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Xbox Live Class Action Being Investigated
eldavojohn writes "Were you negatively affected by the recent ban on Xbox Live for modifying hardware you own? Did you modify yours for homebrew or altering things you paid for and not to engage in piracy? Abington IP would like to hear from you and may be able to help. From that page: 'If you are an Xbox Live subscriber, had your modified Xbox console banned from Xbox Live, were not refunded a prorated sum for the time left on your subscription, or have experienced other problems as a result of being banned, and would like to participate in a class action against Microsoft, please submit your information below.' Someone is finally standing up for the legitimate hobbyists. Should Microsoft worry?"
These class-action lawsuits only serve one purpose - to make the lawfirm originating the class action a boatload of cash.
The DVD drive mods that people got banned for were all about playing 'backups' which really means pirated games in 99% of these cases.
No.
They should not worry.
Nothing will happen here. The terms of service clearly state that to play on Xbox Live, you are not allowed to modify your xbox360. The accounts are still present and valid. The consoles are simply banned from accessing the service. Hobbyists can still be hobbyists. The Xbox360 will still work, but the Xbox Live service will not.
Yes, Microsoft should be worried.
"The Xbox360 will still work, but the Xbox Live service will not." --- False. Parts of offline play are disable.
If you READ the class action lawsuit, it has nothing to do with the banning from XBL, but rather the offline features that were disabled/modified as a result.
Very interesting article regarding the bannings: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2397134/analysis_why_microsofts_plan_to_ban.html
"I was at GameStop the other day and listened to a customer's questions about Microsoft's banning of modded X-Box 360s. The worker tried to explain that this banning was for those people that hacked their X-Box 360. The customer was worried that if her child downloaded any kind of content through the X-Box 360 that this might constitute a reason for a banning for her son's system. She was confused, so she decided to purchase a PS3 instead. I was told by the manager at that GameStop that this was not an isolated incident. They had received over 50 calls that day about the banning.
What Microsoft appears to have forgotten by earmarking this time of year for the banning of modded X-Box 360s is that most of the systems that are purchased this time of year is by parents and grandparents. The game systems that are purchased this time of year are usually done by those that do not have a firm grasp on the industry. Simply put, the systems are usually purchased by people that are fairly clueless about video games."
I've been reading the argument that people have just been banned from XBL, because modifying your console somehow violates the TOS of XBL.
However, this time the ban does not just kick you off online multiplayer, it also disables functionality to install games on the included HDD! Games already installed on that HDD will not be accessible anymore. Also, any savegame you continue playing with on the banned console will get tagged with the result that you can't copy it to any other (banned or unbanned) consoles anymore.
Since a lot of people bought the Xbox360 with the ability to install games on the internal HDD right out of the box it can be argued that MS impaired the users' hardware in some way.
Also: it is rumored that it is possible for MS to band your console through future (mandatory) updates on game discs, even if you never played online. The technical capabilites are there, but if they ever start doing that their XBL-TOS-argument will be seriously flawed.