Microsoft Crushes Reach Pirates with Banhammer

[molesgallus]

Serves them right. If it's games that barely even exist anymore because they're 20 years old, it might be arguable, but before the game is even released? That's inexcusable.

I agree with this completely. And what about those of us who have been waiting for so long to see this game? As a self-confessed Halo and Bungie fanboy, a Microsoft supporter (when they aren't being really greedy), and just generally someone who appreciates good games, I've personally been looking forward to Reach for a very long time now, ever since the book The Fall Of Reach was published. Quite frankly, pirating such a game, or indeed any game, is nothing more than an insult and a slap in the face to all the hard working men and women who put their time, effort, energy, and sleepless nights into making it, so that gamers can enjoy the fruits of their labour. I'm glad Microsoft has taken this approach to the leak, and I hope other developers and publishers also follow suit as and when their games are leaked before release.

Why are the publishers allowed to exploit those peoples labour, but not the hackers?

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Nintendo should've been more like Microsoft and nipped that R4DS in the bud.

Great job MS.

 

[Xanthious]

Nintendo should've been more like Microsoft and nipped that R4DS in the bud.

Great job MS.

Honestly, What do you think this changes? Do you think the people that got banned are just going to roll over and say "Well bugger me, my Xbox is banned I have seen the light! Piracy IS the devil"? Hell no. They will sell it, buy a new one and mod it, and if they are enterprising they will make money burning games for whoever they sold the old one to. So what has actually happened? Instead of hurting the pirates M$ is just adding to their numbers with these bans.

 

[Trivun]

Serves them right. If it's games that barely even exist anymore because they're 20 years old, it might be arguable, but before the game is even released? That's inexcusable.

I agree with this completely. And what about those of us who have been waiting for so long to see this game? As a self-confessed Halo and Bungie fanboy, a Microsoft supporter (when they aren't being really greedy), and just generally someone who appreciates good games, I've personally been looking forward to Reach for a very long time now, ever since the book The Fall Of Reach was published. Quite frankly, pirating such a game, or indeed any game, is nothing more than an insult and a slap in the face to all the hard working men and women who put their time, effort, energy, and sleepless nights into making it, so that gamers can enjoy the fruits of their labour. I'm glad Microsoft has taken this approach to the leak, and I hope other developers and publishers also follow suit as and when their games are leaked before release.

Why are the publishers allowed to exploit those peoples labour, but not the hackers?

What do you mean by that? If you mean that the hackers also work hard, then that's besides the point. The hackers didn't create the stuff in the first place, and making people's hard work available for free without those people's consent is just wrong, simple as. If you mean that the publishers exploit the developers, then that's also wrong, but at least the developers are still benefiting, from various standpoints (not least of which is financial incentive).

Trust me, I want to work in the industry myself so I'm well aware of how things are run and how things happen. And I also hate to see pirates and hackers freely do whatever they please and just ruin the hard work other, better, people have put into something, apparently for no good reason.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

"... Double tap..."

Now I'm gonna go watch Zombieland again...

Anyway, fuckers got what they deserved.

 

[Nueemann]

Bout' time. I was really getting irritated by the morons that were live streaming and essentially laughing in our faces.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Wow, some people just don't have Patience.

 

[Loonerinoes]

Rule 1 of piracy: keep your play offline, maggots!

Sums it up just fine without all the traditional moralistic trashtalk, thank you. They were silly and stupid and this is the expected reaction from Microsoft that doesn't surprise me one bit and is quite warranted.

 

[Nueemann]

Well this will have absolutely no effect other than to add more modded Xbox 360s into the market. Here is what will happen. People are going to sell their banned 360s to their friends who don't care about online play but will think it's cool as hell to be able to play pirated games or they will sell it on Craigslist either way they will just turn around and buy and mod a new one. I know more than a few people that have sold multiple banned 360s to people and then turn around and sell em burnt games at five or ten bucks a pop.

Sad thing is, it's so true. I'd laugh if Microsoft started suing people for selling modded hardware, both controllers and consoles.

 

[Haunted Serenity]

They deserved this. Good for you microsoft.

 

[etherlance]

And the crowds go wild for this case of extreme justice gone RIGHT!!!

Those guys should be grateful for not facing criminal charges!!

 

[Treblaine]

I called it. Everyone remember I called it:

"This game will be on torrent sites within a matter of days"

These "double-tap" bans make no difference, the situation is no different from piracy on PC. All this does is ban the consoles from Online Multiplayer, the same happens with pirated PC games that you cannot play online (look at how effectively WoW online pirates get smacked down). These modded console can most likely still play multiplayer through some LAN-to-Online hack, not ideal, but no real difference from piracy on PC.

Cliff Blezinsky will eat his words!

Gears of War 2 & 3 for PC!

 

[Cosplay Horatio]

Way to go Microsoft! I've heard of getting black spots but "double black spots"? That's just awesome!

 

[ucciolord1]

Thumbs up Microsoft.
Though might I also suggest fixing

the gaping security hole that is Games for Windows Live.

 

[Searlero]

Two cases of massive banhammer purges in a week (I'm referrig to the RDR one), now the MW2 scoreboards need to fixed and all is right in the world of Xbox live.

On Topic, I have no sympathy for the pirates for two reasons, the first being they shouldn't have got hold of the game. The second reason is that they aren't the decent type of pirate.

 

[Treblaine]

Well this will have absolutely no effect other than to add more modded Xbox 360s into the market. Here is what will happen. People are going to sell their banned 360s to their friends who don't care about online play but will think it's cool as hell to be able to play pirated games or they will sell it on Craigslist either way they will just turn around and buy and mod a new one. I know more than a few people that have sold multiple banned 360s to people and then turn around and sell em burnt games at five or ten bucks a pop.

Too true, it is obvious from the discrepancy between Numbers of Consoles Sold and number of XBL Gold Accounts that most Xbox 360 gamers don't care about online multiplayer, or at least don't care enough to fork over $50 (£40 in UK = US$65) per year for it!

But the one upside of this for Microsoft is this artificially inflates numbers of Xbox 360's "in the market".

See, console sales are only relevant because they indicate how many people are actually eligible to buy games for that system. If a significant proportion are:
-Dead from RROD or other faults
-Modded for piracy
-Banned for any reason

Then figures like "40 million Xbox 360's sold" become pretty darn irrelevant.

Thing about banning a console is it pretty much guarantees it will be for piracy as it is USELESS for legitimate games. You need to keep taking custom firmware updates and pirated games to play the latest stuff, an it's not to much detriment, Halo fans are getting Reach a whole month early.

And there is bigger incentive to Pirate consoles games than any other game as at $60 per game plus $20 to $30 worth of DLC that is an incredibly steep price. I mean on PC you can get 2x to 4x as many games for the same price. Many full PC games launch at XBLA prices.

 

[GoGo_Boy]

Nice!
Wanna see the face of all those banned pirates thinking:" Well I'll be damned, what did I expect? >_________________<"