I've done the full boat of mods on a Playstation 2. Why?
1. I can play ANY video/music CD/DVD in the world as the modchip unlocks the region restriction.
2. Likewise can play any PS2 game in the world for the same reasons. Not everything ever released for that console has made it over to the U.S., and there are some interesting import games out there.
3. Running games off of the hard drive allows for much faster load times and saves wear and tear on the optical drive. Not only that, but with a 160GB hard drive in that system, you effectively get space for an infinite amount of saves. No need to go out and get those expensive memory cards anymore which individually will probably cost more than a used hard drive! LOL!
4. Homebrew applications and development. Once chipped, it's possible to run an earlier distro of Linux off of a PS2, effectively turning it into a PC. Granted that the power of most consoles are not very much by today's standards, but it still opens possibilities.
5. Because I can. 'Nuff said!
There are other useful features too, but those are the main reasons I decided to go ahead and mod my system.
And FYI... I have NEVER felt the need to pirate games for that system. Why? Because used games for the PS2 are so damn cheap right now. I mean when you can get used games in good shape for $5 complete with case and manual, what's the point?
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