If your strumming hand for Guitar Hero is becoming a bit worse for wear, then good news: Ben Heck, modder of all that is next-gen, has come up with a way to make your foot do all the work instead. Introducing Ben Heckendorn's own brand of pedal controllers, a peripheral that lets you strum and whammy with the merest movement of your foot. All the details in the full article.

It's no secret that the Xbox 360's got a penchant for overheating when not properly looked after. If you happen to be a like Wolfe however, you've probably grown tired of this problem, and decided to take it upon yourself to come up with a solution. Read more on this mod attempt over in the full article.

Console modder Ben Heckendorn's apparently decided to do a retake of one of his one-handed Xbox 360 controller from 2006. The new build sports some particularly handy features that should make it easier to use. Details regarding this mod project are in the full article.

FPS players will tell you that one of the hardest things in such games is controlling the crosshairs of the characters. But that problem has just been given a solution by AcidMods member cyberpyrot.

This particular mod provides users crosshair control with IR. To know the full details and see the concept video, just click the "read more link below.

Microsoft's been under a lot of heat because of the Xbox 360 overheating issue (pun intended). To address this, Microsoft came out with Project Falcon, a new Xbox 360 model sporting the 65nm chip, which will offer a significant reduction in heat. Ben Heck, modder extraordinaire, got the new Falcon model Xbox 360 and tested it against the older Zephyr model in a laptop-type environment. He found that the Falcon runs much cooler than the Zephyr. Details in the full article.

Tired of sending your Xbox 360 console back to Microsoft? A modder has a good idea of making a broken Xbox 360 useful: modding it into a PC case. Check out the video to see the sweet-looking Xbox 360 PC.

A modder unlucky - or foolish - enough to advertise his Xbox 360 piracy and modchip business in the popular classified advertisement website Craigslist had his home raided by the San Diego Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Unit (CATCH).

Thousands of pirated game software were confiscated from Frederick Brown's home in San Diego, as well as a considerable number of modchips. The modder was supposed to go about his piracy business scot-free, until the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) member company employees spotted his Craigslist advertisements. Said Ric Hirsch, Entertainment Software Association senior VP for intellectual property enforcement:

Some of our member companies had seen his listings on Craigslist. We started to make some inquiries on our own last year and eventually through our investigations accumulated enough evidence to bring it to the attention of the CATCH team.

Because of the wide scope of Brown's piracy business, ESA opted to file criminal charges against the modder - 10 felonies, mind you - instead of merely suing him in court. Brown was freed when he posted bail amounting to US $100,000.

Installing modchips in consoles is a booming business among gamers, but not necessarily for game piracy. Modchips, for the most part, enhance gamer experience by adding content and homebrew applications in consoles, as well as bypassing region locks. However, it is deemed illegal by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) since modchips circumvent copyright infringement measures installed in consoles. Microsoft also disconnects consoles from Xbox Live once they detect that the consoles are "modded".

If you're a Xbox 360 owner, one of you're greatest fears probably is the dreaded red Ring of Death (RoD). Well, modder F00 f00 of online site Acid Mods decided to toy with the idea and gave his wireless controller its own RoD.

Basically, what he did was change the regular green LED of the controller to red and that's about it. While this adds no new function to your controllers, F00 foo's own creation does give your 360 a lot of new attitude.

A mod similar to this (The Christ Mod for the 360) was created in the past. The red RoD was also given a tribute of some sort when the modder came up with a Ring of Life.

A rather intrepid modder named electric0ant has a mod up for those wondering what to do with their extra Xbox 360. electric0ant's solution? Turn that extra console into a PC!

Our "read" link below should lead to electric0ant's Semi instructional account of how the mod was accomplished. Also, if in case you're wondering, the specs of the Xbox 360 PC are as follow:

• 3.0Ghz Pentium 4 HT (upgraded from 2.26GHz P4 at start of mod)
• 512MB RAM
• 60GB 4200rpm SATA HDD
• DVD-ROM, CD-RW
• 8x USB 2.0 ports
• Integrated Intel graphics

We got a few images of the project below, just in case you're curious about the Xbox 360 butchery, er, surgery modification. Included is a shot of electric0ant's research plans and sketches before starting the project. This mod could come in handy if for some reason you want to turn that post-red-ring-of-death Xbox 360 brick into something useful.

   

Although everyone was waiting for the latest Xbox Live update with bated breath, there was a concern among modders that it would somehow render their Xboxes unplayable, at least on Live. And while Microsoft would be justified in banning the modders on Xbox Live, going so far as to totally brick their systems or drives seemed far-fetched.

The rumor. Nonetheless, there was a rumor floating around the web (we reported on this rumor in an earlier article), and some reported bricks. What was needed was solid analysis by someone respected in the "scene."

It's a good thing the guys over at Team Xecuter have been checking out the reports and doing some good testing. Apparently, one of their friends was unlucky enough to "brick" their Xbox. Here's the details about the subject:

• Samsung MS28 Drive
• Flashed with Xtreme v3.3
• E66 error after Fall Update
• Red lights / No boot to dash

The surprise. Even after the update, the drive firmware wasn't modified. The before and after dumps of the firmware were the same (MD5 checked). A simple upgrade from Xtreme v3.3 to Xtreme 4.2a was enough to bring back the whole console, including the DVD drive to life. And not only that, it still boots pirated *ahem* backup discs, which means that the update is safe for all the modders. It also seems that the problem is present in a few Samsung MS25 drive Xboxes, but again, it's just a case of being with the wrong firmware at the wrong time.

What was it? Personally, I think it was just incompatibility between the Xbox dashboard update and the DVD drive firmware. Even though the odds of Microsoft banning the modders was high, and it wasn't too difficult to do it either, they refrained from doing it. A simple reason could be that they don't care about it until someone can run unsigned code on it. And thinking about code, the latest update also allows you to run your XNA-created homebrew on the Xbox 360, which means that the incentive of trying to find a way to run unsigned code is very small.

Another probability is that Microsoft could be waiting for all the Live users to get their updates, and then ban them all at once. But then, it's just another baseless speculation which would be turned into another rumor (and then it will be our unfortunate duty to have to report on the rumor when it gets too big).

Still, if you're a modder, do take care while going on Live. A banned Xbox later, there probably won't be anybody to listen to your cries.