Microsoft Cracks Down on Modded Consoles

Filed in archive Hacks on May 17, 2007

Microsoft announced today that alongside the new Halo 3 beta they've launched a renewed attack on those dreaded warranty-voiding, mod-chipping, Halo-3-beta-cheating hackers:

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. As part of our commitment to our members, we do not allow people that we have detected to have modified their console to connect to LIVE. This is an important part of our efforts to try and maintain a fair gaming environment for the large majority of gamers that play by the rules. This topic is more important than ever given the recent release of the Halo 3 beta. As a result, some consumers that try to login to LIVE who we detect have illegally modified their console will get an error code (Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D) when trying to connect to the service. These users will not have their account automatically banned from LIVE, but they will no longer be able to access the service from the console they modified.

Here's some the error message you'll receive if Microsoft finds your 'box to be compromised (emphasis mine):

This console has been banned for violations of the Terms of Use. To protect the Xbox Live service and its members, Microsoft does not provide details about console bans. There is no recourse for Terms of Use violations.

I respect their policy of keeping modded consoles off of Live but isn't that a bit harsh? Whatever system they're using to detect modded consoles can't be completely foolproof -- does this mean that Microsoft finds it acceptable that a certain percentage of users will be accidentally banned and the only solution will be for them to buy a new console? Just hope it doesn't happen to you.