Bad news, Xbox pirates. (Which, in turn, is good news for the industry as a whole.) Microsoft has dropped the “ban hammer” on several modded Xbox 360 consoles.
There’s some confusion as to whether Microsoft is merely banning the console or the account on the console. Either way, you’re in for a hassle.
This is what Major Nelson had to say about all of this…
Ahem:
I’ve gotten a few messages and seen some forum threads pop up on console bannings so I thought I’d post and let folks know what’s up. In our our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games. You should know that modifying your Xbox 360 console is also a violation of the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void your warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive, both from manufacturers and the local companies that support them. We will continue to employ and bolster anti-piracy security measures to counter piracy in the gaming industry and improve security in the Xbox LIVE community.
As always, the forums are filled with self-righteous “how dare they ban us!” posts. Whatever. If you’re keen to pirate games and dumb enough to have your 360 connected to Live you deserve to be banned.