ok it took me a while to find this thread but I am here to save the day.
EDIT: nevermind i did read the last post!! The rest is still informative though...
I solder these crazy chips and many other crazy ICs daily and know some hair raising but useful ways of getting them off. Trust me, it's not that hard really it just looks hard. I find it harder to unsolder through hole stuff than SMD.
First, do you know if the IC was glued to the PCB before soldering? If it is, you will likely kill this PCB trying to get it off and you should not try it.
second, If it's not glued to the pcb, then the next step depends on what you would like to do. I bought the most useful tool i have ever bought for getting these things off. Yep, that's a regular METCAL soldering iron and various IC tips. EBAY. Used. 50$usd. I have about 50 tips that i've bought over the years and can take just about anything off of a board with them. It's a good investment if you plan on doing more of these. apply solder to the proper tip, place tip on IC, wait a few seconds until you see the solder on the pins melt and then lift the IC right off the board. OR you can do it the less easy way. solder. lots of it. Get a razor blade too.
1. apply huge amounts of solder to all rows of pins making sure all the pins are connected by the solder bridges.
2. now gently wipe the tip of the iron back and forth along two perpendicular rows of pins until the solder is liquid and will stay so for a few seconds.
3. while you are wiping and the solder is hot, take the razor blade and place the tip under the corner of the IC and gently start to lever it up. don't try to hard or you'll pull pads up. do it just enough to move it.
4. allow the solder to cool while holding the IC up.
5. move to another corner and do steps 1 to 4 again.
6. once you've moved all the way around the IC and the pins are now sitting neatly on top of a mound of solder there are two things you can do. either get some solder wick and suck all the solder under the pins and the IC will come off, or move quickly around the IC with the solder iron and flip the IC off the board with your razor as the solder is liquid.
Yes it sounds terrible but once you've tried it(on a test board of course..) it's actually only about a 30 second job and as long as all the solder is molten, you won't pull the pads up which is by far the most likely thing you'll do.