Xbox Live Bans Up to 1 Million Players

[Acturus]

Xbox Live bans up to 1 million players

Microsoft has banned as many as 1 million users with modified Xbox 360s from Xbox Live, the online gaming service, in a bid to counter piracy.

The ban from the Xbox Live service is reported to have affected anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million Xbox 360 users.

The so-called "modded" consoles allow gamers to play illegal copies of games. Microsoft said the practice violates the Xbox Live terms of use and that it reserves the right to cut service to its online gaming service. The BBC reported that Microsoft said banning gamers was part of an ongoing effort to curb piracy.

The move comes on the heels of the launch of the most anticipated game of the year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which sold a reported 310 million copies in its first 24 hours.

Microsoft's move only cripples the Xbox console's online functionality. Users can still play as single players, but the allure and popularity of games such as Modern Warfare 2 depend on its online multiplayer modes.

The ban has triggered the listing of hundreds of modded Xbox 360s, some being offered for less than $100, on Craigslist on Long Island.

Microsoft said the Xbox Live online gaming service serves more than 20 million users worldwide. The only way for those banned to return to Xbox Live is to purchase a new, unmodded Xbox 360 console.

[Blabj]

Ironically, now that people aren't worried about being banned, they're more likely to download more games, and play them earlier.

[The_OG_Nelta]

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/84411...banhammar.html

[Blabj]

Yes but that's gaming discussion, perhaps people want a technical debate?

My console got banned, and a few friends did as well. Mine was running the latest firmware (1.61, flashed about 2hrs after it was released) and every game that was put into it was fully verified and stealthed. No pre-releases at all.

The only person whose console didn't get banned was the one I most expected, since all he has played on it was wave4s and he had a Liteon 1.5. Go figure.

[Acturus]

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/84411...banhammar.html

Sorry, didn't think to check Gaming, I saw the modding as the reason and felt it was appropriate here.

[Cephius]

Apparently they found a way to do a quick diagnostics on the DVD drive and the hacked firmware didn't return the values expected, meaning they had a sure-fire way to ban people who modded their drives. Though, people who play single player games and don't care about gamer scores can still play their games

[Khamsin]

Ironically, now that people aren't worried about being banned, they're more likely to download more games, and play them earlier.

I would think people would be especially worried about being banned now, after seeing this.

[Aevis]

yep, they found a way to detect all current available ix firmwares. there is a version in progress which shouldn't be detectable, but there is never a 100% guarantee unless somebody figures out how m$ is doing the checks.

anyway, expected to be banned since the day of patching. time for an elite!

[Blabj]

I would think people would be especially worried about being banned now, after seeing this.

I meant the banned people.

[rezn0r]

i know the answer to this can probably be found easily by googling, but is your xbox live account banned as well as the console, or just the console? can you just retrieve your account on a new system and have your old score?

i actually wanted to mod my gen1 system for awhile now and never got around to it, and i was going to probably buy an elite for playing games i cared about.

[Cephius]

i know the answer to this can probably be found easily by googling, but is your xbox live account banned as well as the console, or just the console? can you just retrieve your account on a new system and have your old score?

i actually wanted to mod my gen1 system for awhile now and never got around to it, and i was going to probably buy an elite for playing games i cared about.

Depends. If you just modded your firmware, only the console gets banned. If you played a game before its release date, then your gamertag gets banned too.

Most of the people hit in the banwave just got their console banned. You can recover your gamertag on a new console and put your hard drive in it, too. Though your save games will likely be corrupted.

[bebeci]

The guys who created the custom firmware which allows you to slap burnt dvds into your drive (and tricking your dvd drive into thinking it is a legit game) said that the firmware is undetectable. I'm leaning more towards ceph's theory.

There are reports of people flashing their 360 drives, only playing legit games, and getting banned.
I've taken mine completely offline. I don't wanna lose the hdd install of games. Quiet 360 is quiet.

[Auspice]

Friend of mine bought a used 360 that was banned from XBLive and when he tried to log in on his gamertag to XBL(not knowing the console was banned) he said it banned his gamertag too; he can't get on it with any of his friend's consoles either now.

[The Stig]

On the BBC website it was said you can login using another Xbox to recover profile:

BBC NEWS | Technology | Xbox console ban is 'permanent'

"Users of banned Xbox consoles can recover their profile to another, unmodified Xbox 360 console to resume their Live service," the firm told BBC News.

Hopes this helps some users, I don't own Xbox, but something I remembered.

[Rockstaru]

The move comes on the heels of the launch of the most anticipated game of the year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which sold a reported 310 million copies in its first 24 hours.

Hmmm...

[Khamsin]

Hmmm...

310 million copies, wow. I'm sure that's a worldwide figure, but that's a copy for every man, woman and child in the US. That'd put the total revenue from their first day of sales at about $20 billion. That's impressive.

[Nattack]

now all the people who gamed on xbl can resort to playing the same games online on the pc. hurr.

[Shenrien]

http://usedbooksblog.com/blog/wp-con...12/dr-evil.JPG

first thing I thought of when I read the title...

[Rockstaru]

310 million copies, wow. I'm sure that's a worldwide figure, but that's a copy for every man, woman and child in the US. That'd put the total revenue from their first day of sales at about $20 billion. That's impressive.

Whoever wrote the original article screwed up - it was actually 310 million dollars, about 4.7 million copies of the game.

*Puts on anti-whoosh helmet*

[Minions]

Wonder what they are using to detect modded consoles, despite the idiots playing games a week+ before release dates, getting flagged, then they somehow tell if the consoles modded or not. As far as I'm aware they have not banned people that got games that broke street date, just wonder how they can determine who has the game and who doesn't.