As most know, Microsoft offers a service known as Xbox Live. This service in a nutshell to most gamers makes the Xbox worth having, with everything from gaming with your friends from other states to streaming music, and videos right down to being able to participate in game shows and win prizes. Of course, this service is not free and many features require additional fees.
This on top of the over-hyped, over-priced games, as well as the inevitable Red Ring of Death (RROD) as well as other various hardware failures managed to spark the pirating community's interest in a rather loud way. For those who don't know, there are many ways to copy these games for about a third of the price; however, there are required modifications that need to be done to the console itself. The most typical of these involves changing the way the dvd drive reads discs.
Originally, people were able to play these pirated games on Microsoft's service without being detected, hence causing a deficit in game sales. Some might say that it's �"not a big deal.�" or �"that not many people do it.�" Well, according to CNN, on November 12th Microsoft had reported banning 1 million users from their service. Now that alone at $50 per user is a large enough hit for anyone to get the hint about piracy, but Microsoft manages to go one step further.
Microsoft, instead of fining the user or banning the user's accounts with no refund, will actually go in and ban the console itself. Not only that, but they also write a code to the user's hard drive that corrupts any and all saved data that is put onto the drive from the time of the ban. So, essentially the console is in need of being replaced.
The answer for this problem would be to purchase a new console, seeing as there is no way to get a console unbanned. This also includes consoles that were purchased via craigslist, or ebay that are on Microsoft's ban list. Microsoft suggests you buy their new console package that comes bundled with the famed Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. The problem with this, you ask? Well, the problem is this console comes in at a price of $400 before tax.
So, what are people doing now? Many of these banned users will either 1. sell their console online or 2. they will �"gut swap�" their console with a console from a retail store and return it. This in turn makes no profit to the retailer or Microsoft. Many saw this coming with the holiday seasons around the corner. Some say Microsoft waited all year just to do a massive ban to increase more sales. Many outraged gamers are going over to Sony's PlayStation 3, whereas the rest are scamming the system to have what they feel is their right, this right being to use the Xbox Live service that they paid for.
In closing, many think this is just the beginning of a war set on the battlefield of a poor economy, a war that will inevitably change the game industry as we know it. The best advice for holiday bargain hunters? Make sure what you purchase is new in a box and sealed, and be sure to hold on to that receipt. As for the warranty, banned or modified consoles void them.
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