The great modder Zubren has done the unthinkable. Well, I’m sure a lot of us thought of it, but none of us had the skills to actually do it. Zubren recreated the Halo map Wizard in Unreal Tournament 3.
This is a remake of the Halo map named Wizard. This was a great close quarters map and I felt it would be right at home with Unreal Tournament 3. This also has full bot pathing so you can play singleplayer without having to find a server with someone hosting this map.
The modding community around UT3 is exploding rapidly with some great content. This one is available for both the PC and PS3, so get downloading.
Word on the streets is that Microsoft has dropped their ban hammer on modded Xbox 360’s as a Christmas present to all their users. Good for Microsoft. There really is no point to modding a Xbox 360 other than playing burnt games. We don’t need people using modded game saves either, so I’m glad Microsoft is still doing a good job of banning consoles.
There have been a couple rumblings that users without modded consoles are getting banned and Microsoft isn’t doing anything to help. Wish I had some good news for you people, but I don’t. I understand there is always collateral damage when these bans come down, so hopefully Microsoft addresses this in some way.
If you’ve been banned, let us know how it went down. I’m sure you weren’t modding. You’re innocent, right?
This guy shows off his skills at taking off warranty stickers, specifically off his Xbox 360 for extra curricular activities, the man does have some skills.
::Disclaimer:: We do not condone or promote trying this at home as MS might come to your house and beat you unmercifully. Also note this works on your friends or childrens mail for pre-opening envelopes.
So it looks like Nintendo has decided to give it’s Wii users a new update that looks to spruce up a few different things on the console. Some facelifts were given to the general page, which include a digital clock and now you can see the current weather without having to actually go into the channel. Aside from prettiness Nintendo also re-designed the Wii Shopping channel to make it more user friendly and also is addressing the whole modding scene.
You will get a Mod Chip Warning!
To me the best part of the update is Nintendo thumbing their nose at all the modders out in the world. You will be greeted by this message “IMPORTANT: If you do not wish to accept this upgrade you can shut down your Wii console … If your Wii console has an unauthorized technical modification, this upgrade could cause inoperability of your console.” And of course by “may” you know they mean it will wreck your modded system, well played Reggie. Nintendo is not taking modding lightly and looks to be incorporating “fixes” to dissuade people form modding, don’t be surprised to see SONY and MS follow suit as well with their own “system updates”.
Here is the official list of all the different changes: Read More »
Nintendo issued a press release today coming out in support of the recent raids in the US on modders, which we reported earlier today.
“Nintendo and its developers and publishers lost an estimated $762 million in sales in 2006 due to piracy of its products,” said Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America’s senior director of anti-piracy. “Nintendo’s anti-piracy team works closely with law enforcement officials worldwide to seize mod chips and counterfeit software. Since April, Nintendo has seized more than 91,000 counterfeit Wii discs globally.”
Like I said in the comments of that story, I agree with the goverment raids here. Software piracy hinders future development in the industry.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a press release like this from Sony in the near future. We’ve already heard reports that Microsoft is happy about the raids.
If you are considering buying a modded system or even worse selling one, you may want to cease and desist according to a report from msnbc.com. More than 30 businesses and homes were raided by federal agents to put the exclamation on a year long probe into gaming. While the legality to mod your own system is in a bit of a gray area, it is very illegal to copy games that are not your own and even more illegal to sell the games on a modded system. Its sort of like owning a paintball gun. You can legally have it, but unless you are playing paintball on a designated range, chances are you are breaking the law. Owning a mod chip does not automatically make you guilty, but common sense would tell a reasonable mind that you are trying to subvert some copyright law and thats where they get you. There have also been reports of Xbox Live Memberships being revoked because of the detection of modded hardware and software. While the report does not go into much if any detail on how the accused were caught, it is safe to say there was a sting on the sale and purchase of these systems.
I am usually not one to side with the government on some very stringent copyright laws, I have to say I do agree with this course of action. Video games cost a lot of money as you all well know and modded software can either drive the price up or create the ability to cheat on Live play and that is just not acceptable. Notice the systems targeted, PS2, PS3, Wii, and Xbox360 are all still alive and kicking. When a system becomes defunct, it usually gives some leeway, but then again, do you really want an agent breaking down your door because you had to play NFL2K2? I guess the lesson here is that it does not matter how good you are of a computer designer/engineer/scientist, the Feds will remain several steps ahead.
Although Gears of War is in fact requiring the use of Games for Windows Live, it’s Epic cousin, Unreal Tournament, is shunning the service.
As confirmed by Mark Rein, UT3 will not be connecting to Live on the PC.
UT3 does not use Games for Windows LIVE. We have not decided about cross platform play between PC and PS3. We’re not 100% sure that users want that feature but if we get time we’ll play around with it and see how it works. In the mean time we plan to be able to serve the PS3 from PC servers so that should help us gets lots of great servers going.
I don’t see how Windows Live would benefit an Unreal Tournament game. All it would do is pigeon hole it into using approved servers and such. It would really stifle the modding community and privately run servers.
We all knew he was one of the biggest assholes of all time, but console modding too? Watch the video to find out what happens when the recent update for Xbox 360 gets Adolf’s Live account banned.
I can’t say this is a surprise. We’ve all been waiting for Microsoft to throw the switch and boot all the modded consoles. Personally, I think it’s about time.
Major Nelson and Gamerscore Blog are both reporting on the new security in place for the Xbox 360. If you get a Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D, basically it means your SOL. Reports are coming in from all over the intarweb of users getting banned. Go buy a new 360 if you have any intentions of playing online.
With the Halo 3 Beta starting up, Microsoft decided this was the best time to start dropping some ban-hammers on fools. I remember the day Halo 2 dropped they did the same with the original Xbox.
I can’t say I blame Microsoft one bit here. Last gen was different, with many people, myself included, modding their Xbox to rock Xbox Media Center. It was, and still is, one of the best streaming media center applications you can use. With the Xbox 360, the only modding you can do is to play burnt games. Piracy hurts the industry. Glad Microsoft is finally stepping up and addressing the issue.
We're like Spaceballs... we're making Loot Ninja everything. Coming soon we'll have hats, shirts, hoodies, possibly banana hammocks if one Editor has his way...
Check out the shirt prototypes here and the hats here
If you are considering buying a modded system or even worse selling one, you may want to cease and desist according to a report from 
