This install is generally less challenging than the old purple legacy Viking modchip. Not sure how install times will stack up on this new macro modchip compared to the old one, as we are still working on the assembly line and haven't gone into full assembly mode yet. What I can say is no more trace/via hole scraping and no more soldering directly to traces/via holes! What does add a lot of time to this install are all the wires for the tac switches, LED add-on board, the Play-n-charge port. Along with drilling and attaching the tac switches which is always a joyous and time consuming task.
The old legacy modchips and legacy software was easy and cheap to produce. We could produce in small quantities when they were needed. I wrote 100% of the microcontroller software in my spare time over a period of 7-8 months, making improvements every time (wish I could do it all over again). I contracted out the windows interface for the custom hex editor after specifying the details, formats, protocols and functions that would be used. But it was generally a simple project for the contractor and didn't break my piggy bank. It just seemed to make sense to sell DIY and also have affiliate shops selling their own custom controllers with our chips. People who weren't savvy with a soldering iron could buy from one of us, and we had a good community going for people who love the hobby. Unfortunately the only real thing missing from the picture was not being able to release all my software as open-source. As soon as I do, every kid running a mod shop in his garage (and not paying federal taxes, I remind you) would still my hard work and start selling Viking clones.
That's what really ruins this whole thing is the other mod shops. Every time somebody buys a mod from places like EvilControllers it makes me want to throw up in my mouth, because we all know they are still running 99 cent 8-pin DIP-package PIC chips in their controllers. Somebody told me once that they opened up an EvilController and they didn't even solder the wire to the legs of the PIC chip - just just wire-wrapped it. It's probably just rumor, but I wouldn't doubt that poor of quality does come from some of the other mod shops out there. So, I thought I could invent some superchip that would cost the same as the old Viking that would REALLY trounce the competition and once-and-for-all I could convince people to stop wasting their money at the other mod shops. Well... the biggest problem with this plan is uncontrollably inflating costs of the project as we got going...
The new mod chip is about 800% more expensive to produce than the old chip. Our Viking macro modchip project cost is around $125,000. We literally need every dollar we can get to pay off this project. That means we can't afford a single chip going out the 'back door' in the form of DIY kits, freebies or to affiliate shops. I would have to charge in the neighborhood of $70 per modchip just to break even. Was the project supposed to be this expensive when we started? Hell no. But we got jacked up by most of our parts distributors, dollars at a time, until pretty soon the project cost had inflated by about 50% and we were beyond the point of no return.
Do I have second thoughts about retiring the old purple modchip? Sure I do. Old Purple still beats the pants off every other rapidfire chip out there and it probably had plenty of life cycle left. If I had known how much the new modchip would end up costing this much, I probably would have just stayed with the old chip. But here we are and I might as well make the msot of it by blowing the lid off of all the games on xbox live, not just first-person-shooters. I can't wait to unleash this bad boy on the world.
! but hey not gunna lie Odin's Raven is A GREAT GREAT CONTROLLER! but i am indeed going to sell it to a friend for $150.00 lol 