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Known as Mr. Modchips, Bristol resident Neil Stanley Higgs has amassed over £1 million since 2002 from his operations with http://www.mrmodchips.co.uk and http://www.mrmodchips.com. Higgs was found guilty last month for owning and selling a number modchips and chipped consoles... totaling 26 offenses altogether. These include discontinued 'Xecuter' Xbox modchips and the 'Viper' GC chip.
Yesterday the Mr. Modchip business headquarters (his parent's residence) was raided by police after the ELSPA determined that several of the items offered on his website were illegal. Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA, said:
This case today sets a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy, protecting the games industry's investment in fantastic games. It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in 'chipping' consoles that this is a criminal offence and will be dealt in the strongest possible way. The modification of consoles is an activity that ELSPA's anti-piracy team is prioritising â€" it is encouraging to see the UK courts do the same.
Source: SPOnG
The folks at noobz.eu have made a smashing breakthrough for the PSP homebrew scene called they affectionately call Pandora's Battery. For those unfamiliar with past homebrew endeavors, it is only possible on the earlier versions (1.5), and later versions must be downgraded to make it possible. Sony's update service has in the past bricked a number of modded PSPs, but is required for most downloads.
This particular downgrader works on any version of PSP and ever resurrects dead ones. This is accomplished by accessing the unit in service mode through custom software loaded onto the memory stick, and converting a battery to mimic the cues of a service technician's battery. This combo should reset the PSP to firmware version 1.5, where homebrew can be easily developed, or the console can be upgraded regularly through Sony's update service for regular use.
What this means to the homebrew community is that any PSP firmware version currently out there can be downgraded to the homebrew-friendly 1.5 firmware, and any dead ones as a result of failed firmware changes or using Sony's update service on a modded firmware will be revived. This lack of deterrent against downgrading firmwares should also jump-start the PSP homebrew scene once more.
It seems that the Prometheus Project team that was working on this either had a member leak the program early or their security was compromised because a few items have shown up for sale in shady places at high prices. As a result Noobz has decided to release their work free of charge to the public a bit earlier than expected. (Their original original intent was to wait for the PSP redesign to hit store shelves.) Also, a final note since all code was written without the aid of an official SDK, all materials included in the program are free of copyrighted materials. They've mentioned that they'll try and keep up compatibility for future firmware releases.
Kudos to the members of the Prometheus Project, I look forward to future endeavors of the highly skilled and talented members of the team.
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