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Microsoft Bans a 'Small Percentage' of Modified 360 Owners from XBL
Microsoft says those banned were using illegally modified 360s to play pirated games.
By Kris Pigna, 11/12/2008
Xbox 360 imageIt's not like anyone needed any more reasons, but here's another reminder of why you don't want to play pirated games on your Xbox 360. As Kotaku reports, complaints began to fill forums earlier today of Xbox 360 owners being banned from Xbox Live, with the clamor eventually getting loud enough to prompt a response from Microsoft. As relayed by Major Nelson, Microsoft says that a "small percentage" of Xbox 360 owners have indeed been banned today, in an attempt to curb software piracy.
"In our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games," the statement reads. "You should know that modifying your Xbox 360 console is also a violation of the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void your warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive, both from manufacturers and the local companies that support them. We will continue to employ and bolster anti-piracy security measures to counter piracy in the gaming industry and improve security in the Xbox LIVE community."
Sure enough, a number of those complaining about bans made frequent mention of their modified consoles, with many also mentioning playing Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty: World at War "early" (read: illegally downloading them before they were released). So good riddance to those folks, but as usual with this sort of business, you have to wonder whether any innocent "false positives" may have slipped through the cracks. In that same Xbox Scene forum thread, one banned member said they called Xbox customer support to assure that they never modified their console, only to be accused by the customer support representative of playing pirated games. This person then claims a different customer support rep eventually said they'd been getting similar calls for "the past 5-6 hours," and that they were looking into the problems.
Sure, vehemently denying any guilt is probably the first thing any guilty person would do, but if there were any truly innocent folks caught up in this, hopefully Microsoft will sort them out soon enough.
Microsoft says those banned were using illegally modified 360s to play pirated games.
By Kris Pigna, 11/12/2008
Xbox 360 imageIt's not like anyone needed any more reasons, but here's another reminder of why you don't want to play pirated games on your Xbox 360. As Kotaku reports, complaints began to fill forums earlier today of Xbox 360 owners being banned from Xbox Live, with the clamor eventually getting loud enough to prompt a response from Microsoft. As relayed by Major Nelson, Microsoft says that a "small percentage" of Xbox 360 owners have indeed been banned today, in an attempt to curb software piracy.
"In our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games," the statement reads. "You should know that modifying your Xbox 360 console is also a violation of the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void your warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive, both from manufacturers and the local companies that support them. We will continue to employ and bolster anti-piracy security measures to counter piracy in the gaming industry and improve security in the Xbox LIVE community."
Sure enough, a number of those complaining about bans made frequent mention of their modified consoles, with many also mentioning playing Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty: World at War "early" (read: illegally downloading them before they were released). So good riddance to those folks, but as usual with this sort of business, you have to wonder whether any innocent "false positives" may have slipped through the cracks. In that same Xbox Scene forum thread, one banned member said they called Xbox customer support to assure that they never modified their console, only to be accused by the customer support representative of playing pirated games. This person then claims a different customer support rep eventually said they'd been getting similar calls for "the past 5-6 hours," and that they were looking into the problems.
Sure, vehemently denying any guilt is probably the first thing any guilty person would do, but if there were any truly innocent folks caught up in this, hopefully Microsoft will sort them out soon enough.
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