News:2007-05-18 - Microsoft banning modified 360s
From Dev-Scene
2007-05-18 - Microsoft banning modified 360s
Microsoft banning Modified 360s from LIVE
Microsoft have drawn first blood banning Xbox360 with modified DVD-ROM drive firmware (both Hitachi-LG and Toshiba-Samsung drives).
On the same day as the Halo3 beta, Microsoft started banning consoles using modified firmware in their DVD-ROM drives. The author of the modified firmware was informed that Microsoft was able to detect these modifications and released an updated release with "disc-jitter" to hopefully bypass possible detection methods. Obviously it looks like Microsoft found another way to detect its use..
Microsoft has decided to ban the consoles unique serial with no possible chance of getting the Xbox LIVE ban removed (Microsoft will not allow anyone to login to LIVE on a modified/banned console).
"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.
We have stated in the past that customers can only enjoy access to the Xbox LIVE community through the use of a genuine, unmodified, Xbox console and we will continue to enforce this rule to ensure the integrity of our service, the protection of our partners and the benefits of our users." - Microsoft Games Global Marketing team
http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/05/17/545414.aspx