ABCMan
1
I dont know if many people are aware but nintendo is about to be fined by the european union for using its monopoly position to force european customers to pay too much for its games, now whilst this is slightlly bad news for nintendo its the subtext that is more interesting.
$ony and m$ were noot prosicuted for the same thing because it is possible to import their games from overseas and play them on a pal console because they have been hacked and modchips can be fitted to allow this.
Basicly this means that under european law (which overrides uk laws) modchips will become not only legal, but infact for future consoles they will be compulsory to allow the playing of any imported game. the down side is that companies may choose to release totaly different consoles in different regions, but in the meantime the way is clear for companies to openly develop and sell modchips for all current consoles and furthermore in theory those modchip companies who were forced to close or to change their business could now sue the companies responsible for the restraint of trade.
this realy could be a landmark ruling for console users throught europe as it moves into line with australia and several other countries are also looking into the cumpulsory removal of region coding not only for consoles but also dvd players and dvd movies.
big business will not be pleased
there are a couple of possible problems however, microsoft could opt to do what they are threatening to do in australia and remove their consoles from sale (in their attempts to preasure the australian government to do what m$ wants) and of course the eu can usualy find a way to screw its citizens in one way or another so expect a sudden fudge law to cover their backs.
$ony and m$ were noot prosicuted for the same thing because it is possible to import their games from overseas and play them on a pal console because they have been hacked and modchips can be fitted to allow this.
Basicly this means that under european law (which overrides uk laws) modchips will become not only legal, but infact for future consoles they will be compulsory to allow the playing of any imported game. the down side is that companies may choose to release totaly different consoles in different regions, but in the meantime the way is clear for companies to openly develop and sell modchips for all current consoles and furthermore in theory those modchip companies who were forced to close or to change their business could now sue the companies responsible for the restraint of trade.
this realy could be a landmark ruling for console users throught europe as it moves into line with australia and several other countries are also looking into the cumpulsory removal of region coding not only for consoles but also dvd players and dvd movies.
big business will not be pleased
there are a couple of possible problems however, microsoft could opt to do what they are threatening to do in australia and remove their consoles from sale (in their attempts to preasure the australian government to do what m$ wants) and of course the eu can usualy find a way to screw its citizens in one way or another so expect a sudden fudge law to cover their backs.
