Andre Yoskowitz
18 May 2007 9:42
As many Afterdawn users found out the hard way this week, Microsoft has begun banning modified Xbox 360 consoles from being able to access Xbox Live. A Microsoft spokesperson described the move as "an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules".
Microsoft also said it was banning by unit rather than by Live account. Anyone using a modified console to connect to Live should recieve error code ("Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D").
"These users will not have their account automatically banned from Live, but they will no longer be able to access the service from the console they modified," Microsoft said.
The company has "a no tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour like hacking or cheating", and believes that "this topic is more important than ever given the recent release of the Halo 3 beta".
"We have stated in the past that customers can only enjoy access to the Xbox Live community through the use of a genuine, unmodified, Xbox console and we will continue to enforce this rule to ensure the integrity of our service, the protection of our partners and the benefits of our users," a statement on the global community Gamerscoreblog concluded.
Be reminded that Microsoft tried the same steps with the original Xbox which forced modders to create a switch that would allow the gamer to disable all modified features before accessing Live.
Posts by modders at Xbox-Scene.com have implied that new mods with added security precautions are in the works, so it seems like a battle is upcoming.
Source:
GI.biz