I’m proud to have been able to look out at my Xbox Live list today and see no zeroes after the mass bannings of people using pirated games and such on modded systems. I honestly did expect one or two of OA fans to get caught by this since I do strongly believe in modding for homebrew purposes and those often get lumped together unfairly. Hell, I’m tempted to pick up one of the few zillion modded xboxes people are dumping on every online selling site known to man for cheap just ’cause. And then I’d mod it further by making damn sure I never ever log in to it with LadyGuardian or take it online for any reason. But that’s money better spent on a set for OpenAlpha! I know I have to get a new 360 sooner rather than later but I’m pretty sure I can make it last past Christmas.
For those of you DJ Hero music-and-not-game fans, this is for you. Click before it’s gone if you want to hear all the DJ Hero tracks without somebody spanning samples all over the place and, blessedly, without the backgrounds. I do like the game now that I have played it a little but it’s the first game that honestly gives me a massive headache. I’m not epileptic but, DAMN. Maybe it was just in the stages I had picked to play but the endless background flashing while I was focusing, or trying to focus, on the foreground was horrific. I couldn’t even watch my friend play without feeling the same way. I will play though the whole game at some point so I can review it properly but I’m not looking forward to seeing how ubiquitous the flashing lights are. It’s never ever bothered me before, just that particular game :(
If I do eventually mod a 360 (which I was going to do since I have a spare one) I’d have the sense not to take it online :/
Few people on my Xbox Friends list got banned, i used to play pirated games on my older consoles (psx,ps2,xbox). But now i write reviews and get them for free :) I am on the same opinion about using homebrew like emulators or Linux. The only reason i modded both of my PSP’s are to mod the bootscreens and play old SEGA and SNES games on it, good PSP games (there mabey ten a year) i buy.
Actually, Gamerscore is only reset when they think someone has been hacking to increase it. Modded consoles are banned from Live and some functionality is taken away. Exactly what is still being debated. A person can buy a new 360 and recover their Gamertag on it.
Yeah, I’ve heard conflicting reports about whether their score got reset because they were boosting through savegame hacks or just general HD modding. While I am not party to any of this I am keeping on eye on it because I always worry they cast too wide a net and will create false positives. No one likes being a false positive. It’s nearly impossible to prove you are the one non-cheater in a sea of thousands and the general response is akin to ‘nuts to you!’
And there’s the kicker.
Forums are lit up with people crying foul over previous bans simply for getting a game before street date.
http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/207875/microsoft-responds-to-xbox-live-bannings/
http://www.xboxinsider.net/no-ban-on-early-halo-3-odst-joueurs/
http://kotaku.com/301408/play-halo-3-early-get-banned
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/49020
I personally don’t trust Microsoft considering the amount of work a person has to go through to get a legit copy of Windows running and updating properly.
That isn’t to say internet forums are crawling with disenfranchised regular people. However I have no sympathy for a company that acts as though they are doing consumers a favor by putting the thumbscrews to others who MIGHT have done something illicit.