Modded 360s Flood Craigslist After Mass Banning

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Modded 360s Flood Craigslist After Mass Banning



Buyer Beware: Illegally modded Xbox 360s have been listed as "for sale" on e-commerce site Craigslist in droves following Microsoft's mass banning of up to a million consoles from Xbox Live.

Yesterday, we reported that Microsoft had banned anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million Xbox 360 units [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96037-Microsoft-Bans-up-to-One-Million-Xbox-Live-Accounts] from accessing Xbox Live. The consoles in question had been illegally modified (or "chipped") to allow them to play pirated copies of games that had been burned to a disc. The heavy banhammer might not have caught all the pirates, but it made it so that quite a few of the bastards would have to purchase a brand-new 360 in order to play Modern Warfare 2 online.

Wonder where all those modded 360s - still able to play games, just not online - ended up? On reports CNET [http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites]. The foiled pirates have put their consoles up for grabs, listing units - with some good games, too - for as cheap as $100. So, in the event that you haven't yet picked up a 360 and don't give a crap about anything on Xbox Live, there are probably some great deals there if you want to search through them.

However, an official statement from Microsoft suggests that buyers should be extra-cautious, even if they know that the console they're buying is one of the banned, modded units - the warranty won't cover the new console should it come down with a bad case of the RRoD: "If you purchase a modified console second-hand, the warranty is not transferable and the purchaser assumes the risk for any previous modifications ... If you purchase a console that has been previously banned, you will not be able to connect to (Xbox) Live."

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Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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just not line - ended up?
"not online" methinks ;)

I suppose if you never had any intention of connecting your 360 to LIVE (and you had no scruples concerning piracy), this might not be a bad deal. I, however, quite enjoy the ability to log onto the internets on my 360, and thus am decidedly not interested.
 

tsb247

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Mar 6, 2009
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I think I may finally grab an X360. I've never really been interested in consoles, but if I can pick one up for $100 or so, then maybe I'll give it a try.

Microsoft: 1,000,000
Pirates: 0
 

Baby Tea

Just Ask Frankie
Sep 18, 2008
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This is hilarious.
Oh well! I hope Microsoft gets some more of these pirates off XBL.

Though I didn't know one could just openly sell modded consoles.
 

Treblaine

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Jul 25, 2008
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Ah, so that is why Microsoft were not making such a fuss about the HUGE amount of piracy on their console, hell it works out in their best interest as they have legal precedent to knock off millions of paying customers.

Why can this be good? Because that is 1 million Xbox 360 fans who are suddenly without a 360, I wonder what percentage of them would buy a brand new console?

Then again, Microsoft is now in a dangerous game, how long will it be before ANOTHER mod or chip comes out for 360 and they are all suddenly back online and then you have a back and forth battle like with PSP.

And what if the unthinkable happens and the 360s are modded to connect to the internet... but not to XBox Live... what if all the chipped 360s just hang out in their own area of the internet which is clearly in the millions now. It could be facilitated by dedicated servers even.

Playing online games for free... but where would they get an idea like that.
 

munx13

Some guy on the internet
Dec 17, 2008
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And they say PC is the pirates platform...
Nah, even as a PC gamer I will admit that PC has one of the highest piracy rates

I just wonder how many people will get the surprise of not being able to connect to live after buying a used xbox.
 

IrrelevantTangent

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Oct 4, 2008
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Well, that's unsurprising. But hopefully some people out there that don't intend on getting connected to Xbox Live will be able to get a 360 for cheap. That's really all we can hope for.
 

Terramax

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Jan 11, 2008
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Treblaine said:
Why can this be good? Because that is 1 million Xbox 360 fans who are suddenly without a 360, I wonder what percentage of them would buy a brand new console?
Think about it, Xbox live is £39.99 (not sure what the US equivalent is). imagine if even half of them don't rebuy an 360, stop paying for XLive. That's £19,995,000 revenue they're missing out on, right?
 

Xanthious

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Dec 25, 2008
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To anyone that thinks this matters in the slightest: Really? You think this is going to slow them down in the slightest? This did absolutely nothing to put a stop to piracy on the 360. Ok so they can't get on XBL. Well those massive stacks of copied games they have still work just fine. Sure it looks good to come out and say you banned all those consoles but what about the ones they didn't catch? I can promise you that most pirates with an ounce of sense that know the "do's and dont's" about Xbox piracy are still just fine. Furthermore, how long do you really think it's going to take those that want to be back online to get back online? If it REALLY matters to them to get back onto XBL they will most likely get back there sooner rather than later. All in all this is just an exercise in futility that makes for good PR.
 

Frankydee

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Mar 25, 2009
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unsurprising.

I've seen quite a few modded ones in my area showing pictures of slight altercations allowing HDMI compatibility. I wasn't really sure what the huge deal was so I promptly ignored it.
 

Treblaine

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Jul 25, 2008
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Terramax said:
Treblaine said:
Why can this be good? Because that is 1 million Xbox 360 fans who are suddenly without a 360, I wonder what percentage of them would buy a brand new console?
Think about it, Xbox live is £39.99 (not sure what the US equivalent is). imagine if even half of them don't rebuy an 360, stop paying for XLive. That's £19,995,000 revenue they're missing out on, right?
But were these pirates even paying XBL Gold Membership in the first place? Maybe their hacks were bypassing the payment to play online.

Does anyone know either way?
 

Paragon Fury

The Loud Shadow
Jan 23, 2009
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Treblaine said:
Terramax said:
Treblaine said:
Why can this be good? Because that is 1 million Xbox 360 fans who are suddenly without a 360, I wonder what percentage of them would buy a brand new console?
Think about it, Xbox live is £39.99 (not sure what the US equivalent is). imagine if even half of them don't rebuy an 360, stop paying for XLive. That's £19,995,000 revenue they're missing out on, right?
But were these pirates even paying XBL Gold Membership in the first place? Maybe their hacks were bypassing the payment to play online.

Does anyone know either way?
That, you can't do. Someone, somewhere, has to pay the X amount of money per time period for every account that is Gold-enabled. That isn't something you can hack away.
 

theultimateend

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Nov 1, 2007
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Treblaine said:
Terramax said:
Treblaine said:
Why can this be good? Because that is 1 million Xbox 360 fans who are suddenly without a 360, I wonder what percentage of them would buy a brand new console?
Think about it, Xbox live is £39.99 (not sure what the US equivalent is). imagine if even half of them don't rebuy an 360, stop paying for XLive. That's £19,995,000 revenue they're missing out on, right?
But were these pirates even paying XBL Gold Membership in the first place? Maybe their hacks were bypassing the payment to play online.

Does anyone know either way?
I'm sure 1 million people weren't bypassing the XBL membership. I'm pretty sure less than a thousand people are likely getting it for free. That being only because when they cancelled their subscription never shut off (I've seen it happen once but I imagine it happens more than that).

As it stands Microsoft has potentially lost millions of dollars and many actual customers. Now I don't pirate so this doesn't effect me in reality, but in principle I am staunchly against this sort of tactic.

I have never known a 'pirate' who didn't buy a pretty sizeable amount of video games. But I do know plenty who have ceased interacting with companies at all after being smashed. I'm doubtful this will be in their favor.
 

Doc Theta Sigma

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Jan 5, 2009
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And lo, a million voices cried out as the banhammer crashed down upon them. From that day Microsoft proclaimed: GTFO pirates. And it was so.

Although this is good for those people that want a cheap 360 and like me, don't give a toss about multiplayer.
 

Slaanax

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Oct 28, 2009
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Terramax said:
Treblaine said:
Why can this be good? Because that is 1 million Xbox 360 fans who are suddenly without a 360, I wonder what percentage of them would buy a brand new console?
Think about it, Xbox live is £39.99 (not sure what the US equivalent is). imagine if even half of them don't rebuy an 360, stop paying for XLive. That's £19,995,000 revenue they're missing out on, right?
50$ US right now. Who knows what type of kickbacks/ or publicity this will generate for them. Microsoft has so much money that they made the original X-box knowing they were going to lose money for it so they could set it up in the future market to make money.
 

GonzoGamer

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Apr 9, 2008
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Xanthious said:
To anyone that thinks this matters in the slightest: Really? You think this is going to slow them down in the slightest? This did absolutely nothing to put a stop to piracy on the 360. Ok so they can't get on XBL. Well those massive stacks of copied games they have still work just fine. Sure it looks good to come out and say you banned all those consoles but what about the ones they didn't catch? I can promise you that most pirates with an ounce of sense that know the "do's and dont's" about Xbox piracy are still just fine. Furthermore, how long do you really think it's going to take those that want to be back online to get back online? If it REALLY matters to them to get back onto XBL they will most likely get back there sooner rather than later. All in all this is just an exercise in futility that makes for good PR.
I'm betting they're going to love this exercise in futility. This will probably be the best thing to happen to 360 console sales since the rrod hit.

On the other hand, at those prices, I might even get a 360 now. I would never pay the price for going online anyway.
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Glefistus said:
"a few of the bastards"

Wow, way to blindly attack modders. Godforbid someone mods an Xbox to play homebrew or games from oversees.
I'm pretty sure the context of that sentence made it rather clear that by "bastards" I was referring to pirates. Who I have absolutely no sympathy for.