Microsoft Starts Banning 360s on LIVE - MS Confirms

[MGS4-SS]

It's funny that some people here, think that stealing games isn't a bad thing. If you have stolen 6 games, you can use that saved money to buy a new Core system and get back on live.

They haven't killed someone, but I hate the idea that someone who has only paid 450 dollars (400 + live) can play every game and then some, when I have paid almost 4 thousand dollars on my system. For basically 1/10th the price, they get to have the same, if not better experience than I have.

Which is why I have no sympathy for them being banned. Good riddance.

You've got a point, no doubt about that. But does it really bother you that much what other people do?

THIS IS MADNESS!!!!!!

No, this is SPARTA!

[LOC Veteran]

Now if only I could post this as news, it would rock! Go MS! Or something...

Stupid Comcast DNS issues...

I too see this as a good thing for MS, 360, and Live overall. I mean, yeah, pirating sucks, but why should people who have modded consoles get to download their games for free and play online and all just like people who've paid their $60 or whatever per game legit? Doesn't seem fair, and while I'm not sure "banning" is the best plan, it just might be the best thing in the long run.

Maybe just banning them from accessing any online usage for multiplayer would be better off, especially if they are being banned per unique system ID and not Live account. I mean, after all MS wants people to download from the Marketplace no? Heh.

[Meshuggah]

You've got a point, no doubt about that. But does it really bother you that much what other people do?

No, this is SPARTA!

It bothers me when the modders I know constantly call me an idiot for buying games and always make it a point to say "well, I got this game for free"

I am mainly just annoyed at the modders I personally know. The others don't directly bother me, but I still get satisfaction in knowing that they screwed themselves over and are are now crying.

[+BeLGaRaTh Subscriber¹]

It bothers me when the modders I know constantly call me an idiot for buying games and always make it a point to say "well, I got this game for free"

I am mainly just annoyed at the modders I personally know. The others don't directly bother me, but I still get satisfaction in knowing that they screwed themselves over and are are now crying.

HeHe apart from you being in the US (not that, that makes any difference), you echo my sentiments exactly, are you sure you're not me :)

[LightIdea]

What a twist... *runs*

[Inplode]

good they modded there box and broke MS and xboxlive rules SUCKS to be them

rofl atm all the qqing kids on major nelsons site

[Menge]

Hmm if you never saw this coming, you're very naiive. BUT I have some thoughts on it:

By banning the console itself, Microsoft has made sure that the modders don't get online to play the pirated games. Couldn't they just prevent the modders from playing online with modded games and leave their original games fully funcional? This way they would still buy original games for online play, if they wanted. By banning the console, the users now have absolutely no online access. BUT this had another side effect which everyone's talking about: those people won't be Microsoft's Live Arcade or Marketplace customers anymore because they can't get online at all. Microsoft lost that money.

Which brings me to my point: why would Microsoft kill that potential customer base? One could say that those customers wouldn't be worthy of it anymore (thinking "if they don't buy original games, they won't buy online stuff"). But I say screw that! It's money and everyone knows that Microsoft is not one to simply throw money out like that (specially when the console is already breaking negative).

I say that they banned the consoles because even though they could detect the modded firmwares with their own software, they couldn't detect when the modders were using modded games - since the modded firmware essentially identifies backups as originals. So they chose the only option they had: they banned the console itself.

They're killing part of their user base... Even though it's not the best user base... It's still a user base.

+1 for not modding my 360 :D

[Ji@nBing]

I'm sure they will find a way around this fairly soon, but it's still a good thing. I'm not concerned about the pirates, I'm more concerned about the possibility of cheating that could come from modded consoles. There hasn't been any yet, but it's a possibility. That's the thing I love the most about Live, no cheaters.

Hmm if you never saw this coming, you're very naiive. BUT I have some thoughts on it:

By banning the console itself, Microsoft has made sure that the modders don't get online to play the pirated games. Couldn't they just prevent the modders from playing online with modded games and leave their original games fully funcional? This way they would still buy original games for online play, if they wanted. By banning the console, the users now have absolutely no online access. BUT this had another side effect which everyone's talking about: those people won't be Microsoft's Live Arcade or Marketplace customers anymore because they can't get online at all. Microsoft lost that money.

Which brings me to my point: why would Microsoft kill that potential customer base? One could say that those customers wouldn't be worthy of it anymore (thinking "if they don't buy original games, they won't buy online stuff"). But I say screw that! It's money and everyone knows that Microsoft is not one to simply throw money out like that (specially when the console is already breaking negative).

I say that they banned the consoles because even though they could detect the modded firmwares with their own software, they couldn't detect when the modders were using modded games - since the modded firmware essentially identifies backups as originals. So they chose the only option they had: they banned the console itself.

They're killing part of their user base... Even though it's not the best user base... It's still a user base.

+1 for not modding my 360 :D

I'm pretty sure you could get pirated versions of the XBLA games as well, so they really aren't losing out on as much money as you would think.

[Meshuggah]

actually you can't pirate XBLA games at all. Unless they come from a retail DVD (like that one pack)

[hobbsy]

I dont own an xbox, but why is microsoft not allowed modding consoles? do they actually do any harm???

[OhMuffin]

I'm pretty sure you could get pirated versions of the XBLA games as well, so they really aren't losing out on as much money as you would think.

The only XBLA games that you could pirate were the ones included on the XBLA Unplugged DVD. All XBLA games are linked to GT's and cannot be pirated.

This killed my 360... luckily I have another premium coming my way soon that I'll leave un-modded... I'm not too phased by this..

It's a shame how this happened to me, I was in the middle of playing Halo 3 Beta using my RETAIL copy of Crackdown that I paid 60 bucks for, and I suddenly got disconnected. I tried to sign back on, and it gave me a nice little message on screen (see post 1).

[neoadorable]

ohmuffin, sorry to hear this happened to you, you're a regular.

sure, cheating sucks and honestly i won't lose any sleep over this, plus those banned can now exercise their free will and either find a way around it or go with the competition. so overall MS isn't wrong by banning and in fact are trying to protect the legit gamer community...in a way.

but look at the message..it's true that it is worded kinda cryptically. that's likely because we'll see it used for more than merely modders. who knows? DO YOU REALLY CONFORM? i foresee collateral damage...muhahahhah (chokes).

[iconboy]

heres an idea... u have a moded premium, buy a core and keep that unmoded. play all your moded games on the moded system (unplugged from xbox live). Get achievement points like crazy, then take that hdd and hook it upto the unmoded core system and update your gamerscore... lol ok so its kinda stupid, but it works for achievement ###### like myself ;) although i cant afford another xbox and wouldnt dream of opening my current machine to mod it (LIVE IS JUST TOO DAMN SWEET)

[Destruction.Thrash]

Wonder if all the 360's that seemed to be getting the 3 red lights recently was the first sign of this...

[Ji@nBing]

actually you can't pirate XBLA games at all. Unless they come from a retail DVD (like that one pack)

Ah, that's probably the one I saw in my "travels" then. I thought it was a disk of all the XBLA games...

[Meshuggah]

This killed my 360... luckily I have another premium coming my way soon that I'll leave un-modded... I'm not too phased by this..

I've figured for a while you had a modded console. Sucks, but you'll be back up and running in no time.

[The Dark Knight]

About time! A friend of mine keeps telling me off for buying original games, saying that he can mod my console. He is one of those who keeps justifying piracy by bringing in the cost factor. Like for example, he doesnt mind spending god knows how much on drugs, but refuses to cough up just ?20 for AnyDVD, which he uses regularly, and doesnt mind looking for cracks every week for it!

[NotChetHanks]

No, this is SPARTA!

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!

[BlakByte]

Microsoft ######, why would this be good?

Oh by the way, would it be just ban from Live or everything internets on xbox?

[+Tantawi Subscriber²]

About time, a logical step.

[gentoogod123]

Microsoft ######, why would this be good?

Oh by the way, would it be just ban from Live or everything internets on xbox?

Everything internet. No more updates when you pop in a disk, no more xbla, no more themes, gamer pics, game demos, videos.

[laz45]

There's still lots of people not banned with modified consoles...

[gunnerhkjp]

This will make buying second hand consoles a lot harder.

You can't tell if the console on sale has been banned until you get it.

A good move by microsoft if it doesn't make them unpopular to the point of declining sales.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

LOL... glad i didn't do anything to it :D

[Lt.Dan]

There's still lots of people not banned with modified consoles...

That'll be the biggest problem... Even if the console wasnt modded and was banned a consumer would have no way to tell. It'll make it hard to sell 360's and hard to find a good used one if you want to play on live. They should only do a disc check and see if its a burnt disc rather than banning the entire console. I understand they are in the market to make money, but they are hurting consumers by releasing anti-cheat "features" like this one.

Lt.