News Microsoft will not apologise for Xbox bans

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/11/13/microsoft-will-not-apologise-for-xbox-bans/1

Microsoft has refused to apologise to users who have been banned from Xbox Live for running pirated games.

 

As much as I hate it when companies do this sort of thing, it does seem pretty fair. After all they are not bricking the console completely.

 

Why should they? You'd have to be a complete tool to use a modded xbox online..

 

I'm glad they've banned people. Piracy harm's the games industry significantly. Quite frankly, it serves them right.

 

I hope all those Xbox gamers go out and buy a PC or PS3 instead!

 

A tool yes, but sadly its parents that often get a console "modified" for their kids, then the kids want to play with their mates and go online and get caught.
Personally, with things like pirating and cheating being blamed for the current PC gaming market, I have a dislike for people who pirate games. And I think this a smart move.
Nobody complains if youu had your console chipped and then the manufacturer wouldn't honour the warranty. Now if you have your machine modded, you can't play on the manufacturers servers. Quite right

 

As long as no-one who has bought a modded console second hand and unaware it had been messed with has been banned (could it be that hard to check if a Live account has actually played a pirated game?) then MS needs to make no apologies. Piracy, whether you justify it to yourself or not, should be actively discouraged.

 

as the cost of blu-ray disc and writers becomes cheaper i expect to see this story again soon, but it will be sony banning users from play copied games.

nintendo would do it with the wii, if the console had an always online approach like the 360 and ps3

 

There own dumb fault, you dont play a game online that isn't officially released ANYWHERE. My 360 is modded, i'm not banned, but then again i'm not stupid enough to play a game before release, i buy my games but i do back them up and only play the back-ups (my sons a fan of chewing discs right now :/) and i'm still online.

 

They have also said that any users who have been banned are still able to buy a new unchipped Xbox and transfer over their profile to the new one. You can't really complain at that, they are giving pirates the choice to 'mend their ways' so to put it.

 

That's debatable at best, you can find just as much "evidence" that piracy has very little impact as you can "evidence" that it's destroying the industry.

I wouldn't be suprised if it pushed people away from the 360 and onto other formats.

Problem is that, afaik, Microsoft aren't targeting their bans solely at people who have played pirated games, they're targeting everyone who's modded their 360 so are catching people who've done it so they can play backup copies of games they've legitimately bought.

Don't be too suprised if that doesn't remain the case. From the looks of reports on several 360 orientated forums people who've never played anything other than backups of their own games have been caught in the ban wave and had their 360 banned.

All the reports seem to be based on an entirely unverified post on a 360 forum by someone claiming to be a MS employee who worked in the department responsible for detecting and banning modded 360s. Don't think there's any reliable source for the number of consoles that have actually been banned.

 

"The mass ban itself was likely timed around the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and focused on users playing the game before it was officially released."

Will this also ban people who got a legitimate copy before the release date? http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/11/09/modern-warfare-2-street-date-broken/

seems a bit harsh if so...

 

Good on Microsoft piracy has to stop, last I checked isn't it technically still illigal to back up games.
I have no sympothy for the people banned. Ps3 plays all disks be it copies or otherwise.

First decent thing Microsoft has done in years.

Not agaist people who back up stuff they buy, totally agaist those that download every major release. (pc or 360) the excuses are irelivent and most of them nonesence

 

This is a disproportional response. If you're a legit customer with a modded XBOX you may get the axe. . IT would make more sense a game based ban. If the system detects a pirated version of the game you wouldn't be able to play it online

 

If the number is around 1 million, my guess is that there are going to be about a million 360's on sale on ebay the next few months, for a real "bargain"

 

People have been caught by playing games before release date and also playing copied games with old or incorrect wave data. I wouldn't be at all surprised if most of the people that got caught are people that bought a pre-modded Xbox360 from something like a computer fair or Loot.

Having a modded Xbox360 does not cause you to get banned. Playing games early and playing bad backups WILL get you banned.

 

Which might be quite intresting considering Xmas is coming up. Beginning next week a hundred million parents will begin Xmas shopping. When the stores are cleaned out, the $50 xbox on eBay is going to look like the perfect gift.

 

Banning the box is a soft option, some may say a cynical attempt at boosting Xmas sales. Why not ban the account ?

The people in power have used piracy to justify several controversial decisions. So long as piracy exists as an excuse it IS hurting gaming.

Welcome to the socialist state of console gaming. Keep the flag flying guys.

 

I'm largely in favour of this move, so long as it was originally stated in some sort of EULA. I feel sorry for anyone who bought a second hand chipped console though.

Gutted!

 

And thats what happens if your stupid enough to play pirated games online before the release date.
They deserve to be banned just for being dumb enough to do that.