Make sure your stuff is legal...

[BusyBadger]

...so says Microsoft.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33...om/ET

[MinisterofDOOM]

Nintendo's cracking down as well. In Japan they have an anonymous tipline for people to report vendors (brick and mortar or online) selling R4 and similar devices.

[Nali]

Wow that report makes it seem like Modifying your xbox will get you arrested.It just bans the console from XBL and bricks its.

The bricking of consoles is probably gonna get MS some flak soon....yeah the pirates are breaching the Terms of Service, but that doesnt give MS the right to Brick a console.Banning the console is more than enough, the pirate isnt on your service anymore, there is no need to punish them more.But further bricking the console even when its offline is just straight up mean.

1 million consoles is a hell of a lot too.

[krazydriver]

I guess they finally got a way to read the DVD drive firmware. Of course someone, somewhere, is hacking xbox's and letting them get banned as they work to figure out a way around this.

Doesn't bother me any, I don't use xbox live at all. Anything worth playing online has a PC version with better controls.

[RCA]

A buddy of mine got banned today. I was told because he had MW2 early and I freaked out, but later I was told he had a modded Xbox. apparently they banned 16,000 members in my area today.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I'm on the same page as Nali. I'm not a piracy proponent by any means, but I also don't see where it's Microsoft's business to handle that crap. Banning people from XBL is one thing; that's a service you sign an agreement to use. But how people use their xbox outside of XBL is their own business.

Also, as usual there's the stigma that the ONLY people who do these things (mod their xbox, etc.) are doing it maliciously with piracy or intent to harm others in mind. That's just not the case. I know TONS of people who modded their original xboxes just to play around with hacking games for fun. And I'm sure that's why many 360 users do it as well. Cheating/hacking is only harmful when used AGAINST other players. And piracy is a legal issue, not an MS issue. So I really think this is the wrong approach.

Of course, if the 360 wasn't so locked-down, modding wouldn't be such a big issue. But there's too much profit and control in that for MS to change it.

[BusyBadger]

I won't argue too much with you on this, but while MS can now detect a modded Xbox they can't yet detect the intentions of the user.

I need to re-read the article, I skimmed it the first time and it looked like it was only an XBL ban, I didn't realize the console was getting disabled.

[marlin29311]

Wow that report makes it seem like Modifying your xbox will get you arrested.It just bans the console from XBL and bricks its.

The bricking of consoles is probably gonna get MS some flak soon....yeah the pirates are breaching the Terms of Service, but that doesnt give MS the right to Brick a console.Banning the console is more than enough, the pirate isnt on your service anymore, there is no need to punish them more.But further bricking the console even when its offline is just straight up mean.

1 million consoles is a hell of a lot too.

Consider it a free "hey we're not going to report you to the Fed's for piracy" card.

Microsoft has the data to basically send all of those people to jail for using copyright infringment games. Cheating and hacking are one thing, which simply only gives advantages to a user in a game, but being able to play pirated games is another.

[krazydriver]

Microsoft has the data to basically send all of those people to jail for using copyright infringment games. Cheating and hacking are one thing, which simply only gives advantages to a user in a game, but being able to play pirated games is another.

Not quite true.for example, I've backed up most of the games I own to my computer. Perfectly legal to do that with stuff that I own, be it PC games or xbox games.

Now I once knocked over my xbox and completely wrecked the disc that was in it. Burned the game back from the image on my comp and I'm fine. (I will be honest though, there are some games I've burned that I don't own)

As MOD said, M$ can't detect the motive whether it be modding for the ability to mod, modding for cheats, or modding for piracy. So if someone backed up and burned ONLY games they had purchased, they are doing something completely legal, but M$ bricks their console, refuses to help, and tries to force them to buy a new xbox.

[Nali]

Consider it a free "hey we're not going to report you to the Fed's for piracy" card.

Microsoft has the data to basically send all of those people to jail for using copyright infringment games. Cheating and hacking are one thing, which simply only gives advantages to a user in a game, but being able to play pirated games is another.

As the poster above me said.We are allowed to make back ups of our games if we want....they are our games.ITs only a problem when we download a game off the net.Note. That on your game disc is says Do Not Make Illegal Copies of This Disc. Not do not make copies of this disc.But since MS cant tell whether the game someone is playing is a backup of their original or just a straight up bootleg they just ban the console entirely.

Also, as MOD said flashed Xbi arent only used to play pirated games, so just because i have a flashed Xbox doesnt mean im automatically a pirate.Theres a huge community actively trying to get Linux and homebrew stuff to boot on the 360.I might have flashed my console to help out.So while it is a breach of the TOS on Live it isnt a problem for MS if im off live, so why tamper with my console if im not even on your service anymore?

MS doesnt understand how ruthless pirates can get, 1 million bricked consoles out there, atleast 10% of those consoles are owned by BlackBeards which means MS is gonna get alot of calls from consumers complaining about their consoles not working.

Note. BlackBeard - Really ruthless pirate.BlackBeard 360 pirates sell their banned consoles to Gamestop and other companies which buy back consoles(very slick but unfair to the guy who buys the second hand console)

Or the most ruthless of the ruthless, go to Walmart buy a console, swap out the internals with their banned console(takes me less than 10mins) and then return the console to get their money back.....with a brand new console in the back seat of their car.

[bmike818]

If you modify your console, don't go online- no problem. Go online and get served, that's your problem. LOL at modifying your console and going online....

[MinisterofDOOM]

Note. BlackBeard - Really ruthless pirate.BlackBeard 360 pirates sell their banned consoles to Gamestop and other companies which buy back consoles(very slick but unfair to the guy who buys the second hand console)

Yep. And MS has been straight about the fact that they make no exceptions for people who buy banned boxes. So you could buy a used box on craigslist or ebay and find out later that it's banned and it'd be your loss. MS will not unban the box.