolies are not, but is the XBox really a Monopoly? With the sales of GameCube and PS2 what they are, I would say not. If you really want to have a game system running on x86 hardware that is free for everyone to hack, then be innovative and create one, and sell it.
I'm not trying to Troll here, and this whole thing is probibly redundant from the last ten Articles on
business model (Score:2)
Re:business model (Score:5, Insightful)
By the same token, Microsoft should be able to do anything with the hardware before you've bought it. If, for whatever reason, that prevents you from "hacking" it after you've bought it, then don't buy it!
Whats good for the gander, is good for the goose.
Re:business model (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why do you doubt the "conspiracy angle"? (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't confuse our rights. Of COURSE we can say "this is illegal, MS can't do this, etc..".
We'd just be wrong.
Re:Why do you doubt the "conspiracy angle"? (Score:2)
They're just producing new XBox's that are a little different.
Re:No, its dumb (Score:2, Interesting)
If I were buying an XBox I'd put Linux on it and use it for something, (webserver, MP3 Jukebox, simple wp/email, whatever) I might even buy more than 1 - it's cheaper than buying something else. But then I'm not buying any games so MS is just making a loss. Microsoft is afraid of people like me (in present company I'm tempted to say people like us). And there is a lot of people like me, who don't want an XBox console, but are quite happy to pay less for a webserver or whatever.
Before all the MS weenies call me a hacker, or criminal and want to burn down my house - I'm not thinking about anything illegal, I'm just considering buying a product and tinkering with it for MY OWN USE. There's nothing wrong in that.
Of course I also understand MS want to stop me!
Re:No, its dumb (Score:3, Funny)
It's not illegal for you to customize your XBox, but that doesn't mean that MS should make it easy. I don't like the fact that Microsoft refers to this as "increasing the security of the XBox," but I can see why they use that term over "decreasing the usability."
However, the XBox is no longer really that good a deal as a generic X86 box. You can get hardware from Walmart.com for $200, and they even pre-install Linux on the machine.
There isn't really a reason to buy an XBox, unless of course you absolutely have to play Halo.
WalMart PC? feh. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No, its dumb (Score:3, Insightful)
This comment is terribly uninformed.
The short answer: it costs millions of dollars to make a game.
The physical medium (the DVD and package) may only cost a few dollars to reproduce, but the data on that disc costs millions to develop.
absolutely shocking (Score:4, Funny)
They only hurt themselves (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They only hurt themselves (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They only hurt themselves (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, one might say that the 'chippers will just come out with a new chip everytime MS updates. But wait, lack of customer confidence that the chip will actually work in their box, and the cost of developing and more importantly (and costly) producing the new chips will quickly drive the 'chippers out of business.
So, the question is: is it worse to sue the 'chippers, or just beat them at their own game?
Beat the 'chippers (Score:2)
1: That the changes really are only on the hardware backend, and don't really affect games currently marketed and in development. Sometimes hardware/software interactions can be quite subtle, and don't act the way you expected.
2: That some customers don't choose and buy a game box precisely *because* it can be 'chipped. At the moment, I don't own a DVD player. But whenever I do choose to get one, it *will* be one that can be and has been readily 'chipped.
Re:Beat the 'chippers (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, my point is, console manufacturers count on games being sold. Sony does it, Nintendo does it, Sega used to do it and not Microsoft does it. This isn't some dirty little secret of the console industry nor it is some new conspiracy of Microsoft's. When you allow consoles to me modded you offer fewer reasons for the users to purchase the games and you wind up losing money. When you allow DVD players to be modded you don't lose anything at all.
Re:They only hurt themselves (Score:2)
Do you mean the same way Sony did with the PS2? I don't know about other areas but we have 4 different versions in Europe alone. They are called V3, V4, V5 and V6. In addition, I've understood that there might be two different flawors of V3. Latest versions are claimed to be the easiest to mod [modchip-sbox.com].
Re:They only hurt themselves (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They only hurt themselves (Score:2)
Right. And what do you bet that despite all of M's efforts to gain an ever-increasing amount of control over the people that are dumb enough to buy its products, people will STILL shell out their money for one because they're too lazy and too spineless to take a stand? I can appreciate the hesitation of a business deciding to drop support for Billdoze, because there are some real costs involved. But the gaming audience could have stopped the X-Box dead in its tracks. It still can, because there are plenty of easily accessible alternatives.
Re:Whee, look at me, I'm a slashbot karma-whore (Score:3, Funny)
Figures (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Figures (Score:2)
Re:Figures (Score:4, Informative)
Most set top boxes today are sold near or even, at times, below cost. Face it: you can buy an XBox for the price of a cheap DVD player.
How they can get off with this is by charging a license fee to developers based on the number of units (games) those developer sell. This is common in this industry.
Now, if MS (or any other set top box manufacturer) lets anyone hack their machine so they run software for which they DO NOT receive royalties, then it makes THEM lose considerable amount of money and impairs them to sell the boxes at these low prices when a significant number of end users buy XBoxes just to run it as a cheap terminal or computer.
Re:Figures (Score:2)
Re:Figures (Score:4, Insightful)
If you buy an xBox just so you can hack it and use it for some purpose other than what Microsoft intended, and then you discover that recent changes to the hardware of said xBox prevent you from doing so, who's the idiot?
As an (xBox | ps2 | gamecube) hacker, (Microsoft | Sony | Nintendo) owes you one thing only: a machine that will play fully licensed copies of the games for that particular platform.
Re:Figures (Score:2)
Bill chang xbox ok, he ok to change xbox. me not like how he look at xbox owners who change xbox. bill do xbox change legal..
Do you get it, I dont expect them to support it, I dont expect them to like it, I even expect hradware updates (they are a good thing), what I dont expect is for them to use this and other FUD to portray someone who is using his/her own equipemnt as a theif.
If they wanted to update the bios becuse it makes the xbox cheeper, better, faster, more in alignment with the fifth house of saturn, FINE!! but to do it for the sole purpose of keeping people who buy it from uning it any way they see fit is what makes them scumbags..
Re:Figures (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, if he/she is chipping his/her xBox to run copied games, then he/she IS a thief.
but to do it for the sole purpose of keeping people who buy it from uning it any way they see fit is what makes them scumbags..
There are a LOT of reasons to hate Microsoft. But if you are picking this one, you need to get out more.
Why would you want to use an xBox as anything other than a console gaming device?
Everyone talks about how great an xterm a $199 xbox would make... did they not read the stories about the $199 linux boxen being sold at walmart? Go buy one of those for heaven's sake, it'll come with a keyboard and mouse too!
Oh, wait, I guess then you wouldn't be "stickin' it to the man" or something.
Re:Figures (Score:2)
which means play free games.
Re:Figures (Score:2)
Re:Figures (Score:2)
Actually, you can still do whatever you want with your new xbox.
Are you going to sue Cadillac for not putting sockets for airplane wings on your car. (because goddam it, you should be allowed to hack your car into a plane)
Re:Figures (Score:2)
Re:Figures (Score:3, Insightful)
What, you think MS should send a step by step guide on how to play free games on it?
The XBOX is suppose to play games. It still does.
Re:Figures (Score:3, Insightful)
1) People who want to use their XBox to play FREE games.
2) People who want to hack their Xbox for other reasons.
Obviously they don't care about #1.
What I'm surprised about is that people here think they care about #2. What are there... maybe 500,000 people who MIGHT buy an XBox just to hack it? 0.5% of the market? Microsoft wasn't trying to break into the "hackable computer market", they're trying to reach into the 3rd type of customer:
3) People who pay real $$$ for games.
...But really we are not a lying scummbag Monopoly (Score:2, Interesting)
get with the program who cares if people hack the XBox...stop pissing and moaning....perhaps you have the next big thing on your hands if you just let people play with it alittle.
Re:...But really we are not a lying scummbag Monop (Score:2, Insightful)
Not quite. Keep in mind that the Xbox is sold at a loss, with gains realized on the sales of games and accessories. Every Xbox sold for hacking around would not generate the income to cover the cost of the console itself. In this case, its understandable that they would do this to discourage further losses.
Re:...But really we are not a lying scummbag Monop (Score:2)
Sure, they'd not get money on the games, but then again, those who want an XBox solely for the games will probably want the cheaper XBox anyways.
Re:...But really we are not a lying scummbag Monop (Score:2)
Re:...But really we are not a lying scummbag Monop (Score:2)
For once, (Score:3, Funny)
Re:For once, (Score:3)
Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:5, Interesting)
In my mind security means only letting the owner use the system as he sees fit.
-Peter
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:2)
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:2)
Any manufacturer can change the specs on a product any time they wish. It might be a smart thing to do or it might be stupid thing to do, but it happens all the time.
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:2)
I suspect it's really the game developers' security and most important of all, Microsoft's security.
Don't forget that the XBox is a loss-leader, meant to generate revenue by selling games. If people are buying an XBox for other missions, and don't buy games, then it's costing MS money. If I weren't so cash-strapped at the moment, I would consider doing this. Imagine spending money on a Microsoft product and hurting their bottom line. Brings a grin. In the future I may still consider an XBox for dedicated function, but you can be sure that 'chipability will be part of the decision process.
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:5, Funny)
No, really, security is just their new buzzword. "We're all working on security now."
If Bill had called for MS to increase their twinkie awareness, then no matter what they were doing, they'd call it a twinkie. "We changed the EULA." Why? "Because we're always working to increase the level of twinkies in our products."
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:3, Interesting)
Originally where the Unix security model differed from Multics was that it empowered users not owners.
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:3, Informative)
Either that or you are horribly misinformed about the console market.
Sony NEVER EVER sells their consoles at a loss. they made a profit on every single PS2 sold, and even now at reduced cost they are still making a profit and will continue to do so. Rumor has it that they were even making a profit selling the PS1 at 70+. MSFT might be dumb enough to believe the myth that taking a loss on the hardware is worth it for the market share, but Sony will disabuse them of that notion quickly enough.
Nintendo also makes a profit of their consoles. Though I don't know the details.
Kintanon
Disclaimer: I sold my Soul to Sony, when they become the first MegaCorp and begin their bid for total world domination I'll be first in line to join the shocktroops.
Re:Application of the word security disturbing. (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh? In what way does this address anything I said in my post?
Anti-piracy != security. That was my whole point. You haven't addressed that point in the least.
My gas cap can't be accessed without mangling the flap or hitting a lever inside the car. This effectively prevents people from siphoning my gas or putting stuff in my tank.
That's security.
If Honda sold me the car at a loss, but I could only fill up with a special, patented nozzle, only available at connocco that would not be security.
In what way does that bear the slightest relevance to my assertion that we aren't talking about security?
-Peter
If the ''hackers'' add value... (Score:4, Interesting)
Interesting move... (Score:3, Insightful)
I might have bought an XBox if I could use it as a general purpose entertainment device. Now I won't buy one at all. That's an odd way of moving units and increasing your market share.
I don't think it's that insightful, but people buy stuff if they like what they can do with it. Nobody that I'm aware of has a black market XBox manufacturing plant - every piece of hardware is purchased through Microsoft. Nobody that I'm aware of without an XBox is buying XBox games. If I can't get my hypothetical XBox hacked, I'm not buying one, and I'm sure as hell not buying an XBox game or dozen.
Console hardware sells below cost. (Score:2, Informative)
They make *that* back (and then some) selling licenses to developers, who go out and sell a lot of games. Sony ate piracy to get mindshare away from Sega and Nintendo; MS really just wants your buck in the end, and maybe a li'l street cred for "innovation."
So... Pirated games = less license revenue rolling into the console designer. The console designer spends millions on locking-down the console to prevent pirated games, which leads to higher R&D costs to recoup, which leads to a greater need to avoid piracy...
It's the Netpliance business model. Unfortunately, Netpliance had a niche- it was the perfect product for my grandmother- whereas Nintendo, Sony, and until recently Sega, still do a better job at providing 'fun' than MS. In fact, if MS hadn't "stolen" NVidia, there's little doubt that some 'real' console maker would've forged an alliance.
A semi-untrue generalization. (Score:2)
To get a jumpstart, Nintendo apparently accepted a *small* loss on early Gamecubes. They very quickly fixed this problem though, through reduction of manufacturing costs. They did NOT want to sell below cost if at all possible, and it is NOT standard company policy. (Nintendo quickly fixed things to make a tidy profit on GCs, even after price drops.)
The only exception is Xbox - The Xbox is the ONLY console that was pretty much designed with the assumption that it would be sold below cost. It started below cost, still sells below cost, and according to most analysis, will never sell at anything below cost because the Xbox design is inherently not as conducive to cost reduction as the Gamecube/PS2/etc. (For example, Sony eventually took 2-3 chips from the PS2 and merged them into one, significantly reducing manufacturing costs.) Because almost all Xbox parts are sourced from third parties, MS doesn't have nearly as much flexibility in this regard.
The only thing MS has going for it in this case is the fact that their initial development costs were probably much less than for the GC or PS2. People seem to leave this out of the analysis.
Nonetheless, any Xbox that is sold and not used with licensed games is a losing proposition for MS. For Sony and Nintendo, it isn't, although it's not nearly as desirable as having the boxes used for cash-cow game sales.
Re:Interesting move... (Score:2, Insightful)
So, before you go on making comments about how to move units and increase market share, perhaps you should look at the market they are targetting first. Last time I checked, they were targetting gamers, not hardware hackers.
Re:Interesting move... (Score:2)
time passes, hackers get new XBox, hack it, those people who said they wouldn't buy the new XBox because of the limitations it had go out and buy one.
(the above is not necessarily true, just one way to look at it)
Stating the obvious... (Score:3, Funny)
Oh Well... (Score:2)
Re:Oh Well... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Oh Well... (Score:2)
Whats the big deal? (Score:3, Interesting)
X-Box "beta" of Palladium? (Score:5, Interesting)
They release a product that they consider secure(the v1.0 X-Box), let the public pry away at it for a while, knowing the hacking consoles(especially with one as tasty as the X-Box) is an already established industry.
Then, once it is hacked to a reasonable level, they revise the hardware to be more secure...
Shake well, repeat...
Basically, MS gets a free hacking team to test (fanatically) their security systems... The only negative point is that some of the hackers release how they did it to the public.
All of the knowledge/experience that they gain from this security cycle will go directly into their security model for DRM "secure" PC hardware...
We need video-console security. . . (Score:2)
Secure from whom? Secure from consumers. Secure from people doing what they want with the hardware they buy. This trend will get worse.
Please stop buying this product, Slashdotters. Please discourage others from buying it. If people stop buying it, then Microsoft will stop holding the good games hostage and competition will stay alive in the console market. Microsoft will get out of your living room. We don't need a mandated corporate bully in our HOMES for god's sake.
The games simply can't be so good that you're willing to trade all future choice in gaming and home entertainment for a few plays today.
Re:We need video-console security. . . (Score:2)
Okay. But just to be clear, you'll be boycotting Sony's and Nintendo's consoles on the same grounds, right?
Please stop buying this product, Slashdotters. Please discourage others from buying it. If people stop buying it, then Microsoft will stop holding the good games hostage and competition will stay alive in the console market.
Oh, I guess not then. Please explain why Microsoft's closed proprietary console is worse for the games industry than Sony's closed proprietary console or Nintendo's closed proprietary console, because I just don't see it.
Here's the thread... (Score:2, Informative)
there's an old dutch proverb (Score:4, Insightful)
Eventually Microsoft will run out of digits (as in the fingers & toes). If you want to keep a system secure, you can't be reactionary. You can't wait for a leak to spring up, and then stick a finger in it.
And that's part of the whole problem with the MS culture - it's not a problem until it's exploited. Then you fix it. This is the best reason I can give you as to why not to use MS products. 'Cause they don't give a fuck until something's seriously broken. And then, it's too damn late.
-- james
Re:there's an old dutch proverb (Score:4, Funny)
And then they'll use another part of the male anatomy. But that's nothing new - they've been fucking their users for years.
Maran
XBox is a waste of time (Score:2, Interesting)
Testing in progress. (Score:3, Interesting)
If it shows that Palladium is just another dongle and fail as DRM its going to dissapear.
I don't get it?? (Score:2, Insightful)
Face it guys, the reason the changed something was because they wanted to, and they don't give a shit about caring for the X-Box hackers compatibility. And, might I add, they shouldn't do so. If you want a PC, buy a PC - an X-Box is not a general purpose machine.
I can't stand MS anymore than most others here, but this story is absolute bullshit. Fight them where the battle is at, not just everywhere.
so what. (Score:2)
They are trying to stop modchips... not Linux installs.
As if they needed to spend more $ (Score:2)
When your product is in a bit of a financial trouble [cnn.com], common sense would dictate that it's not a great idea to throw away even more money on it when it hasn't shown too much evidence of a potential profit.
Getting played (Score:2)
In other news today... (Score:3, Funny)
Film at 11.
How is Sony any different? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How is Sony any different? (Score:3, Insightful)
Also AFAIK, even the uber-friendly Dreamcast wouldn't boot burned CDs after a certain point in production. I believe if the date on the bottom of the dreamcast was before 09/01 (or something like that... I don't remember exactly) you were good to go, otherwise burned CDs might not work.
I don't see what the big deal is about this either... it's not like they are arresting people for trying to hack the systems, they are just making it more difficult.
Mark
But is it *worth* it? (Score:2)
What's so wrong? (Score:2, Insightful)
After reading this topic, I have to confess to feeling a little uncomfortable. Most likely it's because of the sudden urge to defend Microsoft here when all rational thought say not to, but here goes anyway.
1. As far as the changes go, all systems evolve and change as time goes on. Video game systems are no exception. When I was deciding on what videogame systems to get last year, I decided to get Gamecube and PS2. PS2 was established already and wasn't a real decision on how to go about purchasing it. I would go to the local video game store and make the purchase. Easy.
The Gamecube though was different. I didn't know how availability would be in the US and the big consideration was "hey, maybe I should import". Was it because I'd be able to get the games earlier? Yes and no. It factored in, but the real reason was that console hackers will all tell you one thing: get the system's first release. The original PS2 in Japan had region lockouts easily disabled. I believe that the early Saturns were the easy to Mod ones.
This isn't really shocking. Console modding is 50% staying one step ahead of the console maker.
2. Doesn't Microsoft have a generally good track record hardware-wise? Say what you will about the XBox, but it's certainly a pretty system when played (huge and strangely designed, but pretty). I've generally enjoyed a reasonable amount of reliability from Microsoft mice and joysticks. I don't know how it's been for anyone else.
Sorry. Just needed to get that out.
Xbox are expensive (Score:2)
Future "upgrades" disable XBox native wares (Score:2)
Slashdot Spin (Score:2)
Taco mightn't be Slashdot's greatest Troll, but he certainly is the loudest.
The X-Box (Score:2)
"Why, Microsoft?"
"Why should I want one?"
With everything that they know now... (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft may have a lot of money, but they aren't going to keep modifying their manufacturing facilities unless it means saving money on production. I doubt that they are going to churn out a drastically different X-Box every month in order to thwart hacks...
Re:With everything that they know now... (Score:3, Informative)
Most of these were made to fix physical problems and cut costs. early models had problems with disk skipping. Some models had power supply problems. The new firmware code that broke modchips happened to just be included. It wasn't until late in the PSX's life that they tried any sort of software solution "Dino Crisis comes to mind". They intentionally included mod-chip detection into some late games, but even that is quite different than something similar to Palladium.
Its normal to release different revisions of hardware every year or so. The idea that this was done to foil X-Box hackers is kinda obsurd, if you ask me. Firmware changes are normal. They fix problems, and cut costs by streamlining hardware more and more. Give it time though, and someone will hack the new models.
The coming end of modchips (Score:4, Insightful)
The PS2 and XBox aren't that tightly integrated and have a bigger parts count. (Nintendo makes money on game console hardware while Sony and Microsoft don't. That's why.) But in the next generation, we should expect to see machines that are basically one big chip inside. This will be the end of modchips.
Yes, it's possible to open up an IC and modify it. The ATI/Nvidia article shows the millions of dollars of equipment needed. But even that doesn't help much. Now that everybody uses boot-time public/private key authentication, even opening up the chip won't get you the private key you'd need to make content that will load on an unmodified box. So far, no one has been able to get an unapproved program to load on an unmodified XBox.
There won't be backdoors. Read the license agreement for DVD decoder manufacturers.
Re:The coming end of modchips (Score:4, Informative)
NTSC-Gamecubes (USA, Japan) have "both BIOSes" on them - and you switch between them with a jumper. PAL-Gamecubes (Australia, Europe) have only the PAL-Bios, and there's no way to switch to another. Thus there's a big incentive to create an import mod - but so far no one has managed to. It's also not possible to run "backups" on the cube, no one has managed to solve that either.
Please mod parent down for being uninformed.
(The grandparent is however correct, the cube is VERY VERY tough to hack. Don't expect a modchip, expect a very expensive extra unit holding games on harddrive or DVD).
Re:In case of slashdotting.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:In case of slashdotting.... (Score:3, Interesting)
it's bad enuff having to test the shit out of a console game to make sure there is NO way it can ever crash/freeze/break... but now you have to support different BIOS', hardware revs for chips potentially and who knows what else.
What happens when a loose QA procedure somewhere allows a game to slip out that runs fine on the "old" xboxs but crashes on the "new" xbox?
And what's this about no fan on the nvidia chip? they probably did a study and found that it takes exactly 15 months for chip to burn out with decreased cooling, which puts them 3 months outside warrantee. Either that or they're pulling that speedstep-wannabe clocking bullshit where it clocks down when it gets hot, which I'm sure will be great for gameplay on a console system where the hardware is normally supposed to be static!
Re:In case of slashdotting.... (Score:2, Interesting)
As for your conspiracy theory, there is a thing called passive cooling. There is another fan in the box, and if there is enough airflow through the case, it should be fine.
Re:wont work (Score:2)
Re:wont work (Score:2)
China and some other Asian countries have become the "land of the free" when it comes to mods and other legally questionable devices. Several changes to hardware just means it's better for business as they get charge higher prices for each new version released.
- HeXa
Re:Graphics card fan (Score:2)
-sirket
Re:Graphics card fan (Score:3, Informative)
"Disabled the fan", my ass.. the article says they removed it. So they must have found a way to passively cool the chip sufficiently, or maybe they have a more efficient rev of the chip..but there's no way they would slow the chip down, as that could cause compatibility problems with the existing games, which were coded for a box that offers uniform performance across the board.
Re:Microsoft, a beacon of free market capitalism! (Score:2)
Re:So? (Score:2)
Re:It is a conspiracy (Score:3)
Does that surprise you? Why would you think the Xbox is anything but a closed source, proprietary platform? MS can do whatever they want with it. If you don't like the changes, you can complain, but MS cares about the game revenue the box generates (which is why it exists in the first place).
By the way, I don't see this as a conspiracy. Where're the other conspirators?
Re:Didn't you expect this? (Score:2)