Microsoft Warns on Secondhand Consoles

Ban hammers being blunted in readiness

Posted by Staff
Look, she's a pirate and a great deal more attractive than a picture of a console. Deal with it.
Look, she's a pirate and a great deal more attractive than a picture of a console. Deal with it.
Major Nelson of Xbox 360 fame (and Microsoft spokesperson rank) has issued a stern warning about using hooky software or modding your console. At the bottom of the statement from his 'blog' is the sentence:

"This would also be a good time to remind you that the warranty on an Xbox 360 console is not transferrable and if you purchase a used console that has been previously banned, you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE."

The full statement reads:

"As you may have read online, we’ve been actively banning consoles from Xbox LIVE that have been modified to play pirated games. Our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox LIVE community remains a top priority. 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. This would also be a good time to remind you that the warranty on an Xbox 360 console is not transferrable and if you purchase a used console that has been previously banned, you will not be able to connect to Xbox LIVE."
Companies:

Comments

Bukkow 5 Nov 2009 13:24
1/4
It's hard to take the anti-piracy route because it's harming the industry a week before a vastly overpriced game comes out.

Fair enough if said game might not sell many copies so the devs/publishers need to sell at a high price to make a profit. But when the game is GUARANTEED to sell a lot of copies and they push the price, they're just money grabbing tw@s saying 'yea we're awesome, our game is awesome, no matter what we charge people will pay because we're THAT awesome".

Sadly, people will pay.
Tumbleweed Jim 5 Nov 2009 14:19
2/4
I am warning you regards Mcrosoft 1st hand consoles. Buy a PS3 instead. Avoid RROD and annoying American brats.
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DoctorDee 6 Nov 2009 08:47
3/4
@Bukkow But that's how the free market works. Football teams pay preening prima-donna's tens of thousands of pound a week because they know fans will fork out for tickets, and replica kits, and TV subscriptions at ludicrous prices. People pay more for Ferraris than they do for Fords. The free market enables goods to find their value.

If people really do not like the price of Modern Warfare 2, all they have to do is leave it on the shelves. If they do that, the price will fall quickly, and Modern Warfare 3 will be launched at a cheaper price. If they do not, they have voted with their wallets to accept a price hike.

But given that the premium priced special editions sold out long before they hit the shelves, I'm betting we're looking at a watershed.
Free market 8 Nov 2009 03:12
4/4
Does this smell? Warranty should follow the console, and be attached by change in law. Such a thing could even offer possibility to be used as an out of the warranty process, that incentivised fixing up and ensuring safe and reliable for purpose equipment.

This also could even be used to make extra money by removing ability to legitimately backup, develop independent games and legitimate additional usage of peoples personal hardware.

I would like to know if such uses are challengeable under anti-trust laws and class action law suites? What about the other ways to achieve the stated anti-pirating and ant-illegitimate play aims while allowing these very legitimate, law bound, uses? These uses have been guaranteed under law because they are fair and industry historically had a problem with providing warranty and reasonable good safe products and use, fair wages, and non slave like conditions, and should not be even possibly be open to be whittling away. The restriction of use of peoples' personally owned property could also be possibly interpreted as forming a basis of a form of slavery and restriction of liberty. It would be different if you rented the system for $10 a month and were supplied an emulator for your games at the end of the model, so as not to form a basis of continuing slavery as to ownership and use of games. The renting and online storage of games also being viewed as a undesirable form of slavery and restriction of liberty, with laws being passed to guarantee the reasonable sale, ownership and use of games.

There is also a need to pass automatic criminal laws against the bluffing, draining, unnecessary overwhelming, coercion and harassment of people with genuine legal concerns, and people in legal action, that is common in industry.
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