You had to know someone out there would try and profit off Microsoft's recent mass bannination of modded Xbox 360 consoles from Xbox Live, and although the eBay scammers arguably got there first, we're awarding the style trophy to AbingtonIP, an Oklahoma law firm that's trying to gin up a class-action lawsuit. Why? Because even though the XBL terms of service expressly prohibit modded consoles, AbingtonIP thinks it's not fair for Microsoft to have timed the ban to coincide with the release
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it also thinks it's unfair for an XBL ban to affect "Xbox functionality not associated with piracy" like Netflix, arcade games, and DLC. A noble cause, to be sure, but if you're a modder who didn't think there was a chance you'd be booted from Live at some point, you're not a very smart modder -- and Microsoft isn't under any obligation to time its bans for the convenience of people breaking its terms of service. The firm is just at the generating-interest phase and hasn't filed anything yet, so we'll see how far these freedom fighters get -- we'd guess this one dies on the vine.
posted November 20th 2009 10:18AM
Lets be for real, MS is lawyered up and their lawyers are prolly bored as of late anyways.
LOL dont be mad dude ha ha do you spend all your money on that piece of shit console lol Yea i modded it and yes i make copy's of the games i buy because my younger kids dont understand that the games cost 50-60 bucks a piece I was tired of cracked and scratched disks. besides i only had a 20 gig hard drive NOT ALL OF US DOWNLOAD PIRATED GAMES!!!! i backed my games up off a 360 drive to my computer and gave my kids a copy and if they broke that one at least it wasn't 50 buck down the drain! So calm down son!
So you should teach your kids properly than hack a xbox to prevent that.
Aw hell...
I'd better unplug my modded PS1 before I lose the ability to play Army Men 3D.
Maybe the PC gaming scene will get a little bigger now. At least when you get banned on PC its for actually cheating and not installing a 3rd party hard drive.
What justice can do for people leaving in Greece? We dont suppose to have xbox live. But we are connected through an account made in UK for example... In the billing fields we put our greek addresses for the card with one exception...In the post code we just put a UK post code and its alright!!! So microsoft accepts our money but doesn t give us access to all the services. What about that?
If you're not supposed to have xbox live, then don't bitch about "justice" because, funnily enough, you can't access the full service when you use a false postcode to try and sign up anyway.
The sense of entitlement some people have is unbelievable.
Yeah... the "entitlement" that a product I buy will continue to be useful.
How utterly "spoiled" of us.
@jedi
It's not an issue of the product, it's an issue of the service. The product is still going to function as designed, but the paired service will cease. You break the terms of service, you lose the service. It's simple.
I applaud Microsoft for keeping the modders off Xbox Live.
There are other items that are not part of live that are disabled also.
Really? Because from everything I've seen they disable online messages, parties, gaming, Netflix, Twitter, etc. Those are all under the Xbox Live service umbrella.
What else is disabled?
Apparently a bit more. Finally found an actual source for the effects:
"What actually happens if you have gotten banned?
• You can’t go on Xbox Live
• You can’t install games to the hard disk drive
• Disk based games will no longer play off of the hard drive
• You might not be able to use Windows Media Centre extender
• You cannot get any more game updates"
src: http://techfragments.com/1088/no-unban-fix-xbox-live-ban
Though what sticks out to me is that by perm-a-banning a console but not fixing the original f/w, you're just encouraging people to keep pirating games. I know if that had happened to me, there's no way in hell would I shell out for a new console. I mean, once there's no other use for that console, might as well live it up right?
@uagent
• You can’t go on Xbox Live
- How is that not linked to Xbox LIVE?
• You can’t install games to the hard disk drive
- Not an original feature of your console, delivered as part of a LIVE network service update.
• Disk based games will no longer play off of the hard drive
- Once again, not an original feature of your console, and if you are talking about games purchased from XBL, well, it's still XBL owned content.
• You might not be able to use Windows Media Centre extender
- XBL delivered content.
• You cannot get any more game updates"
- XBL delivered content.
Yeah so cry some more.
@(Unverified) Who said I was crying? Besides the fact my 360 is mostly relegated to DVD up-scaler at this point, I haven't modded mine, and, quite frankly, losing the ability to play games online would be more of a blessing than a curse to me. I was simply pointing out what seemed to have been disabled.
tl;dr: gave source, plz don't breed.
It's funny how all these people who got banned now suddenly hate MS and the xbox and are screaming RROD louder than ever. MS definitely had problems with the original 360 and the first revision (Xenon & Zephyr). The Falcon and Jasper revisions however have drastically reduced the 360 failure rate. While it is too early to tell, I'm guessing that with the Jasper chipset we will see failure rates on par with other consoles. I own two xbox 360 consoles, a Falcon and Jasper, and have never had any problems.
How hard can it be to purchase stuff. Why do you have to pirate everything. Serves people right to get banned when they don't pay for it.
Nilay,
I'm trying to figure out on what grounds the firm could pursue an injunction.
Could they argue that though the terms of service grant MS the right to bar users who've modded their consoles, MS's previous failure to pursue that option has implied a forfeiture, causing modders to buy this new game in reliance on MS's forfeiture of that clause?
implied virtual easement? Does such a thing exist?
Um... cry moar? Go Microsoft. Props to growing a pair like we've seen Nintendo do with their busts of all these R4 cards for the DS and all the pirated games they're helping the FBI apprehend. Glad-to-fucking-hear-it.
@kenny goo and what about the people who don;t use the R4 to dl games? not as big as the PSP homebrew scene but there is a DS one, and some people who like to buy games, still use a R4 card for that
@nekosune
I really don't give a flying fuck about homebrew. Nearly all of the uses for modding is for piracy or emulation, both of which are illegal, and all that shit does is make the stuff that I legitimately have to pay for be that much more expensive. Even if you're into homebrew, chances are you're still pirating or emulating as well. With all honest, the entire modding community can go collectively fuck itself for all I care, cause they're making my gaming harder and my wallet smaller.
Those guys need a life. They have nothing better to do with their time and cthe court system so they turn it into a mockery!
Most depressing thing about all this: If the lawsuit seems like it'll even remotely go to court and cost Microsoft money for its high paid legal team... they'll most likely settle with the plaintiffs for a smaller (but still large) number.
Lawyers who took up a dumb case get paid, main people in the class get a new Xbox or something... everyone else hopefully gets 5000 Microsoft Points credited to their Xbox Live accounts.
what's the big deal here, my console got banned. I'm not bitching about it, you can get a new arcade console for $250 anyway...not that expensive considering i've saved alot of money on the games i play offline. Modders need to realise that they're ahead even if they have to fork out for another console.
I don't fully agree with the fact they disable the hard drive or that you could possibly loose access to all the DLCs and arcade games you PAID for. However, the issue with DLC and downloads don't usually apply to console bans. Just gamertag bans, you just need to buy another XBOX to fix that if your gamertag isn't banned.
Keep in mind while most people do pirate (which to me warrants a ban) there are legitimate reasons to modding your console. Sadly, thanks to the terms and such I can't mod my console (don't want to loose anything plus like playing online) but I'd def enjoy backing up my $50+ games. I don't have much sympathy for those who got banned though, since they knew or should have known what they were getting into. To me the issue arises when all that money was put into the online service and you get your gamertag banned or getting your hardware modified by MS. Playstation network isn't like that, if you unmod your console you gain access back to the playstation netwok, at least in PSP land. not sure about PS3 or if they are even moddable.
BK
http://www.saveinit.com
This lawsuit might not have any chance. All "sensible" modders know what they are getting into when they mod their consoles. and many of them have multiple consoles for the same reason. I get the big M's policy to ban the console but disabling the HD and stuff thats just DIRTY.
NOT being able to access a service in the future seems about ok for a ToS violation.
BUT disabling or crippling YOUR hardware could very well be an area where the ToS may stretching itself. Also, the ToS is not a law, it's merely an agreement. An agreement although legally executed could very well have illegal/"extra legal"/unenforceable terms in it ... happens quite often. Then it's for the courts to decide what should/shouldn't be enforced given society's preference. The beauty of democracy - love it!
Before you get upset, imagine if Dell/Apple could disable your entire computer system because you didn't use a Dell/Apple branded hard drive/monitor etc. Sure they can stop their warranty (service) but disabling your hardware wouldn't be right, right?
Of course, the clause about timing of the ban sounds ridiculous !! I'm wondering if it's just a marketing plot ... you know, any publicity is good publicity.
BTW, when I say "disabling hardware" on the 360 ban I mean disabling the ability to use your hard drive on your (banned) console. Sure it still powers up etc ... but they just made a decision on your hardware!
I'd hate to think what would happen if Apple disabled all jailbroken iPhones! (powers up to a "Your modified iPhone has been disabled. Please buy a new unmodified iPhone (visit www.apple.com/iphone)" or something).
Stop the service, not the hardware.
When you sit and think about it, there are really only 2 reasons for modding your Xbox, or any other game system for that matter. The first is to gain access to things you wouldn't normally have access to as in your too F(*%#ing broke to pay for it, or mommy and daddy won't let you have their credit card number. The other is you basically have no skill whatsoever in a game and are trying to either get a leg up on the competition or just wanna play god and destroy everything without any consequences. Life isn't fair, so quit looking for the easy way out. I get my butt kicked all time on multiplayer and know I can't compete with fat-assed 15 year olds that spend every waking moment playing. It's tough enough as it is without having people auto-killing you butt just by pointing at you. I believe it states somewhere in the "Terms of Service" that you would be banned for tampering too. So go ahead and waste your money trying to sue. I'll be the first to go to bat for Microsoft against you.
@tarzan322
the third reason, as I mentioned in my post, is for homebrew programs, but that sadly seems to be lacking n the 360, as most people seem to prefer copying games or making cheats , so a mostly agree to this post here.
I think they should be able to sue them for the people who bought the xbox's off of ebay and can't play. All they should have to do is show them proof of purchase. It isnt there fault and now ebay is full of scammers not saying that they're banned
This might actually have a chance with the right lawyers bu these lawyers are probably going to jump the gun too early
IT ISNT ILLEGAL TO HACK YOUR XBOX OR PLAY BURNED GAMES
IT IS ONLY ILLEGAL TO SELL THEM AND THEY DONT HAVE ANY PROOF OF ANYONE DOING THAT SO MICROSOFT PRESSING CHARGES IS OUT OF THE QUESTION
HOLY CRAP I CAN TALK IN CAPS TOO I ALSO LIKE HOW YOUR NAME IS "SMALL" YET YOU TALK WITH BIG LETTERS
MS has been banning consoles since the first Xbox. This is nothing NEW other then the fact so many people got banned at once.
Considering MW2 is a huge game, and a major part of it is online gaming, it's not MS fault the game was release this time of year, or that you Modded your console to play a Pirated game. You took a Gamble and lost!!! Considering there's a reported 600,000 to a Million people banned, that's a lot of people Pirating a game and a huge loss it money for both MS and the game Developer. Your lucky your console still works and you can play your pirated game offline.
Wait wait wait wait wait wait I'm confused.
You mean people actually ENJOY playing FPSes online on CONSOLE SYSTEMS?
@Jouva Man, the more of your responses I read, the more I get to be entertained, +1's to each my friend!
Banning pirates I agree with, but most people dont see modders and pirates are not the same thing, I have a modded psp, never downloaded or copied a game for it once, instead I use homebrew applicaitons like youtube viewer, ebook reader (all legally bought).
It's funny to me how all the modders are trying to justify why they shouldn't have been banned. You didn't lose hardware functionality, you lost software functionality. Quit whining that you got caught.
i was thinking about getting a used 360 with drive issues and changing the drive with the one i have that got the 3 rings. but i'd have to get the old drive key and put it on the new drive. same key and it's only to replace faulty parts. but this is modding and i can't use xboxlive from what? fixing microsoft's subpar products. how is this criminal. i see microsoft knowingly selling faulty products criminal and what laws are there to help us? i don't wanna hear how microsoft is trying to rectify something they shouldn't have done in the first place. outsourcing to china for soldering is a definite reason to overcharge for nextgen gaming. right? i'm getting a used system soon. is it fair if i get banned if it was modded for whatever reason unbeknown to me? i feel you are paying for a service and no matter what stupid agreement you are forced upon with. if they do not provide the service that you already paid for then they are stealing from you. they could give the refund for unused service. microsoft is really shady as always http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060615/. i think they are hostile to consumers and will lose more because of it rather than the loss of some software. i am no console loyalist. but if playstation plays their cards right. i think they'll come out ahead in the next nextgen war. and no, i never modded or got banned.
MJGAMER 1991 XBL that's a nice profile pic....