In your article on Lik Sang International (South China Morning Post, Technology, September 2), you said the modification chips could be used to do two things. However, as far as I can see, only one of these things is obviously illegal - playing pirated games. Surely the other mod, being able to play regionally restricted games, is a marketing device.
Provided the user has bought a legitimate copy of the game, what difference does it make what region they live in or where they bought their player? What happens if you buy a legitimate game cartridge when you are travelling in the United States or Europe? If you pay full price, shouldn't it work?
The region-specific coding makes no sense in a place like Hong Kong where games or other digital products such as DVDs seem to come from all over the place, or where people travel so much and pick up software in different countries.
For example, I bought a legitimate copy of a television mini-series in HMV last week. My Mac G3 PowerBook refused to play the movie because it was a Region 1 disc and Hong Kong is designated as Region 3. As consumers, I do not think we should be restricted in this way when we buy a legitimate copy of a movie. After all, we are supposed to be licensing the performance, not buying a product.
I would like to see the software vendors explain why they do it and why hardware manufacturers - such as Apple - continue to support it.
Brian Paterson