The original Xbox was home to a flurry of modding and enhancements. From mod chips to hard drives to LED’s to Linux to custom skinning, Microsoft’s Xbox offered some of the most customization ever in a console (although, of course, none of it was ever condoned by Microsoft itself). Most gamers will be happy to know that the race to modify and customize the Xbox 360 has already begun and much progress has already been made.
Current modifications that have already been found and have begun to be carried out include LED modifications. Similar to those for the Xbox, modders have begun to take apart systems and controllers and input LED’s, or little colored lights, into them that light up when the Xbox is on. Although designed purely for show, such modifications can be very appealing.
Skinning has also gone completely crazy. The Xbox was by far the most skinned system ever, and already the Xbox 360 has quite a skinning following behind it. Gamers everywhere are making and ordering their very own custom skins from various online sources and putting them onto their Xbox 360’s. These skins vary from custom designs to action shots from games such as Halo. The biggest appeal of skinning is in the fact it allows gamers to set their own systems apart and make them unique amongst the pack of systems. Also, custom skinning is cheap, easy to find, and generally very easy to install.
Thanks to the fact that the Xbox 360 can hook up with things such as mp3 players and digital cameras, there are already a ton of modifications in the works for these areas. Things such as being able to listen to podcasts on the Xbox 360 have already been done and other media modifications (such as being able to watch or listen to various types of media and being able to install a media player different than Windows Media) are already in development and should hit the Xbox 360 very soon.
Although the Xbox 360 runs off of a Windows core, similar to the original Xbox, the process of attempting to crack the system and use another application, such as the highly modifiable Linux, has already begun. Simply put, the potential modding ability under a different application like Linux is almost endless, and hackers/modders absolutely drool over the possibilities.
No mod chips are currently available for the Xbox 360, however, fear not because they are under development and will most likely be available online very soon. Despite efforts by console manufacturers, no one can stop the mod chip business. The Xbox was able to be modified so that it could have a larger hard drive, play illegal copies of games, and store games on the enhanced hard drive thanks to mod chips. Expect similar capabilities of Xbox 360 mod chips when they eventually arrive.
Essentially, it all boils down to being able to improve the hardware in the Xbox 360. And, since the system is essentially built like a computer, improving the hardware should be a snap once the process is figured out. The future seems very bright indeed for Xbox 360 modding and hacking.