by Logan Hampton

Created on: October 10, 2007   Last Updated: January 18, 2012

Assuming we are only speaking of the original XBox, and ignoring the XBox 360, then I would be led to say that there is a great advantage of modding or chipping the console. The greatest benefit I find is that it easier to install software and change the hardware of the console, significantly increasing the use of what once was somewhat costly. The largest benefit of software installation is the ability to install the XBox Media Center, or XBMC, which does just as the name suggests, providing a now low-cost option for a media center that can stream from a PC. Hand in hand with this, the ability to trade the XBox's now paltry 10GB drive with a much bigger (and inexpensive, these days) hard drive, enabling one to store much more video, music, and image files.

Earlier in the life of the XBox console, modding and chipping, of course, would not have been the best idea to follow through with, but as of now there's nothing much else to be done with the console. Achievements aren't available, and a majority of the servers for the XBox's games have gone down, leaving most of the on-line action only viable on the 360 now, so there's no need worry about logging on getting your account banned. Of course, for the reverse reasons I wouldn't recommend doing any kind of modding or chipping of the XBox 360, high prices on the hard drives and wireless adapters aside.

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