Xbox modders face 17 years in prison
by Blake Snow 
{ Jan 13th 2006 at 5:00AM }
The case against two
California game store owners who allegedly sold modified Xbox's that played pirated games now face up to 17 years in
prison. Cnet reports: "Two owners of a Hollywood video game store, as well as a third man, were indicted by a
federal grand jury Thursday for modifying Xbox video game consoles to disable copy protection, and preloading
copyrighted games onto the machines for sale... If convicted, the store owners could face up to 17 years in federal
prison."Wasn't modification a key selling point to a large demographic of Xbox owners? Hmmm.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mirobin @ Jan 13th 2006 5:08AM
These dumbasses get what they deserve. They were charging around $500 per unit, stuffing the hd full of pirated games.
Idiots.
Sam @ Jan 13th 2006 5:24AM
In the post, mention is made of modding being a "key selling point." Microsoft doesn't want you to buy the system, they are losing money on it. They want you to buy the games. I personally have not bought a game since I modded my x-box. Many GameStop buy-used-and-returns and rentals, but no buying.
Kenny Smith @ Jan 13th 2006 5:29AM
I think the problem was less with selling modded xboxes, and more with the pirated games on it.
gamer1 @ Jan 13th 2006 6:22AM
Thats interesting point that Joystiq pointed out. I happen to know more people who have modded Xboxs than people with unmodded Xboxs. I also know some people that would not buy an Xbox unless it was modded. The only thing that modded Xbox owners could not do with their Xboxs was to go on Live with it modded. With Live such an important part of the Xbox 360, it seems like less owners would want to attempt to mod their Xbox 360s, unless they decide not to ever connect to live and just play by themselves. I remember that you could get a switch for modded Xboxs to play on Live, but then you would still need a retail copy of the game to play online.
JPRacer @ Jan 13th 2006 7:48AM
This is ridiculous. Sure what they do is illegal, but 17 years, c'mon! People that kill got less than that.
This mean pirating video games is a more severe crime than killing?
Jesse @ Jan 13th 2006 7:49AM
Well, personally, I can still access XBox Live with my modded XBox... I just turn the modchip off when I want to jump online.
I don't think that the gov't would've cared as much if they had been selling a modded Xbox with XBMC installed... what they cared about was all of the games they stuffed on the hard drive.
Ian @ Jan 13th 2006 7:51AM
Yah yah it's wrong, but it sure would be nice to see rapists or murderers be treated like criminals. Like these guys. I know rape isn't NEARLY as bad as selling stolen goods, but ... well a person can dream.
Jeff @ Jan 13th 2006 7:51AM
"Thats interesting point that Joystiq pointed out. "
No it isn't, because it's got nothing to do with this story. This story is almost entirely about selling pirated games. MS probably wouldn't mind if you thought it was about selling modded Xboxes, but that's not why these guys were busted. They were busted for selling modded Xboxes *preloaded with pirated games*.
Anyone who does that deserves to be punished. 17 years, though, is a bit excessive in my book, especially when in certain states a murderer can get off with probation and a rapist's maximum sentence is 7 years. (You wouldn't guess which states those are; they're not typically considered liberal states.)
WizarDru @ Jan 13th 2006 8:01AM
I find it pretty hard to believe that the majority of Xbox purchasers purchased it solely for the opportunity to mod it. I can imagine it's pretty prevalent on college campuses, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to say to millions of Xboxs were purchased with the intent to mod them. Gamer1's annecdotal evidence is just that, and I don't know a single Xbox owner who's modded their Xbox (though I do know one who bought a modded unit from ebay...which died on him and he bought a non-modded replacement).
XavierVE @ Jan 13th 2006 8:31AM
Moron asks: Wasn't modification a key selling point to a large demographic of Xbox owners? Hmmm.
Yeah, Microsoft totally had the "selling point" of the XBox being able to play pirated games, y'know, because they wanted studio developers to make no money at all. GAMING SHOULD BE FREE HOW DARE THEY CHARGE A COUPLE ASSHOLES WITH BEING ANTI-GAMING ASSHOLES!
The idiotic updates I see like these and the more I wonder why I keep the Joystiq RSS on my Firefox. Stupid.
Shad Genki @ Jan 13th 2006 8:34AM
I remember reading about other modders being fined for selling modded xboxes, but the only reason these guys are doing jail time is probably because they sold the modified xboxes with pirated games on them. It's basically the same as bootlegging. Although, I have to say, 17 years seems a bit much to me. I hope they get out on parole in 5 years, tops. Seems unfair to me.
Matt @ Jan 13th 2006 8:35AM
yeah... this site loses a little more integrity every time I look at it.
selling modded xboxen is not illegal
selling them with pirated games is
get your fucking stories straight or don't post at all
Bryan @ Jan 13th 2006 8:41AM
This is another great example of your terrible reporting, Joystiq. CONTINUOUSLY, when it comes to this issue, you call these people convicted modders. They are convicted PIRATES. If they were gay, would you call them convicted homosexuals, as if that's the illegal activity they were going to jail for? The quality of your writing is consistently for shi*, and you should especially fire the idiot who wrote this, particularly that last line.
Ian @ Jan 13th 2006 8:48AM
Uhh, Xavier, I took that to mean how they're pushing the customization of Xbox360, people call that... modding... you know?
Faceplates, stickers, all that stupid crap? Yeah. That's called modding. Mod-i-fying.
Thomas Crymes @ Jan 13th 2006 9:16AM
Ian, that it such a stretch. Visual enhancements are no where near the same as modifying the unit. Weak. Really weak.
Suffice it to say, MS went out of there way to make sure people could not get into the innards of the 360. The people in question weren't jailed for modding XBoxes. They were jailed for loading them with stolen Intellectual Property.
But I guess people will cling to whatever shred of information they have and twist it until it fits their needs. Sad.
Art Guy @ Jan 13th 2006 10:09AM
The one consoles they sold had 77 games on it, even at $40 a game, that's over three grand worth of software. If they sold 100 modded Xboxs, then they profited on the theft of over $300k worth of stolen software. That's like robbing a bank. I can't imagine what goes through peoples head that makes it "ok" to steal. Sure pirating games can be easy, but so is shoplifting. If somebody shoplifted 300k worth of merchandise I'd expect them to be put in jail.
I hope these guys get put away for quite awhile and be made an example of. I hope this sends a strong message to other pirates who profit off of other peoples hard work.
Miharu @ Jan 13th 2006 10:11AM
Murderers and rapists get nothing, modders get a lifetime in prison. How fair.
Art Guy @ Jan 13th 2006 11:00AM
Rapists and murderers get nothing? Where do you guys come up with this stuff?
From the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of inmates in State prisons:
The average convicted murderer is sentenced to 30 years in jail.
The average convicted rapist gets 17 years.
How long a sentence do you think these pirates are going to end up with? The full 17 years? Very doubtful. Depending on their past crimes, they will most likely bargain the sentence down to less than 10 years, and only serving 4 of that.
Imp @ Jan 13th 2006 11:10AM
As for 17 years being a very long time... each pirated game that they sold carried with it a small jail time penalty.
If you are going to put someone in jail for pirating 50 games, it can't be the same amount of time as someone pirating 2 games.
Stoli @ Jan 13th 2006 11:52AM
17 years does seem a bit excessive. Especially when you think how much money that MS *really* lost on these units. $40 a game? Doubtful. I'm sure there were some bargain bin crap loaded on the systems. Not trying to justify what they did, I'm just saying the punishment might be kinda harsh for their crime.
And I think you're doing a fine job of reporting, Joystiq. Maybe a bit of editorializing in the news, but eh.
Rocket Punch @ Jan 13th 2006 1:32PM
Welcome to America!
Timdog @ Jan 13th 2006 2:12PM
come on these guys arent criminals? These guys go to jail while men who play with little children roam our neighborhoods? Its a disgrace, 1 year in prison is enough of a f*cking punishment. Im sure these guys are a real threat to society. May God have mercy on them.
hepme! @ Jan 13th 2006 2:57PM
I'm with Timdog on this one. 1 year is a loooong time, I'm sure they will have learned their lesson in less than a month of jail time. Its not like they're a threat to society, just corporations. And I'm sure they didn't put much of a dent in Microsoft's budget.
The ZeroCorpse @ Jan 13th 2006 3:06PM
They were selling copyrighted, pirated software- LOTS of it- and making a HUGE profit from it. They didn't develop, publish, or have anything to do with the rights to the software they pirated. They just profited on the backs of hard-working people.
Making a personal copy is one thing, but making hundreds of copies and selling them is flat-out illegal and unethical. They did nothing to deserve the profits from those games. They weren't theirs to sell!
Modding? No problem. Selling games? No problem. Selling COPIES of games? BIG F'ing problem.
17 years is obviously the worst they can get. As far as I'm concerned, they deserve at least 7 years for what equates to grand theft, as well as putting their customers in a bad situation. How would you like to be one of their customers right about now, with the police and MS knocking on your door? What if some of those customers were just dumb rubes who didn't know they were buying illegal products? Do they deserve to be raked over the coals because these guys are greedy jerks?
I'm a musician. I give away my music freely for promotional purposes, but if I ever catch anyone else selling copies of my music, I'll kick their ass and sue them for making a profit on MY hard work and creativity.
Guys like this are grade-A creeps.
TK00 @ Jan 13th 2006 3:31PM
"Wasn't modification a key selling point to a large demographic of Xbox owners? Hmmm."
Stupid comment.
These guys are going to jail for SELLING the PRELOADED GAMES. NOT for MODDING.
gamer1 @ Jan 13th 2006 5:23PM
You guys are right how the last line doesn’t relate to the post very well. However, I still think it is an interesting point. But when they say a large demographic, I don’t think that they are referring to the majority, just as how comment #9, WizarDru, pointed out. The mod scene for the Xbox didn’t become popular until way after the Xbox was launched. Most of the first Xbox purchasers didn’t even know of, or think of, modding their Xboxs. Many people still don’t know of this. I think that the Xbox mod community is far smaller demographic than the majority of Xbox owners, it’s just that I happen to know more people with modded Xboxs than unmodded ones.
The modding community is a touchy subject because anyone can mod their own property legally. They might be able to sell it legally as well. The problem comes when people start to pirate games on their modded Xboxs. For example, if you were to purchase a modded Xbox, buy a game for it and copy the game onto your Xbox, that should be legal because the game is your own intellectual property. You are simply making a back up copy of your game on your Xbox. But if you were to rent the game or download a copy of the game to copy onto your Xbox, that’s illegal. The problem comes to the fact that most people would buy a modded Xbox to pirate games rather than back up their original copies. Just like the movie or music industry, many people are copying music CDs and movie DVDs, not to make back ups of their CDs or DVDs, but to pirate them.
Seer @ Jan 13th 2006 8:12PM
Actually, what gamer1 said (#26) is illegal. You're circumventing copy protection, which is illegal under DMCA. Sucks, right?
Raptor @ Jan 13th 2006 8:14PM
As I see it...The Press is maken it seem worse then it really is. I mean 17 F'en years???! For what??? Like every one on here says...Rapest and Murders get off with a hand-slap and "Try not to do that again." BS then these guys for selling some thing? Jesus...I better watch I don't open my wifes mail and have the cops see it!
John Molina @ Jan 13th 2006 10:52PM
Let me try:
This is far more than pirating. This is trying to legally resell LOTS and LOTS of pirated games. I think there's a large difference between personal pirates and large-profit pirates.
Please, put the stupid people in jail. We need less of them roaming around freely anyway.
scott @ Jan 14th 2006 12:26AM
"As I see it...The Press is maken it seem worse then it really is. I mean 17 F'en years???! For what??? Like every one on here says...Rapest and Murders get off with a hand-slap and "Try not to do that again." BS then these guys for selling some thing?"
What? Are you mentally retarded? RapIsts and Murders dont get off with slaps on the wrist. Thats foolish and ignorant. Also, they weren't just selling something, they were SELLING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Emphasis on SELLING it.
gamer1 @ Jan 14th 2006 2:38AM
The way I see it, it’s like the difference between selling a standard Ipod and selling a pricier Ipod preloaded with someone else’s music collection. What’s the deal with Ipods anyway? We copy the music from our CDs to the player and then what? What is keeping everyone from selling the CD after it’s been copied? And if no one really cares about this, why are people making a bigger deal about copying games onto their modded Xboxs? Is it because games cost more? I remember Bill Gates’s speech at CES mentioning that people will be able to copy their HD-DVD content to their Media Center hard drives or something to that effect. What is keeping them from just selling the HD-DVD collection afterwards or selling a Media Center PC preloaded with HD-DVD movies? That’s what I’d like to know…
Timdog @ Jan 14th 2006 3:01AM
17 years too much. 1 year and a myriad of fines is good enough.
Timdog @ Jan 14th 2006 12:15PM
yeah let the Priests who molest get protected by the church and recieve conseling while this poor hump gets 17 years in prison. Real fair. Im sure they just got caught up in all the money and deserve to be punished, but 17 years? maybe 17 years on house arrest, not in prison. What a disgrace, the molester gets let off lightly but the government throws the book at a guy who probably never murder, rape, or molest. GOOD LOGIC.
Hop @ Jan 14th 2006 1:12PM
Notice they said COULD face up to 7 years in a federal prison. That's the maximum sentence the judge could give them. It is extremely unlikely they will get a sentence that long. For example, the maximum sentence for your rapists and murderers is death or life in prison. As you have pointed out, they rarely get this.
Endlessnameless @ Jan 15th 2006 12:53AM
17 years?!?!?!?! WTF...Didn't some judge in Vermont give a guy only 60 days in jail for molesting a 6 year old girl for four years? Thats some F***ed up justice right there.
But those guys do deserve a punishment. Selling mod chips/modded xboxes (which I am unsure of the legality) is one thing, but loading the HD's up with games and selling them....thats just plain stupid.