thoughthead

Earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department raided multiple homes of individuals who had installed modchips in consoles. As you may recall I wrote my feelings on the subject in an editorial titled: The Legality Of Modding. In that piece I did not dispute the fact that what these people did is technically illegal under the DMCA, I simply called to attention that how the law was written was too far reaching and that ICE, in a time where the USA needs it’s greatest strengths put to use on issues such as Customs and Immigration, was instead being abused to harass and dishevel the lives of American Citizens.

I was deeply disturbed by this situation and took it upon myself to write my state’s representative, and senators. I originally wanted to send my correspondences by physical letter signed by hand to help get my point across, however I was unable to find the appropriate address to use such a method and instead passed on my concerns by email. I didn’t have very high hopes for the outcome of my message as when it comes to the US Government I am somewhat of a pessimist. However I also believe that unless I do my part to make my voice heard I have only myself to blame if nothing comes of it. By speaking my peace I can with good conscience lay the blame on those who have listened and remained idle in their actions to right these wrongs. (more…)

          

Ok, I want you… well not in that way…

Do you have opinions and insights about the Video Game industry? If so then I might be interested in having you write them for thoughthead.

If this is something you’re interested in please contact me at twistedsymphony(at)gmail.com and we’ll talk.

          

There’s no post this week, so many projects that are filling my time. I’ve been doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff over on Nintendo-Scene. There is quite a lot of news happening on that front as well. A new Wii Dashboard that threw some curve-balls at modchips, the homebrew chips got Dual Layer Disc support and one of the smaller homebrew teams released a DVD player for Wii.

One of the project I’m working on is I’m considering opening up a Modding Store. I wont be selling modchips or anything like that but I’d like to sell DIY kits, tools, supplies and maybe even swag and other stuff related to console modding. I’d be happy to hear your ideas on the kinds of things you’d like to see.

I’m not looking to make a ton of money just enough to cover server costs and fund a few projects a year.

          

I did an interview with a member of the WiiJii modchip team for nintendo-scene recently. I think it’s worth reading. I know as the person giving the interview I asked questions I was genuinely interested in knowing the answers to and to be perfectly honest almost every answer he gave surprised me on some level. It certainly gave me a different perspective on the motivations behind some of the people who make this products as well as changing my opinions of the specific product their team makes.

I’m quite interested in doing more interviews like this so if anyone knows anyone in any modchip teams or even just in the game industry, I’d be interested in getting in touch with them.

          

I apologize for not having an article this week, I’ve been spending my time on a number of other projects including a new website that I plan on launching within the next month or two.

In thoughthead.com news you can expect to see Ackerhack adding his two cents worth very soon, and I’ve also revamped the comment system on the site here.

Registration is now no longer required and I hope that this helps encourage people to leave more comments. Of course if you’ve already registered you can still login and not worry about typing in your name and email every time you comment. This new system is really more of an addition to the existing system than a replacement. Gravatars will still work whether you’re posting from a registered account or simply leaving a comment off-the-cuff.