Xbox’s Black Market: E-bay

August 5, 12:00 PMVideo Game ExaminerGlenn Judah

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All it takes is a couple plastic dowels, some wire, a drill and an electrical engineering background and you too can modify an Xbox 360 controller.

This practice is popularly known as “modding” among gamers and it’s getting out of control. Game lobbies for Halo 3 are filled with gamers waiting to wreak havoc with their with their extra triggered controllers. Tap an extra built in button to create an automatic double shot. Rogue gaming engineers are making lots of money while killing the skill for games.

E-bay is a black market for modified controllers and game systems. Modders can make up to $10,000 a month from selling altered gaming equipment. In today’s economy that’s not a bad living. An anonymous modder told me that the parts to change a controller only cost around $10, but he sells them for over $100.

When playing online you can’t test your opponents if they have an unfair advantage, but when it looks like a player fired 3-rounds of the Halo 3 battle riffle in one second, something is up.

Modified controllers are like steroids in sports. The only way to get past it is for everyone to be juiced up.