A yearlong investigation out of ICE's Cleveland office resulted in the raids in 16 states including North Carolina. The agency would not release the names or locations of where it executed the search warrants.

A mod chip is a piece of hardware that allows an owner of a video game console -- often a Wii or an Xbox -- to bypass controls that allow those systems to play only games approved by the console. The chip would let someone play a home-brew game on his Wii or Xbox, or pirated ones as ICE, Microsoft and Nintendo are alleging.

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, signed into law in 1998, bypassing copy protection controls are illegal.

Still, bloggers are scratching their heads over what the big deal is.

"Ahh, DMCA, let us count the ways you suck," Wired's Charlie Sorrel wrote. Salon's Machinist blog suggested that mod chip sellers switch to guns.

The raids were supported in a big way by Microsoft and Nintendo, which actively aided ICE in its investigation. Piracy, of course, was the issue behind the raids, but there are legitimate uses for mod chips that do not involve playing stolen software.

Amateur game makers can use them to play their own creations on their consoles; they also bypass the region codes that only allow certain consoles to play certain games.

All told, it's an odd move for ICE to hit modders so hard.

For the record

Week before last, we told you that Microsoft had spent $1.15 billion to extend its warranties from 90 days to one year.

We goofed. Instead of just one year, Microsoft has extended its warranty to three years. For more information on the specifics, visit: www.xbox.com

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