Microsoft Disconnects Modded Xbox Users 738
S-4'N3 writes "The BBC reports that Microsoft has disconnected approximately 600,000 Xbox users from Xbox Live because the devices they are using have been modified, either with software or with new chips, to play pirated games. 'Microsoft confirmed that it had banned a "small percentage" of the 20 million Xbox Live users worldwide.
Microsoft said that modifying an Xbox 360 console 'violates' the service's 'terms of use' and would result in a player being disconnected.'"
And of course... (Score:4, Informative)
By "disconnecting" it means banning from playing in the "live" online network (which you must pay to play anyway).
It is still possible to play offline games with banned xboxs
"a small percentage" (Score:5, Informative)
600,000 of 20,000,000
there are some who would call this "three percent"
Re:"a small percentage" (Score:4, Informative)
3% is a pretty small percentage.
Re:I can't believe I'm saying this (Score:4, Informative)
I don't believe most of the modding community is bothered by the ban from XBL. But this recent ban wave also cripples some offline capabilities as well. For example, if you've been banned you can't install games to your local hard drive anymore.
Re:And of course... (Score:3, Informative)
Very carefully, though, they still keep your xbox live account active and charge you the subscription fee.
For those who want to cancel, check out http://www.xbox.com/accounts [xbox.com], change your subscription by clicking the link after subscription renewal (the link says "ON"). Then continue to click through the 5 or 6 pages detailing all the reasons you should stay. Click "Next" through all of that, and you're set.
Re:No Cheating (Score:2, Informative)
Re:***hoe m$ (Score:1, Informative)
I don't hear apple lock up modded apple tvs, and jailbraked iphones, and have m$ ever given free wi-fi in airports?
No, apple would never lock people out from violating their EULA! Never!
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/11/1336200/OS-X-Update-Officially-Kills-Intel-Atom-Support [slashdot.org]
Never!
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/09/07/15/221238/Apple-Update-Means-Palm-Pre-Can-No-Longer-Sync-With-iTunes?art_pos=23 [slashdot.org]
Re:Another loser from the entitlement generation (Score:5, Informative)
Mmm, how was it he didn't pay?
You mean other than the part where he says he didn't buy the games and just copied them because he felt he was owed them?
guess he paid for the Xbox, he paid money to the guy for 'chipping' his box, and he paid for the Xbox-live service.. what you are saying was that he didn't pay enough?
If one wants to play a game, one has to buy it. If one can not afford to pay for the game doesn't mean you are allowed to copy it. One is not entitled to the work of another for free just because someone wants it.
Re:Another loser from the entitlement generation (Score:3, Informative)
You don't go into a store and argue with the cashier - at least not in most western economies - that the price is too much. You either buy it or you don't.
I do it all the time. I just don't expect to leave with it unless the cashier and I agree on the price and I pay it.
Re:Creative and engaged users, not cheaters (Score:3, Informative)
The only problem with this approach is that some (undoubtedly small) percentage of users who are in fact doing creative things by modding their xbox could also fall victim to being a false positive from whatever method Microsoft is using to identify the modders.
Many users seemed to get banned this time after they played their pirated copy of Modern Warfare 2 before it was released, so it shouldn't be a problem for those who aren't modding to play pirated copies. MS isn't of course disclosing their methods to identify modded consoles, but this seemed to happen to many.
Re:No Cheating (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Anglo-American law is strange (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, you use the Xbox Live service at Microsoft's invitation, on the terms of a seperate contract you establish with them when you pay the subscription (the Xbox Live terms of service). It has nothing to do with the contract of sale of the console itself. If they wanted to, they could have a term banning you from going on Live if the console's horizontal instead of vertical. It's a breach of that contract, so they're entitled to follow through on the penalty outlined in that contract, provided there is no local law which supercedes that contract term.
Re:Creative and engaged users, not cheaters (Score:5, Informative)
There's a large, officially supported homebrew scene on XBL. They even have a channel to publish your games and get paid for them. There's a lot of officially published info on the system, including getting into the graphics hardware and creating networked games. There's not a whole lot you can't do with their system other than not writing managed code (which may/may not be a big deal depending on what you're doing). I'd say the main intent here is to get rid of pirates.
Re:Creative and engaged users, not cheaters (Score:5, Informative)
The remaining 0.1%, yes, actually just wants to write software for it.
Actually, there's no reason to mod your xbox to write software for it.
There's a hobbyist dev kit! It's a free download, even. You can write code for the XBox on it for free, and some schools are doing this. Now, if you want to install that code onto your own XBox... you need to pay an annual membership fee for the service that lets you do this, and then you can load the code onto your own unmodded xbox, and you can connect to it with a debugger and stuff. No hacks or mods necessary (in fact they interfere).
(And that fee also covers what you need to submit the stuff you write to the process that lets other people download it, and lets you get paid for that. I have bought a game or two that were written this way. There's some innovative stuff in there.)
Re:Funny First Hand Account (Score:1, Informative)
> But it's pretty rare that you'll see someone out-and-out defending piracy here.
Only because they are cowardly little twerps that don't have the testicles to admit their own motivations.
Re:360 (Score:3, Informative)
The HD is not banned as it's not modified. The mods to system are. Of course you can buy an unmodded system and play. They aren't banning "you" they're banning your modded system.
MS is basically saying that if you want to mod your system then go ahead. But if you want to play on LIVE then you need an unmodded system to do it with. If you want to save some money you can transfer your HD to the unmodded system when you want to play with the rest of the world. With the price of the XBox dropping it is less cost prohibitive now to do that.
Why pay full price? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Creative and engaged users, not cheaters (Score:4, Informative)
It doesn't count because there's absolutely no need to mod or hack your console to develop using the Microsoft tools.
Re:Creative and engaged users, not cheaters (Score:3, Informative)
People who cheat on games ruin the experience for everybody else.
There is currently one chip [mod-chip.com] out which allows you to rollback your xbox kernel to a vulnerable kernel (4532 or 4548), AFAIK xbox live will not play run on these kernels. If that is correct (and i have no reason to believe it's not) then none of these people were cheating. All the other chips are pirate only chips (go on CD-drive to allow pirated games but cannot modify disc images).
So this is to do with "99%" piracy "0%" cheating "1%" running linux,etc
Re:No Cheating (Score:3, Informative)
P.S.
When Dish Network mailed me a broken DTV box, and refused to accept a return, I purchased a second box from them (which worked), and claimed non-receipt..... thereby making myself whole on the money Dish stole from me n the first box.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Uhhh (Score:3, Informative)
Maybe I don't understand the nature nor purpose of these mods, but isn't what you do on your hardware your own business if you are not stealing from Microsoft?
Actually, Microsoft is saying pretty much that. However, if you do mod your hardware, you cannot play on Microsoft's server. You can still use your Xbox in offline mode. It is your XBox. However, you cannot get onto Microsoft's servers, of which you do not own nor have an inherent right to. Basically, if you want to mod your own XBox as well as play online, you had better buy two systems, and only mod one.
Re:"a small percentage" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Creative and engaged users, not cheaters (Score:3, Informative)
In the US we hold that the presumption of innocence is a right enjoyed in criminal matters. this is not a criminal matter its a contract dispute, as such it is a civil matter and the presumption of innocence is not a right you have.
Re:Why (Score:3, Informative)
No, this is what happens when you sign up for a service and agree to the terms of that service.
It wouldn't matter if the Xbox was completely open source, you're agreeing to Microsoft's ToS to connect to Xbox Live. Those ToS include the fact that they'll only provide that service to non modified consoles. They're perfectly within their rights to do that, and since all that is basically server side, they could continue to do so even if you were connecting to it with a Linux box built from parts you built yourself.
Re:Quit trolling. Pay attention...you can profit h (Score:5, Informative)
Now what about if you aren't using LIVE? Nothing's going to stop you from running pirated games now, and it's probably going to be really cheap to get these "dead" consoles now. Life's good! If you buy a $50 or $100 used console and download a few games, you have already saved yourself the cost of a console. BAM!
Except that the last ban wave will cripple some offline features as well, such as HDD installs (a *big* loss since the DVD drive sounds like a jet engine when spinning), being able to move savegames to other consoles (no more playing you're savegames at a friends place), and I think even some of the media center functions. Also, you won't be getting any game patches anymore, which is also a major downside since so many console games are released full of bugs these days.
Re:No Cheating (Score:3, Informative)
Right...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free60 [wikipedia.org]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biCZJNFV8nI [youtube.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_XNA [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrew_(video_games)#Xbox_360 [wikipedia.org]
The community is not as large as other consoles, but it's not zero.
dfgdfs (Score:2, Informative)