Microsoft has banned "a small percentage" of Xbox Live users found to be in possession of modified Xbox 360 consoles.
While the platform holder didn't release specific figures, the Guardian reports that the number of users affected ranges from 600,000 to one million. Xbox Live had over 20 million active members across 26 countries as of May 2009.
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The report suggests that the most recent wave of bans is part of an annual sweep carried out by the platform holder to stop modified consoles, which enable users to play pirated or imported titles, from connecting to its online gaming service. The bans don't stop consoles themselves from working.
"All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live," Microsoft said in a statement.
The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers' Association has suggested that piracy may cost the videogame industry as much as £750 million a year.
The article is misleading. MS are banning the modified consoles caught using LIVE, not the actual gamertags. Of course they want people to have an incentive to buy another 360 in time for Crimbo to play the latest games legally.
Modding consoles is no different to going into a shop and stealing a game disc, over and over again. Developers put years of work into making games so that people can have fun; if you reward them by stealing their efforts then you deserve a ban/expense of buying a new console.
I don't see a reason to chip and play pirated games when the used game market is full of top games at cheap prices wait 3 months and games are 25% of there starting price.
I don't see a reason to chip and play pirated games when the used game market is full of top games at cheap prices wait 3 months and games are 25% of there starting price.
Excellent news. Damn pirates not only steal from the developer, they steal from everyone who has bought from the developer in the past and helped to fund the game. This is all the thieving bastards deserve. It's just a shame the consoles weren't totally bricked.
On another note, I bet there are a lot less racist/homophobic/tourettes-ridden teenagers on LIVE now.
Microsoft will be able to gather all sorts of information about any 360 console as soon as it's hooked up to Live. They'll probably be able to ascertain information about the hardware, any changes to that hardware, and the nature of any games played on that system. Microsoft have been fantastic in their pursuit of this though.
As for the bans, well, personally I have no problem with people pirating games as long as they're prepared to deal with the consequences. If they can do it and get away with it then all power to them, however, at the end of the day they're breaking the law and Microsoft have clamped down on it.
In fact, thinking about it, Sony have done pretty well to have a completely piracy free system in the PS3, every other console and handheld this generation - and last generation back to the PS1, has suffered from piracy... plus, everyone knows what the PC is like for it too.
I don't see a reason to chip and play pirated games when the used game market is full of top games at cheap prices wait 3 months and games are 25% of there starting price.
noone likes waiting... if you have a modded xbox 360 your more likely to get the game when it leaks ( on average a week before it comes out)
Ban people for modding there consoles and not there accounts most of the time when anyone mods there accounts its for the fun of showing and its not doing any harm i know loads of people who where playing mw2 for a while ban them insted
It's global. This absolutely killed me, a jackass with a chipped console at my work was bragging about having Modern Warfare 2 a week early, the very next day Microsoft fried his console and now he can't access anything! How I laughed
noone likes waiting... if you have a modded xbox 360 your more likely to get the game when it leaks ( on average a week before it comes out)
and games... you can get 10 games for £10
I sincerely hope this isn't an attempt at justifying piracy. Piracy of anything is the lowest of the low. It's theft, and a slap in the face to those who are creating entertainment for us, whatever medium that may be. Your reasonings are purely selfish, with no regard for the time, resources and money that goes into the games we play, music we listen to, movies we watch etc. Disrespectful.
LIVE, is daylight robbery Microsoft stick a ban on ya self you greedy monsters.
As an Xbox owner, I choose to pay for Live, because it is a superior service. I have a PS3, if I wanted to I could use that for online, I don't. It's a choice. I don't think you will find many 360 owners who balk at paying £3.33 a month for the service they get.
Damn i've modded my consoles for years. To play imported games. Which is why my wii is modded. Why should i wait over a year to play Tales of Symphonia 2, or not be able to play Fatal Frame 4 just because a bunch of tossers in a board room can't get thier act together.
Best decision Sony ever made was to make the PS3 region free.
just because a console's modded doesn't mean its being used to play pirated games. There's so much potential in games machines that just goes untapped. The wii's a great example of this, then again so's the PS2. Both can run games straight off a HDD faster than disc. Both never got a proper update from the thier producers to do so.
As an Xbox owner, I choose to pay for Live, because it is a superior service. I have a PS3, if I wanted to I could use that for online, I don't. It's a choice. I don't think you will find many 360 owners who balk at paying £3.33 a month for the service they get.
PSN lets me play others around the world like LIVE exactly what it is suppose to and is free at the mo. Microsoft really need that £3.33 don't they lol . Ya can get it for £25.99 a year online so why pay £3.33 a month? Madness.
You need to understand that when you try to boycott a massive company, the only person you screw over is yourself. I did that with EA for years and missed out on a load of good games because of it.
So yes, it's not great that they charge for it, but the quality of the service is amazing. It integrates into everything seamlessly. The launch hardware might have been shonky, but the infrastructure they had for the servers was brilliant. I have disconnect issues on PS3 that I don't have on 360. I get higher ping on PS3 (possibly related to the wireless as much as the network itself). There's fewer demos for downloadable games. PSN is slowly catching up, but it's going to be a while before they get to the same place.
If both charged the same price right now, the only one I'd subscribe to would be XBL.
And nobody can complain about being banned for modding their boxes. It's in the T&C's that you agree to when you start the damn thing up
Damn i've modded my consoles for years. To play imported games. Which is why my wii is modded. Why should i wait over a year to play Tales of Symphonia 2, or not be able to play Fatal Frame 4 just because a bunch of tossers in a board room can't get thier act together.
Best decision Sony ever made was to make the PS3 region free.
just because a console's modded doesn't mean its being used to play pirated games. There's so much potential in games machines that just goes untapped. The wii's a great example of this, then again so's the PS2. Both can run games straight off a HDD faster than disc. Both never got a proper update from the thier producers to do so.
I understand your argument here and a reason why I know many people who cracked the early PSP too. Being able to travel with 8-10 games that you have paid for on a memory stick, instead of carrying lots of UMDS around makes sense too. Plus it took less battery and made the machine quicker.
The thing is with Internet, companies can check what your doing and in Sony PS3 FW they state they have the right to check your machine.
MS do the same with Windows for original versions and probably the same for 360.
If you know it violates the terms and conditions, you have to be prepared to swallow any consequences though.
All Machines should be region free for games though. The issue for the 360 though, is that it uses DVD, and these are not region free due to films.
You need to understand that when you try to boycott a massive company, the only person you screw over is yourself. I did that with EA for years and missed out on a load of good games because of it.
I very much doubt that! Its only the last year where they have released anything half decent still!
It's global. This absolutely killed me, a jackass with a chipped console at my work was bragging about having Modern Warfare 2 a week early, the very next day Microsoft fried his console and now he can't access anything! How I laughed
noone likes waiting... if you have a modded xbox 360 your more likely to get the game when it leaks ( on average a week before it comes out)
and games... you can get 10 games for £10
I sincerely hope this isn't an attempt at justifying piracy. Piracy of anything is the lowest of the low. It's theft, and a slap in the face to those who are creating entertainment for us, whatever medium that may be. Your reasonings are purely selfish, with no regard for the time, resources and money that goes into the games we play, music we listen to, movies we watch etc. Disrespectful.
LIVE, is daylight robbery Microsoft stick a ban on ya self you greedy monsters.
As an Xbox owner, I choose to pay for Live, because it is a superior service. I have a PS3, if I wanted to I could use that for online, I don't. It's a choice. I don't think you will find many 360 owners who balk at paying £3.33 a month for the service they get.
I have to correct you on the theft angle. It is not theft it is copyright infringement. Theft would require someone to have lost their property. I know it is only a technicality but it is quite an important one in the eyes of the law. I also think that there are justifiable reasons to pirate things. For instance, I bought Far Cry on day of release. I took it home all excited and installed it. To my horror it would not run due to it telling me it had detected devices or programs that could be used to pirate it. After a trawl of the forums I found that it was my DVD/RW that was causing the problem! I emailed Ubisoft and got no reply so I found a cracked version on the web and installed that. Worked perfectly and I could now play the game I had payed for! If it was not for the pirates I would have wasted my money. The most ridiculous thing is that the cracked version was on the net the very same day as release so all Ubisoft managed to do was punish me for actually paying for the game.
Also I would hazard a guess that you have ripped CDs that you have paid for to your computer in order to use them on your MP3 player? If so you have also broken the law with regard to copyright infringement!
However I do think that these morons deserve to be banned if only for thinking that they should be able to go online with pirated games on a closed system!
I do not agree with the general idea of piracy but I can see why it happens and why the creative industries (especially the music industry) methods of dealing with it are just making things worse for everyone.
Damn i've modded my consoles for years. To play imported games. Which is why my wii is modded. Why should i wait over a year to play Tales of Symphonia 2, or not be able to play Fatal Frame 4 just because a bunch of tossers in a board room can't get thier act together.
Best decision Sony ever made was to make the PS3 region free.
just because a console's modded doesn't mean its being used to play pirated games. There's so much potential in games machines that just goes untapped. The wii's a great example of this, then again so's the PS2. Both can run games straight off a HDD faster than disc. Both never got a proper update from the thier producers to do so.
I agree that users should be allowed to chip their machines to play imported games or shock horror, all the consoles allow region free gaming out of the box! I got animal crossing on the GC around a year before it was out over here! Also there have been many games that have never made it over here that we can't play just because the manufacturers purposefully cripple the machines. I have never had a console chipped for piracy but I did have my PS1 chipped to play multi-region games. If I can mod a car then why not a console? I would have thought that Microsoft could detect if the game was a pirate copy (possibly by the fact it was being played before release) and ban them rather than banning all chipped consoles.
Also I would hazard a guess that you have ripped CDs that you have paid for to your computer in order to use them on your MP3 player? If so you have also broken the law with regard to copyright infringement!
That is simply incorrect, if you are copying CD’s and backing them up either on computer or disc you are not infringing any copyright as you are legally allowed to do this for personal use only, it is when you distribute any copies by any means to persons other than yourself when you fall foul of the law.
Piracy is theft, there are different types you know, illegally copying someone else’s intellectual properties may not be the same as physically taking an object, but it is still taking something without the owners consent, otherwise known as theft. You can try and justify it as much as you like, but you’ll always be wrong.
Live at £40 a year is 'daylight robbery' jesus are you homeless or something? The most retarded comment I have ever heard on here and that is saying something. If you rip games you are a thief simple, end of story. To hide behind a facade of doing it 'just for fun' or as some kind of misguided fight for the common man is just pathetic, the credibility of these criminals will never rise above common scum for people who pay their way to enjoy the medium of video games.
Also I would hazard a guess that you have ripped CDs that you have paid for to your computer in order to use them on your MP3 player? If so you have also broken the law with regard to copyright infringement!
That is simply incorrect, if you are copying CD’s and backing them up either on computer or disc you are not infringing any copyright as you are legally allowed to do this for personal use only, it is when you distribute any copies by any means to persons other than yourself when you fall foul of the law.
Piracy is theft, there are different types you know, illegally copying someone else’s intellectual properties may not be the same as physically taking an object, but it is still taking something without the owners consent, otherwise known as theft. You can try and justify it as much as you like, but you’ll always be wrong.
I hate to break it to you but copying a CD is breaking the Law in this country. It is ok in the US where they are protected (to a degree) by fair use rights. It is a common mistake to think that we have the same rights here. I have been campaigning to have this changed as part of a wider copyright amendment. You are allowed to make a certain number of copies of software ONLY IF the licensing terms state so.
I am also not wrong about copyright infringement is not Theft in the eyes of the Law. They are totally different things as theft requires someone to loose possession of something and copyright infringement is making illegal copies of something. They are obviously similar in nature but very different in law.
I work in the creative industry as I am a software developer and a photographer so I am not someone that has no knowledge or interest in this area. Piracy needs to be dealt with, however the way in which the content industry is going about protecting itself is entirely wrong and should be stopped asap! The numbers that the Music and Film industries quote are entirely fictional and bear no reality to the real truth. In fact the general figure that the Music industry band around originates from before digital media even existed! They assume that every pirated copy is a lost sale which could not be further from the truth. Also they fail to take into account the increase in profits caused by an increase in interest brought about by so many people hearing a band through piracy and then buying tickets to the bands concert (which is generally the biggest money spinner for any band).
The big problem is that the Publishers are fully aware that they are quickly becoming obsolete as it has never been easier to make professional music at home and never been easier to distribute the music without the need for the publishers to be involved at all. They are therefore attempting to get laws passed to enable them to continue controlling the market and preventing themselves from disappearing (along with their ferraris and boats). If you think the music industry has the artists best interests at heart (as they tell us) then you would be wrong as there have been a number of moves recently to reduce the share that artists receive for their work in order to increase the profits for the publishers.
I wish I could have laws changes created in order to help my business survive instead of actually working with customers to provide better and more relevant products as it would take a lot less effort and potentially earn me more money.
The laws being passed are ridiculous. For instance do you think the highways agency should be responsible for screening all road users to make sure they are not transporting fake or stolen goods by road? Do you think train companies should be searching all their passengers to make sure they are not transporting fake or stolen goods by train? Probably not, therefore why are ISPs being made to spy on us in order to make sure copyright infringement is not taking place? Especially as potentially the cost of monitoring all the users is greater than the losses the music companies are stating!
Lets not even mention ACTA which is being pushed through secretly (FOI requests have been made but rejected on the grounds of national security!). Just like the Lisbon treaty we are to be allowed to view it just before it is accepted (although by then it will be too late to do anything about it).
I very much doubt that! Its only the last year where they have released anything half decent still!
Touche But when you take into consideration not only the games they make but the ones the publish or have something to do with, it does cover dozens of companies.
And yes, leefear1 is right - the labels say specifically "unauthorised copying" so ripping your own is technically theft as well. Which is ridiculous.
It's about risk though. Copying your own stuff means the odds of being found out are astronomical and the odds of anyone caring are tiny. Playing hacked games on a system that you KNOW tracks everything you do is just retarded and the banned folks deserve all they get.
Damn i've modded my consoles for years. To play imported games. Which is why my wii is modded. Why should i wait over a year to play Tales of Symphonia 2, or not be able to play Fatal Frame 4 just because a bunch of tossers in a board room can't get thier act together.
Best decision Sony ever made was to make the PS3 region free.
just because a console's modded doesn't mean its being used to play pirated games. There's so much potential in games machines that just goes untapped. The wii's a great example of this, then again so's the PS2. Both can run games straight off a HDD faster than disc. Both never got a proper update from the thier producers to do so.
I understand your argument here and a reason why I know many people who cracked the early PSP too. Being able to travel with 8-10 games that you have paid for on a memory stick, instead of carrying lots of UMDS around makes sense too. Plus it took less battery and made the machine quicker.
The thing is with Internet, companies can check what your doing and in Sony PS3 FW they state they have the right to check your machine.
MS do the same with Windows for original versions and probably the same for 360.
If you know it violates the terms and conditions, you have to be prepared to swallow any consequences though.
All Machines should be region free for games though. The issue for the 360 though, is that it uses DVD, and these are not region free due to films.
So Blu-Ray movies arent region locked? I really thought they were.
Really? Well doesn’t that mean every time I rip a CD onto my iTunes that I’m breaking copyright law? And in which case, why exactly is that function available in the UK version of the programme? If so that is poor form and I wasn’t aware that’s what the law was, especially as every CD comes with a disclaimer seemingly ok’ing copying it for personal use…
Really? Well doesn’t that mean every time I rip a CD onto my iTunes that I’m breaking copyright law? And in which case, why exactly is that function available in the UK version of the programme? If so that is poor form and I wasn’t aware that’s what the law was, especially as every CD comes with a disclaimer seemingly ok’ing copying it for personal use…
I am not aware of any licences with music CDs allowing unauthorised copying of any kind (in which case you would need to obtain written permission for each CD). But yes you and millions of others have been breaking the law for years. It just goes to show you how ridiculous the copyright laws are in this country and they are only going to get stricter. In fact the music industry want to get to a point where they charge you for each use of the music so if you want the CD the buy it, want to use it on your pc then buy it again,want to use it on an MP3 player then buy it again, want a copy for your car? you guessed it, buy it again. The music industry have said that this is what they would like to be doing. All while paying artists less and less. Do you feel as sorry for them now?
It is also illegal to make backups of films and software (although some software explicitly allows 2 or 3 copies to be made through their license but this is mainly business type software).
Piracy needs to be reduced but not at the expense of our civil liberties and freedom, and certainly not due to false figures and lies. We can't have a situation where the cost of policing the problem costs more than the original problem. If the music companies disappeared then music would still flourish (and the artists may well make more money).
leefear. I'm sorry my friedn but you are wrong. We too are covered by the fair usuage policy. we are entitled to back up our own software, movies, discs, whatever.
the part that the companies managed to get made law which cripples the fair usage policy is that it is illegal to circumvent copy protection. Which they conviently place onto everything.
Joke is that it then makes it legal to download versions of stuff you own off the net. But not rip it yourself, It basically promotes piracy, or the distribution of creative media through unofficial channels.
Where music is concerned its actually been proven that putting your stuff online to download for free (or having it pirated) has actually helped several bands get more recognition in territories where they weren't getting any exposure before.
leefear. I'm sorry my friedn but you are wrong. We too are covered by the fair usuage policy. we are entitled to back up our own software, movies, discs, whatever.
the part that the companies managed to get made law which cripples the fair usage policy is that it is illegal to circumvent copy protection. Which they conviently place onto everything.
Joke is that it then makes it legal to download versions of stuff you own off the net. But not rip it yourself, It basically promotes piracy, or the distribution of creative media through unofficial channels.
Where music is concerned its actually been proven that putting your stuff online to download for free (or having it pirated) has actually helped several bands get more recognition in territories where they weren't getting any exposure before.
No, that is in the US. They have a fair usage rights which is slightly crippled by the DMCA. We do not have the fair usage rights here. Trust me, I have been campaigning on this for years and it was also brought up in a government report into copyright law which suggested that we be given a similar fair usage right. However this has not yet been acted upon as the content industry strongly opposes it (as it would stop them enforcing multiple charges in the future when the laws are in place to allow them to do so).
We have "Fair Dealing" which is not the same thing and only allows things like a limited number of pages of a book to be copied for non-commercial research which could possibly extend to copying a portion of a music track for non-commercial research. It certainly does not allow the copying of a whole CD.
Damn i've modded my consoles for years. To play imported games. Which is why my wii is modded. Why should i wait over a year to play Tales of Symphonia 2, or not be able to play Fatal Frame 4 just because a bunch of tossers in a board room can't get thier act together.
Best decision Sony ever made was to make the PS3 region free.
just because a console's modded doesn't mean its being used to play pirated games. There's so much potential in games machines that just goes untapped. The wii's a great example of this, then again so's the PS2. Both can run games straight off a HDD faster than disc. Both never got a proper update from the thier producers to do so.
Just buy a Japanese Xbox then, I did the same, can even use your same profile on it.
noone likes waiting... if you have a modded xbox 360 your more likely to get the game when it leaks ( on average a week before it comes out)
and games... you can get 10 games for £10
I sincerely hope this isn't an attempt at justifying piracy. Piracy of anything is the lowest of the low. It's theft, and a slap in the face to those who are creating entertainment for us, whatever medium that may be. Your reasonings are purely selfish, with no regard for the time, resources and money that goes into the games we play, music we listen to, movies we watch etc. Disrespectful. quote]
no read properly....
I was saying why people mod their consoles rather than not mod them, and wait until the game becomes second hand
Live at £40 a year is 'daylight robbery' jesus are you homeless or something? The most retarded comment I have ever heard on here and that is saying something. If you rip games you are a thief simple, end of story. To hide behind a facade of doing it 'just for fun' or as some kind of misguided fight for the common man is just pathetic, the credibility of these criminals will never rise above common scum for people who pay their way to enjoy the medium of video games.
I apologise if I'm saying now what has been said earlier in this comments list; perhaps it would serve the community better if they banned consoles that have been modified to allow cheat codes to be enabled.
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