Microsoft Bans Modified Xbox 360s From Xbox Live

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has now officially started banning Xbox 360s that have had their DVD drive firmware modified from Live, possibly using information brought in by the Crackdown-originated Halo 3 beta downloads. Scene site forums have already collapsed under traffic, and Microsoft has officially confirmed that they are banning modded Xbox 360s to keep the online playing field fair and level."

Comments

Re:Reprecussions?

[Lenneth-chan]

And by that second 'PS3', I actually meant 'PS2'.

Re:Missing the point.

[a.d.trick]

It's their network, why shouldn't they ban people that don't play by their rules?

Grace. You don't ban a kid from using computers because he was a bit mischievous one day. You might not allow him to use the computer for a week or something, but banning altogether is a bit harsh.

Another thing is that they've thinned the line between 'their network' and 'my Xbox' (note: I don't actually own one). The Xbox automatically signs in to Xbox live if there's a network connection. Think about it this way, if MS Windows stopped working if you had a motherboard without that Trusted Computing nonsense, you could say "It's their OS, why shouldn't it stop working when the users don't play by their rules?" (i.e. TPM and DRM).

I understand the problem is more complicated that this, and I've heard that modders take advantage of their modding to cheat and ruin the gameplay for others. I'm not sure it I think MS did the wrong thing, but I'm just pointing out that things aren't so black and white.

Re:Reprecussions?

[powerlord]

I'm not aware of any unofficial mods for the PS3 yet either, and you're right that the hypervisor keeps any other OS from accessing either the graphics chip, or the PS3 partition, but I think Linux IS officially supported.

Besides providing the tools to reformat and repartition the hard-drive (and making it a standard, user-servicable, laptop hard-drive), along with tools to backup your settings to a USB/flash drive, and restore them (all crucial in reformatting a hard-drive to include a Linux partition) there is this bit from a March press release:

http://www.us.playstation.com/News/PressReleases/3 79

Following the keynote presentation, the SCEA booth will be a central focus at GDC as the company introduces new development tools and technologies designed specifically for PS3 and the PLAYSTATION®Network, as well as PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system. The SCEA booth - Booth #410, West Hall - will offer visitors a sneak-peek at:

• Tuner for PS3 - Developed by SN Systems, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., the Tuner is a profiling tool that enables developers to quickly highlight bottlenecks and conflicts in source code, helping them improve code performance. The Tuner is a software application, so there is no special hardware required, which enables developers to create high performance games with less guesswork.
  
• Unreal® Engine 3 - Epic's next-generation game engine technology targets a diverse set of genres from fighting games to shooters to Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games
  High-Level Graphics Package - PSSG (a PS3 optimized cross-platform graphics engine and tool-chain) production-ready extensible scene-graph framework that is written to take advantage of PS3 strengths
  
• Pioneering profiling and analysis tools and physics technologies
  
• Developing with Linux on PS3
  
• Demonstration of downloadable titles from the PLAYSTATION Network, such as flOw, Blast Factor(TM) and Calling all Cars(TM)
  

(emphasis mine)

The latest linux kernel from YellowDogLinux has working support for the Wireless Network adapter, and there is also the following from Terra Soft's (the company behind YDL) PS3 FAQ:
http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/products/faq/ps3 /models.shtml

QUESTION: Is PS3 support for Linux improved over that of the PS2?

Definately. Sony has designed the PS3 to run Linux. Your experience as an end-user will be optimal.

(emphasis mine)