http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33866696/ns/technology_and_science-games/
Apparently Xbox is going to be do a massive banning on people who modded their Xbox from Xbox live! And it's a console ban, so ***is gonna hit the fan when people sell their Xboxes lol.
Massive Bannings?
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Massive Bannings?
Wait, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a majority of games require you to have Xbox Live to play it?
Doesn't that mean that there goes playing all your Xbox games? Nope, FFXI doesnt require you to use Xbox Live to play. That's what i heard from all my xbox friends.
O.=
Microsoft bans up to 1 million Xbox Live users Gamers who have altered consoles not permitted to use gaming service Video Tech Watch The latest in technology and entertainment news. MSN Tech and Gadgets 8 cool phones you can't get here (yet) The TV you want today Unusual gadgets and gifts for geeks Most popular • Most viewed • Top rated • Most e-mailed Lawyer: Parents of ‘balloon boy’ to plead guilty Facebook message frees NYC robbery suspect At least 4,000 swine flu deaths reported in U.S. Mo. police hunt for buried child-abuse clues N.C. man charged with kidnap of missing girl, 5 Most viewed on msnbc.com Famed Navajo Code Talkers break silence MIA dog found in Afghanistan after 14 months Man convicted in death of TV anchorwoman Chimp attack victim reveals face on Oprah Vanished Persian army said found in desert Most viewed on msnbc.com Flu-proof your family this winter Pfizer drug studies fudged, report says At least 4,000 swine flu deaths reported in U.S. Mexican business groups call for U.N. troops Facebook message frees NYC robbery suspect Most viewed on msnbc.com RSS feeds on msnbc.com Add these headlines to your news reader Games Learn more about RSS Video game videos AP"Modern Warfare 2" not so modern? The single player campaign is intense, the multiplayer is sleek, but the game stumbles in some key points. Video game reporter Todd Kenreck reviews the game. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exceptional 'Uncharted 2' The video games of November Get cocked, locked, and ready to rock, in 'Borderlands' Controversy surrounds 'Modern Warfare 2' The dark fantasy of 'Dragon Age Origins' When fairytales attack By Suzanne Choney msnbc.com updated 8:29 p.m. ET, Wed., Nov . 11, 2009 Anywhere between an estimated 600,000 and 1 million players who use Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming service will be cut off from the service because they have modified their game consoles or played games that were illegally downloaded from file-sharing sites, according to the company. "All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live," Microsoft said in a statement Wednesday. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.) Story continues below ↓ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- advertisement | your ad here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The timing of the statement coincides with the release this week of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," a highly anticipated Xbox 360 game. The game's release means big sales — but also sales of pirated copies, which are illegal. There are more than 20 million players worldwide who use the Xbox Live gaming service, according to Microsoft. The service lets gamers play each other online as well as buy and download games. "All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and modifying their Xbox 360 console violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live," Microsoft said. "We can assure you that if an Xbox Live member follows the Xbox Live terms of use, purchased a retail copy of 'Modern Warfare 2' and played the game on an unmodified Xbox 360, no action will be taken.” Dave Taylor, publishing director for GamerZines.com, said he understands why some people may want to modify their consoles. "It's fair for people to feel that they should be able to do whatever they want with something that they have bought, but it's also fair for Microsoft to do everything it can to reduce the risk of piracy," he said. "In some cases though, modding (modifying) is done to allow a bigger hard drive, and given that the supplied hard drives are still very small comparative to what is available on the market, and expensive also, you can see why some people are going to be very angry." Video "Modern Warfare 2" not so modern? The single player campaign is intense, the multiplayer is sleek, but the game stumbles in some key points. Video game reporter Todd Kenreck reviews the game. msnbc.com However, he said, "the biggest problem in banning modded consoles — and this gets missed by most people — is that it is the console itself that gets banned. So many of these consoles get sold secondhand, even sometimes unwittingly by stores (that) accept them as trade-ins, to people who assume they have just bought a functioning console. And while it might technically boot up, the console is blacklisted and therefore pretty much useless to them." Microsoft, he said, "needs to find a way to address this, or else it risks annoying the modders who make up 1 percent of their audience and the second-hand purchasers." The company "needs to do a better job of explaining to people why modding consoles isn't acceptable, and needs to find a way to help people tricked into purchasing blacklisted consoles," said Taylor. In its Xbox Live and Windows games' "Terms of Use" agreement, as of September 2008, Microsoft says that players are to use "only authorized software and hardware to access the Service," and that they agree that their software and hardware "have not been modified in any unauthorized way ... and that we have the right to send data, applications or other content to any software or hardware that you are using to access the Service for the express purpose of detecting an unauthorized modification." In addition, "any attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute, or use for other purposes the Service, any game, application, or other content available or accessible through the Service, or any hardware or software associated with the Service or with an original Xbox or Xbox 360 console is strictly prohibited and may result in cancellation of your account and/or your ability to access the Service, and the pursuit of other legal remedies by Microsoft." So Microsoft is killing two birds with 1 stone: Ban the pirates, make more money. Scare people from buying used consoles, make more money selling new ones.
I'm so glad I never got into this "new gen" console crap. It still scared the bejesus out of me. I'm lucky I don't play on Xbox, but my brother has an Xbox360 that he said he's modded. And this can be any mod apparently, like increasing Hard Disk Drive or something you know. Can they even tell if you did that stuff?
I play on a 360 and to answer Leon's question
Yes its true u dont need a gold account (the 1 you pay for) to play ffxi online but you do need a silver acoount (you create this free of charge) to play so if they have been banned from live i would think they wont be able to use the silver account and wont have access to ffxi. FFXI does require Xbox live in order to play...you just dont have to have a gold membership. You can have silver which is free, but being banned from live would result in no FFXI on 360. Our LS leader got banned.
It's partially a move against piracy, but the timing couldn't be more ingenious and dastardly for Microsoft.
Basically, it seems like the intent was to catch people before the holiday season, and more importantly, before the release of MW2, to incite the players they've given console bans to go out and buy a new 360. This is why many speculate that Microsoft stopped handing out GT bans, which they had been doing as recently as a month ago. The idea being that if a gamer loses his console, but not his GT, all he has to do is go out and buy another console, which Microsoft profits from, but still retains everything else to jump back in and play. November ban waves have not been uncommon from Microsoft, and the held belief has always been that their aim was set on boosting their sales across the holiday season. The fact that this ban wave actually came over the course of several days before the most-highly anticipated release, this year, rather than the late Nov. they usually adhered to raises some questions. And I'm not going to get into the "Well, it was illegal/breach of ToS." or even the "But all I did was add a HDD!" I don't like that Microsoft is using these factors to simply raise its bottom-line. If they're anti-piracy, and wanted to take a stand against it, then they should have been doing so, year-round. I've seen enough information floating about, and gathered enough from those I know who've modded to believe that Microsoft is operating under the guise of protecting its members and service, but is instead trying to raise its numbers. Sony and Microsoft are both going to have to learn that with PC gaming falling out of the spotlight, that many of those gamers are taking to consoles, and those who are are looking for more ability to customize those consoles.. Microsoft offering only a specific list of HDDs, at dramatically higher prices than those HDDs would be for a PC is simply asking for someone to go out, spend $40USD on a 120GB HDD, instead of the $150 Microsoft is asking, and mod their console to accept it. Even funnier is that if Microsoft is banning those who did mod their console to accept such a HDD, they had to discover this method in a different way, and thus would be able to discern who used 'backups' to play pirated games, and who had a HDD, because the mods are done in different portions of the console, and affect different things. I work at a retailer that accepts used games and consoles, and I know for a fact that we've no policy in place to watch for these banned consoles. And I know for a fact we will receive them in trade, and that they will then be sold to customers who will come back irate, with good reason. And the last, most hilarious part of it is that I know many of these modders who will simply reshell their console with one purchased from a retailer, return it, and result in 'new' consoles being banned. A shoddy method of getting the job done, and seemingly, an underlying goal that is not, as they state, the benefits of their players or their service. It is, as always with Microsoft, their pockets.
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So in other words... Will this affect FFXI's Xbox users if they have ANY mods on their Xbox whether they're using Gold or Silver?
Yes, to the collective knowledge we've gathered.
Both modded optical drives and flashed HDDs seem to be on the chopping block, and a console ban prevents that console from accessing the internet in any way. This also limits a console's ability to play some of its DLC, as well as any retail games saved to the HDD. As you might have guessed, inability to connect to Live will most certainly prevent you from playing FFXI. Silver or gold account is moot, as the GT will be left untouched, it's only the console that is prevented from accessing live through the account. Wow... I'm sure this is gonna piss a lot of people off... Especially people who buy used Xbox360's... To find out they can't get online with their consoles. Think we'll ever be able to find a way around this?
Walls of text
Yep it's all about money . They could care less about protecting copyrights . As stated by the MSN article , if this only affect the supposed 1% of players that mod and the 1% of player who are also Pirates , then seriously wheres the danger ? Oh your only gettin 99% of sales ? please . Just like George Lucas crying about the Ep.3 Leak . you think that fat *** is losing sleep or money over pirated material ? no his accountants are cuz he's only makin 4 trillion dollars oppsed to 4.5 trillion . Rylis hit the nail right on the head . Massive CONSOLE bannings , allowing these 'criminals' to get back to paying them their moneyz? What Law enforcing body do you know that behaves this way ? allowing the 'criminals' to get back to what they are doin ? If you sell crack , the police dont take your crack , render it and the means by which you make it useless then send you back to the street , they send your *** to jail . Bill Gates obviously is havin trouble paying his servants or Mail order bride and need to make some qwik cash for Xmas .
Or maybe Obama said ,' hey stimulate the economy by starting with the lifeless Online Gamers . they'll happily shell out $400+ to get back to playing' . Jerks . The lot of them . leave us alone to play our games and ignore our families in peace , like we dont have enough ***to worry about , right ?? Even better idea ??!! Lets make the PS3 not Backwards compatable so ppl have to look for Old versions to Play FFXI on since we only made the PS2 HDD for a year or 2 and Square hasnt offered Support for it since the begining of 2008.... oh wait they already did that . damnit. /rant Carbuncle.Okamiwolf said: So in other words... Will this affect FFXI's Xbox users if they have ANY mods on their Xbox whether they're using Gold or Silver? yep, if you cant log into xbox live you cant play ffxi on your 360. although you can play ffxi if you get disconnected from live, but if you log out of ffxi you have to reconnect to live. Wall_of_Text said: Firstly, and most obviously, you cannot connect to Xbox Live on this console any more. This means no more game updates (aka title updates), XBLA games, marketplace content, netflix/sky player and so on. There is no way around this, all online capabilities are now disabled PERMANENTLY. Hard Drive installs are now disabled on the banned console. This means any disk-based games you have will no longer play off of the hard drive. There is no way to fix this, that functionality is simply gone from the banned 360. Windows Media Centre functionality is disabled. It is still possible to stream video/music content via the video library. So, in summary: Your Banned 360: * Cannot go on Xbox Live * Cannot install games to the HDD * Cannot use Windows Media Centre extender * Cannot be used to get achievements from backups without corrupting your profile  Quote: What Law enforcing body do you know that behaves this way ? allowing the 'criminals' to get back to what they are doin ? The kind that served a 12 year old 261 lawsuits for downloading music, then accepts a 2000 dollar fine in lieu of prosecution. (She faced up to a 150,000 dollar fine for each song she downloaded.) Meh, Xbox360 is the biggest POS out there anyway, and if you're dumb enough to think you can mod it and not eventually have it banned from xbl... then you're just the kind of idiot that deserves to own one.
Xbox360 + CheapAssPirateRetards = Match made in heaven. On a side note, I do feel bad for those who just wanted to upgrade the HDD a a reasonable price, microsoft is gouging the hell outta people on the HHDs and they deserve the backlash. Siren.Enternius said: Korm said:  WEEEEEEEEEE Suck it pirate ***
it was bound to happen that people would rather pirate their ***than piss money away to Microsoft.
No need to worry people! If the games has system link you can just use a tunneling program to play over the internet. Only bad out of it is that you will no longer get the achievements for multiplayer unless it can be unlocked during local play.
This isn't the first time MS did this type of mass banning. When H2 came out they did the same thing and it was just a scan to match the EEPROM info to what they had in their database. As for you modders...you know what you were getting yourself into when you did it! Cerberus.Katarzyna said: So Microsoft is killing two birds with 1 stone: Ban the pirates, make more money. Scare people from buying used consoles, make more money selling new ones. I'm so glad I never got into this "new gen" console crap. ^this. PC onry. Btw, in the past, Microsoft has always lost money on every single console they sold, is this not the case anymore? I would expect with the recent price drops, they're not exactly raking it in from this if they make anything at all. It certainly looks good in the news and it helps move the economy but profit wise, dunno.
Friend of mine got banned a few days ago. you dont have to go online with the games, your already f****d when an ethernet cable is connected to xbox
Unicorn.Tarowyn said: Btw, in the past, Microsoft has always lost money on every single console they sold, is this not the case anymore? I would expect with the recent price drops, they're not exactly raking it in from this if they make anything at all. It certainly looks good in the news and it helps move the economy but profit wise, dunno. Still is the case these days too, but they make up for it from the other products and software they sell. Ramuh.Lilbusta said: Unicorn.Tarowyn said: Btw, in the past, Microsoft has always lost money on every single console they sold, is this not the case anymore? I would expect with the recent price drops, they're not exactly raking it in from this if they make anything at all. It certainly looks good in the news and it helps move the economy but profit wise, dunno. Those people just want to point fingers instead of owning up to the consequences of their decisions.
The consequences of your xbox getting dumped is pretty cool actually. It's that reason why I haven't modded mine. Not worth the risk unless I have a second xbox. So just to confirm, if your xbl account works online, your FF account is safe? I just want to make sure after a 3 month break I'm not going to reactivate my account, and get that dreaded ban hammer on my PC. And for the record, never modded any of the 360's I have played on, and never will.
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