Gamestop has surely heard of what has happened to people who hack the PS3 console, so why would they even stray into a territory that could even been considered as “hax”?
That’s what Gamestop has done (sorta) and the internet latched onto this story like gravy on a biscuit. Gamestop is selling refurbished PS3 consoles they have dubbed as “Supercharged”. The upgraded PS3 features some pretty cool features such as a 500 GB harddrive, a media hub that increases the USB port count from 2 to 4, a media remote, a charging stand that can charge 2 controllers, a custom console skin, and an HDMI cable. All for a cool $400.
Sony takes a hard stand against system modification but what really puzzles me is that Gamestop hasn’t really done nothing wrong in this case. Sony’s stand against console modification is very much tied to “jailbreaking” a console to make it perform tasks it normally would be unable to perform due to system lockouts or hardware restrictions. Gamestop has simply put in a new 500 GB harddrive and added a few third party accessories, all of which are perfectly legal as they do not void the console’s warranty.
The real question in this case is if Gamestop has the right to sell the consoles that they have modified, regardless of the amount of modification. If they have the right to sell refurbished consoles (which in many cases must be opened and serviced) why do they not have the right to sell refurbished consoles with a few extras attached? Of course, provisions should and must be made releasing Sony of liability for the consoles.
That being said, I have no idea how law works. My advice is to buy the console if you want it and do it quickly. There’s no telling if and when Sony might take this down.