Arrested three men who modified Xbox to accept pirated games

COLLAB distinguished with the APDC / Siemens Innovation Award

Three men face a lawsuit in the United States for allegedly modifying Microsoft’s Xbox consoles so that the devices read pirated games.

The offenders, two shop owners and a third man, introduced a new chip control and a 250 Gbyte hard disk. THE software embedded in chip created a new boot menu that allowed to play any pirated game.

Shop customers paid between $ 225 and $ 500, depending on the level of modification of the consoles and the number of games pre-loaded on the hard drive, according to the international press.

The men now face federal prosecution for conspiracy and trafficking in technology used to break copy protection systems and have their first hearing scheduled for January next year.

Investigations leading to the arrests reveal that the scheme has been in place for several months. One of the main pieces of evidence against the group is the purchase of a modified console by one of the investigators in the case, who went to the store in disguise and purchased an Xbox for $ 265 that included 77 pirated games. Later this month the group planned to sell the first modified Xbox 360s.

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