I recently stopped by a comic book store I had never been into before to look for a particular book I am missing. Incredibly, there was a table set up where there was a guy modifying Xbox 360's to play "backup" copies of games (downloaded pirate copies). He was charging $40 for the modification, whatever it was, and had a huge library of games on DVD-R's for sale for only $4 a piece. This got me thinking - How many people out there actually have had their 360 modified in this way and are actively pirating games? It must be a relatively small percentage, maybe less than 1%, but among the "hardcore" gamer set it may be a bit higher.
 
Please answer honestly. Polls are anonymous and anyone who responds will never have their name revealed. However, if you do have a hacked Xbox 360 I would advise caution about revealing that if you are going to comment in this thread, especially if your gamertag is linked to your Giant Bomb profile. You never know who could stumble across this one day. Voting in the poll is safe, though, so again please be truthful in your response.
 
The Forum Rules strictly prohibit discussion about where to obtain pirated software and how to circumvent copy protection, so please keep that in mind when discussing this subject. This thread is meant to be an open conversation about the current state of piracy on the Xbox 360, and how that may be affecting gaming and the video game industry, and also to get a rare glimpse into the makeup of the Xbox 360-owning Giant Bomb community.
 
Remember:

• No links to torrents.
• No naming torrent sites.
• No linking to information on how to modify an Xbox 360.
• No naming specific devices or firmwares that enable circumvention of copy protection.
• No keyboard cat.

I recently stopped by a comic book store I had never been into before to look for a particular book I am missing. Incredibly, there was a table set up where there was a guy modifying Xbox 360's to play "backup" copies of games (downloaded pirate copies). He was charging $40 for the modification, whatever it was, and had a huge library of games on DVD-R's for sale for only $4 a piece. This got me thinking - How many people out there actually have had their 360 modified in this way and are actively pirating games? It must be a relatively small percentage, maybe less than 1%, but among the "hardcore" gamer set it may be a bit higher.
 
Please answer honestly. Polls are anonymous and anyone who responds will never have their name revealed. However, if you do have a hacked Xbox 360 I would advise caution about revealing that if you are going to comment in this thread, especially if your gamertag is linked to your Giant Bomb profile. You never know who could stumble across this one day. Voting in the poll is safe, though, so again please be truthful in your response.
 
The Forum Rules strictly prohibit discussion about where to obtain pirated software and how to circumvent copy protection, so please keep that in mind when discussing this subject. This thread is meant to be an open conversation about the current state of piracy on the Xbox 360, and how that may be affecting gaming and the video game industry, and also to get a rare glimpse into the makeup of the Xbox 360-owning Giant Bomb community.
 
Remember:

• No links to torrents.
• No naming torrent sites.
• No linking to information on how to modify an Xbox 360.
• No naming specific devices or firmwares that enable circumvention of copy protection.
• No keyboard cat.

Nope. I have no experience with modded consoles, LIVE is too necessary, and I want to support deserving developers.

I have never done such a thing, and I never will. I think it's stupid when people are too cheap to buy games, so they have to take the time to modify their Xbox to get them that way.

I don't have a modded Xbox 360, but if I had an extra one, I might modify it, although for different purposes than playing pirated games. I just like the idea of opening one up and seeing just what I can do with it; you know, experiment with it. Unfortunately, I am not exactly swimming in money, so breaking one would be costly thing indeed.

tbh if i dont want to pay what they're asking for at the store for a game then i dont get it because i dont think its good enough to be asking for that price, and instead iof thinking "ill get my xbox moded and get a pirate version"  i think "I'll wait for a sale, that way the money is still going to the store and developers insead to whoever modded it for me. "
 
also i think we should stop calling them 'pirate copies' cos it just makes them sound way cooler yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm certainly not averse to modifying things so I was definitely interested in doing so when I first got my Xbox, mainly because I'd used XBMC and figured it would make a pretty awesome media center. 
I decided not to because there was a lot of stories and warnings about Live accounts being banned for hacked Xboxes - I don't pirate and will always buy/rent my games, but I didn't want to risk losing my account. I'm still considering getting a second, cheap Xbox and using it purely for XBMC.  

As fellow above, i find LIVE a fundamental component of the xbox360 experience. 
 
I rather much get a game when its price drops or second hand than rewire my console. I love digital distribution though, the only problem is that in the current time its used wrong, why do we get charged the same price for virtual content (I.E. games on demand) as the physical retail box costs? Publishers/developers literally cut out the middle man getting a bigger share of the revenue, but i think they should also factor that in the final price, it would surely discourage piracy/"power-trading" and actually make it easier and cheaper to get games out there to the masses, and not take away anything from their profits, but as it is with things nowadays; its not about whats right, its about whats more profitable, and THAT will ultimately be "right". I'll vote with my money -- piracy doesnt make gaming better -- smart consumerism does. I support XBLA games, thats the right direction to go (just look at Shadow Complex for example, or Bionic Commando: Rearmed, etcetera).

Hell naw son.

No. Live is too important as was already stated.
 
On the other hand I modded an old (broken) Xbox 360 CASE with a cool see-through blue case and some different colored LEDs. I did so because it was broken and I was curious. To mod a console to steal games I think is weak. I like having a bookshelf dedicated just to game cases. Not as impressive as a bunch of DVD-Rs laying around with whatever game name scribbled on it. If a game is too expensive to buy, then I find it better to wait for a sale (like stated above) as game prices go down quite a bit in less then a year. Or buy less games and prioritize which games are worth having over ones you can wait a year for.

Jeust is a good boy. No hack for jeust. :p
 
But i know who does it and has access to live and dlcs.
 
But for Jeust it isn't worth it though, as the warranty would be void, and many problems could rise.

I modded my old NES so that I could play cheap import games, but I'll never mod my Xbox 360 knowing that you can get singled out and then blocked from Xbox Live.

I have definitely thought about it, I even downloaded a game once. However once I learned that I needed to crack open my case in order to play it, I quickly tossed aside that idea.

No, but I wish I had one. 
 
Not a hacked 360, but a hacked PS2. I want to play Front Mission 5. ;_;

my friend has one and gets every single new game the day it's released and even finds a way to play online without getting caught.

 I think if people knew how easy it was to Mod a 360.  A lot more people would do it.  People naturally think hacking is hard.  But a time, soon, will come when it's common knowledge.  Kids in no time, will hack like it's nothing, based on what they learned in school.
 
Your either with the times or your fighting the current.  Its survival of the fittest and those against it will lose.  Hackers are always 3 steps ahead.  Thinking about theirs.
 
That doesn't mean it's right or wrong.  That's your choice to define.  But really, If companies can't control their media.  Because it is inherently impossible.  Then is it right to own music or film?  As long as media is sold to patrons.  It will be seen by more then just the single buyer.  For profit of cheese and chips to money.
 
I'm not here to be a self-righteous crusader for the rich man's pocket.   But that fact is, if company's continue to become stricter and stricter with "their" media.  Then where will it stop? Charging you for bandwidth, file size, resolution, view time?  IF people keep blindly supporting media "Owners."  Then eventually Hacking will become mandatory to live, day to day and you'll be left in the cold.  
 
Children complain and protest, while men fight on the battleground.  Educate yourself. 
 

I could never risk any of my systems or  XBLA account like that. Integrity must be maintained.

I have to keep things legal. I like playing online (and not have my system bricked) and I've had 3 systems red ring on me. I got them all fixed for free, but If I sent them a modded system they probably wouldn't even send it back.
 
By the way MB, if you want to be famous, all you have to do is record an undercover video and post it online. That would kick off a shitstorm.

I soft modded my original Xbox but I haven't modded my 360. I really don't have any real reason why I should do that to the 360 but if I ever get a hold of another 360 then maybe I'll mod it just for the hell of it. I am more interested in modding the 360 in order to add cool stuff for it and make it look unique then I am playing pirated games. 

I've thought of modding a system to play backups once, but just because Persona 3 wouldn't run on my launch ps3 for some reason, Then I realized all the work and possible damage I'd do, and pulled out my ps2.

I don't have an 360 so not at all. The best I have is a modified PS1 but that's minor in comparison to consoles of today. Although I probably would get it chipped or modified it just doesn't feel like it's the right to do. Not sure if that's the best word, maybe genuine would convey it better. Although modified hardware sounds good on paper there's a fair level in risk of damaging your hardware as well as some legal issues. All in all I'd rather not.
 
I'm surprised you found a place like that were your man was actively doing that in public. There's a lot of them in various parts of Asia although they're more discrete about it.

I don't see the point in modding things for me. I can see and sort of understand why others do it, but I have pretty bad luck. 

i don't own a modded box nor would i ever want one.

I own a modded 360, the guy i bought it from modded it. he gave me a stack of copyed games which i will admit ... played and enjoyed. If it falls in your lap you dont say no. I did buy some of the copied games original like CoD4 and Bad Company to be able to play online though. And since then I only buy original games cause it is too much hassle to pirate and i love playing online.
 
I also modded my Wii for Homebrew, it is now my webserver, i do webdevelopment so i can keep my wii running comsuming next to nothing rather than my 550 watt PC running apache.

Don't own a modded Xbox, but I have soft modded on of my Wii to play regular DVDs and stream media content over my home network. I could see myself modding a xbox to, but it would be as previously mention mostly for curiosity. Loosing Xbox live would be huge, so probably not going to happen unless I fall backwards into a couple of millions.

Nope, I don't and I don't really want to ever do that.

OMG MB IS WORKING FOR MICROSOFT LOLOLOLOL HE TAKIN US HAXXXERS DOWN LMAO. 73ssssss and out.
 
(Im joking. Seriously.)

I was thinking of making a topic like this for the PSP, and its state of piracy.

I don't own a 360, however my PS3 is not hacked and has stock firmware.
 
The only modded console I own is a PS1, and that was mostly to play import games [although I did own a bunch of pirated games for that as well as imported ones]

Thus far, the number is higher than ten percent of XBOX owners. that's probably a number that Microsoft isn't too happy with

" I was thinking of making a topic like this for the PSP, and its state of piracy. "

The only thing that stops me from hacking mine is that I am pretty sure Microsoft can find out once you connect to LIVE... and I use LIVE every day. I can't live without it. :p

" I own a modded 360, the guy i bought it from modded it. he gave me a stack of copyed games which i will admit ... played and enjoyed. If it falls in your lap you dont say no. I did buy some of the copied games original like CoD4 and Bad Company to be able to play online though. And since then I only buy original games cause it is too much hassle to pirate and i love playing online. I also modded my Wii for Homebrew, it is now my webserver, i do webdevelopment so i can keep my wii running comsuming next to nothing rather than my 550 watt PC running apache. "

Nope.  Never really cared for that sort of stuff.

Nope, I did it to one of my PS2s before. But nothing from there on. Unless you count an iPod touch.

" Nope. I have no experience with modded consoles, LIVE is too necessary, and I want to support deserving developers. "

I don't own a modded 360, and I don't think I ever seen one in person. That being said, piracy doesn't really bother me. Heck, I keep hearing the guys on the  Joystiq podcast talk about how much they love using the Wii's Homebrew Channel.
 
I still laugh when I hear this Weird Al song, and listening to it, I'm not sure what Al's stance on piracy is. 
 
 

No, but I hacked into an XBL account. Some dumb kid was using my personal email as his XBL account email. After getting dozens of "renew your gold account" emails I called xbox support and they were 100% worthless. XBL support told me the user account didnt even exist, then they told me it did, then they told me to call back in 24 hours because their servers were going down. So I did my own tech support. I knew the user name on the account from the emails, and I knew the email address on the account, mine. So I logged in as forgot password and changed it so only I had access. Then I went into the account and called the phone number and talked to the kids dad and told him to change the email to something elese or I woud have to and his account would probably never work. I know it was kind of shady, but it was the only way I solved the problem.

Nope.  Live is too important to the 360 experience to get the system hacked.  I did have a modified Xbox (played Xbox games as well as a multitude of emulators) because I didn't have a cable connection to use XBL though.

Not that I'm trying to encourage people to mod their console or anything, but you can mod a console and be able to play on Xbox Live. 

Not that I'm trying to encourage people to mod their console or anything, but you can mod a console and be able to play on Xbox Live.

Nope not my 360...but at one time i had my original xbox modified 

Nope. I wouldn't want to take the risk of being banned from Live.

No keyboard cat  
 
 
 
this poll is clearly unfair 

The quantity of games i want on the xbox 360 doesn't even deserve the risk.