Mod Chips are now home free. In Australia, at least.

Australian copyright laws have undergone a massive overhaul this week (it was technically illegal to use an iPod, since it was capable of playing pirated material), but one change in particular is good news for gamers shut out from importing American and Japanese games.

An amendment to the laws relating to pirated software means a mod chip is legal as long as it is being used to circumvent measures that restrict the use of legally purchased DVDs or games from other regions. Only chips that are solely designed to play pirated games will be banned - if a mod chip performs both functions, it will be OK.

Special Counsel Carolyn Dalton, a legal representative from Minter Ellison (big lawyer-types), says:

I think people are just going to have to sit down and think about manufacturing standards.

Amen sister. And that's because the changes go even further, forcing games manufacturers to separate protection measures aimed at combating piracy and those aimed at enforcing regions. In other words, mandatory region-free gaming.

There's no word on whether, or how, this was going to apply to the Wii & PS3, but it's more likely this will be an issue the next generation of consoles will have to face in Australia.

Common sense FTW. Luke Plunkett

Law lets modders back [The Australian]

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