Xboxist

Did You Get Banned from Xbox Live Today?

Perhaps you keep a parrot as a pet, and carry it around in public on your shoulder. Perhaps your name ends in 'Beard' and you were blinded in one eye during a childhood sword fight. whatever the reason, pirates everywhere found themselves at the end of a very long, powerful ban hammer today, as Microsoft culled more illegal downloaders from Xbox Live. Using tracking statistics built into the Xbox firmware, Microsoft is able to get a pretty good idea of who managed to get their hands on retail games before their official release, or who is running ISO copied games in their DVD drive. Using that data, the company periodically bans offenders from Xbox Live, essentially killing that account.

This is perhaps the largest banning to date, with over a million accounts terminated in one day. The sweep came on the heels of the release of Modern Warfare 2, one of the most hyped games of the holiday season. Early copies of the game were leaked on to the web, perhaps prompting the move by Microsoft. Since the major appeal of MW2 is the multiplayer, this will leave many pirates disappointed to find out they can't connect.

Microsoft didn't have much sympathy for these users in a prepared statement:

"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. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive from manufacturers, retailers, and the third parties that support them," the company said.

Pirating a game isn't the only way that you can get banned from Microsoft's paid online service. Violating the Xbox Live Terms of Use is also a big no-no, and includes behavior like cheating, threats, racism, profanity, and being a dick in general.

Most Xbox Live subscribers probably won't miss these banned players, but we will spill a bit of our energy drink on the ground for our fallen homies, nevertheless.

A view that many won't be seeing today, after being banned from Xbox Live.

[Source: Information Week]