Looks like MS has figured out how to ban more people with modded Xboxes - http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=293690
I know a lot of people use their modded Xboxes for “legit” reasons, but since there is no way to tell I’d rather just have a blanket ban from Live.
What I don’t understand is why console makers are so dead set on locking everything down in the first place. What’s wrong with letting me put in a bigger hard drive and install what programs I want on it? What’s the harm in letting me use my XBox as a media hub if I want? Why should I have to choose between two of the potential uses of the thing?
[size=7]YOU FILTHY PIRATE BASTARD[/size]
Because it makes it easy for you to pirate their games maybe? They can’t count on everyone being the saint you surely are, and when it comes to online games they have the added incentive to lock down as much of the system as they can in the interest of preventing cheaters from ruining things for everyone else when at all possible.
Because they lose money on hardware that they’re expecting to make up on software.
On the other hand, they are a giant evil multinational corporation, so fuck 'em.
If you really wanted to do the right thing, you’d steal the games direct from the warehouse instead of pirating them.
Wouldn’t the better argument be that allowing modified hardware increases the chance that your allowing people to cheat?
Sure it sucks for all the legitimate uses you can get out of a modified console system, but the relative purity of everyone running the same hardware and software configuration is probably the biggest anti-cheat measure consoles have going for them in on-line games.
Cheating is the “September 11th” of the on-line gaming world. For all the time and effort spent on developing anti-cheat software that’s often simply bolted on top of regular code, it would be interesting, though probably impossible, to see a study on just how much cheating actually affects the average player.
How many times are we actually plagued by serious cheaters as opposed to really skilled players that our ego automatically claims couldn’t be anything but when they kick our ass?
How so?
I totally agree. And yes, it would be interesting to find that out… if theres any possible way to make that sort of poll…
[quote=“extarbags”]
How so?[/quote]
You’re just trolling with this one, right?
–Dave
When I first started playing R6 on Live the amount of people with the Action Replay cheats was insane. It made it hard to have fun when people were gettting one shot kills while they had body armor.
I own 2 xboxes, one modded and one not plus I buy all my games. So they took a hit 2x on the hardware costs and won’t get any extra money out of me for more games that I already buy. So they lose money on me and any other honest modders out there. Actually come to think of it they lose money on the pirates as well. For under the price of 3 games they can just buy an unmodded xbox to play on Live! Plus there was never a way to play games off of the hard drive on Live! anyway.
It seems to me like they will end up selling more hardware (which nets them a loss) and not sell anymore software. From a financial standpoint very dumb. The cheating thing may have some legs but the mod chip has to be off to get on Live! so there is no real benefit there.
– Xaroc
Is that the definition of true piracy?
[quote=“extarbags”]
How so?[/quote]
(in case he’s not trolling)
One of the main uses for modded XBoxes (and other consoles) is so that they will run pirated copies of games that were burned to CD or DVD.
One of the OTHER main uses for modded XBoxes is to have it run Linux, or Xbox Media Center, or whatnot.
Is that the definition of true piracy?[/quote]
If you’re a true pirate, you’ll do it with one leg and a hook for a hand. That’s the pirate way.
Just in case you didn’t get that I was joking - I really don’t think stealing games direct from the MS warehouses is the right thing to do. It was a sarcastic remark aimed at that particular brand of pirate that see themselves as some kind of holy crusader against big, monopolistic software companies. You probably did get that I was joking, I just wanted to be sure.
Microsoft announced last week or so that they are releasing an official Media Center addon for xbox soon, so you can stream media from a PC on the local network. So… that kinda throws out that arguement.
And is buying and modding an xbox cheaper then just getting a Tivo, which would have more functionality?
The last time I checked, hoping for DVR functionality, I found that nobody could tell me how to make a Tivo work without the subscription service. I suspect that Tivo is trying to make it so that it can’t be done. That would change the price of the Tivo quite a bit; the logical equivalent of the modded X-box would be the super-expensive lifetime subscription service.
Also, you can’t run Linux on a Tivo. :)
That thread just seems to raise more questions than answers. Some seem to be able to get around the ban by changing their eeprom and hd etc, others just stay banned. Doesn’t really matter I guess, just shows ms is slowly trying to ban all modded xbox’s from live.
I have a modded xbox and I am glad they are doing it. No way should a modded xbox be allowed on live, the lack of cheaters is one of the great things about it. While it sucks that I have to actually move my ass out of my recliner to swap discs, that’s a small price to pay for a cheater free environment.
It works perfectly fine. Except that you get none of the guide data, and you have to set all recording times manually.
Also, you can’t run Linux on a Tivo. :)
For those that don’t know, Tivos run on relatively standard hardware using a modified Linux operating system.
Thanks, Derek, that’s very handy to know. Now I might actually buy one of them one day.