NEWS - Friday, May 18, 2007
Microsoft Targets Modified Xbox 360s
One of the great things about Live and the unified community is that we work hard to create a level playing field for all gamers and have a no tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior like hacking or cheating,” reads Microsoft’s Gamerscore blog. "We have stated in the past that customers can only enjoy access to the Xbox Live community through the use of a genuine, unmodified, Xbox console and we will continue to enforce this rule to ensure the integrity of our service, the protection of our partners and the benefits of our users." One interesting element of the post is that it says users who modify their Xbox 360 consoles will be banned from Xbox Live on a console rather than account basis, leaving those who choose to modify their systems free to access the online service via alternative consoles. Microsoft instigated a similar crackdown on modified Xbox consoles back in 2004 preceding the release of Halo 2. Consoles are usually modified in order to play pirated software or homebrew applications. In a bid to circumvent detection, hackers will often attempt to use a mod chip that allows for two separate firmwares to coexist on the same system. This method allows for hacked usage when their system is offline and non-hacked usage when the console is online.Source: http://www.next-gen.biz/
