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Routine Upgrades Are the Bane of 'Homebrew' Enthusiasts
Console makers dislike this sort of tinkering because it opens the door to piracy. The same tricks that make an Xbox more functional to power users are the same tricks that override the controls put into place to keep users from playing illegally copied versions of games.
For inexperienced consumers, there's a huge risk with tinkering on these gadgets. At the very least, you'll void your warranty as soon as you crack open a game-console case. And game devices that connect to the Internet can give their makers stronger ways to register their disapproval: Microsoft throws anyone that it detects as playing with a "modified" Xbox off its online service.
  Sony's PlayStation Portable is a favorite device for "homebrewers," video game tinkerers. (By Shizuo Kambayashi -- Associated Press) |
The worst-case scenario for this type of hobbyist is a bit scarier: Install some amateur software code the wrong way, and it can turn that console or portable gadget into a useless piece of plastic and metal. In the gamer-hacker community, this is called "bricking" -- as in, that's what you just turned your $400 game console or $250 PSP into.
A Real-Life Workout
Video games are starting to hit the gym.
A Laurel-based company, Powergrid Fitness, announced this week that it has reached a deal with Gold's Gym in which some gyms in the chain will start carrying Powergrid's flagship Kilowatt device, which is both game controller and exercise machine.
With the Kilowatt controller, players (or exercise buffs) push, pull and lean on the machine -- a small platform with a game controller rigged to the top of movable post -- to move their on-screen characters. Instead of using just their thumbs to play a game, the idea goes, users move their whole bodies. The resulting workout, the company says, can burn about 350 calories an hour.
Powergrid's vice president of marketing, Jason Grimm, said racing games tend to be the most popular titles used with the device, such as Electronic Arts' best-selling Need for Speed Underground and a new motorcycle game called Moto GP. The first local Gold's Gym location to install the device will be in Glen Burnie, he said.
The company also sells the $500 product at its Web site, http:/
