A Reasonable Price for a Mod Chip Installation

Post by **Daniel Primed** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:09 am

I've been looking around for prices on getting a mod chip installed for my PS2 so that I can play those damn NTSC games that never came to PAL territories.

I found a store in my state which deals with mod chips. They install a chip and provide a 3 week guarantee but their price is $AUD150 which is $132 American. Its almost as much for a brand new PS2. I think that this price is a downright rip off as (from my knowledge) a chip only costs $AUD30-50 and for a professional to install it should take less than 1hr.

So can anyone give me a rough idea of what sort of price I should be paying?

Post by **Adderall** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:01 am

well, other factors may be considered for that price... like

*are there other modders in the area?
If not, and if you are not willing to do the mod yourself, then they can set the price as high as they want. You have the choice to buy, or just not get your system modded.

*are there legal issues with your country?
I know that if there were such stores in the U.S. they would be in danger of getting shut down and raided. If I were a store owner, I would charge a higher price due to the risk that is involved for my business.

*are they very professional?
Ask to see some work they have done. A professional mod job can look VERY different from one that some random friend has done. You look at something like this compaired to this and you can see what I mean. If they charge more money and do a great job, the mod will last longer for you and operate better.[/url]

Post by **racketboy** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:05 am

Adderall wrote:*are there legal issues with your country?
I know that if there were such stores in the U.S. they would be in danger of getting shut down and raided. If I were a store owner, I would charge a higher price due to the risk that is involved for my business.

You can't get any better than Australia for modchips

Post by **Daniel Primed** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:24 am

Ugh that second picture is awful. ><

I too was extremely surprised to hear of a store that does work like this. I found them in the paper as well. Even worse when I called them up to enquire they mentioned that the modchip will allow me to play illegally burnt games!! They also do repairs as well and the repair price is the same as a brand new console.

I am very sure that this sort of business practice is illegal in Australia. And I reckon that their work would be professional as they offer to mod the console in front of you and do a lot of repairs/mods. Although I will have to take a look myself of course. Oh and I don't believe that they have any compeition either, they seem to be the only people offering these services that I know of.

So far it looks like a quality service. So, if I was paying for a good quality chipping job for a slimline PS2 (forgot to mention that part previously). What would be a reasonable price? I will more than likely have to fork out the money to get these guys to do it but just out of interest.

Post by **Curlypaul** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:32 am

There used to be loads of shops that did this in the UK - I knew of one shop that would sell you copied games as well. That was back when CD burners were hundreds of pounds. Most of these places have gone now.

Sorry, another post that is not answering your question. I guess you have 3 options though - pay these people, do it yourself, or buy a US PS2 and figure out a way to plug it into an Australian wall socket.

Post by **racketboy** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:33 am

I thought modchips were legal in Australia?

Post by **SnowKitty** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:04 am

racketboy wrote:I thought modchips were legal in Australia?

i beleive modchips are still legal there. i don't think piracy is though. if the shop sells burned games then they are breakin the law

Post by **Daniel Primed** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:49 am

^wow, really? Thats definetly news to me. It makes perfect sense when you think about it as Australians always get ripped off with game delays and non PAL releases. Good ol' Australian government.

Post by **Pullmyfinger** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:29 pm

From wikipedia:

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned that DVD players that enforce region coding may violate the Trade Practices Act. This, supposedly, means that all DVD players sold in their territories have to be region-free.

I guess it works the same way with games or anything else region coded.

Post by **Niode** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:42 pm

Sorry. It used to be the case. There was a big lawsuit in Australia regarding this particular issue, the plaintiff won and for a time modding consoles was actually legal, but Australian government has actually passed the Australian version of the DMCA and it is now illegal to sell anything that can allow the circumvention of copyright protection mechanisms Source. HOWEVER. It's of very ambiguous legality to own a modded system or buy a mod chip and fit it yourself. It's just 100% illegal to sell the mod-chip itself.

However the company can get around it by saying their selling their services to fit it, and not actually sell the mod-chip themselves, in essence they're giving you the mod-chip for free for legal reasons. However they would be on very shaky legal ground if they did get sent to court.