Law Firm Investigates MS Over Xbox Live Bans

[sylvia648]

With the low quality of games from the past few years and the price jump of games from 49.99 to 59.99 as the standard price point for new games its no wonder why people pirate games. The games are really garbage now a days and are often rushed out the door or were crap from the get go, but even the so called "good ones" that do come out are often missing thing when they first come out and the new trend of tossing Down loadable content out the door as soon as the game comes out pisses me off even more so. It's bad enough when they hit you for 59.99 for a game or maybe even more with a limited edition of some sort that every game that comes out now seems to have one form or another and some with two or three limited editions. Having DLC on the release date or being announced to come out a month or so after release as being already ready before launch is disgusting business. If some part of the game was ready at launch or before hand it should have been included in the game you bought at the time. I think the gaming industry is pretty much fucked like Hollywood and anything else that business men get a tight grasp on. When a company goes public and starts trading stock they always have customer service go out the window, because when you sole focus is on making money and not great games that what you get is mass produced shit. There are a few gems out there and the same for movies, but more often than not its mass produced shit. Pirate away! The games aren't worth 59.99 and if "you" think they are pay for them.

 

[Parsifal57]

[citation][nom]Igot1forya[/nom]"Are you a recovering video game addict? Have you recently had your XBox account blocked! Then you may have money coming to you! At AbingtonIP we put your video game players first!" [flashes 800 number and fine print]Just a bunch of Ambulance chasers I say![/citation]

Agree 100%, these leeches are after nothing but lining their pockets with money.

 

[jellico]

[citation][nom]demonhorde665[/nom]modding consoles is a touchy subject , many consumers think "well i bought i should be able to do with it what i want " while many hard ware makers are concerned that such modded consoles wil cause them loss in revenue, again take teh HD thing MS sells the ahrd drives for so much because they are making up what they loose on selling the consoles below cost., youa sk me though i'd rather see the consoel's price go upa dn teh HD price go down .. 150 for a 120 Gig Hd is rather ridiculous ... now can some one please inform me what kind of console modding would any one do that Didn't invovle playign pirated games ????[/citation]

You make some good points. I tend to think of it like this: you bought it; it's your equipment now; you can do anything you like with it (including mod it). HOWEVER, that doesn't give you the right to use such modified equipment on the Microsoft servers. It's like in professional sports, you can't play baseball with a cork-loaded bat or modified ball (even rubbing the ball with sandpaper to roughen it up a little is illegal); same thing in football and basketball... etc. You have to use equipment that is 100% in compliance with whatever league regulations there are. You don't, you get tossed from the game and possibly fined.

As for your question about the legitimate uses for modded consoles; the one that comes to mind right away is CDs and DVDs you've recorded yourself. Last I heard, the 360 won't play recordable media. However, someone can have CDs and DVDs that they've recorded and it is legal (mixes of music they own, their own home movies, etc.)

 

[sidran32]

[citation][nom]elmo2006[/nom]It is in my opinion that MS should loosen the reigns on this so called 'media device'. I find it just disgusting how I'm unable to stream or copy movies to the drive without some sort of third party application. Shame on you MS for this, however, those that decided to mod the box to play modded games notwithstanding are asking for a 'spanking.The PS3 is looking so much easier to stream or copy movies to. One can even upgrade the drive without having to purchase via Sony.Hmmm...PS3 sure looks good now![/citation]
You mean a third party application, like Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center, or using a USB thumb drive or something like that?

 

[sidran32]

The reason that these were banned and that it's against the ToS is partially the same reason why performing upgrades on your computer tower voids the warranty. They can support and service the device when they know that no one has touched the internals besides them. But if you go in and start mucking around with mod chips and unauthorized hardware, so many things can go wrong and be broken and they cannot realistically support all possibilities of what one could do inside them.

On top of that, they are safeguarding the security of the XBox Live network. A modded console can conceivably attack the network, reducing its stability or reliability, allow for cheating, which EVERYONE should recognize makes the games not fun (precise reason I stopped playing Gunz is that everyone literally was cheating).

What they are doing is simply safeguarding the quality and availability of the service they provide to gamers.