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Microsoft bans up to 1 million Xbox Live users

Suzanne Choney: "Anywhere between an estimated 600,000 and 1 million players who use Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming service will be cut off from the service because they have modified their game consoles or played games that were illegally downloaded from file-sharing sites, according to the company."

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Alternative Sources:

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Published: 56 days 1 hour ago | News | Xbox 360

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cronaldo7 - 56 days 1 hour ago

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1 -

What's the best way to sell an extra million consoles this holiday season? Ban 1,000,000 of them!

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Saaking - 56 days 1 hour ago

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1.1 -

That's a HUGE number. Well, they get what they deserved.

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ABizzel1 - 56 days ago

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1.2 -

This is a good thing for gaming in general. It's stopping people from stealing millions of dollars from developers, which in turn gives the more money to make more games for gamers.

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Greywulf - 56 days ago

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1.3 -

are they banning consoles

or accounts?

Either way, im sure they know most either have their hacking account & will gladly buy another 360.

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MattCielo - 56 days ago

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1.4 -

I think it would have been smarter to just have software updates that stop piracy, like what Sony did with the PSP.

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Blaze929 - 56 days ago

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1.5 - @MattCielo

Sony didn't stop piracy on the PSP by software updates...in fact they havent "stopped" it at all for PSPs 2000 and below. for the 3000 and PSP Go they stopped it by 1. removing the battery in the PSP Go and 2. Changing some things around in the PSP-3000.

PSP-2000 and PSP-1000 users are still pirate happy.

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They make a good point about the 2nd hand purchasing of Xbox 360s. It is not fair that a unknowing customer, will buy a used xbox 360 and get home to find out the system is banned. Maybe ban IP address instead? I think that might be a smarter option so they just won't buy an arcade with a money they made from selling a banned system and repeat the cycle all over again.

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presto717 - 56 days ago

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1.6 - If you get banned, do the right thing and get on board the ps3 1st class cruise.

Mmhmm

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steck67 - 55 days 23 hours ago

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1.7 -

And among those 1,000,000 there are probably potential PS3 buyers instead of buying another 360.

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SaberEdge - 55 days 23 hours ago

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1.8 -

@presto

Why would you want a bunch of pirates to come over to the PS3?

In any case, I doubt they would want to go over to the PS3 unless they can pirate games and rip the developers off.

I hate people that pirate games and I am glad Microsoft is doing something to deal with them. It won't stop piracy, but it will certainly help and at the very least is giving those morons what they deserve.

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sikbeta - 55 days 23 hours ago

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1.9 -

OH S#it, that's a lot MEN, way to pirate a console, but they are really stupid to play online with a hacked console, talking about dumbass fanboys lol

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Proxy - 55 days 23 hours ago

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1.10 - I support the bans.

But what did you just say?

"People with modded xboxes should play offline, because they might get banned, and then they'll have to play offline."

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Blaze929 - 55 days 23 hours ago

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1.11 - @steck67

These LIVE users are pirates who had their 360s modified to play free games...not to buy a $300 unhackable console and fork over $60 for games again.

So the chances are that among those 1,000,000 are users who will more than likely, just buy another Xbox 360 Arcade system, buy another arcade system and do a hot swap then return the banned console, or buy an arcade system with the money they got for trading in a banned console then hack the new system and continue to play their library of pirated games.

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Game13a13y - 55 days 23 hours ago

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1.12 -

MS: "Blu-ray is not needed."

me: "LOL!!"

but anyway, i hate pirates too. MS should track them down and put their sorry little butts in jail.

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cheapndirty - 55 days 22 hours ago

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1.13 -

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA...Good. I am sure those Pirates are telling everyone how they were the 'victim' and that is was not 'fair'.

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presto717 - 55 days 22 hours ago

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1.14 - @SaberEdge

You make a good point. Didn't think of that. But as of now, the ps3 is 100% legit and isn't hacked. I would like to see more people get ps3s though so that they

1 can join in the fun
2 there will be more people online.

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Chris399 - 55 days 16 hours ago

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1.15 - So close to the holidays, with the highest profile release COD: MW 2 in years, this is clearly a sales tactic.

Even if a tiny portion of those pirates rush out to buy new 360s that's still tens to hundreds of thousands of (Arcade) sales.

Anyone who is oblivious to this is in denial. It's just business. Shady business though, but this is MS afterall. You don't become a billion dollar monopoly from being nice to people :P

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RememberThe357 - 56 days 1 hour ago

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2 - BAM!

That's what you get cheaters!

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silvacrest - 56 days ago

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2.1 -

lol @ cheaters, they are thieves

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komp - 56 days 1 hour ago

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3 -

Perfect timing with MW2 launch. The dilema is if they would rebuy a XBOX or a PS3, however it does seem like IW/Activision/MS have some sort of conspiracy going on here.

Cod4 stats were already known for load and add some to it.
Trophy Patch failure.
Online borked after second patch.

It sounds like a conspiracy.

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Alpha-Male22 - 56 days ago

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4 -

It's not like they don't deserve it/run the risk.

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ps360master - 56 days ago

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5 -

1000000 people just got b!tch slapped

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sbstncstllo - 56 days ago

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5.1 -

Like this ?

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ps360master - 56 days ago

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5.2 -

ahhahaaha

no like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

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silvacrest - 56 days ago

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6 -

most savvy pirates no for well this could happen eventually so they have made contingencies e.g. buying a cheap arcade when they were on sale even before banning began, so both M$ and the pirates came out okay i guess.....

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FantasyStar - 56 days ago

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6.1 -

Or they buy used. 1,000,000 bans doesn't equal 1,000,000 new 360 sales. That's a fallacy waiting to happen. Too many factors to procure another unbanned 360.

5-finger discount?

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i_am_interested - 56 days ago

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7 -

theres 1 million in sales

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Briefcase Joe - 56 days ago

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8 -

I've seen A LOT of banned consoles on Craigslist this week. They are trying to sell their bullsh!t to other people.

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Slappy McGee - 55 days 23 hours ago

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8.1 - yeah

The 360 for sale ads tripled on Craigslist around here. I bet the Gamestops are getting flooded as well.

http://chattanooga.craigsli...

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Microsoft Xbox 360 - 55 days 23 hours ago

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8.2 -

Yeah they are a bunch of scammers.

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nemesis enforcer - 56 days ago

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9 - I'll say it again,

That's fine and i'm on it, but if they $paid$ for XBL... It's almost $20 or $50 millions of dollars gained my MS thanks to pirates!! It's not an irony? Pirates will now stop modding consoles? In the future there will be more modded consoles without XBL than the ones unmodded with a XBL subscription?

I have a doubt, anyone can tell me if the modding enables to enter XBL for free and hack trophies...

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neonlight45 - 56 days ago

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10 -

sucks to be one of those guys

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sbstncstllo - 56 days ago

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11 - New firmware being dev

"New DVD FW in dev/test - ixtreme LT (Lite Touch)
>> C4Eva announced he's working on a new firmware on IRC:
"[c4eva] new fw in dev/test - ixtreme LT (Lite Touch) - more efficient , minimal patching , all aspects of fw indistinguisable from orig, no more bans, No ETA!"

Source ? #FW channel on efnet (IRC).

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Ashriel - 55 days 23 hours ago

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12 -

Daaaamn xD I still have to check if Im wittin that million o.o

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KionicWarlord222 - 55 days 23 hours ago

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13 -

Stepto is not playing !

LOL!

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DiffusionE - 55 days 23 hours ago

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14 - HAHA!

You bots still think piracy only exists on PC? Wake up and smell the ban-wave.

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devilhunterx - 55 days 22 hours ago

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15 -

Cant wait for the next XBL stats

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FanboysSuk - 55 days 22 hours ago

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16 - .

MS can ban all they want. Their "reasons" are laughable as it really wont reduce piracy one tiny bit. Is Live really worth going out and buying another console? Hardly. Ive modded mine, go ahead and ban me, I for one could care less for live. I got my fill of it years ago and now I only play single player. I want fun online gaming, I use my PC. There's no question it's a far better experience on every level. Live blows.

Its a smart move by MS but also a big gamble as they expect to make a lot of money by selling new xboxes. They expect all those desparate and hooked gamers to run out and immediately buy more MS crap, or they will inevitably push tons of people over to the ps3, or neither of these things will happen and people will continue to pirate games for single player gaming and use PC for online. In the long run I wonder if MS will come out ahead like Im sure they hope to....feh...who cares.

And for all these self righteous angelic do-gooders...
I NEVER buy new games...EVER. Im not one of these "gotta have it now" consumers waiting in line to waste tons of my hard earned cash on some retarded midnight selling of the next big release. As I always have, I'll happily wait a couple months and go buy a game at a pawn shop etc, or burn...I'm in no rush to play whatever it is. The devs made their cash on the initial sale. Done. If I burn a game, the only people losing out are the pawn shops. So what, I doubt they are losing sleep over it. You think the second hand shop sends a royalty check to the devs or MS every time they sell a game? I really dont see much difference and dont care about your argument over my reasoning.

Disagree all you want but I support the mod community.

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Arnon - 55 days 22 hours ago

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16.1 -

Why would a pirate go and spend $300 for an unhackable (for the time being) system and go back to their old (but good) habits of buying $60 games?

That's... just flawed logic.

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PLAYSTATIONGENRATION - 55 days 22 hours ago

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17 - Its my 360

I can mod it if i want to...I don't understand why you guys defend microsoft and not the pirate community..If you could get a car for free would u...

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dirthurts - 55 days 21 hours ago

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17.1 - If it was legal, sure

But some of us actually have morals. It's odd huh?

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PLAYSTATIONGENRATION - 55 days 21 hours ago

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17.2 - u have your morlas

I have every 360 game ever made

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cheapndirty - 55 days 9 hours ago

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17.3 -

There is no point trying to convince someone that has silenced their own conscience that pirating is wrong.

You pirates can justify all you want. In your own hearts you know the truth cuts you to the core.

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Baka-akaB - 55 days 22 hours ago

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18 -

lol I remember being told one or two days ago here that piracy is isnt that widespread and concerns only some hardcore gamers individuals . I didnt bother responding as much as i usually would feel like , knowing stuff like Dragon age 360 going on at 20000 copies snatched , and 33000 or so current downloads on ONE torrent tracker . That's already a lot and only multiplies further with additional torrents , trackers , and other means like newgroups , irc , rapidshare , megaupload , emule etc ...

Looking at those numbers , it's pretty clear that it's not some tiny circle . And the most amazing thing is not everyone was banned , far from it judging from various forums . How much more people , one more million , two more or less ? It's pretty much left to guessing .

Dont even think it will actually stop it and make one million people go legit . Many of them already planned , or plans to mod another , probably used 360 . And it wont make offline players lose any sleep over it

Obviously news plans are in the works to keep going undetected .

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PLAYSTATIONGENRATION - 55 days 21 hours ago

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19 - I got banned

Then i did a little trick and im not banned anymore...Mine is modded and i buy games it those games i wont pay for but want to play i get off bit torrent

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testerg35 - 55 days 20 hours ago

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19.1 -

How do you unban? :)

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AngelorD - 55 days 20 hours ago

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20 - Those 1,000,000 users are NOT potential PS3 owners

how they see things:
PS3 = no piracy = no buy.
simple as that.

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Baka-akaB - 55 days 19 hours ago

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20.1 -

it's not clear cut either way , some are definitively moving toward the ps3 , some will definitely buy a new 360 .

But obviously most of them will stick to modding some used 360 or like above , find a way to get unbanned or play offline if they dont care .

There is also the one candidate everyone always keeps forgetting , Wii piracy is the easiest so far out of the home consoles

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Shermanus - 55 days 16 hours ago

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21 - Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot (again)

Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot (again). They deliver a flawed product (quality) that breaks down at least by the time the warranty expires. However it is widely accepted because you can modify the console to play copied games. Is it wrong? Yes. But will kids pay the crazy prices for games ? No. Could the gaming industry do something about piracy? Yes. Bring down the price - to not make it worthwhile pirating.
Wide acceptance is due to the possible modifying (see iPhone etc.) However good the games might be. PS3 is right on their heels. If I have to abide by the terms of service, I might as well buy the better console. Guess Microsoft by banning 1 Mio now is hoping that christmas sales will go up. Wrong ! Btw: I love "there is no recourse..." / No warnings.
And: Please don't come with the argument about the cost of R&D. Do the math at $ 50-60 per game:
Halo 3 (8.1 million) Sold
Grand Theft Auto IV (4 million) Sold
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (3 million) Sold
Call of Duty: World at War (3 million) Sold
Halo 3: ODST (2.5 million) Sold

XBL $ 30 x 1 Mio

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AllroundGamer - 55 days 16 hours ago

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22 -

well there you have 1 million people, that won't pay for another Xbox live Gold account anymore...

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sbstncstllo - 55 days 16 hours ago

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22.1 - As someone else said in another forum..

MS: We've recently lost $200 million from Wal-Mart swapped consoles

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