so they DON'T have to pay for live now?

This reminds me of being banned on WoW for botting, lul.

They didn't catch everybody LOL. My two neighbors who created thier own mod for thier systems are still playing online with pirated copies of MW2 for their 360. While I admit NASA engineers are usually rather bland, these two are roflcoptering at the 1 mill that got banned. Their quote "AAAAANNNNDDD that is what chinese engineering gets you."

i heard they banned anyone with modded firmware, whether or not they used a pirated disc. is that true?

The press release said around 600,000. Just a bit off.

they just lost atleast 10 million a month.

I was reading through ads on craigslist when I noticed one by a guy who in his own words,"Help! I've gotten my girlfriends XBox banned, can anyone help me fix this before she finds out?"

I don't think he understands that the account is banned, not just the Xbox. I know a few gamer girls, and if I was this dude I'd leave the country...quickly.

They ban the consoles, not the users.

Is it really possible to mod your xbox to play on live for free?

And THAT is why you should buy PC ^_^

I'm so happy, I think i'm going to cry. So did everyone that had a modded xbox get banned. Did you have to be logged into xboxlive that day to be banned? I have a few "friends" that have modded xboxes. They always called me stupid for buying games(this is why I hate pirates). If they got banned I'd love to say "who's the stupid now" ahaha (I buy all of my games on craigslist. COD WAW for $10. Why would I pirate)

Last I heard they can/will/have banned Live accounts aswell.

All this generation knows is to use, not create. When they can't create, they steal or think things should be given to them for free.

No. Unless you hack M$ server.
Word of advice: do not play live when you mod-pirate. Simple as that.

So MS are losing $10 million each month?
Actually, they were losing on the modders not paying for games, so this is just cutting the losses.
Don't allow pirates to keep doing what they do just so they can draw Live subscription, cut 'em off and teach 'em a lesson.

That lesson is, if you want to play pirate games with impunity, buy a PC

The risk was always there. I've never really understood pirates who try to play online. Pirating a game so that you can play solo on your computer is one thing but trying to play online with it just seems a bit silly because you're so easily traced.

Here's an interesting story on the BBC about this where they interviewed a 25 year old gamer called Raz who's distraught at being banned: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/ [...] 002915.stm

first guy is right. it is the console and not the account

I am perfectly fine with people with pirated content getting banned. If by some chance a poor soul who wasnt willing to pay 100 dollars for a 60GB hard drive got nixed in the process because he "modded" in his own I would think MS were @$$holes.

$10 million a month? How in the world did you come up with that figure?

If anything this will be profitable for Microsoft because if the people want to continue playing Xbox they'll have to acquire a new system and buy a new Xbox Live account.

Interesting...

If it is the xbox that is banned, I wonder if craigslist is going to be flooded w\ more $100 xbox 360's...

What exactly do they use to ban the xbox? Are they banning by mac address? or do the xboxes have another unique identifier aside from their mac address of their network card?

Is it hard to replace live service with your own dedicated box? Is it even possible?

I could care less about modded consoles playing Multiplayer on Live.

MS should stop gouging Xbox360 users for adapters and add-ons.

Case in point: New Xbox Wireless N Adapter - $100

Agreed. Its the same with all those "Free software" advocates. Funny how they think people should create without getting paid to create. As if the world would continue to function if 100% of computer programmers suddenly switched over to IT for their source of income.

Same with pirates. While I think the MPAA and RIAA (and whiny game developers) overstate the effects of piracy, I do agree piracy hurts production. Why would Microsoft continue to allow modders who continue to NOT pay for the games they play? Microsoft does not make a penny off the actual console, so arguing that you paid $300 for the console and should get the games for free is just stupid.

I wish Microsoft had sent out a kill-command to each console to brick the sucker, rather than just ban them from their Live services.

incorrect. at least for the modded firmware. they encourage you to go buy a new 360 so you can keep your old live account.


nobody knows for sure what they use to detect modded 360's. i finally got banned after 2.5 years last week. never played a game before release date (see HALO 3 bans), and haven't played any game newer then Resident Evil 4 (see Forza 3 bans). this is nothing new, but this is the most sweeping by far. anyone who tells you they know how you got banned is lying or has false info.

the ban is affecting everyone from people with the latest ixtreme 1.61 to the older versions as well.

it's a risk i take, but at $60 a disc 360 gaming was a hobby i wouldn't be able to afford otherwise.

This whole discussion makes me smile.
The question was whether or not anyone got banned, and while I didn't notice anyone admitting to getting banned in my cursory scan, there are a lot of authorities on the subject here.
And now that I've typed that out, reading it makes me laugh.

Sweet, time to get a dirt cheap X360 off E-bay then... If you only want one to mod/play offline then it sounds like a buyers' market.

I feel sorry for anyone who gets duped into buying one of these dud consoles by a pirate though.

Yes, it is possible. It is a pain to setup.




There is a bot that searches for gold 360 accounts. (it also allows you to setup a queue of gold accounts and monitor for when they go offline) It then hacks the console and uses that account to allow online play. What is dangerous about this is whoever has access to your account has access to purchase tons of junk.

However, it is easy to see if your console has been hacked, look for games in your library that you know you haven't played.

I seen this one coming.
Playing Single, or in Linked Mode is one thing, but on Live was just asking for trouble, and now some 600,000+ users just found out the hard way. Luckily there is a fix No worries it will be announced and spread like a wild fire soon enough.

It is about time!! No one deserves free software.. If you can't afford it, get a job!! It's like stealing a BMW because I can't afford one.. It is just plain stupid and immoral.. I never buy what I can't afford and do not complain about it either.. The people who think MS is losing money are stupid too as they make very little profit from Live! as it does cost money to maitain the service...

I don't own a 360 myself but an acquaintance of mine brought up an excellent point - perhaps Microsoft should consider producing a 360 with a less noisy fan, cheaper HDD options (considering a new, 500Gbyte single-platter, 7200RPM disk costs ~$60) and a DVD that doesn't eat discs.

Banning pirates is all well and good but there are legitimate reasons for modding your console as well.

Actually, a ban doesn't mean that your account is going to stop being charged. Since you have not initiated the cancelation MS can assume that you will purchase a new console and use the live account under the unmodded console. If you have been banned and do not plan to return anytime soon, save yourself the trouble and cancel the subscription.