Console hackers are shocked after DOJ arrests prominent mod-chip makers

Enlarge / It's-a me, the long arm of the law. (credit: Aurich Lawson / Nintendo / Getty Images)

Anyone who follows the console-hacking scene is by now used to the familiar stories of legal efforts to put a stop to the practice. Companies like Nintendo frequently make use of court orders, cease and desist letters, and civil lawsuits to stop the distribution of game ROMs and/or devices that allow those ROMs (and homebrew software) to run on their hardware.

Still, some members of the console-hacking community expressed surprise at the recent arrests of Gary "GaryOPA" Bowser and Max "MAXiMiLiEN" Louarn, members of the notorious Team Xecuter hacking group (aka TX).

The 38-page indictment, announced Friday by the Department of Justice, also names Yuanning "100+1" Chen, who has yet to be arrested according to the DOJ announcement. The document runs down a laundry list of Team Xecuter's alleged crimes, chief among them designing and selling a variety of products "designed to be circumvention devices that had the purpose of allowing users to play pirated ROMs."

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