Halo 4 is banning users across Xbox Live [Update]

GCO: "343 Industries have posted a notice on Twitter, for those who are playing Halo 4 early, that a “technical glitch” is causing players to be banned across Xbox Live...

Update: Microsoft have fixed the problem."

[JoGam]

If its a tech problem then they're just going to have to un-ban them. If someone bought the game early that should be taken out on the customer. Im just saying. Un-ban those people.

[Knight_Crawler]

Its probably just a glitch...MS banned my account by mistake and unbanned it and they also gave me Alan Wake for free.

No service is perfect but one thing I can say about MS is if you plea your case they always look into it.

Halo 4 is looking Boss! can wait to pick it up.

[aviator189]

Alan Wake's a great game, imo. :)

[Knight_Crawler]

I agree AW is fantastic and underrated...I am sorry that I did not buy it at launch but MS picked a bad time to launch AW with so many other great game out like Red Dead and MS also did a poor job at advertising it.

Can not wait to play AW 2!Hope they fix the repetitive bad guys and make it more open world with a more interactive universe...apart from that the game was superb and the story telling is what I always wanted in a game.

[elmaton98]

i dont know why but ive never been interested in halo but this one is intriguing me to no end, i might be able able to buy one 360(for the third time) for this game alone and gear of war 3 as well jeje.

[pablo-b]

played it at my cousins last nite....

absolutely incredible on-line. i couldve bought it and cancalled my LE on amazon. but i cant play it until thursday due to family commitments anyway.

343 have made an amazing game for sure

[GuruStarr78]

why not ban them if they're playing early?

[Allsystemgamer]

Uh because they are legal copies sold by a retailer that broke street date? Not the players fault they paid for it legally

[auragenz]

Oh, so it's okay if your part of the 1% and have connections. You should feel entitled be able to play it before the rest of us who play by the rules.

They agreed to the same Terms Of Service (TOS) that we did and should be at home patiently waiting to play the game until the official launch date like everyone else, or perhaps Microsoft should just have a separate TOS for the special people and then one for everyone else.

[chadachada123]

@Auragenz,

That isn't fair at all, why should gamers be screwed if a store makes a mistake and starts selling copies early?

Yeah, some of them have connections and are abusing the system, but you don't seriously think that every person that buys Halo 4 is gonna know what day it's SUPPOSED to be released, and that it'd be fair to punish them, do you?

[SJPFTW]

Honestly with the game getting great reviews and looking to be a winner... actually works in MS favour by having some people get it early

[auragenz]

@chadachada123

While we all may sympathize with our local town idiot for going through life blissfully unaware of just about everything up to and including buying Halo 4 early, being fair is not the issue.

The law is, and Microsoft's Terms of Service is a legal binding document which we all agreed to. Further, precedent is clearly on the side of ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking said law.

[StoneyYoshi]

@Auragenz

where in the terms of service does it say that you agree to only to start playing the game you purchase on the release date? i really would like to know. if it does then i could understand this i guess but if it does not state that in the terms of service then your argument is irrelevant....

[cl1983]

Some of those are reviewers, and people whom been given copies from 343.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

@auragens

Contracts are not laws. TOS and other of those kind of agreements can't go beyond law or they aren't worth anything (they would be, actually, illegal). Guess what? There's no law saying you can't play a game you legally bought on a service you legally pay to use. Although there are laws to protect a company and its assets privacy and timing, those are usually held along contracts between companies or a company and a service provider (as a freelancer reviewer, a tester, etc), not a company and a costumer (that's not what TOS are for and, if they try it, any lawyer could easily expose how they would be abusing the system).

Anyway, we're reading too much at it, this is obviously just a mistake, MS was auto banning whoever plays Halo 4 early to keep pirates at bay, but now it's affecting people who bought games legally from retailers that aren't respecting the release date. MS is probably already looking into it and understanding it's their mistake for auto banning instead of checking before, chances are they'll fix it and handle some goods over to those banned as an apology for the problem.

They could be a pain in the ass and keep you banned because of a TOS (if such a rule even exists)? Maybe yes, chances are you won't get legal action against it even if the contract is illegal, it's just not worth the money or time... But they are not going to hurt their own reputation over it, if anything, they'll just ask to have a look at your recipt or look into other way to see you are not a pirate and things will go back to normal.

Don't be so bitter just because you can't play it earlier like 'em. It will be the same game when you get to play it...

[InTheLab]

These aren't pirates. If they bought it at retail, they have every right to play it.

[GuruStarr78]

@in the lab:

And how do you know that they're not pirates? It's not like MS can tell the difference between a burned copy and a 'legit' one that's inside your xbox... Sure, there's some that are legitimate, but I'd be willing to bet that the majority are people playing burned copies..

[Waddy101]

@JQM78 It's pretty easy to tell the difference between a pirated copy and a legit one for microsoft, especially as there is no "stealth" patch for Halo 4 yet.

[theEx1Le]

@waddy101, they stopped stealth patching games like a year ago. MS's new disc format means you don't need to because the security is different. So, no there's no way to tell the difference.

[GuruStarr78]

@thex 1le:

That's what I thought.... there's no way to tell the difference...

[palaeomerus]

Because they might decide not to spend $60 on new games, get the new console next year and might not renew their live sub. People HATE being ripped off. They tend not to buy stuff from companies that rip them off just because they got a game that they paid for shipped to them early and wanted to play it.

[killerhog]

Really? Interesting concept.

Take note on the "People HATE being ripped off. They tend not to buy stuff from companies that rip them off".

[Steadyhndz]

The main reason is because through the agreement of buying a video game you have no knowledge that it is "not allowed" to be bought if the seller sold it to you.

[elmaton98]

well if you get it earlier than most of all of us you still pay more than what the game is worth clear example, you get it for 60 squid on the date is due but if you get it earlier you pay double or triple the amount and unless you're willing to pay that go ahead. (Knowing people benefit you a lot trust me)

[ShadowKingx]

One thing to realize when they were banning other players a couple of weeks ago. They have not even sent out the halo 4 copies yet from the warehouse. So they know who was playing it was pirating it.

Now that every retailer has it now. There really nothing they can do because its the retailers fault for breaking street date.

[QuantumWake]

I heard if you get banned all you need to do is report it and MS will lift the ban. That is of course assuming you bought the copy legit and have a receipt to prove it.

[SITH]

Lol

[0pie]

technical glitch.... yeah righ...

[samekratos]

any 1 who play's it early is a spartan noob f****** ban them all who play it early!

[DarkBlood]

lol you angry you wont be able to get ahead in skill rank or something?

[esemce]

What about the mom that buys it for her kids birthday or whatever and they have no idea of the release date? All MS have to do is reset the stats etc on release day.

[DarkBlood]

watch out for halo trolls i might of already been spoiled on a certain part of the story for halo 4

[DirtyLary]

Big deal, they are all playing on shade accounts anyway.

[ALLWRONG]

Halo 4 is banning users? Since when was Halo alive and able to ban people?

[fingazblank]

I got a legit copy today, been playing all frigging day, campaign and war games...

Ban users for playing 2 days early, get a life you whatnot!

Great game, halo is amazing

[samekratos]

any 1 playing it already is a fake a** noob,and deserved to get banned.

[SOULJER]

People crying ban users playing early. GTFU. If stores are selling them ahead of the release date. Blame microsoft, or the store owners. Don't blame gamers. By the way if you have the game yourself. You'll be playing also, so cut the shit out.

[tweet75]

microsoft should not be allowed to ban anyone for any reason. If someone buys the game to play they should be able to play it however they want.

[Getowned]

"microsoft should not be allowed to ban anyone for any reason. If someone buys the game to play they should be able to play it however they want."

I dissagree, People should not be able to play a game "however they want" that implies that they should be able to hack the game and play with advantages only they have and ruin the game for everyone else who also bought a legal copy of the game. People should be able to play a game however they want as long as they play fair and equally.

I do agree that people who have bought a legal copy of Halo 4 should be able to play the game as they wish to, so as long as play by the rules. It's not fair when someone hacks a game and ruins it for others, if you don't play fair you should be banned. IMO

[SOULJER]

GTFU. means Grow the F*** up.

[CuddlyREDRUM]

At least they don't have to play Halo 4 for a bit.

[alb1899]

Is ok that Microsoft does that because people should learn to respect windows and to avoid piracy.
Who bought the game early should complying to the seller.

[Tzuno]

Halo 4 is banning users across Xbox Live. lol lol lol Microsoft is banning not halo 4 loool at the title

[Frazier_Medina]

I was banned from xbox for playing halo4 ONE TIME to test it out for a friend, and i got console banned AND profile banned, i had over $300 on my account.. i think MS should un-ban me but just ban me from halo4 online, right?

[tommygunzII]

Tell it to the judge.