Xbox console ban is 'permanent'

Thousands of Xbox 360 owners who have been cut off from Microsoft's Xbox Live service will have to buy a new console if they want to play online again.

Microsoft told BBC News that banned machines will be permanently barred and "unable to connect to Xbox Live".

[cyborg6971]

How else would they get anyone to buy the POS. They know the ps3 is just getting it's legs under it and it hasn't even built up speed, more like a canter. Just wait until the thing is at full gallop. Trampling MS all the way to the bank.

[foreverflame]

Who gives a fu*@k the Psn is a ghost town

[PirateThom]

Unlike Live, which is closer to a nursury.

[Mr Bobby Kotick]

Buy guitar hero.

[TheTruth2009]

The PS3 is a great console that is a fantastic movie player. Nothing more. The games may be great, but no one buys them. Including YOU.
Wasn't the lineup supposed to be awesome this holiday?
You know what I've heard since those great games released?

Crickets.

[cyborg6971]

If no one cares then why is the ps3 dominating the other two consoles. And that's the truth, eh truth.

[wxer]

thats just sad
im 100% MS did this just to sell more consoles

pirating came second to them or just a cover
i mean
why now ???
why not before ??

pirating on the 360 has been in here looong time ago and MS knew about it
but did nothing about it

but now that the PS3 is outselling the 360
they want to move more consoles
so
they banned all of those ppl just to sell more consoles

[patterson]

The timing of it is fishy I agree. Plus they'll rake in more money from the bannees paying for another LIVE subscription; the real source of income for M$. They essentially got them to pay for LIVE twice.

[mintaro]

Hmmm.... I guess I see your point, after all what company wouldn't love to lose millions and millions of dollars to pirates.

There must be an ulterior motive

[Pirateogta]

Jesus Christ! Why the hell would Microsoft ban 1 million PIRATES just to get more sales? The PS3 has only been outselling the 360 for 2 months, and barely. The 360 had outsold the PS3 for 13 months straight before the Slim launched. And the 360 still has by far the best software sales of any console, which rake in most of the cash.

[Greywulf]

"We believe that even one modified console on the system is one too many" - Microsoft.

Yet they knew that they had 1 million+ illegal consoles out there Inflating their bs #'s, And didn't happen to notice till the PS3 Slim?

Pirate, easy..

they didn't buy the Live accounts. So they have to buy new consoles to use their account. Simple as that, even MS said it.MS Hates pirates so much, they let them keep their id.

You've got Timing against you. MS's own greed against you, the fact they could have done this hourly, thats also against you, as well as the PS3's pricedrop, thats also against you. The terms of service didn't suddenly change either.

Its directed at 1million+ Xbox live players that they know play online.

But yeah its a conspiracy..

Microsoft doesn't have the resources to crackdown piracy on their own console until now.

[freeblue]

funny they banned soo many consoles near the holiday shopping season.

[erathaol]

I thought the expression was, "Better late than never!"

Although timing is everything and it is the Holiday season. God forbid Sony actually beats them in sales for 1 year.

[NineteenSeventyNine]

. . . and the tinfoil hats get larger.

[gaffyh]

So I guess there's only two ways this can go from now:

1. Banned people get pissed off and buy a PS3 this month = high PS3 sales

2. Banned people buy another 360, pay for another Live subscription because they want to play MW2 or Halo 3 (for the one millionth time BUY ANOTHER GAME YOU CHEAPSKATES) = high 360 sales this month.

[bjornbear]

You got it all wroong, they've been doing this from the start

Its called RROD ;)

On a serious note, i do doubt they said "OK, we need more sales, LETS BAN"

However, they aren't stupid, and see this as an extra, and were probably waiting to have a big enough instal base before acting =)

[Pirateogta]

The comments here make you lose all hope in humanity. Where have all the intelligent people gone?

[Triella]

According to MS Xbox Live terms of use, you're also at risk of ban if you use third party HDD or if you had an unauthorized repair (i.e self-repaired console), which is pretty improper if you ask me.

[Blaze929]

@wxer and everyone else who agrees with him

Are you all REALLY this retarded? So now Microsoft bans systems to boost sales? Are you kidding me? Why now of all time? Uhhh...becuase the do it in periodical waves and always have been? What are they supposed to do, just let those pirated systems still be allowed to access Xbox LIVE?

What makes you think these banned systems owners will even go out and buy another 360? Microsoft could very well be helping Sony with people who go buy a ps3 becuase they don't want another 360 when one still works just fine but just cant connect to something you have to pay for. It's not like they got nothing to loose. Chances are, if they were on a modified system, they were playing pirated games.

But wow...actually saying Microsoft is doing this to boost sales? Thats just stupid. I'm with you @Pirateogta on this one.

Seriously, just google this crap and you will see Microsoft has always done this in waves usually all around at the same time. It's how they operate - even with system updates (Spring and Fall)

[GUNS N SWORDS]

what was the advantage of owning a modified xbox?

living without being connected sounds bad, what do you do when you need to get updates for your games?

[NineteenSeventyNine]

@ pirateogta

We're being promptly debubbled. I'm now down to four myself.

[Greywulf]

This is MS's largest banwave. Which everyone knows.

Which is why its news.

Why would a *PIRATE* buy a ps3, when you can't pirate PS3 games? Most pirates generally own multiple 360's to begin with. One for their main account, and the other for the pirated games..AgainIf MS cared about piracy and banning people, they would ban accounts & consoles. Not just consoles.

Which is the point..

MS said 1 pirate is too many, yet they let it go to 1 million right before MW2's release?

Surely.. you're not serious are you?

Facts = Stacked against you at this point, all you can do is say you doubt a PIRATE would buy a 360 to continue to hack & mod until the next wave.... Yea they are going to stop pirating...

Really?

[00]

and its conspiracy theories.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

I mean, does the timing matter? Is it wrong to spur sales?

After all these are the people that have been buying consoles and then stealing from all of us legitimate gamers by making it more expensive for everyone else.

I mean after all, if you pirate:

a) you are not contributing to developers/publishers that made the game. You are passing the cost on to others that legitimately buy the games.

b) you are potentially (especially earlier on) buying a machine at a loss for MS, that they will never regain. Granted that is their business model, is it wrong of them to disable your machine for violation of terms?

If you are a pirate, you are a parasite in the gaming industry and frankly have no right to complain!!!

[HolyOrangeCows]

Not so long as hackers are alive.

They're going to work day and night to create work-arounds. Piracy already has a community living in the xbox base, and it's not likely to just go away.

[Feral Gamer]

"im 100% MS did this just to sell more consoles "

Why would they want to sell more consoles to pirates, anyway? Wow PS3 fanboys' conspiracy theories are getting out of hand.

[4Sh0w]

So banning pirates will make them happily go out an buy a new 360?

I guess they shouldn't do anything about piracy, oh and be sure cheaters, pirates or hackers will continue to find ways to screw developers and all of us fair minded gamers and microsoft will continue catching on to them and banning them, I'm glad they are take a hard line against them, if they choose to buy another 360 and play by the rules then thats great, if they choose to go without Live then thats fine and if they choose to stick to ps3/pc then thats fine too, at least devs/360 owners both with get shafted a little less than before. If its one thing I do know, not fighting against piracy is like saying putting up a neon sign inviting them in.

lol, at the conspiracy theories, there few for everything microsoft does, if its sony comments would sound like "great job sony for fighting piracy". uggh Fanboys.

[Jamescagney]

Lol at the conspiracy theories. There's always a conspiracy.

Some of you aren't right in the head.

[Cyan8313]

Just like they did last year.. And the year before that.

You might want to ask M$ why they ONLY ban consoles in November ? Hmm ? Christmas sales comming up maybe...

For the pirate buying a arcade and modding it once a year FAR outweigh the cost of buying the games each month. Arcade being the equalvilent to 4 new games at most ?

If M$ wanted to stop the piracy they would first have to make it more expensive to pirate the games. And they would have to do that by banning each month or maybe 3 months.

[DrRobotnik]

1.Buy 360,RROD.
2.Buy new 360,Trade in for Elite with new falcon chip in fear of RROD
3.New 360 Elite gets RROD,Buy new 360 Elite(with some random bundle pack)
4.Mod new 360 Elite,gets bricked from ban.Buy 2 new 360's, One to mod and play off line games. And one to play online.....

Pure brilliance on Microsoft's part.

It's like watching an abused wife on Jerry Springer, trying justify why she still loves her abuser.LOL.

[SKUD]

LOL.

[rogimusprime]

how is that news? What's also permanent is my ps3 still works, and the hackers will just come up with a way to get around this new crackdown. The forbidden fruit is always the best.

XBOX live is only fun (personally) for shooters like gears, Halo, and RE5, and MW. Other than that? I have no problem playing offline.

I do think Microsoft has a little too much power over MY console. Imagine if they told you, after finding your copy of windows was pirated, that your ethernet port couldn't connect to ANYTHING ever again and there was no recourse for it.

Where was this self righteousness before they got slapped with a class action on the RROD warranties and scratched discs?

Remember, its still legal to play backups as long as you own them.

Just because you agreed to some terms of service in your frantic haste and elation to get online doesn't make them valid.

If you signed on a new mortgage but didn't see the line about letting them rape you every other friday, does that still make you wrong for living in the house and not letting them rape you?

I want developers who make good games to get paid, but leave people alone. You already gauge the hell out of us for microtransactions and proprietary accessories and there seems to be no shortage of idiots who will pay for them, recession be damned.

[Immortal321]

shout out xbl is better, then pays 50 bucks a year.
shout out 360 have better games, then buys a multiplat.
shout out 360 controller is better, then run out of batteries.
Now they don't care for gaming
tries to justify why xbl is better
the system RROD....

360

[ultimolu]

Rofl.

That was funny.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

You are what is wrong with our society. Because you failed to read an agreement, we should annul it?

The whole basis for an agreement is that *SHOCK* you agreed to it. If you didn't bother to read it then you deserve whatever recourse happens. It is spelled out to you clearly.

This is the same kind of sh!t that caused this economic mess. People that don't read, and don't understand what they are getting themselves into then crying about it later and expect the people that did the right things to rescue you.

All we ask is read and comprehend, don't expect others to correct your wrongs!!!

[Mr Bobby Kotick]

I dont care as long as they buy my guitar,s and dj sets.

[Anti-Fanboyer]

You found another way to rack in some more $.

The rate of disgruntled consumers will rise, and move over to the "dark" side.

[DuneBuggy]

I bet MS would rather the pirate buy a PS3 than continue to steal from them or find another workaround.
Its not like MS is getting anything from a pirate anyway.

[n4gn4gn4gn4g]

have built a machine that was less hackable in the first place?

//:Dylai safonwyr sugno fy pidyn:

[Godmars290]

Like they were concerned with it actually working?

[BooHooBot]

WAHHHHHHHWAHHHHHHH.

UNBANNNN MEEEEE.

[ultimolu]

xDDDD *falls over laughing*

[acere]

i dont wana see some guy add bs

[DrRobotnik]

....and you took notice to that first?

[MajestieBeast]

They knew about the problem for several years and all of a sudden when sony ps3 is selling like crazy they ban 1million users coincidence i think not.

[LoganX]

"Thousands of Xbox 360 owners who have been cut off from Microsoft's Xbox Live service will have TO BUY A NEW CONSOLE if they want to play online again."

Damn that's the saddest thing I've ever read

[shysun]

You pirates want to get back at M$......Buy a PS3! ;)

[moodymofo]

i foresee alot of people switching to the ps3 rather than buy another 360

[Elven6]

Yes, the people who bought a console for modding will switch to the console that has no modding capabilities what so ever.

The conspiracy theories on this site are ridiculous, if you guys believe so strongly in them and they had some credibility behind them the law would be involved, especially when you refer to the "innocent" banned...

[darkequitus]

You forget the people who modded do it NOT to pay for the games. At least with the 360, they have a chance getting around it in the future. Not so for the PS3, at th moment anyway

[Godmars290]

I don't believe that all modders are pirates. Just look at all the custom build casing that are out there. Those highly publicized got booted right along with the rest with no warning.

[Halo3 MLG Pro]

Dude seriously, the modders that only customize their consoles and not play pirated games are definitely a small small minority.

[madpuppy]

http://nzbmatrix.com/nzb.ph...
THis is just one site that provides nzb files to DL off of newsgroups. and I am sure that you can google hundreds more if you wanted to.

[N4GayFanturds]

Why would you complain and make up these far-fetched SPECULATIVE stories unless you are;

1. a PS3 Fanboy

or

2. a pirate\modder

?????????????????????????

[DrRobotnik]

And why would you care, unless your an

1. XBOX360 fanboy

2. Sega fanboy, still mad that the ps2 killed the dreamcast

[KING85]

When your console is banned it does not mean your live subscription is banned. I do agree with the notion of Microsoft banning consoles for increased sales. It certainly was around since the beginning of it's lifecycle so why the sudden barrage? Very good strategy as it does coincide with the oncoming holiday season but since most games are single player, banned memebers may easily just use that console for single player games and either buy a new Xbox 360 for legit purposes for their multiplayer habit. On the other hand they could go the route of buying a PS3 for multiplayer. It can go either way as it will be quite interesting to see how it plays out.

[amirpro]

playing with bots or playing with people u don't even know.. what's the difference?

[The Iron Sheik]

It has gotten to the point where the majority of sales for the 360 are rebuys, either because of hardware failure or a console ban. The word is out, 360 is an unreliable console with outdated DVD and no good exclusives.

[ApocalypseShadow]

microsoft just lowered their total number of systems sold to gamers and "connected to the internet" by -1 million.so the live numbers just shrank.

sony doesn't have to ban anybody.so the total number of consoles sold and connected online is acccurate.that just put sony potentially 1 million closer to microsoft's total systems online.

just like rrod,there is a whole lot less of a 360 community because of firmware bricking,console banning and gamers fed up with microsft's practices of gouging gamers out of their money.

spin all you want 360 fans,whatever numbers microsoft posts for the end of the year for online gamers is not FACTUAL and CORRECT.ps3 fans are seeing your community shrink.and we can see that just based on multiplatform sales being so near each other.

you could say sony's numbers are not factual either.but i'd bet it's a lot closer to the final numbers than microsofts when it comes to online.

but i'd also say as "working consoles" in gamers hands.

[Halo3 MLG Pro]

Really? You really believe all that nonsense you just wrote? Wow.

[bjornbear]

I have to agree with you for once, this guy's on crack =P

MS didn't do any of this on purpose - no software / hardware company wants their items hacked.

All i say is, this is just better for MS cz many of these modders (these 1 million people) will go out and buy a new 360 in time, however, it wasn't done FOR SALES, I completely disagree, its not something a multi billion dollar company would bother to do =P

[MrCrabPuss]

And tell us, what do sales or online numbers mean to any gamer? Its not a dog fight to the death. Who gives a sh1t who sells what and how much? Sony or Ms going to send you a bonus cheque in the mail if they pull ahead of the other guy? Please I'd love to know why I or anyone else should care. What a Retard.

[ApocalypseShadow]

but microsoft makes it a big deal.

how many are connected....how many people are playing halo....how many just bought one piece of horse armor,etc.

MICROSOFT MAKES BIG NEWS ABOUT USELESS NUMBERS.

and then microsoft runs to new uselsess numbers when sony beats them on something.personally,ps3 fans don't care for such things.but all those numbers microsoft kept posting and are posting now,is slowly getting outdone and gained on by sony.

the 360 as a whole is just one big train wreck.if it wasn't for some good games on it,it would just be another piece of trash like the n-gage portable.

be happy with your ps3 wantabe that barely does hd most of the time.

[Killman]

I remember reading an article at the beginning of LAST YEAR about all of this. Why didn't they take action then? While not every single one of these people will buy another 360, MS is just 're'-making potential customers. There are people that are dedicated enough to buy another console, even if they are pirates. I just find it funny that MS is using a Ninja marketing strategy and thinks that nobody notices that they did this now that the 360 is in third place.

[Halo3 MLG Pro]

Man their are a lot of idiots commenting on this article. Anyway, I read a few forum threads about this and looks like most is just going to do it the right way. Just buy another 360 and do it legit. They took a chance and got caught. I know a few of my buddies got caught and they're just going to buy the new MW2 360 Elite. Nobody said nothing about buying a ps3.

[Killman]

But I will say this, I actually do think that it is good that they did this, helps to keep the image of the console from going sideways. I just do not get why they waited until now. Its probably nothing, it just confuses me. It seems the mods didn't get my original post at all.........

[Halo3 MLG Pro]

Nice shiny new account, huh? :)

[tripewire]

Maybe if they didn't try to charge full price for crap exclusives/dlc

[sak500]

So for past 3 years MS has been banning 300k - 400k every month to keep the sales ahead of ps3 ?

[chavafx]

i did have a firware because of buckups of my own games i can prove it i have 32 retail games 3 xbox360s 5 controllers 22 xbla arcade games and more then $1200 wasted of dlc/movies/tvshows/arcade games

out of those 32 retail games 7 are unplayebol cuz of the awsome x360 console and i have fixed my 360s 5 times of the famous (rrod)i bought the trash hd dvd=trash..

and ms bannsme for been the most and bigest suporter of xbox brand
but for me is really it i will bann them by not buying anything from them anymore and yes i bought my p s3 slim yesterday so i wont miss netflix/online gameng... so fu ms

and to ms do they really think thise is going to work out for them good?? no no no why you think the 1million+ is going to be on the trush no people now are forced to go pirate cuz of a broken console
so good look with that

[chavafx]

it feels cheap and very uncontrebol i just dont like it but hope i get used to it........

and for ms thise can go very bad or ok good

1. Banned people get pissed off and buy a PS3 this month = high PS3 sales

2. Banned people buy another 360, pay for another Live subscription because they want to play MW2 or Halo 3 (for the one millionth time BUY ANOTHER GAME YOU CHEAPSKATES) = high 360 sales this month.

3. banned people will just stay offline and do piracy %120 caz now they dont have other choice no online/corupted gamertag/no hdd installs/netflix blabla/ means====%120 pirated games and play them early like one of my friends is playing l4d2 and assasins creed 2 now

hes pissed of and he ued to buy alot of dlc/arcadegames/only aaagames now 0000 thanks to ms good luck for them

[The Iron Sheik]

If you prefer the 360 controller and want to use it on your PS3 then you should look into getting one of these.

http://www.divineo.com/cgi-...

Personally I much prefer the DS3 to the 360 controller but that's just me.

[Vortex3D]

One thing PS3 fans forget is pirates who modded X360 is to play pirated games. So, for them to buy PS3 after their X360 got banned isn't logical. There isn't any way to really mod PS3 to run pirated PS3 games. A few modders said they have hacked PS3 but no one has been able to prove they can run pirated PS3 games on "modded" PS3 or we would have seen many modded PS3 running pirated games.

Until PS3 can be modded to run pirated PS3 games, the pirates will keep trying to get around Microsoft everytime their X360 gets banned. It is why Microsoft knows a large percentage of the banned X360 gamers will buy another X360 console to keep playing. This also mean many of those that bought another X360 console will try to mod their X360 again to play pirated games and many of them will get banned again. And this cycle repeats. Pirates will always keep trying to mod and pirate games and Microsoft will keep selling more X360.

When PS3 gets modded successfully someday, one thing Sony probably will do in addition to banning the PS3 console is the PSN account. Sony already been banning PSN account when they detected gamers cheating online. So, it will be interesting how PS3 modders will react when their high trophies PSN accounts get banned. How would they like having to start with zero trophy new PSN account whenever their PSN accounts get banned and having to buy a new PS3 console?

[chavafx]

the ps3 with a xbox360 controller yes finally i can say good bye to ms

[The Iron Sheik]

Glad I could help.

[SportsFan]

AWW..the REAL reason why 360 was the console of choice reveals it's self. (As if people didn't know who the elephant in the room was anyway.) Microsoft has the right to ban pirates...they aren't trying to see millions of money lost..ESPECIALLY now that Sony is doing what they always do! (Surging back to the throne.)

Anyhow, people need to stop stealing and buy their games. I like all of the platforms..but we all knew which platform delivered the best features and options. Think about how much MS lost on Halo 3, and other big time games...from burned systems. They can't justify picking a PS3 slim over an elite anymore....and have to rely on their game sales. (It's smart business people!) Right now....Sony PS3 can't be hacked, therefore, the developers are seeing that they will make every amount of money they deserve from PS3 platform. I AM NOT SAYING THAT THE PS3, WII, OR PC ARE BETTER..just informing the "crybabies" of why MS is really working harder on console pirates. Halo 3 made over $800 million bucks, but MW (On the 360) is in jeopardy of not make as much as COD4 did. (7.8 million sold games) TOGETHER, Infinity Ward will make a killing, BUT MS knows that about 2-4 million MW 2 games (Just like Halo 3 and others...) will be "burned" games.

I DON'T CARE FOR MS, BUT I REALLY HATE PIRATES..SO STOP CRYING FOR THESE BUMBS! If I was MS I would pay to get FEDs to put them all in jail! America is always making excuses and not taking responsibility for their actions. Frankly, As a hard working American, I'm offended by the defending/justification of pirates, and all for you hard workers..who pay for your games/movies/music, should be too. I'm no saint...of course I burned PS2 games, movies, and got music from limewire, BUT I GREW UP AND STOPED THAT CRAP!

I'm SportsFan, and I approve this message.

[R6ex]

Agreed, SportsFan!

Stealing is Criminal!

[oldsnayke]

PS3 may be "dominating" the 360 in Asia, but not in Europe or America (definitely not America).

[fatstarr]

silly microsoft u cant beat modders. might as well just find them and hire them. b4 they do something bad. if u look at it there are like 90 million pirates in the world. but only like 1 mill provide the means/ways to pirate so if you get the 1mill smart ppl the 89 million will be lost @ and also

*to the guy above* i support piracy but just for crap games. i dont see why i should waste 64$ on a garbage ass game. like tripple A and A titles should be bought but if a game is garbage and trash and still has the price range as a triple a TITLE it should be pirated. screw lazy devs thats my take on it. games should be priced on their community review scores.

A max 60$
B Max 50$
C Max 40$
D Max 20$
F free-10$

[jaygeezy]

what is find so funny is the number of disagree votes for people that commented against Microsoft. Anybody with common sense can see that they did this for sales numbers cause ps3 was kicking there behind in sales the past couple of months. there is no xbox exclusive this holiday season so screwing up your system was the only way that they could can some ground, must of the pirates i know are still online. If they where so committed to stopping piracy why didn't they just ban the gamertags they found playing on modded systems, but why would they do that when they want u to buy that new system and come back online. Just another case where they do what they want and some court system is just going to figure it out for them later with a class action law suit. I being buying my games since atari and neither now or back then did i care about what the next man did to a machine he paid his money for.

P.S. there where alot of people without modded system that got jacked cause microsoft just assumed they did

[JeepGamer]

If it wasn't permanent it wouldn't serve the purpose of getting people to buy another 360. Getting a sales boost to brag about over the Christmas season and all you know.

[DogbarDust]

I got banned, got my console flashed two months ago and then ahoy the ban hammer, first time i've pirated games in nearly twenty years of gaming, went out the same day and bought another 360 and thought i'll have retail for online and good games, pirates for offline.
BUT!!! if you switch your profile to an offline hacked 360 then back to your online legit 360 your profile is automatically corrupted so any achievements you got are lost when you recover your GT from XBL. So did MS put something in the hacked 360's to corrupt the profiles automatically even offline and is that even legal????
My friend has the same problem.

[jaygeezy]

and that why i say they have a class action law suit in the making

[jaygeezy]

To this jackass above me, u have now right to say anything about a pirate. By your own admission u should have had ur ass arrested some years ago for ur ps2 games. Most humans, including americans have downloaded something before that they should not have. What about the PC community that has been crying in agony the past years? Most of the people now are mad cause its a recession going on and they don't have the money for all the games they want, they are upset at the pirates cause they don't have the balls, or intelligence to mod anything past jail-breaking there I-phones. Doesn't matter how much hate or envy them in the end of the day u don't own 1 dam share of stock in Microsoft's company. Thats why more and more game developers need to make there titles with more exclusive content that u only get when u buy the game in store.

[R6ex]

Good job, MS!

Time to send a strong message to all illegal pirates & modders.

Now, increased revenue = more & better games from MS & developers! :)