Padding the Numbers
I saw a report from CNET News that Microsoft has banned a whopping one million players from Xbox live for using "modded" consoles! One million is quite a number, and the timing is simply extraordinary. The CNET news article suggests that the bans were pressured by Activision, due to pirated copies of Call of Duty appearing on the internet before the game's actual release. Sure, I can see that happening. Call of Duty is a very popular title that will make both Microsoft and Activision quite a lot of money. However, there is more to this story.

With the extensive Xbox Live ban comes a huge wave of banned Xbox360 consoles showing up on Craigslist and Ebay. Someone who is looking to purchase a pre-owned or even a "refurbished" Xbox360 console really should get a written guarantee that the console is fully operational, including on Xbox Live. Otherwise, you can get burned. That is, unless you don't give two hoots about Xbox Live as these banned consoles will still work to play games offline. But that also means no game updates and no downloaded content, too.

For Microsoft, this timing couldn't be any better. First they can claim the morale high-ground for fighting software piracy. And second, all those people who love to play online over their Xbox360s, but got banned, now have to buy another console... just in time for Christmas!

It makes me wonder just how many of the 11.6 million Xbox360s sold in North America actually represent its "installed user base" and how many of them represent a second or maybe even a third purchase by the same player? That's totally crazy, but this isn't the first time Microsoft has issued Xbox Live bans, and sadly some gamers have more debt than brains.

Arclayn MoonSword