I have always wanted to have a modified console. This steps to the original Playstation console. I will have to be liberal with the truth here, as I do not wish to find myself with legal writs placed at my door. An old friend, had set-up a site on-line, carrying out the job of modifying the Sony. (One a side note, does anyone remember the big jump from 16 to 32 bit gaming?). Although his business was only modestly profitable, the legal eagles over in Japan and the States found out about much of the illegal sale of goods and services for their product. A product that had come from nowhere, to really knock out Nintendo and Sega. I knew little about it at the time, but soon after my friend contacted me to tell me that lawyers representing Sony UK had been in touch. He had 30 days to remove the site, and any infringement of Sony copyright (logo and use of their copyrighted trademarks) or face legal action. Later I would discover, this was the kinder, softer approach. Rather than raiding the premises of the domain registrar. This episode, put me off the grey area of the gaming industry. It happened, if you got away with you (most did!) but if you didn’t, it was curtains (almost quite literally). Ultimately, I was not that interested. A games console, was at the time just that. I had a PC, which although being extremely flexible and upgradable, it fore filled all my needs. The multimedia revolution and the ability to network almost anything has changed that. So, this weekend, after some four years out in the cold, I will be heading into the world of the mod chip. Hold on, that is not quite true. Many people will tell you that you need a mod chip. This is not the case. You do not. It is a major misconception, even for someone as technically well read as Hussein. Before you embark on any project, you have a vision, a dream, if you will. In essence, this is what you aim to achieve after your hard work, dedication and time have been put in. In this case, the dream was itself, a real product, a definity reality. The KISS range of DVD players are something else. They contain ethernet ports with support for streaming DivX file format, the first mainstream consumer player to do so. That was product, I had to better It was not until in mid July, I was discussing online with my techie friend, Hussein about the possibilities with modifying the XBox. It was then I discovered exactly what could be achieved and how far the XBox web community had gone from taking an extraordinary console and making it into a much more versatile and useful tool. 🙂 The thought of having to open my XBox and solder onto the motherboard is not a decision you take likely. Knowing that there are serious implications for even the smallest of problems could result in a plastic box being taken home. It was to my sheer joy that, a few days later I heard again from my dearest friend, Hussein. His tone had changed, his entire attitude had changed. Gone was the cautious careful words, to be replaced with positive personal projections. It could now be done, without too much hard work, and even allow for the expansion from the current drive in the machine to 120 gigabytes. As I have explained already, I am not a gamer. I am more of a entertainment person. The opportunity was now given to me on a plate. I could get the XBox to replace my current dated, Phillips DVD player in the lounge. This would not only make the console the sole new wave media player, but it could also hold mp3s, music videos, divx, and allow for other possibilities, such as internet (web) radio. I had planned this project for Sunday 22nd August. It was not to be. Problems with delivery meant, although I received my new hard drive, my Mega X Key and DVD remote never arrived in time. I had to reschedule with Hussein. Next Sunday, the date was set.