Mod your X-Box, get banned.

The Register has some pretty intresting material concerning X-Boxes with mod chips in conjunction with Microsoft's XBox Live service.

He explained that the mod chip is detected when you connect to Xbox Live, and that your machine's ID is then read, and added to a banned list. Even if you remove the mod chip, he said, your machine cannot be unbanned, as it's Microsoft's belief that it can never be seen as trustworthy again.

Read it @ The Register.

thats quite harsh...

damn microsoft...
its not our fault that ppl dont like to buy their over-charged products...

then don't buy the system, you have a choice... I can't believe people are ridiculous engough to attempt to justify what is truly their own wrong doing by saying prices are too high!!

in case you were unaware, PIRACY= H I G H PRICES!!

If people had never started this pirating b/s, game prices would have been close to half the prices normal people are forced to pay because of peolple who share your illogical train of thought!

nope

its because of high price, ppl start to pirate

prices will continue to rise and people will continue to pirate, i dont see a problem, besides xbox is crap, theyll find that sales wil plummit even further if people cant use the online segment

Prices for gaming consoles have remained at around the same price or lower through history. I paid $200 for my SNES when I picked it up and the same for just about every other system I've ever purchased.
im gay also

Firstly, I remember paying $49.99 for Intellivision games, so prices have not risen whatsoever. Really, that is amazing considering the rise of movie tickets, etc..

However, my real point is that these software companies claim they are losing billions of dollars because of pirating. My opinion on this has always been that a company cannot lose money they never had. This holds especially true for software companies such as Macromedia, Adobe, Quark, etc.. If I want to learn to use your tool, I should not have to pay $400 for it, or in Adobe's case, close to $1000 a pop. If not for a pirated burned copy of most things, I would not have it. In the Xbox's case, I never would buy Dead to Rights, Blinx or any of those games, I have them only because I was able to burn them. That was money the publisher would never see, so how did they lose money on me? I still buy the titles I really want, such as NBA Live, Medal of Honor, etc.. Pirating is just a good excuse for publishers and software companies to justify their high prices and possible misfire on earnings targets.

The industry uses "piracy" as an excuse to raise prices, that's really not the reason they are against it. The reason is IP (Intellectual Property) they feel it lowers the 'overall' market value.

If 10,000 legit copies are sold of a certain game, the IP rights pertain high, but if also added are 3,000 unauthorized (or pirated) copies it lowers the overall market value.

What keeps consoles and games at a stable 'competitive' price is just that = competition. If it was just one console out there (sort of like in the mid 80's with NES) we see HUGE abuse, like super Mario 2 selling for $80.00 and stuff like that.

sweetrobot and aldmo are listening to the BS that the PR (Public Relations) teams put out and are misunderstanding it.

I don't condone piracy, but I do feel 'we' should have more rights (i.e. freely playing import games and making personal backups) but the FACT is that will never happen as long as YOU people keep buying the games and systems. Boycott and form a large number and watch the industry change. Understand what you are fighting and what you aim to accomplish, rather than to complain about it

It seems that MS is on a piracy crackdown lately, first with XP and now this. Maybe they dont sell as much as they would want so they have to implement security measures that will prevent the use of their products.
I still refuse to buy anything with MS name on it, I either steal it or get a pirate copy, but never give them money.