The Nexus Gulf

Right through the history of gaming, people have loved to tweak and hack the game code and also the console systems they run on. Right from the game hacks on the Spectrum handing you endless lives on Sabre Wulf way back in the 1980s, to Nintendo DS Lite flashcarts allowing one to run a larger range of applications on their Nintendo.

Games makers and hardware manufacturers have had an on/off relationship with gamers and modders who are often are all part of the same crowd. In one way, hackers add extra value to the systems and games – e.g. chips that have been modified make it handy for gamers who can play backups on their consoles. To add to that, games hacking breathe new life into “uncompletable” games, and nowadays it’s even de rigeur for games producers to actually embed cheat codes for games players to find.

Then again, software manufacturers opine that such chip modification damages their profits, as mods are also utilized to circumvent steps to try and prevent illegal copying, and short-circuiting hardware that restricts discs to play just in certain locations. These are strong reasons for console and software developers to forever develop progressive measures to make chipmods more difficult to carry out.

But whatever the causes in opposition to chipmods, chipmodding is now a large market that isn’t going to go away.