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[GaijinPunch]

Greetings:

yeah, I'm a noob.  I've looked around quite a bit and couldn't find any info on the Japanese consoles, so I figured I'd ask.  Here's my details.

I'm one of the 18 people that bought the Limited Edition X-box the day it came out
I will probably one day use X-box Live, but not for a while
I've been playing PSO on my GC for the last several months, so I'm WAY out of the loop on any chips, emus, apps, etc.
I'll mainly be using the mod to play emulators.
The only time I've ever touched a soldering iron, was to hand it to someone to mod my GC.
I live in Japan (but I'm American)
I like long walks on the beach

Now, with that in mind...

It seems that everyone's going w/ the X2 - I'm thinking about ordering that.  I'm curious on a few issues.
1: Any known issues w/ this chip (or any other) w/ the Japanese consoles?
2: Has anyone here had absolutely zero soldering experience and installed one themselves?  I do sysadmin for a job, so I'm not adverse to reading manuals.
3: I thought of having someone mod it, but I can't find any in Japan.  Shipping the box overseas would be $60USD each way (no thanks).  On that note, anyone here in Japan that knows of a place that will mod it in the event I can't sort it out?

That should be enough for now.  Any help is appreciated.

[KazuyaWaruasobi]

Gah!! I am so jealous. Not only do you live in Japan, but you also have an Japanese LE Xbox. You lucky bastard you. . .

*sigh* Anyway. . .the only difference between a Nihojin Xbox and an Amerikajin Xbox is the default regional restrictions in the BIOS. You'd be fine using an X2 Pro or Lite. As for soldering. . .they're pretty easy to solder in if you're careful and use the wire, not the pin-header. I'd gladly mod it for you, but I am in the US. . .so. . .yeah.

One more question: How much are the LE Xboxs over there? You can tell me in Yen, no need to convert it.

Edit- Oh, and don't worry about Live. You'll be fine as long as you use the disable feature that every decent chip has.

[GaijinPunch]

Thanks for the reply.
Not sure about the lucky part of lucky bastard.

Anyways, yeah, I tend to invoke jealousy in some people.  Been here for a while.  There are some times when living in the states comes in handy - like now.  I've got another buddy of mine checking to see if there's a palce locally that will do it (I'm sure Akihabara has SOMEONE that will do this) but finding it is the key.  most shops I buy games at are little holes in the wall on the 4th floor, of a near-demolished building that took years to find.  I imagine finding someone that mods would take forever as well.  One does come to mind, but would have to go out there to find out....can't remember the name, much less the number.

Anyways, about the Japanese LE edition, I don't think they run that much.  I checked Yahoo Auctions just now - I'd say 20,000 to 30,000 yen would get you a used one, complete w/ box.  I had to throw my box away b/c it was just too big for my pad (small pad - 30 sq m, 2 people... moving soon though).  It's a cute unit though.

The shipping would be the donger though - I've sent plenty of Sega Saturns and Turbo Duo's back when I located items (quite a while ago) and shipping on those guys was about 6200 yen ($55 ish).  I'd assume at least another $10 on the X-box.

EDIT: Oh, yeah one of the great things about living in Japan is having a 100MB Fiber connection in my house.... I should really get X-box Live, now that I can actually download w/o lagging any games.

[GaijinPunch]

Thanks - guess I didn't search hard enough (doh).
Not exactly my neighborhood, but close enough I suppose.

[Fokus]

I also need help installing the chip in Japan, I live in Tokyo..Did you manage to get intouch with the installer, GaijinPunch?...if you did could you point him in my direction as well. That would be much appreciated.

I cant find the thread that was around yesterday for the installer in Yokosuka...hmmm, has it been deleted

CHEERS

[chris67rs]

100m fiber? thats S L O W.. we have Gig fiber here...

[GaijinPunch]

Try going to the installers forum, and search for "Japan" in that forum only (not Japanese - that's what I was searching for the first time).
I sent a PM yesterday, but haven't heard back.  I'll keep ya posted.


What part of Tokyo are you in?

Chris67rs:
Gig Fiber in the home?  when did this happen?  There's a few places that have it here, but only buildings.  Sad thing is, there's very few places where I can take advantage of my Fiber.

[Fokus]

Nope that thread is gone...I found it yesterday as well, but for some reason it is gone...did you find the same guy that lives in Yokosuka? With the cool blue xbox on the showcase homepage?

lemme know...anyhow Im near shinagawa, how about you?

1gig fibre...it doesnt make much difference cause no one braodcasts at that biitrate yet, Im glad if i get over 500k/sec with my connection...most dlls are still below 100.

[GaijinPunch]

Yer right - the thread is gone.  The one I found was the guy in Yokosuka.  Not close enough to swing by, but that's what the Takkyubin is for, yeah?  I'm wondering if he's not doing mods anymore.  I've got a friend that modded his PS2 perfectly first shot, so I'm sure he could handle this.  He said he'd rather not try my X-box, to avoid frying it, but he's likely better than me, although I'm willing to give it a shot.

What boards did you try?  There was one shop that would mod GC's to play imports for 6000 yen, which I used once  but they don't do Xbox's.

I'm thinking Akihabara's got to have someplace somewhere that will mod them, but finding it is the problem.  There's a shop on the 4th floor on the main street (about 200 meters from the station) that has gamesharks, imports, and some other dodgy stuff.  That's worth looking into - they could at least recommend someone I'd assume, but it's a bit far from my house.

I'm in Ikejiri - one stop from Shibuya, so not too far from you.  

Maybe we can put our heads together and figure something out.

BTW -  Tokyu Bunka Kaikan has an advanced showing of Matrix: Reloaded tonight if you're into that.  First one starts at 09:30 - that's a week before the Roppongi Hills premiere, but of course, doesn't have the nice seats.  I would'ev never known, but my better half told me last night.

[Fokus]

Cool thanks for the Akiba info, Im going there tomorrow and Ill check out the shop could you send me info on that shop in akiba?  or a minute made map

Any info i collect Ill post here and in my other thread I started in the installers section... I think it will help out the foreign community in Japan that want to do some modding.  

by the way I got a reply from the guy in Yokosuka, but he never contacted me after I replied to him, and the thread disappeared after I got in touch with him...hmmm

Cheers GaijinPunch...from Gaijin Fokus ....

by the way you into house or techno?  I dj in Shibuya almost every month.

[GaijinPunch]

The place... hmm.... where is it exactly?  

Bear with me a sec.
If you're leaving he station (the main one) and you hit the main street, you'll turn right, but the shop is on the LEFT.  It should be on the 4th floor in a building +/- 3 away from Messe Sanno if I remember correctly.  I think they've got an elevator.  In all honesty, I'm not sure if it's dodgy enough to do mods (I think there's actually a law about this in Japan now, so they won't do it in "shops" per se) but it's worth a shot.

There are some other small places in the back streets there, where the Chinese guys used to sell pirated CDs, and the homeless guys still do (at least last time I went) sell really lame porn cds and antique laptops.  (I should be drawing a nice picture for anyone that's never been there. 8P)

>>by the way you into house or techno? I dj in Shibuya almost every month.

There was once a time about 3-4 years ago, when I never made plans - I just went out, and met about 30 friends at Maniac Love, Code, or whatever was good, and stayed out until Sunday afternoon.  Doing that for two years put way too much mileage on me.  That with my new job, I need my braincells.  I do go out every now and again, but my turntables at the moment are collecting dust.  If you tell me you DJ at the Ruby Room, I'll have to bust out laughing.  Wait... you don't look like Ross do you?

[Fokus]

The RUBY ROOM you say, yes I do, I did the Saturday Night Fever Parties up until last month...now Im at LaFabrique and Nuts...I dont DJ every weekend though, got a job and a family...once or twice month is enough.

Yeah, Actually I think they will tell me squat, Im a Gaijin so they probably won't lemme into their secret world...

Lets see if we can hunt down someone that can install our mods, cause I want to play those games that are out in the us, and will never come to Japan becasue probably sony and nintendo payed off the import export department

[GaijinPunch]

I'm actually pretty good friends w/ Greg & Matt, so I've spent some time in the Ruby Room. (Matt made an emergency stop at my pad a couple of weeks ago w/ some water when I was deathly ill - not fun.  Of course, he said I had SARS).

I'll try to get in touch with my old boss from a few years ago.  He'd probably know whether it's possible or not.  He actually told me of the store I mentioned earlier, and he does go to Akiba a bit, so he'd know better than me.

Other than that, I think the instructions posted on this site might be enough.  I'm inclined to do it myself, but would rather practice on something worthless first.

[Fokus]

Matt and Greg eh...have known em since the Sugar High days...hmm I probably have met you too...pretty funny what a small world we live in.  Anyhow Im going there this afternoon so after I get info Ill get back to ya...

worthless who be that?

[GaijinPunch]

Any luck in Akihabara?
I've given up on the internet... man, there's really *NOTHING* on the Japanese sites.   I guess a bigger install base would help though.