XBox Live

Source

(CNET) -- It's oh-so enticing: you find a copy of a brand new game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on a pirate site and the temptation to download it is too strong.

Well, that temptation may have cost up to 1 million users of Microsoft's Xbox Live the ability to use that service. According to a report in InformationWeek, Microsoft has banned as many as a million players from Xbox Live for altering their consoles in order to play pirated versions of games.

This week, Activision's new Call of Duty was released, and InformationWeek speculated that because pirated versions of the game appeared on various sharing sites in advance of the release, the game's developer may have exhorted Microsoft to enact the bans.

"Xbox 360 consoles are equipped with digital rights management technologies designed to detect pirated software," InformationWeek wrote, "but some players have successfully 'modded,' or modified, their machines to circumvent DRM protections."

Even if someone has been banned, their Xbox will still play offline games, InformationWeek said. But it's not at all clear if the bans are permanent or if Microsoft will allow those who have been booted from Xbox Live to return at some point down the line.

In a statement Microsoft said: its "commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of the Xbox Live community remains a top priority. 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. 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."

And on the Xbox support page, Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson, has addressed some of the circumstances that could lead to a player's being banned.

"Players who find their Gamertags banned from Xbox Live have wound up in that situation due to violations of the Xbox Live Terms of Use," Major Nelson wrote.

"The Xbox Live team monitors players for not just cheating, but also for things like threats, racism, profanity, and just being an all around poor sport and ruining the game for others.

"When a Gamertag comes up as violating our policies for online behavior, the person who owns that Gamertag is punished by being banned from the service. Keep in mind, this isn't just a ban on a particular game. This is a ban on the Xbox Live service as a whole, so you won't be able to go online at all during your ban. Initially, you may be banned for a day, a week, or depending on severity, permanently! Kiss that $50 goodbye."

what a bunch of A**HOLES!!!

LOL! Did you get banned then, zeebart?

if only...don`t own one...maybe santa will bring me one tho...

My kid has one but I would never mod it for precisely this reason. My local Craigslist is now stuffed with them going cheap!
Thinking about softmodding the Wii though.

Well it is against the EULA so....
Sucks to have a modded xbox I guess.

Anyway smart move, ban modded xbox's before xmas and COD; Watch sales of hardware go up.
Profit.

potential fix:
http://www.dailytech.com/Update+Potential+...rticle16823.htm

This is gonna get ugly.
They're going after average users. I've been reading on this (the last 45 min)
xbox should not have done this to folks cause all the experienced I.T. folks are gonna do their best to fix this not to mention the horrible effect it will have on the consumers and attitude.

and Unbanning Xbox 360

This post has been edited by owlguy223: Nov 16 2009, 01:15 AM

one million users banned and I still cant get an online game....*le sigh*

Never wanted to console game and likely never will. I have a Wii for my kids but never really saw the point of consoles when computers are way more powerful AND allow you to hack the games.

Quite so. Never liked the way the use is locked out of their console. If I buy something, it's mine to use or abuse as far as I'm concerned. They're within their rights to ban people from Live though, should they so wish. But they should consider this. If everybody who ran a warez version of COD will buy one game next year, how many sales did they just lose?

Precisely. Although I don't game much anymore I used to try before I bought a lot especially those titles where the main interest was in online play. There are always workarounds to get online illegitimately but they are often not for the technically challenged. If a game proved it would hold my attention I would often buy it to get the full multiplayer experience rather than playing on a few cracked servers.

1 word,,,MICROSOFT,,,,,get ya sum more MS stuff,,they love F-----in ya ,,,,,