Xbox 360 bans rise to 1 million, banned consoles go up for sale

I think the fact that MS doesn't ban gamertags proves that XBL is where MS makes the majority of its money.....If they ban the gametags as well, they essentially give the person more reason to NOT return to the service or get another xbox...While the PS3's online service is nowhere near what XBL is, it is steadily improving, and most importantly, its FREE.. The second issue is that many xbox's have more than one gamertag associated with them and even though the person modded the machine, they are still entitled to whatever points, and subscription that they have legitimately paid for, or a person may have unknowingly purchased a modded machine used, so there are probably some legal reasons as to why they are not banning gamertags in mass as well.. They do ban gamertags, but more for offensive language and cheating and such, as a violation of conduct........

This will and has already opened up a real book of worms - who cares f**k microsoft lets keep it pirated. Microsoft have become one of the most disliked companies on the face of the planet they are driven by consumer demand this has been shown in the latest game releases where *****s in EUROPE are paying up to US$85 for the latest games - ridiculous - go ahead and ban me you Microsoft pricks - everything I use is pirated and will stay that way. Where there is a will there is a way - it will not be long before a site will be able to host these consoles. Why does my xbox still work?

yeah one thing that did piss me off was that modern warfare 2 cost me $65 for the pc version wtf is gaming coming to?

"I find the self-righteous "legitimate" 360 owners funny when they act like because they buy they're games, that somehow makes a crap game good...Besides, out of the over 100 copied games I have, there are only a few I play online anyway.......I bought a legitimate copy of MW2 and was just banned today...."

Epic fail lol

I bought modern warfare 2 on the pc via steam. I only play a few games on the 360- fifa 2010 and some other occasional multiplayer games. I watch Sky player on mine - premiership football and other stuff. Then I guess that doesnt work if the console is banned either. Lol I could care less for your whining

Modern warfare was £34.99 in uk on steam via pre order. It was 28quid if you bought it in a variety of supermarkets. Some places were offering a considerable discount on the 360 and ps3 versions and price matching.

What sucks is steam offering modern warfare 2 for 60 dollars and also 60 euros. There is no way a single euro = 1 dollar. Its gone back up to £39.99 incidentally.

Yukka,

Hmmm, maybe epic ***** would be the term for you?? Thats funny you say I was whining but you decided to not quote what I said right after I said I was banned huh? Ok so I'll say it again for you....I DONT CARE that I was banned, somehow I dont translate that into whining.. Oh and guess what I downloaded MW2 for the PC for FREE also...So take your steam and shove it!!!.......LMAO

Wow. That really makes it okay, huh?

The main point is NOT because of paying for XB Live (which you can have for free if you choose not to go the Gold route), but to prevent people from cheating on games as well as running pirated games on the consoles.

Being an ex Microsoft employee I have witnessed first hand the sleazy practises they adopt. My friends and I are working on deciphering the traffic between the console and the live services in order to identify a way of "fiddling the packets" to make Microsoft think the request is coming from a machine with a different serial number. Its not going to be easy but we like a challenge.

OMG! I don't have the right english term at hand, but what a deuce all this guests are!

If you want the real deal, buy the real thing... you and your cheap "backups" and now beleiving you deserve something, grow up.

UMmmmmm no...............MS has NOT prevented people from running pirated games on consoles, they have only prevented modded consoles from running on live....

You cant play multiplayer on XBL unless you are Gold, but you can play on PS3 for free regardless, so again your point is moot, because XBL is not truely "free" for multiplayer......

Wow........You have to buy a REAL xbox in the first place right? Even if you mod it afterwards....And the cost of 25 of those cheap disc that we burn those "backups" on, is less than the full retail price of ONE game.......Hmmmm so let me see, burn 25 "backups" for the price of one retail game, I may not even like after buying it... How much money have I saved?? You do the math.... Ands whats worse, I don't even have to leave my house and go buy the game.....All I need is a fast internet connection, a blank disc, and a dual layer dvd burner and I'm playing the latest games for xbox in about an hour or two......LMAO. And if I'm banned? I go down to gamestop and buy another 360 for 130 bucks, the cost of TWO retail games, and I'm back on live....Now if that ain't grown, I don't know what is!! Just speaking as a "guest" that is.......

For all those saying that Microsoft should just charge more to allow the modded systems, or cancel the account and make them get a new one, you are all missing the point. This isn't about the money (at least in that sense), it's about getting modded systems off their Live servers. Period. Charging more for allowing modded units is just condoning modding of their consoles, which they categorically denounce.

Now, as for how the money thing really rolls out, here's something to consider. Say a great online play title comes out, and it becomes a great target for pirate copiers. Now there are tons of that game floating around, and if people are playing that game using Live, they are now taxing the MS servers with absolutely no financial return to MS. Part of the licensing revenues from game sales go towards running and maintaining the Live servers. That's how they have the basic level of Live that is free. The gold membership money adds to that pool for maintenance and operation. So if a ton of pirates are using Live, but not contributing at all to the operational costs, why the hell would MS ever NOT want those slimers off their networks? They are freeloaders, and it is Microsoft's right to boot them. Just like a scumball loitering in a restaurant can be refused service and/or kicked off the premises by the owner of the restaurant, MS reserves the right to refuse service to ANYONE that breaks their rules.

It's pretty simple, really. You mod, you lose. But the ones on the receiving end of the punishment always feel a self-righteous entitlement to things they don't deserve, and throw a fit when they get caught and are forced to pay for their actions. You guys really want to make a stand? A good start would be ending the cowardly hiding behind Guest logins when you feel you have a righteous cause. Anonymous testimonials carry little to no weight.

This is why i didn't buy a console, but i did it would be PS3. (and yes, it's because it has a BR drive and more free stuff - the exclusives are also to my liking, much more than the xbox ones).
But in the end PC's are my favorites.

I have a good job, I like playing games, I dont mind paying for them if it helps them to make more of them for me to enjoy.

Laugh as long or as hard as you want but if everyone was like you we wouldnt have anything to play. No thanks mate.

and if thats not an epic fail I don't know what is. And if you weren't whining about it, what were you doing? Boasting about pirating games as if its your right to pirate?

i too have been hit by the latest ban wave, still trying to fgure out why, my console has never been modded, ive never used a cheat or anything on it, i did in the past on a now rrod console, although it was by mstake as i originally bought a second handconsole that i was unaware was modded and transfered the gamertag onto my new hard drive on my brand new console. Now microsoft tech support basically tell me im lying and no support is offered on a banned console, i will be seekin legal advice cos sometimes even superpowers are wrong, and bill gates' minions cant just decide that theyre right when i know theyre not. Im gonna find a nice PS3 and let them have my money seeing how my ps2 still works from the date of release and im now on xbox number 2, besides modern warfare 2 looks far better on ps3.

any other telltale signs on a banned console apart from the refused 'net conn?

PS3 sales are going to sky rocket. Sony i hope you send MS a Christmas card for this kind gift they are giving you. I will never on a Xbox again because of this.

If you modded you Xbox on purpose, your probably sh*t outta luck. Those people who unknowingly bought a Xbox that was banned might be able to get legal recourse by suing the seller if they didnt fully exclose that the console was banned. Check the lemon laws where you live.

If every person who got their xbox banned and thought MS was in the wrong bought a PS3 and ****ed off of live, I wouldnt mind Sounds like they have improved my service