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More Insider Secrets
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Hack the Xbox
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Submitted by:
Steve Kovsky
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It's amazing how great music can enhance any game, particularly action games. As the movie industry has known for about a century, music can make a bad video experience seem a lot better. Xbox is the only video game device that lets you add your own custom soundtracks to your favorite games. Here's how:
- Insert an audio CD into the Xbox optical drive.
- Access the Music menu from the Xbox dashboard display.
- Select Music > Audio CD > Copy, then choose the Copy menu.
Select the tracks you want, using Play or Pause commands to audition songs.
Choose Copy, and Xbox will store the songs on the hard disk. Then insert your game disc and load the songs using the game's setup menu.
Not all Xbox games support the custom soundtrack features, but many of the most popular ones do.
This secret is potentially dangerous and is provided for informational purposes only. In other words, don't do this at home. Some eager gaming hackers out there wanted to get more out of the Xbox, so they developed mod chips. Here are a few of the things they promise to let one do on one's Xbox:
- Play copied and imported games that an unmodified Xbox won't allow.
- Upload games into the system and save them locally on your hard drive.
- Replace your Xbox hard drive with a bigger one.
- Turn your Xbox into a PC and even write your own programs for it.
- Turn your Xbox into a versatile media player, with support for DVDs, VCDs, MP3s, and more.
- Emulate other game consoles, such as Game Boy Advance, Game Boy, NES, SNES, Atari, Genesis, and so on.
Mod chips cost up to $60. Installing one of these chips would void your warranty and is potentially illegal under the DMCA.
Violence, sexuality, and all-around bad behavior abound in many Xbox games. That can be fun for adults but scary for children. Here's how to activate built-in parental control features.
- Turn on the Xbox console without a disc in the disc tray.
- From the dashboard display, choose Settings > Parental Controls.
- Select Pass Code and press buttons on the controller in any sequence. Remember what buttons you pressed and the order in which you pressed them.
- Select Games and choose the maximum rating level you want to allow.
Xbox will also allow you to set maximum rating levels for DVD movies.
Submitted by:
Steve Kovsky
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Obsessive gadget freak Steve Kovsky has almost no impulse control when it comes to electronics. Steve now lives at an undisclosed address so laden with tech toys, it puts the Bat Cave to shame. He's a 20-year veteran tech reporter, a contributing editor for ZDNet AnchorDesk, and a regular technology commentator on KFWB radio in Los Angeles and Fox TV in San Diego. He has also written High-Tech Toys for Your TV and Absolute Beginner's Guide to Windows XP Media Center. |
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Tip 1: Create custom soundtracks
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