Mod chips are available for all the major video game consoles, including the Xbox 360, Xbox, Sony PSP, PlayStation, Playstation 2 and GameCube. Almost all modern console gaming systems have hardware-based schemes which ensure that only officially sanctioned games may be used with the system and implement regional lockout similar to the scheme used in DVD movies. The specific technical nature of these DRM systems varies by system, and may include cryptographic signing (Xbox), intentionally unreadable sectors (PlayStation, Sega Saturn), custom optical media (GameCube, Dreamcast), or some combination thereof. Mod chips are available also for some DVD players, to defeat region code enforcement and user operation prohibitions.

Mod Chips first came into “fame” when die hard, hard core gamers who were tired of the slim offerings that were made available for them in the USA, wanted to get their hands on the often better and more unique Japanese games that were coming out for their game console. This is nothing new, even the Nintendo NES has a device that allowed gamers to plug Japanese Famicom cartridges into their USA NES system so that they could play those really unique Japanese games, or the latest Mario offering that was only available (or came out much sooner) in Japan.

Mod chips typically require some level of technical ability to install. Most commonly, modchips must be soldered on to a console’s motherboard, although there are no-solder install kits (which instead rely on the precise positioning of electrical contacts within the case) which work with some revisions of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox hardware.

As console systems got better and better, a whole following of home brew developers starting making their own software for their consoles. Software like the Xbox Media Center (XMBC) as well as their own little games and programs to stream video and audio. But in order to play/run this software, users are required to be able to load unsigned/home brew code onto their system. This is where mod chips come in. Not only do they allow you to play the latest game offerings from Japan, which as stated earlier, are often much better both graphically and in the way of originality than the games that are for the North American market.