Microsoft Bans ‘Chipped Xbox 360 Pirates’ From Xbox Live

As millions of people across the globe eagerly got started on probably the biggest game this year; COD6: Modern Warfare 2, some for in for a nasty surprise as they discovered that they were on the raw end of Microsoft’s plan to help curb the increasing amount of piracy: they had been banned from Xbox Live, permanently.

The crime? Installing new chips that allows them to run unofficial or illegal programmes and games, and easily pirate games and download them for free. According to Microsoft this modifying of the console with the express interest to play games illegally is an infringement of the terms of use of Xbox Live and have therefore banned them from the service.

A spokesman for the company said: “All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live”.

Although some people have raised the issue of how Microsoft managed to identify those that had actually committed some kind of crime they seem to have done a pretty good job, as despite the fact that the numbers of people who have been cut off is relatively large (estimates range from 600,000 to a million) there seem to be very few complaints from people who have been banned unfairly – and although obviously those who have been banned are far from impressed they generally seem to be able to see why Microsoft has taken this action.

But if nothing else this action (which has affected a ‘small proportion’ of the 20milllion worldwide Xbox Live users) has re-raised many of the questions that have plagued the industry more and more over the last few years, what is the solution to internet piracy?

The most obvious of these would be the manner in which piracy is ‘destroying’ the media industry, and that the £750 million that is lost every year to illicit activity will eventually be the cause for the downturn in the industries fortunes. This is a complicated argument, and not one that I intend to delve into, but it’s fair to say that by taking a stand against it Microsoft have certainly made their point and will hopefully persuade people to follow the straight, narrow and legal path.

However something else that has sprung up, mostly (if not solely) from the people who have been banned, is increasingly vocal complaints over the extortionate pricing of games and feel that they are forced into piracy as they cannot hope to afford all the games that are coming out at such high prices. And whilst you might not agree with their action you can still see their point: top end games prices have nearly doubled from 5-10 years ago (from about £30 to £50) and likewise with new consoles (if I can remember the original PS1 was about £150, whilst the PS3 was £300).

So a bold move from Microsoft, the question is how long until the pirates are able to hack their way round their Xbox Live ban? Also, will we see other console manufacturers following suit? It will definitely be interesting, as although Microsoft will hopefully (for them) reap the benefits of less piracy on their console they will also quite possibly loose a significant about amount of market share as people choose to move to the PS3 – not necessarily because they can use pirate games (as they may have learned their lesson!) but merely out of principle. We shall see, but whatever the outcome it will be definitely interesting!

Via – BBC

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3. Xbox 360 Price Changes – Down and Up!
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