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Microsoft vs. Modded Xboxes

hikeran writes "The Register has an article about how Xbox live service is now apparently banning Xboxes that have been mod chipped. Basically it seems this is one of the many uses of those unique id's used in Microsoft's software. Next up bannings for using foul language on Xbox live service?? Be careful what you say.. you may be playing with an Xbox Live admin..."

21 of 699 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Um...so?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's still lame. You have to have purchased an X-Box to have a modchipped box. They're legally within their bounds, but it certainly isn't morally cromulent.

  2. Good! by spectecjr · · Score: 4, Funny

    That'll get rid of all the cheaters, pirates and Linux users.

    Hah!

    --
    Coming soon - pyrogyra
    1. Re:Good! by jglow · · Score: 5, Funny

      A cheat-free online game experience is something most people I know would give their first-born for.

      you must know some sick, sick people.

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      There's no "I" in Linux.. err..
    2. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      A cheat-free online game experience is something most people I know would give their first-born for.

      And, if you had read the EULA, that is exactly what will happen.

    3. Re:Good! by BigJimSlade · · Score: 4, Funny

      A cheat-free online game experience is something most people I know would give their first-born for.

      you must know some sick, sick people.


      No worries... these people aren't likely to have a child anytime soon.

  3. OT: ok by Zeebs · · Score: 2, Funny

    What does using 82's have to do with any thing??

    Ok ok I'm going I'm going, just put the gun down.

    --

    Happy Noodle Boy says "F###ing doughnut! Mock me? You fried cyclops!!"
  4. omg by papasui · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean you actually have to *gasp* buy the games to play them online? Jeezus I know slashdoters are cheap but come on. Blizzard has been doing this forever but because their parent company is a foreign evil empire nobody cares. Get over it, if you want to use a Microsoft product you gotta pay for it.

  5. Re:Um...so?? by cmeans · · Score: 5, Funny
    It's probably in the EULA...but the only people who've bothered to read them...are still reading them.

  6. Re:Censorship by anotherone · · Score: 3, Funny

    the guy in the article is saying "what if". It's not happening now. READ -> COMPREHEND -> POST

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  7. Re:Um...so?? by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny
  8. What do the users have to say? by phyxeld · · Score: 5, Funny
    Well, according to this less than believable thread on the official site, xbox fans actually support banning mod chip users. Here's some choice quotes:
    Don't mod the d*mn thing in the first place...Why do people do stuff like that? Xbox is tehe best anyway so why bother moding it???
    ...
    That's what I'm saying, if you mod it, it's your own fault.
    ...
    well mod chips cost 500 dollars or so to get installed with all the games you get with it, if you have that much money i bet you have enough to pay for a second xbox to play on live with, you just need to rebuy the games that are live compatable. I heard that mod games cost 5 bucks a piece and you get all the old arcade games and nintendo and snes and all that with a bigger hard drive for 500 dollars
    ...
    Ms is the sh*t i love you ms.... die faggots who like to cheat bill gates out of his money... lol actually bill gates you dont need more money. GIVE ME IT!!
    ...
    Personally i'm glad they're banning mod chips. I don't really care if people use the mod chip to do Linux or development or pirate games. But I persoanlly bought an xbox for online gaming becaue i'm sick of playing against cheaters on the PC. So anything MS is going to do to eliminate cheaters is ok with me.
    ...
    Hehe, cheaters and hackers get the beat down. Why should we care if modders can't play.
    So, see? People love it! Xbox fans don't want to make full use of their hardware!

    /sarcasm

    It's obvious that microsoft wouldn't ever run an unmoderated message board, but that thread is so uniformly in support of banning modd'ed xboxes that I suspect the whole thing is faked. Kind of funny to think about microsoft paying people to sit around writing stuff like "Xbox is tehe best anyway so why bother moding it??" and "well mod chips cost 500 dollars". I'm just waiting to see someone with a PhotoCD stock image for their user photo...
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    __
    Choose mnemonic identifiers. If you can't remember what mnemonic means, you've got a problem. - Larry Wall
  9. Re:Um...so?? by rnturn · · Score: 5, Funny
    ``Also, XBox 'box' probably contains lots of labels warning users that opening the case breaks any warranty.''

    I'm if we all look hard enough we'd find that everything that has a Microsoft logo on it also has a sticker that states: No User Serviceable Parts Inside.

    --
    CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
  10. How dare microsoft! by nobodyman · · Score: 3, Funny


    You mean, they're actually trying to ban people from using pirated software on their network? What nerve!

    Seriously folks, does this shock (or even surprise) anyone? Any company would do the same damn thing (yes even Redhat).

  11. Re:Um...so?? by dsanfte · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well several Microsoft EULAs were submitted for entry into the Library of Congress but they couldn't afford to build a new wing of the building to store them in....

    --
    occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
  12. REAL nerds view this as a challenge by sam_handelman · · Score: 5, Funny

    The challenge is - can you install the mod and get on Xbox live, anyway?

    Can you enable your intellectually pedestrian friends to do the same? The entire nation?

    MS is doing this to *encourage* modchipping. It's like a contest; MS awards m4d pr0p5, in the form of a l4\/\/5u1t, to the first h4x0r who builds a kit that can modify the xbox in a way their servers can never, ever detect; it must be usable even if the person you give it to:
    1) Has no technical training.
    2) Lacks even a basic understanding of electronics.
    3) Hell, they can't change a lightbulb.
    4) They're blind.
    5) They're a technophobe, they have alzheimers disease.
    6) Hell, they're dead. Ease of use must be total.

    The winner gets instant geek celebrity and free representation by the EFF.

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    The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
  13. Re:Talk about DoS... by SSJ2+Labsuit · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dogbert, no! Don't do it!

  14. LETS HAVE OUR SIMS PROTEST! by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Funny

    That'll show 'em, boy howdy.

    Side note:

    Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated.

    Damn you Microsoft! Oh wait, I read that here.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  15. Re:The label MS really want's on all their product by SEWilco · · Score: 3, Funny

    If this device fails to function, buy a new one.

  16. You're the kind of person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...if the terms of service say "drop your pants, spread your ass cheeks and grease up", you'd defend it.

    My knee would hurt if it jerked that hard, doesn't yours?

  17. Don't you want to grow up to be just like Noone? by yerricde · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't you want to grow up to be just like Noone?

    Noone seriously runs linux on an xbox.

    What did this Noone fellow think about how Mandrake runs on his Xbox console? Does he also run homebrew games on his GBA?

    Noone legitimately backs up their software.

    So do I. When I download free(beer) software or video clips from the Internet, I put it in a folder to be burned to a durable CD-R next time I get 600 MB or so worth of stuff.

    Noone uses the iso images they leech off their friendly neighbourhood Gene6 ftp server to 'evaluate' before making a purchase.

    The next console title I plan to buy is "Balloon Kid" for Game Boy, because I liked it on the emulator. I have recommended that a university buy copies of Syntrillium's Cool Edit for my senior project team after having tried the waveform editor's demo, because I liked the graphical interface for signal processing, and recreating the same thing in Matlab would be a chore.

    I find myself to resemble this (fictional?) Noone quite closely.

    Modchips are so you don't have to pay for the games.

    Perhaps, but they have the same substantial non-infringing use as console emulators: letting anybody with a PC and a console write and run homebrew software for the console.

    A game being 60$ one week, 30 the next, then 20, then eventually 10. It's crap. I refuse to pay an unreasonable price for a game. So I pirate them

    Or just rent it for $5 or so at Blockbuster. If it's a PC title (which can't be rented in the USA due to 17 usc 109(b)(1)), just wait until (as you pointed out) the title hits the $10 bargain bin.

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  18. That's just terrible by peterpi · · Score: 2, Funny
    What is the world coming to?

    Next thing you know, /. will ban IP addresses it deems "flamebait".

    Careful, you could be replying to a /. moderator!