Slashdot Mirror
Halo 2 Used to Sniff Out Mods
TexasDex writes "C-Net tech news is reporting that users of Halo 2 who have installed mod chips are being banned from the X-box Live forums. It is unknown specifically how the Halo 2 game finds out the console is modded, Microsoft will only say in the X-box live Terms of Use that "Xbox Live may only be accessed with an unmodified [...] Xbox video game console.'" In related news, the New York Times (registration required) has a quickie interview with the folks behind Red Vs. Blue about changes Halo 2 bring to the series.
My guess is that Halo 2 attempts to do some action impossible with a normal xbox but works fine if it was modded, this has the benifit of no matter which method is used to unlock the xbox it will be discovered. It will at least raise the bar for unlocking xbox's from now on.
Poor Alex, first he gets fire, now he can't play on Xbox live.
-Tony
tonyville dot org
Oh, so they haven't stopped doing it since we were told about this four days ago on Slashdot?
Thanks. I'll look forward to the next update on Wednesday to see if they're still banning modded Xboxes or not.
Do not read this sig.
ha-ha i saw it coming.
bungee, like em or not, is entirely ownz0r'd by ms, and i always am skeptikal of ms. they're not ones to balk at opportunity anyway, ethical or not, and this halohype is definetly opportunity. I'm always more than happy to sit back and let the lemmings be the first wave, then progress once I'm confident of what's going to happen. *COUGH*SP2*COUGH*
of course, this was reason #3 on my list not to play halo2... #2 being i can't jump, spin, and shoot behind me like i can with a mouse, and #1, NO GRAPPLING HOOK!! ALL 1ST-P SHOOTERS MUST HAVE GRAPPLING HOOKS FROM NOW ON DAMMIT!
of course, i'm not shying from enjoying the very-moddable hl2 and doom3.
It's not Halo2 that's banning the xboxes. It's just xbox live. People *without* halo2 are getting banned as well. And it's not everyone. They record the hard drive serial # and the eprom serial when you first sign onto live. If one changes and not the other you are banned. If you modded your xbox before you ever signed onto live then you'll be fine.
F*CK!
I have a hacked (unmodded!) xbox, with linux installed. After playing Halo2 I found out that if my mouse and keyboard are plugged in, the xbox accepts *no* input from any of the joypads. They all appear defunct. This is true whether Halo2, any other game, or nothing is in the xbox now.
This is easily remedied by unplugging the mouse and keyboard, unplugging the controller, and replugging the controller back in, but this is annoying and a waste of my time.
Beware all who even have a hacked xbox!
On the contrary, Doom 3 had that hideous, hideous form of copy-protection whereby the game refuses to run if it detects CD-emulation software (or indeed random other bits of software the publishers don't approve of) installed.
Personally, if there has to be copy protection, I'd rather see the HL2 model, or the Halo 2 model than that used on Doom 3. The reasoning behind this is simple; steam (Valve's DRM client thingy, through which you have to play HL2), for all its many flaws, actually functions and allows other things to function. Once the game gets "switched on" (and yes, I resent having to wait for this), I can at least play it while continuing to use my computer normally. It doesn't stop me doing anything unrelated to the game.
Halo 2's copy protection means that I can't do certain things with my X-Box. However, my X-Box is just a gaming machine. I use it to play games and I tend to buy my games in my local high-street retailer. I can play Halo 2 while doing anything I would reasonably expect to be able to do with my X-Box.
However, in the case of the system used by Doom 3 (and a number of other games), I can't actually play the game while I have a good number of other useful utilities installed on my home PC, which is *not* just a games machine. Sure, it gets gaming use, but I use my desktop for a lot of other things. Daemon Tools is an incredibly useful little program and I used it to speed up my use of a large number of programs which I legally owned. For a game to arbitrarily decide that it won't run if I have this installed is just not right. Fortunately, Doom 3's copy protection doesn't detect the excellent Alcohol 120%, which has similar functionality. However, it can only be so long before this loophole is closed.
It's only banning people that mod their xbox. There's notthing evil or mean about it, it states clearly in the ToS that they don't want modded xbox's on live. It STILL lets you do everything else. Why would they do this? To piss off gamers? Make more money? No. The great thing about Live is its a VERY closed system. If everyone and their grandma start running linux on their xbox's, and find out how to hack live, then they can ruin alot of other players experiences, which sucks. Also, I guess it keeps people from finding out how to steal xbox live, but if no one pays for live then it isn't going to exist any more. Normally I hate MS as much as any other self respecting person, but I have to applaud them for doing this.
I wouldn't say screwed, you hacked your xbox, its your own damn fault.
> Personally, if there has to be copy protection, I'd rather see the HL2 model, or the Halo 2 model than that used on Doom 3
;).
This is choosing the lesser of two evils again, so I'd again prefered the third option
However, if these two types were the only things which would make the game run, I'd prefer the DOOM3 copy protection. The reasoning is also simple. I'd rather shut down one program than have some software ring home, download some crap, send my information and make me wait until the dev/pub thinks I can play it. Also it is much easier to take a CD/DVD with me than a good fast internet connection.
They didn't touch your xbox, they stopped you from using LIVE. You don't own LIVE, which is a service. Think before you post.
Oh dear god. I agree that MS is completely within their rights to do this and beyond that I have no real ethical, philosophical, logical or practical objection to their doing so. I have a modded box (and a thoroughly legit copy of Halo2 though I did rip it to my drive so levels would load faster). Your opinion however is based on some misguided and utterly retarded (read uninformed) notions. To the best of my knowledge no one has been able to connect to xbox live while running their mod chip. Which means linux can't be running while they are connected. Linux is irrelevant to this entire situation and your mere mention of it gives me an instant migraine. So dispensing with the linux argument (and your not-so-subtle implication that people with linux on their xbox are cheating-hacking-thieving gamers) no one has stolen xbox live. You would need an account to get in. Could it be hacked? Sure, anything can be given time, ability and knowledge. Are there a bunch of (or even 1?) rogue xbox users with hacked xboxen running Gentoo whilst merrily gaming on stolen (or invented) Live accounts while looking thru walls in Halo2 and sniping everyone? Show me one (1!) and I'll eat my own ass. Promise. This is about money pure and simple. Not greed. Just money. MS makes their money on software sales not hardware sales and they have very real (lets not kid ourselves) reasons to believe that people with modded boxes (or an extremely high percentage of them (100% of the people I know)) use their boxes to, among other things, rip or steal games that they have rented, borrowed, or downloaded. If you're really into Xbox Live and your box gets banned because it's modded, well, you take your lumps. But it could prevent those with unmodded boxes from deciding to mod theirs and (in MS's opinion) ultimately steal games. It is about money, there is just nothing particularly wrong or corrupt about it.
I agree that it's about money, but this is one time where i think the consumers and MS's desires colide. I stopped playing online games on the computer because of hackers and cheaters. Live is an attempt to offer a service in which the hardware(and therefore, hopefully cheating and hacking) is controlled. If Microsoft does this, it will improve their bottom line, because more people will want to play on it. But it is also about controlling piracy. But for one of the first times, the company is actually offering the user something in return for not using pirated hardware or software, as apposed to the DOOM III type control which just screws regular users and encourages the use of cracks.
Now when I play Halo 2 online, I won't have to deal with cheaters like in CS, or people bitching about cheaters when there aren't any either. The best thing about console gaming is that it just works - unlike with a PC, there are no compatibility issues, you don't worry about your specs, and there aren't random strangers trying to fuck your shit up. You just put the disc in and play, and don't worry about all those other issues. So, I'm pleased to see that these advantages extend themselves to online play, too.
Dude, their TOS says "no modded Xboxes" so what's the big deal? There's no inalienable right to use Live if you've modded your Xbox.
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
Among other things that keep doom3 (and farcry) from running are ide drivers. In specific the optimized drivers that come with some nforce2 motherboards such as my brothers gigabyte board.
To be fair those divers have a prominent 'no guarantees these will actually do anything good and thier use is strictly at your own risk don't call us we don't support them' type blurb shoved in your face if want to install those drivers(you can cancell the install at that point, and xp's driver rollback worked just fine to get said games running).
If you are thinking of installing them or already have be warned Farcry and Doom3 will NOT play with them giving a 'cd not found' type error in both cases.
Mycroft
https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
Probabally not the right group to hear this, but when you purchase a piece of hardware, most of the time, It does in fact belong to you. Feel free to buzz it in half with a chainsaw - it is yours.
But If MS wants to require that you use unmodded systems on Live, it is their perrogative - you are faced with two rather simple solutions:
1. Play the system the way it was intended.
2. Dont Use XBox live.
I have played CS tooo long to know that the primary reason people use altered systems online is for cheating. Power to the XBox.
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
The Halo2 DVD contains a file called dashupdate.xbe. If you have a modded XBox and a storebought copy of Halo2, you can rip the game to a PC, remove the file and burn a new copy to use with the box. However, you have to do this before you start playing it for the first time...
oooohh poor people who hack their xbox knowing full well it wont work on Live.
Well shit
see . that,
That's the world smallest violin playing for all you fuckers
Yeah the xbox is your, you can do whatever you damn well please. Guess what xbox Live is Microsofts service, and they can do whatever they damn well please.
Now if you don`t mind I have a halo game to get back to.
CJC
Where is the love for the free online gaming?
Why even bother with xbox live anymore with or w/o a modded xbox?
I perosnally have played xbox live quite a few times, as well as the free online supporters (xlink Kai, xbconnect). I have found the free ones to be quite nice, and on par with xbox live. If more people switched to free the experience would only get better.
I just dont see why pepople will pay for microsoft to screw them.
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Bring on the fyre
And isn't it interesting that they could very easily also disable modded Xboxes that aren't on Live, yet choose not to do so?
They're not interfering with anything you might want to do, they're just not letting you (potentially) interfere with what other people (on Live) are doing.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.