Wave of bans hits Xbox Live

[darkwarrior3007]

As many as 600,000 Xbox 360s were banned from the Xbox Live service this week in the latest in a series of crackdowns by Microsoft on illegally modified consoles.

The banned machines -- a "small percentage" of the millions of Xbox 360s around the world -- are alleged to have been modified in ways that violate Xbox Live's terms of service, but Microsoft won't say exactly how they can tell, nor exactly how many users were affected. Banned consoles can still play games, but can't connect to the Xbox Live service for multiplayer gaming, content downloads or software updates.
http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/p...x-live/1372276

[doppelganger]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6239678...dlines;title;1

According to this link it could be high as a million.

Either way, that's a LOT of account bans. If they really, truly are ONLY banning modded consoles, then of those people are getting what they deserve, I guess. My feeling is that may not be the case, based on what I have heard from many people.

Honestly, I'm kinda getting tired of MS. Seeing how poorly the whole RROD fiasco was handled, I don't have a whole lot of faith in them. I've had both systems since launch, and I've bought way more games for the 360. I'm slowly starting to lean the other way.

[~~whimsy~~]

I can see their point. However, they can still play games. Now when they not only ban them, but have a way to remote signal a 360 meltdown where it breaks their machine, yeah, come call me.

A lot of systems get tweaked like this. I remember watching Unscrewed with Martin Sargent where they modified a regular Xbox and put Linux and a whole OS on it. It was pretty cool.

I can see maybe a ban until they get a 360 that is not modded. Or they will remain ban.

Whatever, though, who cares. Nothing new. And it is kind of scary they can tell if a system is modified or not. Meaning something must be on the discs that can read information and send it back to them somehow. So with no disc, they get no feedback, and they know. Only thing I can think of at the moment.

[Legzman]

Most of the consoles that got banned were caught playing MW2 before it was officially released. Real easy to spot that way!

One person on my friends list was bragging about playing the game on his modded xbox 2 days before the release date. Haven't seen him since. He was pumped about the game too. Even though he erased all evidence from his machine, the damage was done and he still got a ban.

[jasonk282]

Dumbasses all of them.

[~~whimsy~~]

Well the MW2 I can see! In fact, they made it perfectly clear, anyone caught playing that game I.E. online will be banned!

Damn!

[jasonk282]

I don't see why someone would do that to their xbox?

[doppelganger]

Originally Posted by Legzman

Most of the consoles that got banned were caught playing MW2 before it was officially released. Real easy to spot that way!

One person on my friends list was bragging about playing the game on his modded xbox 2 days before the release date. Haven't seen him since. He was pumped about the game too. Even though he erased all evidence from his machine, the damage was done and he still got a ban.

Whoa now, gotta stop you right there Legzman. Sounds like you are saying that all of the people who were playing MW2 early have modded consoles and were playing pirated copies of the game.

That is definitely not the case. Street dates get broken all the time. Major retailers generally don't do this (unless they make a mistake), but "mom and pop" stores do it all the time. I picked up a game early a few weeks ago myself. It was a PS3 game; were it a 360 game, I would have been afraid to play the game online, do to the amount of rumors I've heard of people getting banned for playing storebought games early.

If that's true, I don't think MS is right for doing that. Number one, the store is the one breaking the rules. Number two, who is to say someone buying a game before the street date knows anything about the date?

[turtle825]

Pirates never prosper

[Scrunt42]

that could have been me lol

[whalers90]

got an email from microsoft today

Mandatory XBOX live service update november 17th.
i guess it has to do with those bogus live accounts for MW2?

[PlasmaTwa2]

Well my Xbox is on a damn truck to Toronto to get fixed, so I don't know if I got banned or not.

[darkwarrior3007]

Originally Posted by whalers90

got an email from microsoft today

Mandatory XBOX live service update november 17th.
i guess it has to do with those bogus live accounts for MW2?

No, it has to do with the new updates that add Last.fm, Facebook, Zune and Twitter. I've been using the new apps for a few weeks (I was selected to preview them to look for bugs), I like the Last.fm app.

[waddo55]

people still use consoles? i use PC for all my gaming needs.

[Legzman]

Originally Posted by darkwarrior3007

No, it has to do with the new updates that add Last.fm, Facebook, Zune and Twitter. I've been using the new apps for a few weeks (I was selected to preview them to look for bugs), I like the Last.fm app.

can you use that while playing games?

[Doc Scurlock]

Originally Posted by waddo55

people still use consoles? i use PC for all my gaming needs.

I think you've got that backwards.

[whalers90]

Originally Posted by Doc Scurlock

I think you've got that backwards.

exactly

[darkwarrior3007]

Originally Posted by Legzman

can you use that while playing games?

The Zune and Last.fm features take you to a whole new screen and when you back out you go to the main dashboard.

[Legzman]

Originally Posted by darkwarrior3007

The Zune and Last.fm features take you to a whole new screen and when you back out you go to the main dashboard.

That sucks