November 4th 2009 3:00 pm PT

People need to be held accountable for stupidity!! Good job!!

Yeah! Ban those filthy pirates.

Totally agree, it’s those people that drive the cost of everything else up for the rest of us!

The inherent problem with this banning system, is that it bans consoles, not hard drives, Gamertags or IP adresses. So if a console gets banned, that person can sell that console on ebay, and simply buy an arcade console, slap his HD back on and keep being a pirating bastard.

Clearly you guys are doing a terrible job of banning people as I know about 9 ppl who have mw2 already by using flashed xbox’s and they have yet to be banned

Pirates! Modders! Bears?! Oh my!

Nice job on this article as people should follow the rules!

AtheistCanuck, it seems you could be on the ban list pretty soon with an avatar like that… don’t you think it’s a bit stupid to comment not only on a website like this, but on a topic regarding console bans?

I am pretty sure modding your avatar is against the ToS.

Good riddance.

I have read in the xbox forums ppl posting that they got banned and don’t think they did anything wrong. Great work, keep it up. I have no respect for ppl who cheat/mod their consoles to play stolen games. I can only pitty them.

@x2i4eva, that’s not a mod. There was hidden easter egg to make your avatar anime-ish.

Good good!

lolz @ AtheistCanuck

Well played, posting on a modded account. You sure showed them.

I agree that the perm ban on consoles hurts those who end up buying it second hand, but what else can you do? I mean, it would be easy to switch ISPs and then claim “I bought this second hand, unban it” to get a console YOU modded unbanned.

In all, well done to the team. Keep up the good work.

If nothing else, you make the suspension forum much more entertaining.

@x2i4eva

Only hair colour, skin colour can’t be changed like that without modding.

To correct myself, my comment was directed at AriesDog, I just typed the wrong name, sorry for any confusion.

This is a HUGE problem for us here and Gamestop/EB Games. We have gotten more and more BRICKED 360s in for trade, so many theres been a GS corporate email thread about this very subject. We have no way in testing 360s at all, let alone seeing if they are bricked. Only about 15% of our 360 systems actually go to HQ for a referb, most of our 360 go in the back room, get their plastic cleaned, and then put on the shelf the next day, w/o any testing or referb’n.

(Poor customers who buy used actually think they are getting a referb, when that xbox was on someone else’s TV yesterday.)

Because of this, we now have baker’s dozens of angry costumers, and loads of returned BRICKED 360 that WE lost money on.

Be it games, dvds, cds, piracy has lowered prices dramatically this past decade. Im not defending game piracy, its illegal, and they should get banned. I just don’t lay awake at night crying over companies profit margin

Ha AtheistCanuck already changed his Gamer Pic to hide it! Nice move.

Umm I could be wrong but that is gay al from south park. Not an amine pic. And tere are plently of south park gamerpics on live last I looked

People doesnt mod their consoles just for piracy, you know?
I have a modded GC and PS2 for playing original imported games.

I think there are people who has their Xbox modded to play non-region-free games, buying them online.
I know it’s still against the terms of use to mod your console, I’m just saying that not all the modders are pirates and it’s not fair to “insult” those people.

Hey AtheistCanuck, you should change your avatar also, just changing your gamerpic isnt gonna save you.

Okay on the modding thing. But how does a non-transferrable warranty prevent evil piracy. Or does Microsoft consider anything that reduces margins piracy? If so than Ebay and Gamestop should be banned from all hardware/software sales, and probably would be if legally feasible.

I sense an incoming ban for AtheistCanuck…LOL n00b.

@Goodeye84
You have to click on his GT. Then u might see a blue skined ava. I guess the most ppl know that big gay al isn´t a mod like ava…

Goodeye84: They are talking about his avatar, not his gamerpic.

i really dont care about my blue avatar. big deal. i got a data cable and im going to use it for whatever I want. its not ruining xobx of anyone unlike people pirating game so maybe you all need to relax

i guess it stops a lot of people who use modded xbox’s, but the people I know who have modded xbox’s are smart enough to un-ban themselves! Kinda defeats the purpose… but hey! I guess it probably stops the vast majority… gosh Im so mad that they got Modern Warfare 2 early and had to spoil it all for us!

Nevermind inthought you were all talking about his gamerpic. I see his vatar is blue so unless some game unlocked some feautres ya he is modding

AthiestCanuk

you got some serious guts then have fun when they ban your console.

How long do you think you can manage to keep buying consoles as they continue to ban you? Would hve just been cheaper I’d you had gone legit

It’s about time you addressed the turbo pad situation …

I hate people who play pirated games… I pay for all my games, or at least pay for a subscription to rent them. It’s just not fair… Good job Microsoft on banning these bastards.

Pirates are at the bottom of the gene pool. They have to live with that fact even if they get away with it.

Awesome job MN. Keep it up. Tell the Enforcement Team to keep on em!

Hey majornelson… what’s your email? I need to contact you about something that involves this post.

Good job Xbox Live. Ban thoose damn pirates!

I dont suport piracy but you guys have no clue what your talking about i do admite that im a modder but i aint done any thing on live and i do own a secound 360 that is flashed but not used on live. the main reason is that i use it as a linux server so i dont think you guys should be so mean to modders most of the modders are the people keeping the indesry going and designing the games as most of us have a interest in games and how they work.

lol I love how I get banned when I’ve done nothing to ruin gameplay or the xbox experience for anyone. yet I know of 9 people playing mw2 illegally at this moment and they get away with it. the xbox team is worse than Mall security.

@Sneaky Peanut: I think that’s cool considering is a cheap super computer with three cores on die! I wish the 360 had a Folding @ Home project like the PS3! NOPE we got Facebook and Twitter though. Let’s cure cancer one tweet at a time.

Awesome…

I have nothing against MS banning users with flashed DVD drives from Live, it’s their service and unlike the original Xbox there is not yet a homebrew community which could be used as a legal justification for modification. With that in mind however, I think they could be doing a better job at fighting this by removing the reasons for people to do it.

First, backups. I know, haha, “backups” right *wink*….but I’m actually serious. I’m good about keeping my discs in tact, but I can easily see how people with young kids or destructive pets could benefit from being able to put the original disc away in a safe closet and allow the kids to play using a backup. I’m sure most of you don’t carry original CDs in your car, rather choosing to burn copies or mix discs which you then don’t have to worry if they get scratched or stolen.

I see two ways to solve this without straight out allowing burned copies, which obviously would not fly. First would be to allow games to be truly installed to the hard drive without requiring the disc to launch. I can do this on my original Xbox thanks to the mod chip and third-party dashboard so not only do I never have to swap discs and risk scratching them, but I also get notably improved load times as the slow DVD drive is never used at all. You could also just make titles available on Games on Demand immediately upon release and we can get rid of these stupid discs altogether. That one might require looking at what Sony has done right and letting the users swap their own hard drives with ones that aren’t priced entirely out of the realm of sanity.

Second more easily implemented, a damaged disc swap program. Charge $5 or some other nominal fee that makes sense for the cost of producing the actual disc and allow people to send in their damaged discs (requiring more than 50% of the disc of course) plus the fee and have it exchanged for a new one. Absolutely zero risk of assisting piracy and it removes the main legal justification for having a console capable of playing copied games.

The important message here is look at what people are doing and why they choose to modify their consoles, rather than just attempting to defend the status quo maybe realize that while some of these “features” they enable on their consoles aren’t as profitable they’re what your customers want.

if m$ has put linux suport in at the beguining then none of us would have to mod are systems come on sony did it and the ps3 is terible (i own one so yeah)

@w0lrah your exactly right i rember when i was a kid my dad wouldent let my use his ps1 becuse he fought id reck the disk so he decided to chip it so the hole family could use it without risk of recking the games

Pretty simple. If you want to mod your console, stay off LIVE. It sucks on some aspects, but to keep LIVE fair they need to ban pirates, cheaters, and people who tamper with their machines. The people who are doing modding and doing honest things with it are the minority, sorry but in the end you broke the rule laid out to use LIVE. And before you start to complain, you can get a new 360 with warranty for $100 if you play your cards right. That is cheaper than any repair, so that excuse has gone out the window.

@w0lrah While I see your points, they won’t be considered or even thought about for two seconds. You saw how fast AtheistCanuck was banned when he posted here. That means people are watching these forums but they don’t care about consumers. They care about profit. Banning someone’s console doesn’t solve the issue, it just means another Xbox 360 purchase to write off.
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Microsoft’s decisions are done first economically before anything. They like to keep shareholders happy not consumers.

Most people just toggle their mod chips on and off so they never get banned ( kinda stupid to be playing a game months before its releaed )

The more paranoid modders just keep a second console thats always offline for playing downloaded stuff and keep another 360 for live.

@Sneaky Peanut: You are going into foul territory! You are asking the creator of the Windows Operating System to put Linux on their product! I think Windows CE or Windows Embedded would be considered but never LINUX.

I know Microsoft has always been watching the way consoles behave on Xbox LIVE, and I for one feel safe. Recently my 360 had gotten the RROD, and instead of sending it in a third time, I just decided to fix it myself. The repair went quite well, took a little over an hour, and it hasn’t given me any problems so far. I have yet to put the entire case back on, and a few friends are pressuring me to flash my drive. A couple days after I had repaired it, a friend of mine’s console got banned for HIS flashed drive. I know there are ways to detect things like stealth patched games, but Microsoft looks like they have yet to implement measures for it. All they really have to do is roll out another system update, and goodbye console modders. One reason they DON’T do it is probably because of the huge modding community that still BUYS games… I for one have only gone so far as to mod individual files on the HDD, which is NOT a reason for banning since I don’t cheat or anything with it. I am not, however, going to mod my 360 hardware, because I fell that Microsoft is starting to get gradually more serious with the way they carry out these bans. Plus, I can’t even afford a console repair, how would I afford a new one?

AthiestCanuck

They will get theirs don’t worry about that. But you got banned because you broke the terms of use. Even if you didn’t pirate games or effect online gameplay the truth is you still modded your console/live account etc it’s against the tos you agreed to when you signed up for live. Why should anyone feel sorry for you? How do you expect to have any recourse?

also what this is saying if your out of warrenty and your 360 brakes you cant repair it without being banned from live!!. also if your dvd drive brakes then you also get banned for no reason m$ is prosicuting people for fixing things them selves i know some of my friends wouldent pay £90 to get there 360 repaired by m$ so why ban people for operning there consoles i got no problem people being banned for piracy but if u need to open your console for what ever reason u should get banned. (so now my mates gonna get banned becuse i hoverd his 360 out is that fair i supose not)

I agree with Goodeye84. You pretty much made it easy for them ban you and you confessed. You pretty much wanted to get banned.

@iconicsoulja i know what your saying about linux but they could of just let you have a mode like sony to run alternative os’s

@Sneaky Peanut: The only reason SONY did that IMHO is because they marketed their console as a PC. They also don’t own an operating system so Linux is no threat to their bottom line.

I can’t really understand why gamers will do this kind of stuff. It is not only the problem of playing games wich are downloaded from the net, but it is also the annoying cheats they are using in various games. Simply not only ban their xbox from live, but ban them for LIVE

i really hate piracy..i hope ms has something to get them all banned. I always supported the game industry and never modded my xbox 1 and xbox 360. I always pay the full price for games and i wished everyone else would do this too(i mean people with a modded xbox).

I’ll admit I had a modded 360 a while back when I was unemployed. I did it for the sole reason I couldn’t afford games. Then I got banned at the time of the Halo 3 beta. So few months later when I was working and halo 3 came out, I bought an elite and have bought all my games brand new on release date usually. I have built up a collection of games and I now enjoy collecting them. I don’t ‘hate’ pirates as such, a lot do it for the same reason I did, I hate the cheaters on live the most. It’s those guys ruining things. Maybe some of our live subscription money or marketplace revenue should go to getting rid of them.

Ban all the dumbass pirates.
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Especially all those who are playing MW2 now!

WHATS THE POINT OF MODDING CONSOLES TO PLAY PIRATE GAMES NO NEED FOR IT , IF YA GET FOUND OUT DON’T YA GAMERS TAG GET BAND THAT WOULD THE BEST WAY THEN THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SWOP HARDDRIVE TO CARRY ON WICH I SAW IN AN EARLYER POST .ALL I CAN SAY KEEP XBOX CLEAN NOT MODDED PLAY FAIR STAY ORIGINAL…..

@ PuppyT
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Yeah, sure they can un-ban themselves.
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You would need the consoles CPU key to unban, which i doubt they have.

It is simple… Mod one xbox to play your single player games that are not that fun and to mess around with… have a 2nd xbox to buy the games that you play online…. THUS the games that suck/dont have a high value get weeded out.

Kyaizen – You can PM me on the Xbox Forums with your question if you’d like.

A…B…C-YA!!!!!!

For so many reasons, I would never buy a used Xbox 360. Getting one that has been banned is right up there with getting one of the millions of consoles that are junk quality.

AtheistCanuck, it seems you could be on the ban list pretty soon with an avatar like that… don’t you think it’s a bit stupid to comment not only on a website like this, but on a topic regarding console bans?

I am pretty sure modding your avatar is against the ToS.

Are kids really that thick these days?

You guys should reflash the cd-rom back

majornelson i know 2 persons that play pirate games where i can report them….

“Str8fe: Totally agree, it’s those people that drive the cost of everything else up for the rest of us!”

Actually the only thing that drives up the cost of anything is that people know they can get away with it. People willing to buy at any cost is what raises prices not the people who refuse to.

major please answer this… “not saying im one of them yet im not just know a few” more and more prices are getting higher even for a middle class person 60 for a new game yet some games require add ons like dj hero that make the game around or just over $100 dont you blame them for even doing it??? i just want to hear on your side about things like that because it sounds like there are 2 right sides to it and someone has to figure it out on how to bring both sides together… i was thinking a out side source of beta club for the games it would cut down on prices a bit but the issue is you got to trust those that enter wount copy it…

oh and the club members would get discounts on the games like maybe %20-%15 or added $10 compounds they can save up

One of the reasons i like Xbox Live is the attempt of Microsoft to keep it fun for everyone, so kudo’s to them!

@Obienator: I’m not sure you understand all the ways that a piece of hardware can be modded.

@procrasturbater: Charming username BTW. It’s great that you’re talking about how poor QC GameStop has, plenty of employees have done it and it’s great to get the inside view. I hope that you agree the indifferent corporate policies in place deserve each and every complaint that you receive at the store level, and I’m sorry that you’re powerless to change it and powerless to bring a little TV into the store and actually test out the consoles you accept for sale. Basically you’re running a pawn shop, yes?

Personally i couldn’t care about cheaters on live, because mostly i play with friends, what annoys me more so is the people DESPERATELY TRYING to justify their modded console!
Yeh there are many reasons you could favour doing it, ie to import official games before they come out in your country, but the MAIN reason is to play back up games.
Pisses me off so much that i am debating is this game worth getting at £25-£40 when people are just downloading games and burning them illegaly!!
The reason they continue to do so…….

A = It’s seems to be EASY for them to do.

B = The threat of being banned fromn xbox live is not a big enough deterrant, (but seems to be the only one microsoft can do).

C = The can STILL play these games off-line.

In an ideal world, all consoles would be unhackable, but it aint ever gonna happen, suppose we can just live n hope that microsoft will apply better and more extreme security measures in the next gen console!

AtheistCanuck modded his 360 just to turn his avatar blue???. He probably is one of the 9 he mentioned playing MW2, just using a different XBL account when he does.

I have right now a contact playing Moder Warfare 2 for free, a pirated one. I will pay 90 euros for my CE and I still don’t have it. Why is he still playing online and not banned?

@DarkEquitus you are a funny guy. you dont need to mod an xbox to make an avatar a different color. you just need the data transfer cable. Modding an xbox to play burned games is fucked up. That ruins gaming experiences and is a reason games are going up in price.

Nice keep up the good work

@AtheistCanuck are you sure thats the main reason if you really think about it its the cost of living thats gone up and the game prices are going with it and some or most are resolving to modding there xbox to cope with it and also have something on the side i mean i support xbox live and xbox crew on what there doing it just well in some ways any mass banning is not good and is some what bad rep and means there is an issue need to fix

Great job, I picked a good time to buy an Xbox 360.

Let the Banhammer strike swift and true!

What about banning Taito for releasing Live Arcade games that don’t work properly (Puzzle Bobble). The fact that such issues are not addressed will also harm the health of the video game business.

good ban those pirates!

haha, take a look at this http://www.mygamercard.net/tracker.php#ModernWarfare2 what losers, can’t wait like the rest of us!

i heard that some people got it early to so that probably one of them i mean i hope if not too bad for them

Nice one, Keep ‘em coming Major!

Ban em all!!! that what u all want to hear right?? but right now i sit at home waiting on my 5th yes 5th!!! 360 from the repair center and thats leagle???? come on guy’s!!! ok so a guy mods his 360 thats on him! and he gets banned!! sorry bout your luck. but to pile on that guy the consumer??? gimmie a break!!! I don’t agree with him but i could see his point!!!

I understand the need to ban modders, but sadly this wave of bans is hitting people who have a legit console. my console has been banned and I have a legit copy of MW2. I have told them I will show them the recepit, but as of now I guess they are re opening my case and taking another look. I am all for you trying to bring down modders, but you all need to make sure you are getting the right people…becasue I am not one of the ones you are looking for, and I dont really appreciate having to go through this. I paid my 50 dollars and this is not fair to me at all.

Yeah I know this guy on xbox live who mods consoles and he gives people on his friends list games for free and has been playing MW2 with them for the passed week.

He laughs at the fact he has never been caught…

And a guy on my friends list told me that this guy has been doing it for years and teaches guys how to beat your system

Its not really fair for the rest of us…..

Out of curiousity… using a modchip to play backups of your own games is legal in Australia. Are Australians using modchips (not that I am, but I’ve thought about it sometimes) going to get banned for doing something we have a right to do?

This is where i love the PS3 better – it would actually cost alot more to play pirated copies on PS3 than to just buy them. Also i think there are really alot of ppl on xbox live that have a modified console. maybe 2% of those on PSN? Its nice and all that they are banning consoles, but they will never get them all. We pay for games and they play them for free… its a kick in the head. But if i would be buying a console now, i would probably go with the PS3.

But hey, wanna battle console modding and win? Just give every game a unique serial number. The user enters the number upon 1st boot of the game and its stored in the xbox from than on… Where would people who download games get these numbers? they wouldnt… Well that would at least work for the people who have connected their xboxes to XBL…

Well done! Keep banning those damn pirates! They’re only thieves, using games that they didn’t pay for. Again, well done!

@Slashee the Cow Its also legal here in slovenia, but if one has an original copy, why play a backup anyway? Its a law to not make ppl mad, but who really thinks about it.

Agree with all of that except the used console bit, I think its criminal that someone could buy one of your consoles used and be banned from xboxlive through no fault of their own.

how can microsoft sell faulty consoles (about 90% are) then p*ss and moan about people who modify their consoles, i don’t blame them. and to that guy who has a legit copy of modern warfare 2, i’d call microsoft and give them a 48hour warning to un-ban your console, otherwise get them taken to court and wipe the floor with them, i hope microsoft goes bust. and no, my console has never been opened/modded/chipped/flashed. i just have common sense and use a sony product.

i have had a console banned without having it modded back last year, but some people might mod them to play region free games!has anyone tought of that????i live in the uk and there are a few games that have been out that i cant play at the time but if i had a region free console i could.why dont ms bring out a region free 360 for everyone to have a choice?also ms ban the console and not the gamertag because it dont matter who you are you will go and buy a new or 2nd hand 360 to play on live which will put the sales up,which i think is a good bit of marketing,but if they ban the gamertag you might stray to another console me thinks!!!!!!

@XenoLair While I’ve never had my 360 scratch discs, I know people who have. I’d much rather see a backup scratched to hell than the original.

Lynch182

Thanks for contributing nothing but fanboy garbage to the discussion. GameFAQs is that-a-way…

Not only is your console banned, your GT is banned as well (please correctly if I’m wrong major).

My friend has been modding his gamerscore in the past few days and there’s even people who don’t even pay for games and just mod them. I agree that this is unfair and we should ban them.

BTW, I bought COD:MW2 (it’s the retail one and not the pirated crap and I welcome MS to check my console to see that it’s legit). So those who are saying that the people who are currently playing MW2 should get banned need to reword that. Those who are playing PIRATED copies of MW2 need to get banned.

I cant help but think of this saying -
‘Those without vices, have the worst ones’

@Slashee the Cow: I would say that your agreed ToS trumps use of the law in this matter. Your law may say that you can modify your console to play backups, but that doesn’t mean that Microsoft has to allow said compromised system on LIVE. I’m no lawyer, but if you were able to prove a case and keep your modded console from being banned through your legal system Microsoft would simply terminate all live access to AU. As far as your scratched discs, try running the thing horizontally. I have only one disc scratched and it was due to a fumble on it’s way into the tray.

Microsoft doesn’t ban to keep live safe, how would playing a pirated game keep live unsafe lol, why is the ban so random if its to keep live safe not all modders get banned some do some don’t. This is just their propaganda they ban this time of year every year, why? to boost holiday\end of the year sales. They know most of these so called modders will buy another console hence why the haven’t used gamertag bans but rather mainly only console bans to generate more console sales and boost profits. If they banned cheaters then I could see them saying they are trying to keep live safe, sure playing a pirated game is wrong but it doesn’t make live unsafe haha thats just a joke to think it does this is Microsoft people all they care about is your money.

I agree with the ban everyone in MW2. I’m sure Activision/Treyarch have a list of people who are authorized to have it for testing purposes. If you bought it somehow, too bad, take it up with your retailer who didn’t follow the rules. I’m sure replacing your console would be cheaper for them than a lawsuit from MS for selling prior to release.

Hey Stepto, you hiring? I have some really sneaky ideas.

Quaranj, your dumb idea of banning those who have a retail copy of MW2 is the dumbest one I’ve heard and MS will never follow it. Your fail.

awsome!

the problem with the mass banning of consoles is that it does catch innocent people in the crossfire (and this is without getting into the whole “fair use” debate. that’s a whole other thorny bush which my view of, in short, is that the TOS contravenes fair use, but that’s another thing for another day). This was proved when the ODST bannings went on and people who had legit copies were banned amongst the pirates, I don’t know if there’s any possible way for the xbox team to differentiate between legit copies delivered early, and pirated versions, but if there is, they should be utilising it, no matter how time consuming, since it is manifestly unfair on those who have the game by legit means. There is of course the whole “well they should wait till release day to play” issue, but in my opinion, as soon as it’s discovered that there’s a leak in the supply chain, the entire release date should be brought forward.

I know of someone who has a flashed DVD drive, however, this was only done after his drive persistently scratched discs beyond repair, and Microsoft told him that the extended warranty didn’t cover disc drives, leading him to develop an attitude along the lines of “you know what, why am I letting them shaft me on prices for games and accessories?”. I also know personally of 3 people who also use a flashed arcade console to play backups offline (separate console to the one used for LIVE), because of the disk drive issues.

so in short, my view is that banning the pirates is all well and good, but when you start banning people who’ve been put in that position (playing backups, not piracy, which I’m in no way condoning) because their console is broken in a way your warranty doesn’t cover, despite it having been a common complaint, then I do begin to have issues.

I also have enormous issues with the banning of consoles, because of just how easy it is to just “hand ‘em in” and get a shiny new 360, while some kid who might be a little less well off comes in, buys a preowned box, and can’t use it online because of what the previous owner’s done to it, I’m pretty sure the legality of it is somewhat borderline, and it’s inherently wrong in a moral sense; however, the cynic in me says that this’ll remain the way it is, purely because Microsoft make no money from second had console sales.

Now if you guys would do the same for cheaters we would be very happy.

woah, I did space those paragraphs out. Honest!

Modded consoles for pirated games means less money for the gaming industry and a ban is good thing. When it come to modded controllers, fair game players get owned by cheaters. I believe modded controllers break the ToS so where are the bans?

My friend got caught. At least this doesnt ban tags. I don’t dare mod though. I like building up a collection

@AnEternalEnigma how am i a fanboy? i dare say i’ve had my xbox longer than you, i dare say i’ve spent more on my xbox than you, purchased the premium pack the day it came out and a year later i got an elite console, before that i had the original xbox console. i’ve sent my console back for repair 3times due to the ring of death and it freezing, then after that they sent me a refurb back which scratched about 5discs and then i sent that back. you cannot tell me that i am wrong in saying microsoft xbox 360′s are cheaply made and full of faults, and you can’t tell me that sony aren’t a more reliable manufacturer. i tell you the next time my console dies i will be doing everything i can to get games cheap, at the expense of microsoft, and i’ll keep doing it. @AnEternalEnigma you stick to your xbox, i’ll go on my reliable ps3.

Actually, it does ban gamer tags now.

They missed one, this guy was bragging online today about how his console mods are untraceable…his gamertag is ( I KENPO I )

My friends tag is still alive. He was banned today. It was just his box.

This is out of the ToS
use or distribute unauthorized cheats, macros, or scripts; or
exploit a bug, or make an unauthorized modification, to any software or data to gain unfair advantage in a game , contest, or promotion.

Modded controllers= Unauthorized modification, and change the Data to gain unfair advantage in the game. Doubt they will do nothing because they are more worried about money they don’t get from games except for microsoft game studios games.

unauthorized modification to data is the key phrase there.

RossD219, any modification you make to the 360 is never a authorized one. So no matter what modding your console to play “back up” aka pirated games is terms to get your console banned and your gt as well.

it’s only a pirated game if you don’t own an original, legit copy of the game. I’m pretty sure UK law at least insists upon the right to backup, and to use the backups of any purchased data. it doesn’t allow piracy, one does not equal the other, however the two are treated exactly the same.

And I was referring to the point about Modded controllers. from what I can tell from the ToS, it’s a grey area, it’s not modification of data, but it is a modification of an MS property, and would probably be prohibited, just not uder the LIVE ToS

@RossD210 So if you use a modded controller to speed up the fire rate for an FPS. Wouldn’t that be a unauthorized modification of Data to gain the upperhand in the game?

Below is a link now isn’t this like flahing your 360, except a hardware mod for controller. Stuff like this makes gaming UNFAIR on LIVE.
http://www.gamermodz.com/Controller-Mod-Kits/products/40/

I am glad this is happening. I spend my money to get video games, I hate people who just think they can download them illegally and play for free. Stealing is stealing.
Yes, I do have a modded XBOX (Orignal), but all that does is run XBMC, not play backups. I believe in homebrew, people should be able to write and run their own (open source) programs. But backups are no good.

Ross, the bottom line is that if you play a pirated game on your 360 and it’s modded, your console is banned. Period and end of story.

1 guy on my friends list has a modded console an hes yet to be banned so till i see that “cheater mc cheat” stuff all over his profile im callin B.S. on these constant warnings.

i actually seen him unlocking achievments for Madden 10 an Halo ODST WEEKS before they were officially released, so even those warnings about playing games early are B.S. its just too much trouble to actually mod in my opinion, im fine with my 2 Gamefly accounts – 8 games at a time for the price of 1 per month!!!!

I think this sums it up better

use the Service or related hardware to design, develop, or update unauthorized software;

It’s too bad, but measures like these are needed to keep the video game industry strong and healthy. Congrats to Microsoft for promoting a healthy environment where gaming can prosper.

@Wingman: I am aware of what it all entails, however, that doesn’t nesecarilly (I know that’s wrong) mean that the mechanisms being used are right. I don’t mod, not even for backups, mainly because (aside from fifa, which is saved to the HDD) my most played games are all arcade titles. all my posts are sort of “ideal world-sy”, but personally, I think the only system for backups (here’s a distinct irony) is to bdo whatever was done for the bannings of legit ODST players. people who have copies of the game have nothing to worry about, and the pirates still get caught.

Way to go microsoft bann those pirates, they should be held accountable for there actions.. They should learn to be like the rest us and pay for there games.. Like me personally ive spent thousands on games and accessories for my xbox..

Nelson you can bitch as much as you want but the truth is Xbox 360 & its games are way overpriced in India. Why do i have to pay 360$ for a stinking Falcon Arcade in India & shell out 70$ for a every game thereafter. If i have to pay that much id rather have a PS3.

Since your Shitty Xbox 360 RROD twice on me & im already on my third, i feel that there is nothing wrong with making backups or piracy as you call it.

Learn to make proper hardware asswipe

Well, I smell a ban for THAT guy.

If you are banning Pirates, what about Ninjas

F-em. Pay for your content like everyone else does.

Shoo Shoo Retarded Flu!

Here’s a solution to stop pirated games….LOWER PRICES!! Yeah..yeah..yeaaaaahh….

I just wait till games get real low and buy them. I just repurchased the Gears of War collectors edition for 14.99 since I gave my older one to my sis. If I haven’t played it, it’s new to me I always say. Yeah I’m a cheapskate, cause no one is buying the games for me.

I have to tell a few people their consoles might be banned…or shouldn’t I…hmmm >:}

Good!eff them!

Good job!

EveofLight,

Why don’t you try to develop 360 games and price them @ $14.99? It’s easy to complain when you don’t know what the costs are to develop a game.

About darn time. I’m sick of half my list playing MW2. But now I can lol at them.

@Wingman – I know how what goes into developing a game, but its not like only 30 people are buying the game; millions upon millions around the world are buying games. Its not going to hurt them if they lower the fuking price. Some of those games are shitty anyway and aren’t even worth their price anyway.

BAN ALL OF EM.. BAN EM ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Pirating is terrible and not sure WHY it is just spoken about Xbox Live – DVDs, Movie Theater Bootlegs, etc are all wrong and bad. It’s really a shame and sad pirating on U.S. shores is what killed the Sega DreamCast. My thing is with Xbox Live (and World of WarCraft), why is there no ‘leaderboard’ that tracks these culprits for all the public to see? Yeh, it would lead to more work, but as someone stated “… ban a console and the pirate/modder can just go out and buy/steals another legitimate Xbox360 and make a legitimate gamertag and start the process over…”

I REALLY look forward to more ‘system’ security that if you open the case, cool, do it, but if you tamper with this [section XXX] your system will no longer boot. That alone would cut down on pirating. And a lot of things I hear in public (at the mall, at game stores, etc) being in electronics, pirates are the issue, the ‘whizzes’ who just do it to say “Guess what I did today?” are the ones that open the door to the pirates.[sigh] Banning is always good, but at what cost? And is it (alone) really efficient? [I am just posing the question.]

@Blackbolt GT
Being unemployed does not justify pirating. I’ve had people say that and it bursts my bubble as that is like saying “I robbed the bank because I needed money.” ‘LUXURIES’ are not necessities. Buy what you can afford, rent or borrow what you can’t.

But with that said, I’ve witnessed theft (five finger discounts) from kids who come from well off families. It still is wrong even though they could easily afford whatever it was they stole.

Do people even know what’s going on? If you ban a console, that console’s not able to play online. You don’t just walk to the store and pick up a new console and you’re good to go again- the modding process is not ‘buy a new one off the shelf’ or ‘buy a disc at gamestop and run it’.

And I wonder how many people will see this and then go download their music, movies, and/or TV shows via torrent. But hey, that’s different, right?

You will -never- stop Pirates, Modders, Hackers. – Companies try, and they always fail.

I’m not condoning such actions, however one of the biggest reasons why Pirates, Pirate is that they feel that the Media is to expensive, lower the price, and you will get less pirates as the games are more accessible price-wise, however you will never ever get rid of all the pirates, because put simply, some of them are to cheap to care about supporting the companies that make the games they love.

Probably a good reason why PC gaming doesn’t look all that good anymore, as companies find it harder and harder to make an income on the platform, as the games are readily available to download, for free.

I own all my games, never rented or borrowed a game for my Xbox 360 yet, I do own allot of crap games, which in the end I regret paying $80-$120 for, but such is life, and I have done my part to keep the industry going.

*********

If the banning’s of illegal consoles/games begins to affect the legit users, I’ll be moving to the PS3 in a heartbeat, hence why I dropped PC gaming and the DRM infested games long ago. (Especially with stupid activation mechanisms, on games like Spore).

All 3 of the 360′s I have owned have *not* been modded (nor the hard drives, …) – 100% genuine. (First one RROD, got a replacement from MS, and then sold it to upgrade to Jasper when they came out)
Bottom line, I don’t even see why most would think it was a good idea to mod the drive. At the end of the day, I play COD games (whatever the latest is…) Serious, 60 (game) + 50 (xbox live) = 110 bucks for a year of enterntainment is CHEAP. I don’t even have time for many other games. It doesn’t make sense to me why someone would want a spindle of copied games. Can you seriously play that many???
This is coming from someone that likes to “mod” other things such as PCs, wireless routers, …(just not for piracy) as it is fun to really understand how something works.
I agree with what some others have said – Ban the gamer tags and not the consoles themselves (or both). My only guess as to why they don’t ban gamer tags is maybe they would legally owe refunds for the remainder of the terminated service???

Great to see!

Its really sad people are so cheap. I gladly just spend $60 on my pre-order of Left 4 Dead 2. Keep up the great work!

Pretty lame to ban a console.I don’t like pirating etc…
MS is big enough that they could ban individuals easily.
But a $200+ console? They should at least let the new owner re register it and drop the ban.
Another reason my next console probably wont be an Xbox.
With MS you never really own what you buy from them.

Procrasturbater, that’s what GS gets for being little more than a PAWN SHOP nowadays. Deal with it.

I am like Pemalite and Eveoflight, I wait till the games are cheaper and then I purchase them. For me life has always been patience; I’ve been caught alot of times where I paid much higher for something where it was cheaper elsewhere or around another time. Yes, we do know what goes into making video games, but the most expensive thing is the program, not the disk. Call me cheap, that’s why they made that segment,I think in G4 “Games for Cheap Basterds. I am a cheap MO FO

@xTye,

You know we are in a recession right??? but, Left 4 Dead 2, I will gladly break my pockets just this once.

@Rahul Duggal chee dont be so hard on major hes just the middle guy he just reports them not do them and @Mike Kelehan lol yah cant blame the guy for getting rrod steward treatment twice lol

lol poor poor major i wounder how many hate mail at this min

Fuck you Microsoft. I haven’t pirated ANY 360 games – I modified my console to play personally-made backup discs because the fail-hardware that is a 360 started scratching my originals and making them unreadable.

If you’re going to combat pirating, how about going after the people that provide the pirated games instead of TRYING to go after the people that use them and failing at that?

I really don’t know what is going on with some of the people in this thread…I know quite a few store managers of Gamestop and EB stores (yes, there are still some around), and it is POLICY to test each and every system that gets traded in. Granted, that test won’t show if it’s banned from XBL or not, but at least I know those stores sell consoles that work. As far as refurbs go, the $199 MS refurb 360s are the best deal out there…2 wireless controllers, 20GB HDD, and a newer (HDMI) version of the console for $199. Any GS will take a return within 30 days if your system doesn’t work (especially if it’s banned from live), whereas no pawn shops around here have any policy outside of “all sales are final”, and Gamecrazy is hit or miss. As far as MW2 goes, EVERYONE knows the LAUNCH DATE (11/10/09)…it’s on every ad, every commercial, the dash, posters in stores, and even displayed in the front of Wal Mart, so buying one from a store that is breaking the law (and is subject to a nice big fine and whose employees will probably end up being fired for breaking street date) and thinking you, by playing an unreleased game, ONLINE, 5 days early, are doing nothing wrong is ignorant. Street Date needs to be enforced…the point of shipping the games to the stores early is so that everyone can get them at the same time, not so idiots can sell the game to other idiots who stupidly log on to Live…I still think things like achvs should remain locked on a game until it is actually released! If you score an early copy of the game, great…play it OFFLINE and keep the story to yourself. Those of us that follow the rules don’t need or want spoilers. Oh…MS has a “disc replacement plan”-details are on xbox.com…and you can get a game replacement plan for a new game from GS/ EB for a measley $3 (good for a year)…so there is no excuse for why you “have to” mod your 360.

Good job Xbox Live Team. Hey, send my thanks to Stepto and his team.

I smell a ban for MW2 pirates.

On the subject of stores being sold second hand banned consoles is it not possible to change the dashboard to indicate the console is banned then stores would have an easy visual check to perform.
Also as I understand it if you have a console that is banned you can still play your pirated games. This does not make sense to me. Ban them from Live but prevent them from playing pirated games at the same time.

Here are a couple of solutions to games being so expensive I have a Lovefilm.com account for £11 a month I get as many games a month as I want. When ive finished one I return it and they send another. averaging about 3 – 4 games a month. For slightly more money I could have three games at a time.

I also use gamestracker.com to find the best deals (£39.99 MW2 anyone) and about six weeks after release the price for most games plummets.

Well this is good news

BTW Major, can you tell us a little bit about the new “Rewards Squad” program?

I guess it’s better to ban paying members rather than making games cheaper. LOL!

I know of 2 stores that sell games before the release date. They don’t give you a receipt if you buy it before the release date either. I never buy games from them I buy from Gamestop. If I really want a game and can’t wait for it to become cheap I will shell out the $60 bucks. Gamestop sometimes has midnight releases and I could play it as soon as I get home since its already the next day (release date) where I live.

@WarrengOnline I know it doesn’t justify it. I paid my price and learned the lesson. I feel much better about myself for it too.

good job

Yeah ban it …

Yes BAN BABY BAN!!!
BAN Those B-^shes BAN THEM HARD!!
MMHHUUUAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Chop!!

Some of the posters here are quite humorous, and others understand why things happen. Ban wave 2 weeks before what is probably one of the most highly anticipated games EVER coming right into the start of the holiday season. Sales booster for sure.

“Also as I understand it if you have a console that is banned you can still play your pirated games. This does not make sense to me. Ban them from Live but prevent them from playing pirated games at the same time.”
Absolutely. Windows should also intentionally fry CPU’s or erase all data on your system if it detects it’s not genuine. I would imagine rendering the hardware useless could cause some legal ramification, or at the least create a PR nightmare for MS.

And “legit” guys renting games (Gamefly, Blockbuster, etc) or buying used. You’re not supporting developers, you might as well be considered a pirate. None of that money goes back to the developer, it goes into the pockets of whoever is selling(used)/renting you the game FYI.

It seems with the 360 it’s rather difficult to detect modified hardware or the Live service would be able detect and issue a ban instantly, rather than wait and issue bans at some point in the future. It’s a fail on MS’s part. If the stories here are anything to go by, pirates can go months if not years without being detected. So the money they “saved” (read: stole) in all likely-hood covers the cost of a new console. Four games at full retail would more than cover the cost of a new 360 arcade, which would include a spare controller to smash when they get banned the next time.

@Silver SurfR – If a person purchases a game from a store, NO, I Repeat, NO money goes to the developer even if the store charges you $1000000 for it all of the money that you spent on a game goes to the store you purchased it from, the reason being, is that the store purchased the game off a wholesaler, and the wholesaler purchased it off the company that made the game,

And in the case of renting a game, the game company has already received it’s money from the game, any profit made is for the store that rented the game.

and on a side note, the game developers have already received the money for the game they created as they are usually on a salary not on a percentage based payment system. the owners of the company receive any profit made.

Great idea to ban pirates. I guess it saves MS even more in the long run, wiping out an extra few thousand consoles that were bound to fail and need a “repair”.

Its amazing how many of you are bum sucking little brown nosers…

my console is modded in that iv put a window on the side of it and lights inside, drive is normal though, and all my games are retail bought, never the less games are damn expensive, cost way less to make then movies but cost way more to buy, once you factor in the ridiculously over priced HDD and other accessories im not supprised cash strapped people turn to piracy, and you all shun it so much, i bet most of you download tv shows, movies or music, making you pirates yourselves!

I work hard to pay for games for me and my son, yet I see people have played MW2 already.

… one thing that does annoy me though is that they only ban before Christmas or the release of a major title… it was around the World at War release last year if I remember correctly that the last major ban wave went out… just in time to boost Christmas sales. I whole heartedly do not agree with consoles getting modded, but I think the bans should be a bit more frequent or at a different time of year

I love the whole “Games are too expensive so that’s why I pirate them” argument.

Nice way to justify your thieving practices.

Hey there’s a car at the local dealership, but 20,000 is just too much to pay for it.

So I’ll just go take it because I can’t afford it.

Oh and hey I see YOU’VE got a nice HDTV in your living room that I can’t afford because it costs too much.

I’ll just go take that too. I mean you won’t mind right? You’re cool with people taking things just because they can’t afford them right?

You kids(jesus when did I become the adult), and your sense of entitlement makes me shake my head more and more each day.

Gonna be really funny to see you all out in the real world and watch you flounder out there when you realize the world doesn’t owe you anything, and just because you ‘want it’, or can’t afford it, doesn’t mean you are entitled to it, or are ever going to get it.

Geeze.

I hope they ban all modified consoles (ALL!!).
With the courage of doing it despite losing customers.
Without hipocrisy

P.S. Sorry for bad english.

I think Microsoft owes me 1000$ for 2 bricked, unmodded, overpriced( in India ), zephyr & falcon consoles ( out of warranty by the time they got bricked ) .

Till the time i get back my moneys worth , they aint making any money from me.

Playstations quality is a testament to the fact that they care about their customers & Microsoft just wanted a rushed product to caputre early adopters like me.

I love that it is “Get Banned like a Pirate Day” again. Wonder if Telltale punches out the 2nd episode of Monkey Island for free on this one? Hehehe

@Naquadah, Maybe I mis understood what you were saying but I don’t think modding your console with lights, etc does anything other then void your warranty. Personally I don’t care if other’s want to pirate a game, it is their life let them do what they want. However I do mind when they get to play way earlier then everyone else or when they use that modded console to cheat and ruin my experience.

I’ve a friend who got CoD: WaW last year like a week before launch (that’s right…november 2008) he’s still playing it and never got banned. M$ security PHAIL.

@Silver Surfer the problem with M$ “bricking” banned console is two fold

first it is illegal for them to do it and here in America two wrongs don’t make a right no matter how justified they are so M$ can’t brick these illegal consoles

second it is Microsoft best interest to just ban the console that way they can continue renewing there account and at the same time give the wood be pirate a second chance at going legitimate by allowing them to purchase another console and go legit.

Good work Major Keep it up, i dont like thoose modders/hackers getting games earlier than me and playing them for free while i give my money to the developers i love. Bioware(EA) and Bungie(MS).

Why should people get banned for playing a game early if they bought the game at a store. Major Nelson and other Microsoft employees do it all the time. If I were to see MW2 at walmart or target right now I would buy it and play it!

@Silver

Sorry i didn’t read your post all they way you mentioned both my posts its a good idea though. I am glad they are doing something about it. Live is a great service and i hope the pirates realize that and when they get banned they change and decide to go legit.

usman360 major addresses that. If you have your receipt you can get unbanned if they make a mistake so don’t worry about it.

@aDrAngedOstRich I did not know that. Thanks for passing down the information to the less informed

If you can’t afford to pay, don’t play. If you like a game you should buy it. Successful games that earn money tend to have sequels and spin-offs made of equal or higher quality.

Having said that…M$ should stop raping people on the network adapter and hard drives, cause that is just gouging. If you do gouge, put the money to better hardware R&D and QA, not to mention some quieter goddamn fans. After recently buying a PS3 slim, my Xbox sounds so much noisier.

Ban the pirates! This is needed. At the same time when I receive a RAcist, hate filled sacrilegious, slanderous messages and report them to MS MS does……..Nothing…. I guess you wont ban people you’re making money from even if they heavily break the ToS……You’re basically condoning verbal abuse due to profit or sheer incompetence, thanks Major.

In a previous podcast around the time before the ODST release, Stepto said that they can tell the difference between retail and pirated copies of games (by some kind of identifier on the retail disc I think) that are being played on XBL. He also said that if you were lucky enough to buy a retail copy of a game before its release date, you’re safe and that it’s the retailer that broke the street date that will suffer the consequences.

Ok, here’s something I can’t figure out:

Why are there so many supposed gamers here defending street dates? If I go to Gamestop and they’ll sell me a game before the publisher wants me to have it, that is AWESOME, not something to be stopped. Street dates are completely pointless, just ship it to the store and let me have it. It’s especially annoying with staged launches like Forza 3 recently where Europe had it days before the US. Obviously the copies are out there, people in the US had them, but Turn 10 or Microsoft had some marketing tool who decided there was some reason to delay the release. Screw them, stop the stupid release staging and when it ships just sell the things.

It would also solve the problem of people pirating the game to play early, if it’s released when it’s done rather than arbitrarily holding on to it there’s no chance of people getting a leaked copy before the general population.

@Major.
In the past i heard some rumor that if you have a large collection of games that you can be banned. Is it possible to explain this?

There are some members with a large collection like Velodyne_76.

Oh Microsoft – so high and mighty. You’re completely blind as to the reason’s behind piracy.

Everything is 1st party. And it’s very expensive. Sure there are some people who don’t mind paying outlandish prices. The 360 has turned into an investment for some people. People have invested hard earned cash into this console and have seen what in return? RRoD and countless restrictions to the way they are able to use it.

When you keep telling someone ‘no, you can’t’ – one day that person is going to just do it. And this is the perfect example. You didn’t give any one of us the option to find cheaper solutions for storage, the possibility of backing up games on our own terms, and you didn’t give any of us a reliable console, your LIVE currency is laughable and the prices you charge for games on demand and avatar accessories is ridiculous! Not to mention the sad 1st party support…

What did you really expect? You reap what you sow Microsoft. People are unhappy with the way you conduct business and treat your customers.

I’m defecting to Sony this holiday season. You no longer deserve my hard-earned money.

I feel you blinker flewid, I totally understand the anguish that these greddy pigs at microsoft have caused you to go through. Im on my 3rd Xbox 360 now & all i want is revenge. I want the value of my Hard earned Rs 50000 back from Microsoft & for this i shall do whatever possible.

@Rahul Duggal: Even Playstation consoles break. My friends console stopped reading Blu-Ray at all. It just does DVDs now and thing is out of warranty.

LMFAO@Wingman1977 ALREADY HAVING MODERN WARFARE 2 ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED(page 5)

pretty much sums up the legitimacy of all these warnings and threats of banning. lolz

Regarding AtheistCanuck’s modified avatar, I think for such “transgressions” a console ban is a little harsh.

This would be a good policy:

Modified hardware/piracy = console ban
Modified profile/game save = Gamertag ban

I certainly wouldn’t condone either; but the fact is, you can access the content of an Xbox 360 HDD on a Windows PC using Microsoft’s official transfer lead (the one included with retail 120 GB HDDs to tranfer the content from the original 20 GB drive) and the right software. They’ve made it far too easy for people to modify game saves.

eiVaL, It’s a retail copy and not a pirated one so I’m in no danger of being banned. My console is not modded and I welcome MS to check it if they would like to. I can’t stand piracy (no matter if it’s games, movies, music). To the person who said that they’ll unban your console by showing a receipt is incorrect. If you console is modded, it’ll get banned. They are not going to ban it just because you’re playing a game before it’s release date.

its all about the game industry and not microsoft. SUPPORT THE GAME INDUSTRY CUZ THEY NEED THE MONEY!!!!

LOL @ AtheistCanuck’s FAIL

“They are not going to ban it just because you’re playing a game before it’s release date.”

isnt that exactly what they said they would do to people seen playing ODST early? lolz

an either way they got these things called stealth patches which is how these modders are able to go online in the first place without getting banned. so in your case, weather your copy of MW2 is legit or not, its obviously passed the same test that all games to thru when you first boot it up while connected to XBL, which is the same thing all the bootleggers are doing too.

if they really wanna stop piracy stop disturbing games on discs, they half-a$$ing this progression of fully downloadable games, they need to start distributing solely via downloads, or offer a streaming system like that OnLive service thats coming out soon, that way the copy gets linked to your account an then it eliminates the ability to mass distribute it

Wrong. It was for those who had a pirated copy (ergo they had a modded console). They can scan a person’s console when the connect to XBL to see if it’s modded or not.

So many fish slip through the maze though.

Don’t worry skychat, they’ll all get caught soon enough.

While my 360 is not modified I support piracy. I openly admit it. Why? Because for one everyone knows no industry is really affected by it that much.They even had a study that showed for example that when it comes to music that the biggest buyers of music are PIRATES! The people that aren’t pirates buy less music then the pirates do because pirates download more music illegally but in the end buy more music because they want to support whom they do like!
.
.
Piracy use to be done to be a cheap ***hole. Now its done to make a statement. That, well in the gaming world, things are to expensive. For instance my list for 09 consisted of 200+ games. Am I really expected to buy 200+ games? Its why I rent or get them for the computer (hint hint).
.
.
BTW you can’t ban a console that isn’t online. My friend has a 360. He just simply connected once when 360s first came out. Sadly his 360 died. But he bought a new one and just connected once again for the newest update and has connected again. Hes yet to be banned since the 360 was released. He practically owns every game for 360 illegally. About the only downside to piracy is not playing online. The only people these companies hurt is themselves when they “try to stop” pirates. Because it just creates more pirates since the companies only see what they want to see and fail to ask “Why do people pirate?” >.>
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.
Lets face it, piracy hurts no one really. Maybe those little companies. But if you were a pirate you know that most pirates won’t download from small companies or stuff like that because they actually need support. But people don’t know that because people just assume. Non pirates just mock small companies and don’t buy there games usually. Pirates tend to be the only ones that buy there games JUST to support them.

Its all capitalism. Now I dont support stealing or modifying your console, but If devs were to make a game that people would want to buy, they would. Instead you get all the companies now days that are too lazy to even finish a game and then come out with the rest on DLC after release and charge more for it. The companies that make people want to buy the game, will not be affected by piracy, and the companies that just want to complain about it and now do anything to support a fanbase will just fail.

anyone trying to legitimize piracy is a comedy act. that’s like trying to legitimize any other crime. let me ask this, if you want a game that bad, why not just steal it from the store? it’s the same thing. oh wait, it’s not. microsoft just gives you a slap on the wrist when they catch you whereas if the store catches you, you get handcuffs slapped on your wrist. please don’t try to legitimize something you know is wrong.

Sho220, QFT

lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1DwcVFn1GU

Ha, ha. Serves him right.

there is a lad on my friends list playing mw2 now he said he got the game from ebay

ok now that this topic dead all i got to say and report this major to your bosses.. i hope this not the case: the ban is happening because its the holidays and you doing a mass banning so you can up the sells in consoles etc… i mean force them to buy anther console and account odd? thats why i dont think the ban wagon is i good idea so close to the holidays…

im not saying you are im just saying i hope you guys aren’t as a xbox fan… this why i hate control networks you pay on the net..

This is great. Keep up the good work, Stepto and the BanHammer team! I know there’s a lot of work left to do, but what a great start. (Kinda like the “what do you call a pile of lawyers on the bottom of the ocean?” joke…)

Thank you MS for trying to crack down on the illegal activity on XBOX 360. Hackers/Homebrewers/Piraters/and whatever else these theives are called should have some type of consequence(s) for their actions. Thank you too Major Nelson for letting everyone here know that MS is making a valiant effort. But as I often say “Where there’s a geek there’s a way”, referring to these type of computer crimes. Meaning that criminals are always trying to find new ways to continue to beat out what ever deterrent that can be created to stop them. Granted without them things could not progress in the rapid fashion that they are by helping greater minds develope newer and better technologies. The action of ending the XBOX device from going LIVE is a small penalty but should prevent copy-cat offenders which are usually bad thinkers, weak minds, and/or followers. Thanks again. See you on XBOX 360 LIVE where I’ll MUR-DER-YOU!!!!

Im already with you blinker…

Im already well on my well to making the full on move to the PS3. I own 100+ Xbox 360 games and almost 30 PS3 games. And I am slowly stopping all 360 game purchases. Ive been through 4 RRODs with this system (2 premiums and 2 elites) and its about to happen again.

I own a launch PS3 and a PS3 slim and havent had a single issue with either. And I play online for free!!!!

That’s good for them!!! Just buy the game! problem solved!

Can i ask people here, how can they tell if its a legit copy or not, ya see i work at a games retailer in Uk, so i sometimes get releases early, besides MW2 anyways (ordered Prestige Edition from HMV), so i dont wanna turn my 360 on 1 day and see your console has been banned.

I have the reciepts to prove my purchases, but its the principal of the thing aint it, they cant ban people for playing games early, and i bet it will take a few days to get it sorted too.

@Blackbolt GT
I’m glad to hear it and it is so much better to earn the right to own anything. I got Mirror’s Edge free (for helping a friend move) – look at my achievements. I’d appreciate it more if I bought it I guess.

@HenkvdWeerdt
Um… That sounds really absurd. WHY would someone with a large collection of games get banned? Think about it. My Xbox360 collection is my largest collection of games (outside of my PS1, Neo Geo and 3DO. I even purchased OverLord(1) and it is still brand new in the pack, purchase last year in June – no time to play. I gave away ODST and another friend is borrowing Brutal Legend and Guitar Hero World Tour. And another friend is borrowing SceneIt: LCA and another friend has my SceneIt:BOS and Just Cause (loved the demo, the full version, ehh). And the ONLY games I’ve borrowed is Left4Dead and The Orange box (now own it as a friend bought it for me). And also, think again about the guy who owns only 4 games (how would you know?), but have played over 100+ games (by his games played in the profile). There is a thing called GameFly. So [mash] the thought.

@KRUZ8ER
“For Free” is not always good, but PSN and interface is (kiosk-ish) nice, but also has A LOAD of issues in PS Home, such as ‘Phone Calling’ someone, having to hold the R2 button to talk. Keeping up with your friends is hard while walking. Sending game invites is simple, but KNOWING WHERE to go to accept such invites is confusing at first; are the things in the interface are the trade off. The quid pro quo is basically cross-game chatting, email, sending photos from flash drives, being able to read ‘sent’ mail is good, but can it replace being able to send messages to the console from the internet as with the Xbox360?

Those who run MS won’t even know how to turn on an Xbox. Those who do the technical work for them know what they’re doing, and if you’re playing legit games a few days before release, you won’t get banned.
It was already stated these bans are for pirated copies, anyone playing a legit copy is fine.
For those that get away with it, there are how many million users on Live? You’re not that clever, its simple numbers!

I’m really happy that you guys are doing this. I write software for a living, and a whole lot of work and expertise is required to engineer the programs most of us take for granted. It is just a slap in the face to all of those that go through four (sometimes more) years of school, deadlines, planning, bug fixes, etc, just for it to be stolen.

People argue that they’re not harming anyone, but what if everyone modded? Thank goodness the majority of society has a conscious, or the gaming industry would of died a long time ago.

Yay Im Glad microsoft is doing this! Who is getting the modern Warefare 2 Limited Edition Xbox 360. i cant wait till monday night at the midnight launch.

In the end piracy won’t stop and neither will methods to stop them. People find a way to stop pirates, pirates find a way around it. People find another way to stop pirates, pirates find yet ANOTHER way around it. It the cycle goes on forever. I mean I am not sure how it is for consoles but with PCs piracy is easy.
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No matter how hard someone tries pirates always find a work around. Because when people try to do things like Starforce and crap then the public gets mad. See the problem is you can never stop piracy because the only real way to stop it is to implement a system that would end up hurting legit people too. And no one will stand for that. Many companies have tried these methods and been shut out! This is why piracy will exist forever in one form or another.
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Frankly I would pirate 360 stuff if I could. I don’t understand why 360 games cost more then PC games. And why on 36o I get charged for ridiculous Gold? When 360 first came out the difference between gold and silver was that gold gave you access to Multiplayer. Basically MS was ripping off people but knew people would it because we didn’t have a choice. Now they changed it to make it look like gold pays for the stupid features on 360 that most people don’t use nor want. >.>
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360 is a rip off all around but I only stay legit (for now) because theres not enough people to stand up against MS. Everyone says they hate MS but no one takes action. Typical of someone in the USA.

amen oAssassin Xo!!!!

I’m more pissed about glitchers, cheaters and hosts (as in the complete and utter impotence of Epic Games) in games like Gears than some cheapskates playing the games they want for free.

These measures do nothing to whip Epic into finishing their games that I paid full price for. Year in and year out cornershop-MS lets their pet dog do its business all over their shoppers shoes.

For many people in the world, there is no other option than to pirate. Take for example gamers in Turkey, how do you expect them to buy legit games when Microsoft denies them the 3 years “global” warranty, when their console RRODs, just because they don’t live in a “supported” country ? No disc replacement programme, no hard drive transfer cable when they buy an elite, no eligibility for promotional offers, no access to many free demos and paid DLC that are region locked based on IP address location, No Nothing. So how do you expect these gamers to buy official games when MS doesn’t officially sell games to them ?

SnoopDope, that would be their problem then. Pirating is illegal no mater how you look at it. Microsoft does not take kindly to it.

I’m thankful that they are cracking down on these people. =]

Has Microsoft thought about doing a rewards program for “narc’ing” out people we see getting achievements 1 – 2 weeks early?

x box banned people who had legit copies that was, bs some of my freinds got banned for having call of duty early.

Thanks for banning people who haven’t done anything wrong, idiots.

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=haxer+1337

I just got console banned like 5 minutes ago, but the strange thing is I have a legit 360 elite and have not modified my xbox in any way shape or form since buying it, yet i turned my xbox on n got a message saying I have console ban for violating the terms of use =S.. any tips/ideas of wot to do from anyone at all please as i have been punished for doing nothing ..
Thanks !

If you have a retail copy of a game before it’s official release and your console is not modded, you will not get banned. Not matter what anyone says. I have yet to see anyone presenting proof that that their console was wrongfully banned. So anyone complaining that their console was wrongfully banned, I call bs until they present proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Also, Major Nelson himself stated back then (just before Halo O.D.S.T was released). If you have a retail copy of a game before it’s released and your console is not modded, you won’t have nothing to worry about.

Alright guys, listen u. First of all, the people getting banned right now either A) Have a mod chip or B) Are playing games that aren’t out yet or C) Are using a FLASHED xbox and playing games that aren’t stealth patched.

Now I’ll elaborate. Mod chips are fairly rare as far as the xbox 360 goes. They are much easier to detect than a firmware mod (What most modders use nowadays) A firmware mod, is pretty much just a small file that you download onto the disc drive of an xbox. I don’t undertand it completely, but it essentially tricks the xbox into thinking that a burnt DVD is a real one. If used correctly, it is nearly impossible to detect those. Essentially, the only way you can get banned with a firmware mod is if you are playing a game that isn’t stealth patched (I’m not a hacker so I never bothered to learn what that meant, but Im guessing you have to change some files on the game disc or something to make sure nothing is wrong before you put it in your xbox)
So really the people getting banned right now are either using a mod chip, playing games that didnt come out yet, or forgot to stealth patch their burnt games. So really, modders will always be a problem until the next xbox comes out, which will probably be impossible to download firmware onto(like the PS3)Microsoft is doing a good job by banning the modders, even if they only are banning the stupid ones.

They are not going to ban people who are playing games that have not yet been released (as long as their console is not modded and the game is a retail copy). Please stop spreading false information.

2000 people were banned for playing Gears of War 2 before the release date.

Because they had pirated copies (not retail ones).

Yeah and they had a different ID than the retail copies had so they could tell that they were pirated. Modders wait till the game comes out so they can copy the retail version.

Anyone who has a retail copy of a game that’s yet to be released and their console is not modded will NOT get banned.

Wow my 13 year old brother got banned.

strangest thing happened

we press play on the left 4 dead 2 demo and it signed him out. and we tryed to sign back in and it said he was banned. so he unplug and plug it back in and it works fine. he then put a original copy of modern warefare cod4 and played it for a couple of hours. and we cut it off and an hour later we cut it back on to dominate in cod4 and it signed him out again and then said his console was banned. he has no modifications or pirate games. man this is bullshit. thanks for banning my brothers unmodified console. Just know i will not buy or support anymore microsoft products and will take my limited edition modern warefare 2 console off of preorder and buy a ps3

Omg major im so sorry i retract that last statement.
i had just recently found out the history on his xbox.his friend modded it and has been borrowing it and playing some burned games on my brothers system. i have told the kids parents and he is either giving my bro his unmodified console or his parents told me that his christmas is ruined and they will buy my bro an arcade version.

while i did not know this i will continue to support microsoft. and i cant wait for my modern warefare 2 xbox 360. have a great time in savannah,ga and be safe

Good that they’re banning modders and pirates.

1. If you bought the ORIGINAL game at a store that sold it before the official release date, you’re in luck; you will not get banned, you just got lucky and the store clerk made a mistake.
2. Modded/rapid-fire controllers are OK, according to LIVE’s Director of Policy Enforcement. There’s really nothing they can do about it, unfortunately.
3. Paying for games will motivate companies to keep cranking out AWESOME games.
4. Of course Microsoft doesn’t want you to play pirated stuff… they care about making profits, and they care about the game developers making profits which they do by making and selling awesome games that people want to play. That way MS can continue to sell Xbox and LIVE. They’re not a charity… they make good games, awesome online experience, we give them money. Fair deal, no?
5. For the modders whining about this: you agreed to MS rules when you signed up for LIVE. You broke the rules. Face the consequences.

Peace.

This ban system seems to have flaws…I have never modded or pirated on the xbox or xbox 360,I signed up for the preview program(the Netflix party 1),got accepted according to Microsoft connect,and MY CONSOLE WAS BANNED. M$ NEEDS TO FIX THIS.

My console got banned to For no reason Why do we have to get hit in a cross fire.

Just pick up a copy at 7 eleven if u want it that bad

I’m thinking about getting a ps3 I hope Microsoft goes down or the need to change the junk. nice way to blow money microsoft. anyway Uncharted Looks amazing

Keep it up!

I’m sure it’s been said 100 times before me, but I got my console banned today. I didn’t mod it and don’t play pirated games. Yes it was purchased used but I had no way of knowing that it was modded. They should at least allow us to send them in and pay to get a refurbished one, now I’m out what I paid plus another $200 bucks for another console. God damn pirates….

Damn it took seven pages for two people to point out the fact that people with legit copies are not getting banned. Ask yourself this, are you smarter than hundreds of Microsoft’s top people and lawyers? The answer is no… The people who have been banned are pirates.

What the criteria is to bring down the ban hammer is a formula we will never know. Honestly I believe select titles mostly first party have an id. The system scans first for a game played pre release date and then checks the number against a database or at least for duplicates.

Whatever they are using it’s not effective enough, I think they are missing everyone not playing prerelease. There has to be a way to detect the hacked firmware is running on the DVD drive.

I would rather MS brick the DVD drive than issue console bans if you want my opinion. I do feel sorry the people this holiday buying consoles that have already been banned. I hope retailers start checking connectivity on boxes they are reselling

In conclusion this is being blown way out of proportion, MS has nothing but I really wish they did. The account suspension forum is my favorite. http://forums.xbox.com/1386/ShowForum.aspx

SuMeRiaN

You say that now wait untill you get hit 2 then who’s the pirate. I already bought a new xbox if this crap happen again then there is a problem. But there is always a Ps3 which is’nt banning no body. But any way microsoft is some what losing the battle cause every time I turn a round they find a new way to copy games. Are we really safe from this so called Ban Hammer. Lol Ms

Major Nelson, you’re sitting on rather precarious ground here. You haven’t just banned users from Xbox Live but also disabled functionality of the console itself. You’re going to have to find some justification for that in countries where the modding of consoles is legal for the purpose of backing up games, particularly when Microsoft have produced a console that is notorious for scratching discs.

as far i understand ban waves from live i simply cant understand damageing console ive got my retail disc of MW2 yesterday in a game store i was so happy ive got a receipt and everything but i visited InfinityWard site and saw the release date 10NOV got rly scared that i will be banned bcss of that left post at MS site and Infinityward Site . But guys there told me that it will be absolutely fine as ling as i have legit disc and unmoded console , and i do , but MS sometimes makes mistakes wich are hard to pull off . ps .. i will never understand why cant i cancel my payment thru account management ( sry for my english , its not my primary language)

Microsoft should try and shift on to Blue Ray or HD-DVD so as to bring down piracy rather than just banning people. Even Nintendo is doing the same with Wii-HD. Maybe try offline banning in future games !!

BTW, Xbox 360 has awful quality. Im on my 3rd Xbox 360 after the earlier 2 RROD on me & the warranty had already run out. Maybe Major Nelson should send me 1000$ back for being loyal despite crappy Xbox 360 Quality.

Rahul, there is no high definition Wii.

You know what sucks the much? I’ve been banned in this crossfire (1 week ago, before my Gold expired) and haven’t even opened my 360, i’m definitely not going to buy another 360 just because they are stupid. I’m out.

hey my girlfriend got banned for a day for having “get the frak out” (a phrase from battlestar galactica) on her bio. But it just amazes me how all these somalians have xbox 360s!

Caffman, maybe if she were a Farscape fan she would have gotten away with it. Seeing as how unpopular it was, nobody would pick up “get the frell out”.

been looking at few gamertags across all leaderboards
and still wondering about these tags that surprisingly havent been banned or reset yet
yes im neron (locked his profile but check that he unlocked 10000+ GS achievements in 1 day)
funkyboy k (playing games unreleased yet also suspected and playing pirated games)
GTR BigBoss (Most likely hacking or gamesaving of some sort)
i thought MS is all about fairness and legitimacy
why arent u banning and reseting these tags to make them learn to play fair and nice
theres actually so many tags i came across but only listed these
maybe the community can help ban and reset these tags send a file complain against them

@ Loinbread , a Wii-HD with a Blue Ray Drive is in the works. It has been created just for combating rampant Piracy on the Wii

LOL – Civilians getting caught in the crossfire.

2nd hand 360′s will always have issues – RRoD & possibly modded by previous owner.

Get those modders!!! get ‘em real good!!

F9^k Microsoft, I see they r trying to throw their weight around with this ban. If they r destroying data then a law suit needs to be filed. Under the law how can they so called own the software of something that u paid for. I see that They can take you off live, but for them to destroy your data that is a problem. I don’t care who sees this and could careless. I used to be a Microsoft head but I’m headed to Sony. If I buy a game and I have five systems which I do I’m not going to by five types of the game. If I backup my copy that I own then, that is what I do.

XboXR360, so when you defect to Sony and buy 5 PS3s, how are you going to make your backups then? lol. MS aren’t destroying any data. What they are doing is stopping people getting banned and saying “I’ll just use this as an offline console and buy another for online” and then moving one hard drive between the two. It stops people unlocking achievements on a banned box and then connecting the hard drive to their other unbanned box to have those achievements register on Live.

^ Real sneaky of Microsoft , but i dont see anything wrong in that. But yeah PS3 is a better deal if you aint gonna play backups. My 2 Pence

For anyone that was saying a console ban for me having a blue avatar was too much. I only recieved a gamertag ban which doesnt matter as this is my 2nd account so it does affect shit.

Stststststq what you do in your house with your purchased stuff is on you. What is to make them not disable the whole system. I don’t care about being banned personally it don’t mean s#&T to me. I will system link, I just don’t feel what they are doing is right. No im not gonna buy 5 ps3s but I will rent 3 of the same games. We can go back and forth all day about right and wrong. But like someone earlier said you can’t rob a crook. Microsoft is the biggest corporate crooks in the world. (Putting out Faulty hardware) Hey I paid for live but I don’t care now. Maybe if they would make better games that one can’t beat in 6 hours, then charge you 20 bucks for some content that should have been part of the game in the first place, less bootleggin. My Two Cents for what its worth.

“Microsoft’s overall Q3 profit declines 18 percent to $3.57 billion(we ARE in a recession), but Entertainment and Devices income jumps from $159 million to $312 million; Xbox Live revenue up 50%, gaming revenue up $100 million.”

Here are a few of the “major” publishers Q3 profits:

Activision: “It looks like Activision’s estimates were spot-on, as their Q3 report notes an 84% rise in profits from US 67.9 million to US 124.8 million compared to last year.”

Electronic Arts: “EA reported a $1.08 billion loss for the financial year ending March 2009. Revenue for the same period was up to $4.2 billion, a 15 percent rise from the previous year’s $3.6 billion.”

Ubisoft: As for 2008-2009, Ubisoft’s revenue was €1,058 million, reaching the 1 billion euro milestone for the first time in its history.

I want to first note that I am against “piracy”, yet you cannot tell me that a minority like those who pirate (high-ball 10% of the community) are really putting these companies in jeopardy.

Look folks the list goes on, and whether or not these companies made or lost money they are still making billions of dollars. So for the 99% of you on this blog who are defending multi billion dollar corporations, you are sheep, believing everything you are told without question and I feel sorry for you. I also tried my best to look up Larry Hryb’s salary through public record with no results. I’m sure he makes a six figure income. He is not in danger. This is marketing propaganda, odd how it always happens in November. They don’t care about your “safety” on Xbox LIVE, they care about profits and nothing more. Yay for greed!

P.S. How many of you who are whining about pirated games have pirated music and movies?

I will not be buying MF2 Tomorrow or playing any games ever because my 13 month old Arcade 360 has a bad Hitachi DVD drive.

Thanks to the bans I had was able to remove QUITE a few people from my friends list

From what I see people who are out of warranty are the people who usually mod their consoles since MS will not fix it for them until they pay the M$ repair fee. Since they see M$ is not taking anymore responsibility for that console anymore they take over and do whatever they can and want. I could care less about piracy since I buy all my games cheap.
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Most of my consoles and games are single player so playing online is not a big thing when I buy a PS3 next year. The only reason I play on Live is because of my sister and all we old biddies do is just talk and watch movies. I could let myself go to silver and we could still talk in private chat.
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I will be buying more PS3 games in the future like I have done in the past with my other consoles when a new one came along and Xbox will be a thing of the past, I will probably by some exclusive for the 360 but it will be no big thing when I leave it behind.

DrGONJA, who the f cares?
the reason why prices is always gonna go up is because of piracy, now you can claim its BS and everything, but as long as some does the piracy the corp will always have a legit excuse.
Also, why do you care what someone makes or not, is that the issue? you’re a robin hood irl also? Microsoft doesnt own game company, why do you check what EA and MS makes? are you suprised they are doing well? how about lesser companies, thats not okay to dl from? and why is that? because they doesnt make good games which leads to profits?
if a game sucks, it will sell and gets profits, but we who pay for it shouldnt have to drag others with us, we are the reason why you guys can dl illegal, so the one you should suck up to is us,and your failing big time leachers…

Quezcotl, did you just try to make a point? Because it didn’t get across…….