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A L S O__T O D A Y 21st Log Haiku error messages surface in Microsoft courtroom! - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K What is "Multi-Level Marketing" and how did it die? Discuss the future of spam in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk ___________________ Search barnesandnoble.com for great technology book bargains ___________________ R E C E N T L Y Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg So iMacs have fun new colors. What's so revolutionary about tinted plastic? (01/08/99) On to Mars! By Rebecca Bryant A grass-roots movement burns to put human beings on the Red Planet -- soon (01/07/98) Five fruity flavors By Janelle Brown Happy days are here again, at Macworld (01/06/98) The ecology of Java By Peter Wayner It's not just Sun vs. Microsoft anymore -- as the success of little Transvirtual shows (01/05/98) Ten predictions for 1999 By Janelle Brown, Andrew Leonard and Scott Rosenberg Jenni in space! Palmagotchi! and other headlines for the new year (01/04/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST FEATURES ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - -

A gray-market "mod chip" supercharges a Sony PlayStation -- but how does it make you feel? BY TODD LEVIN | You know you have a problem with something when you are willing to lie to enjoy it. For instance: On a recent Saturday afternoon, when my girlfriend asked what my plans were for the day, I grimaced and complained that my faultless self-discipline demanded that I spend a rare free weekend afternoon at home, working on some writing. A perfect lie -- untraceable and, indirectly, even ennobling. In reality, I was headed downtown with my Sony PlayStation tucked furtively into my backpack between a change of clothes, destined for Manhattan's Chinatown. I was going to do something I had been told I should have done a long time ago. As I entered the nameless shop and slid the console across the counter, the clerk and I exchanged only four words in total. Me: "Mod chip." Him: "Cash only." While there is an enormous market of gadgets for serious gamers -- from game-specific driving control pads to tricked-out gaming chairs with sperm-count-jeopardizing bass speakers positioned not coincidentally between the player's legs -- the most desirable piece of hardware for the PlayStation doesn't come blister-packed on friendly retail shelves. The mod chip, which has been around almost as long as the PlayStation itself, is a small piece of hardware. When soldered on the motherboard of your PlayStation, it overrides the "territory blocks" Sony Computer Entertainment imposes on all PlayStation units, effectively rendering your local unit "universal." Technically, this enables a child (or adult) to use his American console to play an imported Japanese PlayStation title that, depending on domestic distribution deals and legal red tape, may not be available for retail in the United States for another three to 12 months. Additionally, since the data on the CD-ROMs on which PlayStation games are encoded can be read by other devices, someone would be able to play backed-up copies of his game collection -- which the PlayStation otherwise blocks. And theoretically that very same someone would be able to purchase and play backed-up copies of other people's PlayStation games. Which, technically, is piracy. The mod chip draws a line in the sand between hobbyists and hardcore gamers and begs the question: Which side are you on? It doesn't take much consideration to figure out which side Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is on. With a fleet of software developers, marketers and resellers to appease, Sony can't waste much time thinking about the consumer -- particularly a consumer who would willfully put his own PlayStation under the knife simply because he couldn't wait until spring to play Ridge Racer Type 4, which thousands of Japanese game fans have in their hot hands in time for Christmas. N E X T_ P A G E .|. Sony says they're a no-no -- but mod chips don't seem to be illegal