Well....I am an avid Modcip supporter....BUT in the recent weeks, I have experimented with this option....The main reason is because I do not mod the boxes, my friends, friend does......And he has screwed up a bunch of them.....Which is weird....Because I HAVE done a couple and they were easy...I just don't have the time. And he already had everything you need.. Well...I leave the option up to the consumer..."aka guy who wants his box modded"
I love my Xenium ICE, because of the OS on the chip and the funtions it has....
But some people are sketchy about the opening the box thing and soldering to their $300-$200 box...Whatever they paid for it back in the day......And as far as the warranty goes.....If you load the MA,SC, or 007 hack or TSOP flash, or whatever way you decide to SOFTMOD....The warranty HAS been voided....Just not visible to the Wal-MArt or EB Games guy....Or whoever.....Any modding of the hardware or SOFTWARE is the voiding thingy....If you ever sent that box back, after you screwed up the softmod, MS would know.... So, again....you decide what is best for you....Me...I like chips.....But that's why we have options and choices...It makes it interesting...
If you mess something up...it is probably because you did NOT read all you could....There is ALOT that can go wrong with the softmod....If you transfer the wrong font, xbe, whatever...and you put it in the wrong place....your DONE....If you use a method that is not compatible with your Kernel or Dashboard...Your DONE!!!!!....And the only way to fix it is either get a chip or put it next to your Commodore 64 and call it a day...hehe......Hope this helps someone out there.....