Microsoft has banned "a small percentage" of Xbox Live users found to be in possession of modified Xbox 360 consoles.

While the platform holder didn’t release specific figures, the Guardian reports that the number of users affected ranges from 600,000 to one million. Xbox Live had over 20 million active members across 26 countries as of May 2009.

The report suggests that the most recent wave of bans is part of an annual sweep carried out by the platform holder to stop modified consoles, which enable users to play pirated or imported titles, from connecting to its online gaming service. The bans don’t stop consoles themselves from working.

"All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers' Association has suggested that piracy may cost the videogame industry as much as £750 million a year.

Problem is, though, they assume that anyone who's modded their system is doing so for piracy reasons.

Some people "mod" their system to add better heat sinks; turns out that one of the leading causes of the whole "red ring of death" is the 360 having insufficient heat sinks and thus cooking itself after extended periods of operational time.

As such, I could potentially see someone trying to sue to get access back.

Problem is, though, they assume that anyone who's modded their system is doing so for piracy reasons.

Some people "mod" their system to add better heat sinks; turns out that one of the leading causes of the whole "red ring of death" is the 360 having insufficient heat sinks and thus cooking itself after extended periods of operational time.

As such, I could potentially see someone trying to sue to get access back.

Pirate games i can understand but imported games? Come on.

Looks like I won't be modding the X-Box I get when I move to America to play the games I have here.

Not from any place that has any sense. Trading in or pawning Xboxes isn't that easy when the system has been opened.

Why do I keep expecting TGOS to show up in this thread?

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I'd be thinking more craigslist/eBay/etc.

Except that The Onion is usually funny.


So am I wrong in assuming that the (potential) hundreds of thousands of modded X-Box owners will be looking to unload their machine, and the prices will drop as a result?

The recent spate of Xbox Live bannings - in which as many as one million users were ejected from the service - have attracted the interests of a nationwide law firm by the name of AbingtonIP.

Abington are looking to get a class action lawsuit together, believing Microsoft's actions to be both heavy-handed and suspiciously convenient giving the proximity of the bannings to the release of Modern Warfare 2.

"Microsoft has chosen to use one of the most indiscriminate 'weapons' in its arsenal in an effort to combat piracy — as a result, use of this 'weapon' has resulted in a great deal of collateral damage — many people were affected who had nothing to do with piracy", reads a statement on the firm's website.

As for the conspiracy theory side of the story, Abington reckon that the mass bannings were just an excuse for Micsrosoft, with the release of the year's biggest online title on the horizon, to rack up a few extra Xbox Live subscriptions from those eager to get back onto the service.

Sounds like complete rubbish to me, but then, this is a law firm we're talking about.

Toss weasels into a shark tank and see what survives.

Worse, it's Microsoft....

They will be Laser Guided....

Worse, it's Microsoft....

They will be Laser Guided....