Misplaced Pages

#775224

105-702: Modding may sometimes infringe the legal rights of the copyright owner. Some nations have laws prohibiting modding and accuse modders of attempting to overcome copy protection schemes. In the United States, the DMCA has set up stiff penalties for mods that violate the rights of intellectual property owners. In the European Union , member states have agreed the EU Copyright Directive and are transposing it into national law. A 22-year-old man

210-898: A broad range of customization by personal-computer enthusiasts , especially in gaming PCs , including: custom and homemade hard- and soft-line liquid cooling loops; installation of LED strips and other lighting effects; replacement of stock cooling fans with high-performance ones (on CPU coolers, power supplies, cases, drive bays, and other components); " delidding " of CPUs and GPUs to replace their stock thermal paste and pads with high- thermal-conductivity ones; addition of individually sleeved (and often color-coordinated) cabling; replacement of various heat sinks with custom liquid-cooling water blocks on components normally air-cooled (e.g. RAM , GPUs, and SSDs ); addition of new components not usually found in PCs, such as electronic timers or temperature and humidity alarms; custom soldering to replace or change

315-403: A car for enhanced performance, in engine power output, handling, aerodynamics, or cosmetic purposes. See also Category:Vehicle modification . Factories get rather expensive machines that are used to mass-produce specialized parts. These machines can be altered to make parts other than how the manufacturers of the machines designed or intended them. The legality of doing this depends on who owns

420-524: A certain user requires it. As an example, an activated Microsoft product, contains a Direct License which is locked to the PC where the product is installed. From business standpoint, on the other hand, some services now try to monetize on additional services other than the media content so users can have better experience than simply obtaining the copied product. From a technical standpoint, it seems impossible to completely prevent users from making copies of

525-497: A determined individual will definitely succeed in copying any media, given enough time and resources. Media publishers understand this; copy protection is not intended to stop professional operations involved in the unauthorized mass duplication of media, but rather to stop "casual copying". Copying of information goods which are downloaded (rather than being mass-duplicated as with physical media) can be inexpensively customized for each download, and thus restricted more effectively, in

630-531: A disc in it, or when the disc tray was ejected, but the user had the option to select what the console does if a game is in the tray on start up, or if inserted when already on. A simplified version of it was also accessible at any time via the Xbox Guide button on the gamepad. This simplified version showed the user's gamercard, Xbox Live messages and friends list. It also allowed for personal and music settings, in addition to voice or video chats, or returning to

735-537: A flashing power button that alternates between green and red is an indication of a "General Hardware Failure" unlike older models where three of the quadrants would light up red. The Xbox 360 launched with 14 games in North America and 13 in Europe. The console's best-selling game for 2005, Call of Duty 2 , sold over a million copies. Five other games sold over a million copies in the console's first year on

840-662: A game console. One is through soft modding (modifying software, normally using a softmod ) to allow the user to change data contained on its hard drive in the case of the Xbox. Another type of modding, known as hard modding , is done by modifying the hardware, such as components connected to the Hypervisor in order to run exploits to the BIOS of the console or to run unsigned code and games. This form of 'modding' (more correctly termed as hacking ), while not as popular as softmodding,

945-492: A game is of low quality. The authors of FADE explicitly acknowledged this as a reason for including the explicit warning message. Anti-piracy measures are efforts to fight against copyright infringement , counterfeiting , and other violations of intellectual property laws. It includes, but is by no means limited to, the combined efforts of corporate associations (such as the RIAA and MPA ), law enforcement agencies (such as

1050-639: A hobby, add their alias to the title screen, and then distribute the "cracked" product to the network of warez BBSes or Internet sites that specialized in distributing unauthorized copies of software. When computer software was still distributed in audio cassettes, audio copying was unreliable, while digital copying was time consuming. Software prices were comparable with audio cassette prices. To make digital copying more difficult, many programs used non-standard loading methods (loaders incompatible with standard BASIC loaders, or loaders that used different transfer speed). Unauthorized software copying began to be

1155-531: A limited-edition bundle which sold out quickly with over 10,000 pre-orders. Blue Dragon is one of three Xbox 360 games to surpass 200,000 units in Japan, along with Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean: The Last Hope . Mistwalker's second game, Lost Odyssey also sold over 100,000 copies. The 2007 Game Critics Awards honored the Xbox 360 platform with 38 Nominations and 11 Wins. By 2015, game releases started to decline as most publishers instead focused on

SECTION 10

#1732779806776

1260-449: A minimum, digital copy protection of non-interactive works is subject to the analog hole : regardless of any digital restrictions, if music can be heard by the human ear, it can also be recorded (at the very least, with a microphone and tape recorder); if a film can be viewed by the human eye, it can also be recorded (at the very least, with a video camera and recorder). In practice, almost-perfect copies can typically be made by tapping into

1365-586: A problem when floppy disks became the common storage media. The ease of copying depended on the system; Jerry Pournelle wrote in BYTE in 1983 that " CP/M doesn't lend itself to copy protection" so its users "haven't been too worried" about it, while " Apple users, though, have always had the problem. So have those who used TRS-DOS , and I understand that MS-DOS has copy protection features". Pournelle disliked copy protection and, except for games, refused to review software that used it. He did not believe that it

1470-618: A process known as " traitor tracing ". They can be encrypted in a fashion which is unique for each user's computer, and the decryption system can be made tamper-resistant . Copyright protection in content platforms also cause increased market concentration and a loss in aggregate welfare. According to research on the European Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market on platform competition, only users of large platforms will be allowed to upload content if

1575-676: A proprietary port for use with the Kinect sensor. The Xbox 360 E, a further streamlined variation of the 360 S with a two-tone rectangular case inspired by Xbox One , was released in 2013. In addition to its revised aesthetics, the Xbox 360 E also has one fewer USB port, no AV connector (and thus is HDMI-only), and no longer supports S/PDIF . November 22, 2005 April 29, 2007 August 6, 2007 October 27, 2007 July 13, 2008 August 1, 2008 September 5, 2008 August 28, 2009 June 19, 2010 August 3, 2010 June 10, 2013 April 20, 2016 The original model of

1680-411: A single year. In 2009, IGN named the Xbox 360 the sixth-greatest video game console of all time, out of a field of 25. Although not the best-selling console of the seventh generation, the Xbox 360 was deemed by TechRadar to be the most influential, by emphasizing digital media distribution and online gaming through Xbox Live, and by popularizing game achievement awards . PC Magazine considered

1785-534: A technology that exploits the automatic gain control feature of VCRs by adding pulses to the vertical blanking sync signal. These pulses may negatively affect picture quality, but succeed in confusing the recording-level circuitry of many consumer VCRs. This technology, which is aided by U.S. legislation mandating the presence of automatic gain-control circuitry in VCRs, is said to "plug the analog hole" and make VCR-to-VCR copies impossible, although an inexpensive circuit

1890-621: Is a misnomer for some systems, because any number of copies can be made from an original and all of these copies will work, but only in one computer, or only with one dongle , or only with another device that cannot be easily copied. The term is also often related to, and confused with, the concept of digital restrictions management . Digital restrictions management is a more general term because it includes all sorts of management of works, including copy restrictions. Copy restriction may include measures that are not digital. A more appropriate term may be "technological protection measures" (TPMs), which

1995-829: Is an annual physical inventory to make sure the factory has everything that they are leasing. This audit might be done by representatives of the leasing company, who are looking to see recognizable machines, that match their models and safety rules. Pen-modding is the act of combining many pen parts either to help with pen spinning , in which a perfect balance is desired to create an ideal spinning pen, or simply for decoration. These pen mods can either be made by combining parts from different pens and/or mechanical pencils, or by buying modded pens online. In some cases, pen mods can exceed over $ 30–40 USD per pen. [REDACTED] Media related to Modded objects at Wikimedia Commons Copy protection Copy protection , also known as content protection , copy prevention and copy restriction ,

2100-585: Is any measure to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on videotapes , DVDs , Blu-ray discs , HD-DVDs , computer software discs, video game discs and cartridges, audio CDs and some VCDs . It also may be incorporated into digitally distributed versions of media and software. Some methods of copy protection have also led to criticism because it caused inconvenience for paying consumers or secretly installed additional or unwanted software to detect copying activities on

2205-529: Is handled by the ATI Xenos , which has 10  MB of eDRAM . Its main memory pool is 512 MB in size. Originally, the Xbox 360 was equipped with only 256 MB of RAM, but Epic , the Gears of War developer, demonstrated to Microsoft that the console should have 512 MB of RAM to deliver much better performance. When asked about this, Epic Games Executive Vice President Mark Rein said in 2006: "So

SECTION 20

#1732779806776

2310-423: Is most commonly found on videotapes , DVDs, computer software discs, video game discs and cartridges, audio CDs and some VCDs . Many media formats are easy to copy using a machine, allowing consumers to distribute copies to their friends, a practice known as "casual copying". Companies publish works under copyright protection because they believe that the cost of implementing the copy protection will be less than

2415-422: Is mostly done as it is able to 'run' many different types of software. Soft modding is more popular because of its ease of installation and its relatively low price (it can even be done for free with the right tools). Another type of console modding is about appearances, much like computer case modification. Which includes, adding lights (most likely LEDS , cathodes or other electro-luminescent lighting). Cutting

2520-411: Is often defined as the use of technological tools in order to restrict the use or access to a work. Unauthorized copying and distribution accounted for $ 2.4   billion per year in lost revenue in the United States alone in 1990, and is assumed to be causing impact on revenues in the music and the video game industry , leading to proposal of stricter copyright laws such as PIPA . Copy protection

2625-525: Is on the bottom when vertical (right side when horizontal) and requires the opening of a concealed door to access it. (This does not void the warranty.) The Xbox 360 Slim/E hard drives are standard 2.5" SATA laptop drives, but have a custom enclosure and firmware so that the Xbox 360 can recognize it. The Xbox 360 uses the triple-core IBM designed Xenon as its CPU, with each core capable of simultaneously processing two threads , and can therefore operate on up to six threads at once. Graphics processing

2730-404: Is programmable on modern cards). With the rise of virtualization , however, the practice of locking has to add to these simple hardware parameters to still prevent copying. During the 1980s and 1990s, video games sold on audio cassette and floppy disks were sometimes protected with an external user-interactive method that demanded the user to have the original package or a part of it, usually

2835-532: Is protected by the FADE system. You can play with a pirated game- but not for long. The quality of a pirated game will degrade over time. Purchase only genuine software at legitimate stores. The usage of copy protection payloads which lower playability of a game without making it clear that this is a result of copy protection is now generally considered unwise, due to the potential for it to result in unaware players with unlicensed copies spreading word-of-mouth that

2940-514: Is recognized on all models released before the Xbox 360 S by three quadrants of the ring around the power button flashing red. This error is often known as the " Red Ring of Death ". In April 2009, the warranty was extended to also cover failures related to the E74 error code . The warranty extension is not granted for any other types of failures that do not generate these specific error codes. After these problems surfaced, Microsoft attempted to modify

3045-499: Is the car adaptation (seats, pedals , etc.) to help drivers to prevent, correct and diminish light orthopedic and backbone / spine problems. Eco-modding is the reduction of drag, petroleum car adaptation to use renewable energy (generally, changing or adding a new engine or motor ), generally hydrogen or electricity . See hybrid car . Occasionally, it has been known to run a Diesel engine on plant and animal oils. See Biodiesel . Car and engine tuning are modification of

3150-439: Is used by many countries to prevent color photocopiers from producing counterfeit currency . The Counterfeit Deterrence System is used to prevent counterfeit bills from being produced by image editing software. Similar technology has been proposed to prevent 3D printing of firearms , for reasons of gun control rather than copyright. Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft . As

3255-469: Is widely available that will defeat the protection by removing the pulses. Macrovision had patented methods of defeating copy prevention, giving it a more straightforward basis to shut down manufacture of any device that descrambles it than often exists in the DRM world. While used for pre-recorded tapes, the system was not adopted for television broadcasts; Michael J. Fuchs of HBO said in 1985 that Macrovision

Modding - Misplaced Pages Continue

3360-594: The Atari ST "is almost unusable without its manual of over 600 pages!". (The magazine was mistaken; the ST version was so widely pirated that the company threatened to discontinue it. ) Copy protection sometimes causes software not to run on clones , such as the Apple II-compatible Laser 128 , or even the genuine Commodore 64 with certain peripherals. To limit reusing activation keys to install

3465-526: The FBI and Interpol ), and various international governments to combat copyright infringement relating to various types of creative works, such as software, music and films. These measures often come in the form of copy protection measures such as DRM , or measures implemented through a content protection network , such as Distil Networks or Incapsula. Richard Stallman and the GNU Project have criticized

3570-451: The Kinect motion sensing camera. The release of these additional services and peripherals helped the Xbox brand grow from gaming-only to encompassing all multimedia, turning it into a hub for living-room computing entertainment. Launched worldwide across 2005–2006, the Xbox 360 was initially in short supply in many regions, including North America and Europe. The earliest versions of

3675-650: The PS2 and Nintendo DS . Over 1 million units were sold in Spain across the console's lifecycle. The Xbox 360 crossed the 1 million units sold in Japan in March 2009, and the 1.5 million units sold in June 2011. Lifetime sales of the Xbox 360 in Japan stand at 1,616,218 million units. While the Xbox 360 has sold poorly in Japan, it improved upon the sales of the original Xbox , which had total sales of 474,992 units. Furthermore,

3780-562: The United Kingdom would reach 3.2 million units by January 2009, per GfK Chart-Track . The 8 million unit mark was crossed in the UK by February 2013. Sales of the Xbox 360 would overtake the Wii later that year, topping 9 million units, making the Xbox 360 the best-selling 7th-generation console in the UK, as well as making it the third best-selling console of all time in the region, behind

3885-715: The Xbox One . The last official game released for the system was Just Dance 2019 , released on October 23, 2018, in North America, and October 25 in Europe and Australia. As one of the late updates to the software following its discontinuation, Microsoft will add the ability for Xbox 360 users to use cloud saves even if they do not have Xbox Live Gold prior to the launch of the Xbox Series X and Series S in November 2020. The new consoles will have backward compatibility for all Xbox 360 games that are already backward compatible on

3990-400: The 1993–2013 period, stating "It had its own social network, cross-game chat, new indie games every week, and the best version of just about every multiformat game ... Killzone is no Halo and nowadays Gran Turismo is no Forza , but it's not about the exclusives—there's nothing to trump Naughty Dog 's PS3 output, after all. Rather, it's about the choices Microsoft made back in

4095-525: The EU copyright legislation. Modding may be an unauthorized change made to a software or hardware to a platform in gaming. Case mods are modifications to a device with the altering of certain styles. For example, people who mod a Microsoft Xbox 360 can alter the LED lights on the controller to glow different colors. On August 5, 2009, Matthew Crippen, a 27-year-old student at California State University, Fullerton ,

4200-511: The Elite was also marked down in price to US$ 299. Two major hardware revisions of the Xbox 360 have succeeded the original models; the Xbox 360 S (also referred to as the "Slim") replaced the original "Elite" and "Arcade" models in 2010. The S model carries a smaller, streamlined appearance with an angular case, and utilizes a redesigned motherboard designed to alleviate the hardware and overheating issues experienced by prior models. It also includes

4305-483: The PlayStation 3's lifespan for its sales and games to reach parity with the Xbox 360. TechRadar proclaimed that "Xbox 360 passes the baton as the king of the hill – a position that puts all the more pressure on its successor, Xbox One". The Xbox 360's advantage over its competitors was due to the release of high-profile games from both first party and third-party developers. The 2007 Game Critics Awards honored

Modding - Misplaced Pages Continue

4410-441: The Xbox 360 completely. The significance of Japan's poor sales might be overstated in the media in comparison to overall international sales. The Xbox 360 sold much better than its predecessor, and although not the best-selling console of the seventh generation, it is regarded as a success since it strengthened Microsoft as a major force in the console market at the expense of well-established rivals. The inexpensive Wii did sell

4515-409: The Xbox 360 has been subject to a number of technical problems . Since the console's release in 2005, users have reported concerns over its reliability and failure rate . To aid customers with defective consoles, Microsoft extended the Xbox 360's manufacturer's warranty to three years for hardware failure problems that generate a "General Hardware Failure" error report. A "General Hardware Failure"

4620-617: The Xbox 360 managed to outsell both the PlayStation 3 and Wii the week ending September 14, 2008, as well as the week ending February 22, 2009, when the Japanese Xbox 360 exclusives Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean: The Last Hope , were released those weeks, respectively. Ultimately, Edge magazine would report that Microsoft had been unable to make serious inroads into the dominance of domestic rivals Sony and Nintendo; adding that lackluster sales in Japan had led to retailers scaling down and in some cases, discontinuing sales of

4725-408: The Xbox 360 the prototype for online gaming as it "proved that online gaming communities could thrive in the console space". Five years after the Xbox 360's debut, the well-received Kinect motion capture camera was released, which set the record of being the fastest selling consumer electronic device in history, and extended the life of the console. Edge ranked Xbox 360 the second-best console of

4830-518: The Xbox 360 version included a cut-down version of the Media Remote as a promotion. The Elite package was launched later at US$ 479. The "Xbox 360 Core" was replaced by the "Xbox 360 Arcade" in October 2007 and a 60 GB version of the Xbox 360 Pro was released on August 1, 2008. The Pro package was discontinued and marked down to US$ 249 on August 28, 2009, to be sold until stock ran out, while

4935-414: The Xbox 360 without a game controller by using gestures, spoken commands and presented objects and images. The Kinect accessory is compatible with all Xbox 360 models, connecting to new models via a custom connector, and to older ones via a USB and mains power adapter. During their CES 2010 keynote speech, Robbie Bach and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer went on to say that Kinect would be released during

5040-524: The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 stood at 36.9% and 18.0% market share, respectively. The main unit of the Xbox 360 itself has slight double concavity in matte white or black. The official color of the white model is Arctic Chill. It features a port on the top when vertical (left side when horizontal) to which a custom-housed hard disk drive unit can be attached. On the Slim and E models, the hard drive bay

5145-449: The Xbox One and can use any Xbox 360 game's cloud saves through this update, making the transition to the new consoles easier. The Xbox 360's original graphical user interface was the Xbox 360 Dashboard ; a tabbed interface that featured five "Blades" (formerly four blades), and was designed by AKQA and Audiobrain . It could be launched automatically when the console booted without

5250-633: The Xenon processor were developed using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3 's Cell Processor PPE architecture. According to David Shippy and Mickie Phipps, the IBM employees were "hiding" their work from Sony and Toshiba, IBM's partners in developing the Cell Processor . Jeff Minter created the music visualization program Neon which is included with the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360

5355-480: The analog output of a player (e.g. the speaker output or headphone jacks) and, once redigitized into an unprotected form, duplicated indefinitely. Copying text-based content in this way is more tedious, but the same principle applies: if it can be printed or displayed, it can also be scanned and OCRed . With basic software and some patience, these techniques can be applied by a typical computer-literate user. Since these basic technical facts exist, it follows that

SECTION 50

#1732779806776

5460-434: The behavior of components; expansion of the motherboard's capabilities with PCIe add-in cards and risers (the latter also used to mount graphics cards sideways to show them off better); addition of server hardware into a consumer-grade system; and extensive overclocking through detailed benchmarking that seeks to squeeze out every last percentage of performance improvement without the system becoming unstable. Ortho-modding

5565-425: The best-selling console of its generation, the Xbox 360 was deemed by TechRadar to be the most influential through its emphasis on digital media distribution and multiplayer gaming on Xbox Live. The Xbox 360's successor, the Xbox One , was released on November 22, 2013. On April 20, 2016, Microsoft announced that it would end the production of new Xbox 360 hardware, although the company will continue to support

5670-402: The case MPAA v. Hotfile , Judge Kathleen M. Williams granted a motion to deny the prosecution the usage of words she views as "pejorative". This list included the word "piracy", the use of which, the motion by the defense stated, would serve no purpose but to misguide and inflame the jury. The plaintiff argued the common use of the terms when referring to copyright infringement should invalidate

5775-419: The console suffered from a high failure rate , indicated by the so-called " Red Ring of Death ", necessitating an extension of the device's warranty period. Microsoft released two redesigned models of the console: the Xbox 360 S in 2010, and the Xbox 360 E in 2013. Xbox 360 is the ninth-highest-selling home video game console in history , and the highest-selling console made by an American company. Although not

5880-470: The console to improve its reliability. Modifications included a reduction in the number, size, and placement of components, the addition of dabs of epoxy on the corners and edges of the CPU and GPU as glue to prevent movement relative to the board during heat expansion, and a second GPU heatsink to dissipate more heat. With the release of the redesigned Xbox 360 S, the warranty for the newer models does not include

5985-400: The console, including both wired and wireless controllers , faceplates for customization, headsets for chatting, a webcam for video chatting, dance mats and Gamercize for exercise, three sizes of memory units and five sizes of hard drives (20, 60, 120, 250 (initially Japan only, but later also available elsewhere ) and 320 GB), among other items, all of which are styled to match

6090-575: The console. In 2006, Microsoft released the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player . The accessory was discontinued in 2008 after the format war had ended in Blu-ray 's favor. Kinect is a "controller-free gaming and entertainment experience" for the Xbox 360. It was first announced on June 1, 2009, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo , under the codename, Project Natal . The add-on peripheral enables users to control and interact with

6195-440: The consumer's computer. Making copy protection effective while protecting consumer rights remains a problem with media publication. Media corporations have always used the term copy protection , but critics argue that the term tends to sway the public into identifying with the publishers, who favor restriction technologies, rather than with the users. Copy prevention and copy control may be more neutral terms. "Copy protection"

6300-417: The content is sufficiently valuable and network effects are strong. For information on individual protection schemes and technologies, see List of copy protection schemes or relevant category page. Copy protection for computer software, especially for games, has been a long cat-and-mouse struggle between publishers and crackers . These were (and are) programmers who defeated copy protection on software as

6405-474: The copy protection in about an hour"; its purpose was to prevent large companies from purchasing one copy and easily distributing it internally. While reiterating his dislike of copy protection, Pournelle wrote "I can see Kahn's point". In 1989, Gilman Louie , head of Spectrum Holobyte , stated that copy protection added about $ 0.50 per copy to the cost of production of a game. Other software relied on complexity; Antic in 1988 observed that WordPerfect for

SECTION 60

#1732779806776

6510-425: The copy was successful, but eventually render themselves unplayable via subtle methods. Many games use the "code checksumming" technique to prevent alteration of code to bypass other copy protection. Important constants for the game - such as the accuracy of the player's firing, the speed of their movement, etc. - are not included in the game but calculated from the numbers making up the machine code of other parts of

6615-472: The day they made the decision, we were apparently the first developer they called; we were at Game Developers Conference, was it two years ago, and then I got a call from the chief financial officer of MGS and he said 'I just want you to know you cost me a billion dollars' and I said, 'we did a favour for a billion gamers'." Various hard disk drives have been produced, including options at 20, 60, 120, 250, 320, or 500 GB. Many accessories are available for

6720-477: The difficulties of programming for the PS3. TechRadar deemed the Xbox 360 as the most influential game system through its emphasis of digital media distribution, Xbox Live online gaming service, and game achievement feature. During the console's lifetime, the Xbox brand has grown from gaming-only to encompassing all multimedia, turning it into a hub for "living-room computing environment". Microsoft announced

6825-464: The end of 2014, Xbox 360 sales had surpassed sales of the Wii, making the Xbox 360 the best-selling 7th-generation console in the US once again. In Canada, the Xbox 360 has sold a total of 870,000 units as of August 1, 2008. In Europe, the Xbox 360 has sold seven million units as of November 20, 2008. The Xbox 360 took 110 weeks to reach 2 million units sold in the UK, generating £507m in revenue. Sales in

6930-627: The end of the year. As well as enjoying exclusives such as additions to the Halo franchise and Gears of War , the Xbox 360 has managed to gain a simultaneous release of games that were initially planned to be PS3 exclusives, including Devil May Cry 4 , Ace Combat 6 , Virtua Fighter 5 , Grand Theft Auto IV , Final Fantasy XIII , Tekken 6 , Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance , and L.A. Noire . In addition, Xbox 360 versions of cross-platform games were generally considered superior to their PS3 counterparts in 2006 and 2007, due in part to

7035-528: The game system case, to fit hardware and/or expose the internal systems. Cooling is a large part of console hard 'modding', including: heat sink upgrades, more powerful or quieter fans, some even go so far as to abandon common heat exchange to air all together by liquid cooling a console (most notably in the Xbox 360 , which initially had some heat problems). On the other side, some companies actively encourage modding of their products. In cases such as TiVo and Google , there has been an informal agreement between

7140-404: The game. If the code is changed, the calculation yields a result which no longer matches the original design of the game and the game plays improperly. Copying commercial games, such as this one, is a criminal offense and copyright infringement. Copying and re-supplying games such as this one can lead to a term of imprisonment. Think of a pirated game as stolen property. This game

7245-406: The graphics processing unit for the new console, a deal that was publicly announced two days later. Before the launch of the Xbox 360, several Alpha development kits were spotted using Apple's Power Mac G5 hardware. This was because the system's PowerPC 970 processor was running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox 360 would eventually run under IBM 's Xenon processor. The cores of

7350-504: The holiday period (November–January) and work with every Xbox 360 console. It was released on November 4, 2010. Built-in Through AV connector (excluding E models which have no AV connector) At launch, the Xbox 360 was available in two configurations: the "Xbox 360" package (unofficially known as the 20 GB Pro or Premium), priced at US$ 399 or £ 279.99, and the "Xbox 360 Core", priced at US$ 299 and £209.99. The original shipment of

7455-471: The legal remedies available to publishers or authors whose copyrights are violated. Software usage models range from node locking to floating licenses (where a fixed number licenses can be concurrently used across an enterprise), grid computing (where multiple computers function as one unit and so use a common license) and electronic licensing (where features can be purchased and activated online). The term license management refers to broad platforms which enable

7560-405: The machines, and whether the agreement, that supplied the machines to the factories, said anything about this, and what the laws are in the nation where this is being done. For example, the machines might be leased from the manufacturer of the machines. If they are ever to be returned, they need to go back in the same kind of condition and engineering shape as when they were first delivered. There

7665-399: The manual. Copy protection was activated not only at installation, but every time the game was executed. Several imaginative and creative methods have been employed, in order to be both fun and hard to copy. These include: All of these methods proved to be troublesome and tiring for the players, and as such greatly declined in usage by the mid-1990s, at which point the emergence of CDs as

7770-464: The market: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter , The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion , Dead or Alive 4 , Saints Row , and Gears of War . Gears of War would become the best-selling game on the console with 3 million copies in 2006, before being surpassed in 2007 by Halo 3 with over 8 million copies. Six games were initially available in Japan, while eagerly anticipated games such as Dead or Alive 4 and Enchanted Arms were released in

7875-413: The media they purchase, as long as a "writer" is available that can write to blank media. All types of media require a "player"—a CD player, DVD player, videotape player, computer or video game console —which must be able to read the media in order to display it to a human. Logically, a player could be built that reads the media and then writes an exact copy of what was read to the same type of media. At

7980-503: The modders and the company in which the modders agree not to do anything that destroys the company's business model and the company agrees to support the modding community by providing technical specifications and information. Some commercial video games thrive through a modding community. In the case of Half-Life and Warcraft III , mods called Counter-Strike and Defense of the Ancients (DotA) respectively , drove sales of

8085-407: The most console units but eventually saw a collapse of third-party software support in its later years, and it has been viewed by some as a fad since the succeeding Wii U had a poor debut in 2012. The PlayStation 3 struggled for a time due to being too expensive and initially lacking quality games, making it far less dominant than its predecessor, the PlayStation 2 , and it took until late in

8190-500: The motion, but the Judge did not concur. Today copyright infringement is often facilitated by the use of file sharing . In fact, infringement accounts for 23.8% of all internet traffic in 2013. In an effort to cut down on this, both large and small films and music corporations have issued DMCA takedown notices, filed lawsuits, and pressed criminal prosecution of those who host these file sharing services. The EURion constellation

8295-486: The original Xbox's lifetime. The PC-like architecture meant the early EA Sports games ran at 60fps compared to only 30 on PS3, Xbox Live meant every dedicated player had an existing friends list, and Halo meant Microsoft had the killer next-generation exclusive. And when developers demo games on PC now they do it with a 360 pad—another industry benchmark, and a critical one." The Xbox 360 began production only 69 days before launch, on September 14, 2005, and Microsoft

8400-466: The original software for years. Modded drivers are made for improved performance which official versions of drivers do not offer or in cases where there are no official versions of drivers for new hardware designed for older operating systems such as Windows 98 . Case modding may range from simple case (or chassis ) painting, to extensive case modifications with custom-fabricated pieces. The terms modding and modder have expanded to encompass

8505-406: The platform with 38 nominations and 12 wins – more than any other platform. By March 2008, the Xbox 360 had reached a software attach rate of 7.5 games per console in the US; the rate was 7.0 in Europe, while its competitors were 3.8 (PS3) and 3.5 (Wii), according to Microsoft. At the 2008 Game Developers Conference , Microsoft announced that it expected over 1,000 games available for Xbox 360 by

8610-406: The platform. On August 17, 2023, Microsoft announced that on July 29, 2024, the Xbox 360 game marketplace would stop offering new purchases and Microsoft Movies & TV app will no longer function (the console will still be able to download previously purchased content, run it, and enter multiplayer sessions). Known during development as Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox, the Xbox 360

8715-567: The player to play personally recorded CD or DVD copies of video games . Modchips , in their current form, were first available for the Sony PlayStation (and later the PlayStation 2 ). Various other types of copyright circumvention systems also existed for the Nintendo 64 and the older Game Boy consoles (though neither include actual modding, but instead backup devices). There are two different ways of running unsigned code on

8820-493: The primary video game medium made copy protection largely redundant, since CD copying technology was not widely available at the time. Some game developers , such as Markus Persson , have encouraged consumers and other developers to embrace the reality of unlicensed copying and utilize it positively to generate increased sales and marketing interest. Starting in 1985 with the video release of The Cotton Club ( Beta and VHS versions only), Macrovision licensed to publishers

8925-426: The prosecutors dropped all charges against Crippen because of inadmissible evidence obtained through an audio-less video recording deemed illegal by California law. A common example of one kind of modding is video game console mod chips , which can allow users to play homemade games , games legitimately purchased in other regions , or legal backup copies, but can also allow illegal unauthorized copies by allowing

9030-547: The revenue produced by consumers who buy the product instead of acquiring it through casually copied media. Opponents of copy protection argue that people who obtain free copies only use what they can get for free and would not purchase their own copy if they were unable to obtain a free copy. Some even argue that free copies increase profit; people who receive a free copy of a music CD may then go and buy more of that band's music, which they would not have done otherwise. Some publishers have avoided copy-protecting their products on

9135-467: The software on multiple machines, it has been attempted to tie the installed software to a specific machine by involving some unique feature of the machine. Serial number in ROM could not be used because some machines do not have them. Some popular surrogate for a machine serial number were date and time (to the second) of initialization of the hard disk drive or MAC address of Ethernet cards (although this

9240-433: The software", he said "It's wrong to copy-protect programs ... There ought to be some way to stop [piracy] without creating products that are unusable". Philippe Kahn of Borland justified copy-protecting Sidekick because, unlike his company's unprotected Turbo Pascal , Sidekick can be used without accompanying documentation and is for a general audience. Kahn said, according to Pournelle, that "any good hacker can defeat

9345-485: The specification, enforcement and tracking of software licenses . To safeguard copy protection and license management technologies themselves against tampering and hacking, software anti-tamper methods are used. Floating licenses are also being referred to as Indirect Licenses , and are licenses that at the time they are issued, there is no actual user who will use them. That has some technical influence over some of their characteristics. Direct Licenses are issued after

9450-433: The successor to the original Xbox , it is the second console in the Xbox series . It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). As a seventh-generation console , it primarily competed with Sony 's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 's Wii . The Xbox 360 features an online service, Xbox Live , which

9555-518: The successor to the Xbox 360, the Xbox One , on May 21, 2013. On April 20, 2016, Microsoft announced the end of production of new Xbox 360 hardware, though the company will continue to provide hardware and software support for the platform as selected Xbox 360 games are playable on Xbox One. The Xbox 360 continued to be supported by major publishers with new games well into the Xbox One's lifecycle. New titles were still being released in 2018. The Xbox 360 continues to have an active player base years after

9660-505: The system's discontinuation. Speaking to Engadget at E3 2019 after the announcement of Project Scarlett , the next-generation of Xbox consoles after the Xbox One, Phil Spencer stated that there were still "millions and millions of players" active on the Xbox 360. After the launch of the Xbox Series X and S by the end of 2020, the Xbox 360 still had a 17.7% market share of all consoles in use in Mexico; comparatively, newer systems like

9765-445: The theory that the resulting inconvenience to their users outweighs any benefit of frustrating "casual copying". From the perspective of the end user, copy protection is always a cost. DRM and license managers sometimes fail, are inconvenient to use, and may not afford the user all of the legal use of the product they have purchased. The term copy protection refers to the technology used to attempt to frustrate copying, and not to

9870-420: The three-year extended coverage for "General Hardware Failures". The newer Xbox 360 S and E models indicate system overheating when the console's power button begins to flash red, unlike previous models where the first and third quadrant of the ring would light up red around the power button if overheating occurred. The system will then warn the user of imminent system shutdown until the system has cooled, whereas

9975-413: The use of the word "piracy" in these situations, saying that publishers use the word to refer to "copying they don't approve of" and that "they [publishers] imply that it is ethically equivalent to attacking ships on the high seas, kidnapping and murdering the people on them". Certain forms of anti-piracy (such as DRM) are considered by consumers to control the use of the products content after sale . In

10080-414: The weeks following the console's launch. Games targeted specifically for the region, such as Chromehounds , Ninety-Nine Nights , and Phantasy Star Universe , were also released in the console's first year. Microsoft also had the support of Japanese developer Mistwalker , founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi . Mistwalker's first game, Blue Dragon , was released in 2006 and had

10185-408: Was "not good technology" because it reduced picture quality and consumers could easily bypass it, while Peter Chernin of Showtime said "we want to accommodate our subscribers and we know they like to tape our movies". Over time, software publishers (especially in the case of video games ) became creative about crippling the software in case it was duplicated. These games would initially show that

10290-457: Was arrested for modifying game consoles including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii for profit. Crippen testified that it was so owners could play their backup discs of DRM-laden gaming software that they legally own. However, the DMCA states that it is illegal to circumvent copyright protection software, even for non-infringing uses such as backing up legally owned games. In December 2010

10395-461: Was conceived in early 2003. In February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsoft's Vice President J Allard . That month, Microsoft held an event for 400 developers in Bellevue, Washington to recruit support for the system. Also that month, Peter Moore , former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12, 2003, ATI signed on to produce

10500-489: Was convicted by Caerphilly Magistrates' Court in the United Kingdom in July 2005 for selling a modded Xbox with built in software and games. However it is also worthy of note that some other European countries have not interpreted the legal issues in the same way. In Italy a judge threw out a Sony case saying it was up to owners of a console what they did with it. Similarly in Spain, mod chips have been ruled as legal despite

10605-727: Was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the console's lifetime. Available in free and subscription-based varieties, Xbox Live allows users to play games online ; download games (through Xbox Live Arcade ) and game demos; purchase and stream music, television programs, and films through the Xbox Music and Xbox Video portals; and access third-party content services through media streaming applications. In addition to online multimedia features, it allows users to stream media from local PCs. Several peripherals have been released, including wireless controllers , expanded hard drive storage, and

10710-525: Was not able to supply enough systems to meet initial consumer demand in Europe or North America, selling out completely upon release in all regions except in Japan. Forty thousand units were offered for sale on auction site eBay during the initial week of release, 10% of the total supply. By year's end, Microsoft had shipped 1.5 million units, including 900,000 in North America, 500,000 in Europe, and 100,000 in Japan. In May 2008, Microsoft announced that 10 million Xbox 360s had been sold and that it

10815-415: Was released on November 22, 2005, in the United States and Canada; December 2, 2005, in Europe and December 10, 2005, in Japan. It was later launched in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Russia. In its first year in the market, the system was launched in 36 countries, more countries than any other console has launched in

10920-456: Was the "first current generation gaming console" to surpass the 10 million figure in the US. In the US, the Xbox 360 was the leader in current-generation home console sales until June 2008, when it was surpassed by the Wii. By the end of March 2011, Xbox 360 sales in the US had reached 25.4 million units. Between January 2011 and October 2013, the Xbox 360 was the best-selling console in the United States for these 32 consecutive months. By

11025-587: Was useful, writing in 1983 that "For every copy protection scheme there's a hacker ready to defeat it. Most involve so-called nibble/nybble copiers, which try to analyze the original disk and then make a copy". In 1985, he wrote that " dBASE III is copy-protected with one of those 'unbreakable' systems, meaning that it took the crackers almost three weeks to break it". IBM 's Don Estridge agreed: "I guarantee that whatever scheme you come up with will take less time to break than to think of it." While calling piracy "a threat to software development. It's going to dry up

#775224