My 1st x360 was modded. I thought, hey, my old xbox and ps2 was modded anyways, so let's continue.

But when I got it, I really wanted to play on live, and i am regret also when buying the modded system.

Luckily, I had a friend who wanted one for exclusive offline gaming, and he bought an unmodded one to trade with mine. I lost money there, yes, but I got a fresh system which was a more recent build (August instead of April), and have been enjoying online play without worry.

Apart from losing all my saves the other day (I would've lost more without the recover gamertag function), I guess I've been pretty satisfied with it. I know I made the right choice with the unmodded system. I earn enough to cover the live costs and the original games (usually secondhand tho) so I guess it's ok. RM 150 for a new Asian version game is ok. Over RM200 is not. RM 80ish for a secondhand one is even more ok.

Also, when I got the modded system, 4 out of the 10 games that came with it did NOT work. That really pissed me off, and helped me make up my mind. I wanted a system that worked, and did not require me to go back to Sungei Wang every week only to find that I can't change it because Visit Malaysia Year 2007 means No Open Piracy Year 2007 also.

Yeah, I'd trust the Sungei Wang buggers as far as I can throw them. They're there to give you the best deal on something, not provide super customer satisfaction.

This post has been edited by Roland San: Feb 19 2007, 07:11 PM

The problem is, it's already ingrained into the typical Malaysian mentality that piracy is a really grey area where rules are flexible, and therefore can be taken advantage of. Intellectual property has no value here because it's not a tangible object that can be physically valued or passed from hand to hand.

Not only that, the medium by which data can be transferred, either by disc or over a network, is so easily and readily accessible, there is no barrier to prevent widespread duplication and distribution. CD-keys and copy protection is so limited.

So it's a vicious cycle lah. The consumer will opt for the lower price alternative, and the developers will knee-jerk and start avoiding the market altogehter, leaving the true original-buying local consumers with little alternative than to masquerade as Singaporeans in order to get their daily gaming fixes.

I don't see the point of ciplak anymore with the pasar malam here.

Buy a game for rm80, finish it, sell it off for rm80.

Repeat.

That rm200 you'd spend on the modding, it's better to invest in like 3 ori games from pasar malam, and move them when you're done with them.

This post has been edited by Roland San: Feb 26 2007, 03:21 PM

Are you gonna play online? Because that's one of the 360's BIGGEST strengths.

+1 to unmodded.

With copy DVDs, there's a very high failure rate. Out of 10 discs you buy, 2-4 are not going to work. That's from me, as a first-hand witness.

-1 to modded.

With modded systems, many have problems getting online. The vendors of modded systems will tell you NOT to go online. Understandably, if MS catches you online with a modded system, wouldn't it be in their interest to disable your account? Might not happen today, but it's no fun playing on borrowed time.

-1 to modded.

The vendors of modded systems also tell you NOT to accept updates. And those updates you need to play online, wouldn't they mess with the firmware mod? Maybe not, but you can see the inherent risk there.

-1 to modded.

I brought my unmodded system and tried to system link with my friend's modded system. R6V and GoW both failed to connect as my system had all the updates and his did not, and these games require the exact version to function.

-1 to modded.

Game cost? RM20 vs RM160? Well, you gotta play smart, then. Look in the 360 Pasar Malam. Old titles trade for RM80, and the slightly newer ones and limited editions move at around RM100 to RM120. Put in RM80, buy a game. Finish it, sell it. Repeat. No, you won't have 2,364,635 (of which 60% work) different games like you'd have with a modded system, but with that number, would you meaningfully enjoy every single game out there? Already, once you have 6 titles, you'd find that's enough to take up whatever free time you have. So that RM80 can last you a pretty long time, re-using it to purchase games.

+1 to unmodded.

Xbox Live cost? Yeah, the subscription is not cheap. Yeah, we all have to pretend to be Singaporean. But last night I hid behind a pillar, waited three seconds as this guy ran towards where I was, and I jumped out and chainsawed him in GoW. He was the last enemy on the map. That adrenaline rush, that moment when you clench your fist and say "YES!!!!" (with the mic off, of course) makes it worthwhile. More than worthwhile.

+1 to unmodded.

Lastly, some people have managed to get modded systems working with Live and all that. Good for them, it shows ingenuity and a certain disregard for piracy laws, which is what they're willing to live with. My conscience is clear, I'm glad that what I pay goes back to the devs when I pick up a new game. Yeah, so what if MS makes some $ off me, I'm really enjoying the 360 so that's worth it. And if you really want to know, I did buy a modded system first. Within an hour I knew I made a mistake. I went to great pains to get rid of it, and get an unmodded one. And I'm glad I did.

people keep on asking.

Not disagreeing with you lah. Unmodded with genuine software is the way to go.

Yeah, and as I said, it's like playing on borrowed time....

I was down at my friend's place the other day. Of the first 10 titles he got for his modded system, 4 do not work as intended, or at all.

1) PGR3 has the entire city of Tokyo missing. Loading any race there will hang the system. After a few trophies in, you simply cannot progress any further.
2) TH Project 8 gets into the main menu and character creation, but actually entering the game results in a crash.
3) PES6 simply does not initialise.
4) Full Auto also fails to initialise.

Now, some were bought in Sg Wang in late 2006. They are now impossible to change, given the VMY07 crackdown on pirated stuff in high tourist traffic areas. You're also not assured of a perfectly stamped disc, and many of these problems may come from the lack of any QC at all. I dunno about you, but many VCD/DVD movies artifact like hell towards the end of the show. Since it happens across different players, I'm thinking it's a disc manufacturing thing, or at least something to do with the disc.

Also, with pirated discs on the x360, we have found out that it doesn't take very many minor scratches on the disc surface to render it pretty much useless. Unlike the original xbox, or ps2, they'd run moderately scratched discs without a problem. Discs at my friend's place have always had a naturally high attrition rate (imagine a stack of discs in the open, with no covers...) but even the effort put into taking care of these new x360 ones can't help but result in minor scarring. That has resulted in a couple of faulty discs already.

But as always, YMMV.