Xbox 360 Game Piracy Spreading In China

simoniker writes "Xbox 360 game piracy appears to be spreading notably in China, with at least one Shanghai-based vendor offering Xbox 360 titles such as Hitman: Blood Money for around 30 Chinese yuan ($3.50). This comes after hackers managed to flash changes to the BIOS on the Xbox 360's Optical Disc Drive earlier this year, which allowed non-authenticated (copied) games to be played. Microsoft's John Porcaro commented at the time: 'The core security system has not been broken. However, on some Xbox 360 consoles the authentication protocol between the optical disc drive and the console may be attacked.'"

Comments

Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable

[Blakey Rat]

Just FYI, the loss of the Xbox Division isn't a management problem because it's expected and has been planned for. Go back to when Microsoft was first planning the console, and they talked about how they weren't expecting to make a profit the entire first generation and possibly not the second.

Re:Except, Xbox360 not profitable

[Mitaphane]

The idea has so much traction because it's true. From the link:

An up-close look at the components and other materials used in the high-end version of the Xbox 360, which contains a hard drive, found that the materials inside the unit cost Microsoft $470 before assembly. The console sells at retail for $399, meaning a loss of $71 per unit -- and that is just the start.

Other items packaged with the console -- including the power supply, cables, and controllers -- add another $55 to Microsoft's cost, pushing the loss per unit to $126. These estimates include assumptions that Microsoft is getting a discount on many components.