Modified Xbox 360s Now Officially Banned From Xbox Live
Somewhere between the spring update and the Halo 3 beta, Microsoft implemented a new official policy banning Xbox 360 owners who had modified the firmware in their DVD drives from accessing Xbox Live. We'd heard rumblings that something anti-hack was in the works, but Microsoft now seems to be able to detect those who've used the DVD-ROM firmware hack to allow playback of backup game copies as well as bootlegs. Or rather, the system software now seems capable of determining the legitimacy of the disc in the drive - and even hacker efforts to stall the detection technology (by adding features like "disc jitter" to the firmware) seem to have failed. As they've done before, Microsoft is blocking access to Xbox Live from such accounts, but not suspending or banning the user account itself - just from the modded 360.
From DailyTech:
The banning measures appear to have started alongside the release of the Halo 3 beta, perhaps in what is best described as a crackdown on Crackdown bootlegged copies that contained Halo 3 beta access.
And from Microsoft:
“As part of our commitment to our members, we do not allow people that we have detected to have modified their console to connect to Live. This is an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules. This topic is more important than ever given the recent release of the Halo 3 beta.”
Not entirely surprising, but newsworthy nonetheless. Caveat Moddor, as the Romans used to say. Thoughts? Speculations? Rants?
Modified Xbox 360 Consoles Now Banned From Xbox Live [DailyTech]
[Thanks, Andy!]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 18 May 2007
Other stuff like this: ban, halo 3 beta, microsoft, modded consoles, spring update, xbla, xbox live
