Microsoft Dropped One Big Banhammer

Just looking at one of the sites I regularly visit and console modders are waking up to a bit of a surprise.

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also check the banned forum on xbox.com, it's caused quite a stir.

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My whole point of this this is to ask the questions...

Is piracy killing the games industry killing the games industry?

Were the bans justified? Due to pricing around the world, and the economic climate, does anybody feel that people may be turning to piracy as the only affordable solution to playing the games they want?

just to clarify, I think piracy is wrong no matter the circumstances, but that's just my opinion

I think the bans are completely justified. I think the lack of consequences can sometimes make piracy too easy,not just in games but movies and music too.

I think the recession is not an excuse. If you can wait a few weeks to buy a game you will find all new releases go down in price.

I don't think piracy is killing the games industry in general because the revenue shows it is thriving and initiatives to reduce piracy are working in most cases. Software protection does a small amount but will always be quickly overcome. The control and monitoring that Microsoft has over xbox live plays a major part and I think the threat of the banhammer does put most people off piracy. The thing I actually like in piracy reduction methods that actually gives something back to honest gamers is free launch DLC codes and other PR initiatives that give a first time buyer something extra.

As to which one work's the most, it seems to me that unfortunately it is the monitoring and control structures like that of Microsoft and to a lesser degree Steam on the PC. The PC format has been ravaged by piracy much more than consoles to the point now where there are some developers who ignore it and there are very few that create games specifically for the PC to take account of its advantages over consoles. This is beginning to turn around slightly due to programs like steam and the emergence of digital distribution but as a gaming platform it is still pretty badly injured by its open source nature and the ability of hackers to find exploits in 99% of PC software, even Steam. This is such a shame as it is the open source nature of the PC that gives it its biggest advantage over consoles. The modding community beats the pants of most DLC available on the xbox and to put the icing on the cake most of it is free!

There will always be the clever rebels who will hack a system just to see if they can do it. There will always be criminal organisations that will use these people to make short term profit for themselves and there will always be consumers who will justify using pirated games, whether its because they feel they are getting ripped off (correctly sometimes) or just because they want to stick it to the corporations. Its just a shame that this has such a major impact on the games industry, whether its the reduction in the PC market or limitations in risk and creativity to pander to larger audiences or cost cut to make up for the impact of piracy.

The ban forum is kind of amusing though with some of the excuses they come up with

Some of the funniest posts I've ever read on xbox.com

"I got banned for sending a racist comment, but the guy I sent it too sent one first. Why ban me?"

"I only replaced the DVD drive myself"

blah blah blah.

Piracy is one of those thing tat just happens but I don't think it actually hits the industry that hard.

people willl alwaystry and beat the system, which ever console or hardware they have, I think its just the way some people think they can get things!

I Think the only people who are opposed to the bans are the ones who are trying to beat the developers and companies, surely by purchasing an xbox or ps3 you are already agreeing to buy games or accessories for it!! otherwise its useless! lol

There are some funny comments on that forum tho lol!

I love the way people whinge on about being caught cheating or stealing (thats what using a hacked box is) and then spurn out some cockarse justification for cheating and stealing

If you cant afford something then you either wait until you can or go without

You can pick up old titles for 4 or 5 quid or you can rent for even less, and a good game can be played for 30 hours+, so there is no excuse.

I am all for the preservation of old retro game roms through projects like Mame, but folks using hacked boxes should be banned from Live.

Society has sadly become all about getting something for nothing and its ruining who we are.

If you play illegal games and get caught then just accept the consequences, its as simple as that. I'm no angel, I used to copy games, and my mp3 collection is a lot larger than my CD collection. There isn't really an excuse. Yes, the corporates are totally ripping off the consumer, of that there is no doubt. When a music CD costs about a quid to produce (including royalties) why were they £9.99 in the shops? Same with the cinema - when I take my brood to the cinema it ends up costing me around £80 (with popcorn etc). I mean seriously, how can it cost £5 for a bucket of popcorn that costs pence to produce? Over a year ago the estimated PROFIT on GTA IV was $400 million. How much of that is passed onto the consumer? £50 RRP on a game? Yes, the budgets are high (est. $100 million on GTA), and the entertainment value is long, far longer than a movie, a book, a CD (in some cases anyway, and almost definitely with anything released in the last 10 years), but £50 is prohibitively expensive IMO.

Every thing around us is rip-off, and you can fully understand why people pirate, but there's a difference between understanding why and justifying it.

piracy theft call it what you will it has been around since man has been around in various forms, it isnt killing the game,music,film or any other industry and it never will. piracy is a very small part of a gaming industry which is aimed at younger generation who if you probably asked them what piracy of theft was they woulnt have a clue. the thing i love about when these topics come out is that it shows out there people still live by the princliples that have been passed down from generation to generation......HONESTY

i dont really care if a few people hack there xbox's, i paid for mine and i worked hard to get it and thats a feeling i can get and they cant......

This is interesting...

I ws talking about this over the wkend, couple of my friends have offered to "chip" me box for me. One of them is on live and one isn't.

I was tempted as they both have nearly every decent game out, while i have to wait and pick and chose what i can afford, so who's winning and who's losing??...Do i stay loyal and feel like i'm being ripped off, or do i look after myself and take me chances?

I need to see how this Banhammer pans out, cause me m8 is still online playing Forza as i speak for £3, while i'm online playing it for nearly £40...

In this current climate, you can't tell me that isn't attractive??..

I'll tell you straight, i'm no angel , but i'm no fool either, so i'll watch this very closely..

All the mods that take the box on live get hit by the banhammer eventually.

This is what i'm thinking as well...thinking that their victory is short term. Bitter pill to swallow at the moment tho'.

Oh well, back to child labour for the kids, need to sane me pennies up.

Yeah i get asked 2/3 times a week if i want my xbox chipping, there are now 2 guys i work with doing it.

Thing is i can remember having a PS1 chipped years ago, and all that happened is i still spent the same amount on games, but ended up with a big pile of games that hardly got played!

As for the banhammer falling, i'm expecting to find one of the guys getting banned sometime in the very near future as he is already playing Modern Warfare 2 and his achievements are already popping up on his profile. Surely this gonna attract the attention of Microsoft!

I'm in no hurry to consider getting mine chipped as i don't buy that many full price games, and think carefully about which ones i'm gonna spend my hard earned cash on.

I think those bans are excellent, I also love how alll those posters got told by the microsoft staff to post on the forum asking why they had been console banned, just for them to have a link posted and the thread closed superb.

i can understand while people get there machines chipped with the price of games being so high and with the money troubles in the world, it's so difficult to own the latest games and with the price of modern warfare 2 being £45 to £50 is this the first sign of price increases across the board?

I have been told tby someone at work that flashing the disc drive to plac coppied games is wat is happening round my way, seems to work the same but supposidly xbox cant tell. My mate got it done for his lads xbox which got the red rings soon after and xbox repaired it and didnt seem to notice.
Still a big risk to take tho I would be gutted if I lost my gamertag and gamer score for any reason so Ill stick to shelling out 37,99 for the preowned week old games myself.

kinglyliam wrote:i can understand while people get there machines chipped with the price of games being so high and with the money troubles in the world, it's so difficult to own the latest games and with the price of modern warfare 2 being £45 to £50 is this the first sign of price increases across the board?

so if its difficult to afford something you should steal it?

come into work this morning there is a few lads playing the new call of duty ,the thieving buggers.Is it killing the industry , i don't think so.

Yep, me m8 is also already playing the new MW2 and luving it, and not caring about the achievement pop ups as he is not a part of live.

He says that the MS firmware scans the hardcoding of the disc in the tray, and there is already a flash to get round this and he will never send back for repair as he repairs it himself.

I've decided that the risk is too great for me, and i will get me games in me own sweet time, and being without Live is a no no.

Being without live is rude and should be punnished with a day in the stocks having rotten food thrown at you.

Hmmm well I have a professional opinion on this and a personal one.

Professionally, it's a whole load of offences being committed, Copyright fraud, Obtaining property by deception, I can list quite a few including some of the obscure computer/electronic offences.... but I won't but you could be looking at a custodial sentence [Trust me prison is not a nice place, I've first hand experience with inmates and prisons], that is if Microsoft actually chose to prosecute. Oh and not to mention Civil law!! They could sue as well!

In light of this I consider a ban a light punishment.

Personally I can see the lure of chipping and priacy - most people tell themselves "Well they're big corporations" etc etc, but if does fuel so much more.... an example of this are the chinese DVD sellers in pubs - most get their wares from the Snakehead gang, who they have been forced into selling btw the snake head gang are a ruthless triad gang known for kidnap, toture, murder, extortion, rape, human trafficing, robbery, drugs, prositution the list goes on.

Anyway rant over, what was my point again

My point, where there is an illegal trade, there is money and where there is money there is someone very f@*king nasty profiting from it. I have seen this first hand and I want nothing of it.

I'm not saying that these modders are involved in anything like this but i just can't see the difference in downloading the game from a torrent site and going into gamestation and putting a title in your pocket and walking out without paying... bottom line I have integrity and I'm honest - I was raised that way and I'll raise my own kids that way.

A friend of mine on xbox has had mw2 for overa week and has been playing it online I also saw he had fifa 10 5 days early playing it early, if people make it that easy to see them they deserve to be banned from online.

Well i've just found out that one of the guys at work who keeps pestering me to flash my 360 has just been hit by the BanHammer! He's been playing MW2 for over a week and was playing a downloaded version of ODST early.

He has decided to buy a new Elite tomorrow and a legit version of MW2 on tuesday, and says he only got his flashed to save money on games!

Guess its probably cost him more now (apparently his wife is rather pissed off at him), also 2 other guys from work have been banned, both of whom got their xbox's flashed recently by him.

I'm so glad i just buy the games i want!

well.. i used to be a pirate myself.. but i was never as dumb as to play games on live bfore they are actualy released.. probbly thats why i never got a ban :p anyways.. good thing bout piracy is that its alot cheaper and every single game will cost you around 2 euro... however.. you need realy kickass connection cause games are always around 4gb in size.. if its only 1 dvd.. so youll spend whole day downloading if your net aint top notch, also you must keep track track of firmware updates and update your xbox now and then or youll get baned.. and above all that .. you feel realy uneasy when you hear about ban wave coming :p so i personaly think that flashing your xbox is a bad idea unles you are rly low on cash and you aint afraid to take a risk
PS: i know.. i talk tomuch.. lol