Major Nelson cracks down on pirates with XBOX Live bans

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

majornelson

Fresh off the heels of the XBOX Live update last week, Major Nelson has made a statement today regarding the crackdown on XBOX Live users using modified systems to play pirated games. The fact that there are thousands of users out there utilizing modded systems to play pirated games online is frustrating to people who pay full price for their systems and games. New releases are expensive to buy; however, with the opportunity to rent games, trade-in and purchase used games and utilize sites like Gamefly, gamers should stop ripping off publishers and developers.

The cost of games in the development and production stages fluctuates for the size and scope of the game. However, players ripping off the game industry by renting and ripping the title to a modded system or downloading a bootleg copy is causing members of the development or production team to have lower salaries or possibly be laid off. When a company expects to sell 2 million copies of a game, but a good portion of those sales don’t occur due to pirated versions leaking to the general public, sales numbers and revenue are drastically cut.

Let’s just put it this way, if I write an article on this website and then someone else steals my material and puts it on their site on a daily basis, I’d be pissed. I completely agree with Major Nelson’s statements and hope the banning of pirated game users will open the eyes to gamers and make them realize that just because they think games are too expensive, that they are still hurting the overall industry and causing games to cost more to make up for lost sales. This affects all of us and I surely don’t want to be spending more than $59.99 for my games in the near future.

As another reminder, the XBOX 360 warranty is non-transferable and you will be unable to access XBOX Live if you have purchased a previously banned system. Just a word of warning to anyone out there trying to buy a used 360 system.

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Dustin

bobby d

gay

http://intensedebate.com/people/DustinBlackwell DustinMMOMFG

Bobby, did you get banned? Not sure what the problem is unless you are a modder. It would be great if all games were free, but no one is going to want to go out and make games if there isn't anyone paying for them.

chinaman

This ban cycle is only adversely affecting noob modders. All my modded boxes are working fine, despite what microsoft says.
M$oft

Look, I used to fork out the money for these games but times are tough and moneys tight. Banning my xbox only frustrates me and I still continue to download and play these games anyhow. If u really want to fix this you need to increase trade in value for games and stop undercutting us on our investment!

http://intensedebate.com/people/JustinMMOMFG JustinMMOMFG

Except Microsoft doesn't handle the trade value of games. Gamestop does, or whatever venue you chose.
If you're really looking to get a good buy for your used games there are plenty of other options. Ebay comes to mind and there are even some sites that will allow you to trade in a game for another used game (though the name escapes me at the moment).

bob

this problem is worse than people think. Almost everyone i know has a modded system and it frustrates me cause i pay full price for games. Some people are even playing game weeks ahead of release date and getting them for next to nothing. I know people that already have mw2 beaten already and i have to wait and pay the full 60 to get the same experiance. There are more than just thousands there are hundreds of thousands if not a million or more moders out there microsoft just doesnt know about them.

Deezo

Well maybe you need to stop hating and get yours modded. Then you can stop crying like a lil bitch whose candy got taken. Waaaah waaah is all I hear

http://intensedebate.com/people/DustinBlackwell DustinMMOMFG

I say we all agree to disagree. Some people like mods/modders and some don't. Either way, at least everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this topic. Bring on the QQ/Rage!

Spike

My system is modded and i am happy… why does microsoft wanna make me unhappy?? lol

http://intensedebate.com/people/JustinMMOMFG JustinMMOMFG

Because they enjoy money? Just a shot in the dark.
http://www.njgamebreak.com NJGB Roy

because what is making you happy is illegal, maybe?

YubnCkSlapd

Modders make games cost more? Why, because a developer only makes 40 million instead of 50 million in profit?? And that's an exageration, but you get the point. Modders barely hurt the bottom line for developers, they are still making money hand over fist, unless the game sucked anyway, then there's no one to blame except themselves. The percentage of modders I bet is under 10% of the total gaming community, if it wasn't no body would be buying games at the record numbers they are. Believe me, our modded games make no difference in weather an employee gets the BMW 750i or 760i……

http://intensedebate.com/people/DustinBlackwell DustinMMOMFG

It is possible that modders and mod-users only consist of 10% or so, but 10% of 20 million is still enough to affect sales numbers and company structure. I understand how frustrating it is to pay full price, but 1. modding is illegal, 2. screws over the people who worked their ass off on a game and 3. is lame to someone who gladly pays full price for a title, whether they are rich or poor.

YubnCkSlapd

Is it lonely up there on your pedestal?

http://intensedebate.com/people/DustinBlackwell DustinMMOMFG

LOL! I'm just playing the side of the advocate for the game industry. I have mixed opinions on this topic and see both sides! My main problem is that if there are further increases in modders and mod-users, that I'll have to pay a lot more for games than I already do. If you were a journalist who covers games, you'd likely adhere to not using modded games, either.

http://intensedebate.com/people/JustinMMOMFG JustinMMOMFG

You gotta remember, not every game is a Mass Effect, Mario, or Zelda and will go on and sell 1,2,3,10 million copies. Also, regardless of how much money they lose whether it's 2 bucks or 2,000, it's still morally (and legally) wrong. If you spent hard earn time and money making something, anything, whether it's a cake or a game wouldn't you feel slighted if someone came in and just eat the cake without saying thank you or offering you any money?
That's how developers feel.

YubnCkSlapd

Dude, we live in america, we stole an ENTIRE CONTINENT! I don't feel so bad about a game….

http://intensedebate.com/people/DustinBlackwell DustinMMOMFG

I'll just call you the Christopher Colombus of gaming

YubnCkSlapd

I'll take it!! LOL

http://intensedebate.com/people/JustinMMOMFG JustinMMOMFG

I really have no response….

M$oft

You know he is right But, back on topic, modern warfare 2 is a great game… and piracy is bad… unless you live in Somalia and don't afraid of anything!
YubnCkSlapd

You just made this game really not fun….. But thank you for playing. I see I'll have to go back to Dustin for my intellectual stimulation….

Moth

Just my 2cents, If games were cheap and didnt loose their value the day you buy them, i wouldnt look for a way to play for free but when you ask for $60 + tax for each game and a "crappy" console for $199…I DONT THINK SO! and then not happy with charging these prices, they want MORE so the MS points system comes into play…if you want "extra" stuff like maps you have to buy them! so with all bells and whistles its way over $100 for ONE game.

So I say…keep banning, no one really cares and everyone expects it and prepares for it…

http://intensedebate.com/people/JustinMMOMFG JustinMMOMFG

Games are expensive no doubt, but so is making them.
If you think DLC is priced incorrectly I would say either don't buy it or wait awhile. Most of the DLC I've bought was during the summer price deals or some sort of 1/2 price off.

It's not just MS either, Wii and PS3 have plenty of DLC up for grabs all price fairly or unfairly depending on what you get out of it.

YubnCkSlapd

Enough with the LOLz, back to business! Now, I also want to note that I'm not a game burning whore, some of the games I've even purchased after burning(but to be fair, its only because I couldn't find a good one that passed AGBX for online play). YES! I played ODST in french, 2 weeks before launch, and no, I didn't understand a damn things the grunts and brutes were saying to me! But, I did break down and go preorder after I beat it, lets face it, having to read every piece of dialogue sucks, and no Sgt Johnson with a burned game. So in the end, you have to ask yourself, if downloading/burning a game is bad/immoral, does that mean tipping a stripper for a little "extra attention" bad too, if its to help pay her way through med school? That stripper my save your life one day!!! And you can think back to that motor-boat you gave her for $20 really made a difference.

http://intensedebate.com/people/JustinMMOMFG JustinMMOMFG

I see where you're getting at and it's an age old argument that those who pirate games were (a. never going to buy it in the first place) or (b. end up buying it if it's good enough). I have no real argument for A, since the person was never going to put down the $60. But I have a hard time believing that most of the people who pirate end up buying the game in the long run. You say you have done it before, but I believe you're also in the minority.

YubnCkSlapd

Agreed…as being a Mexican does make me a minority….I have a friend who is a Wii pirate, but absolutely doesn't feel bad about his games, he claims 95% of the ones he's burned are complete crap and he would have been beating the kid behind the counter at Gamestop when he went to trade them in. Point being, I see your point, kinda, because he never has any intention of purchasing any of the games he burns. I guess I do it because I'm a person that hates the cooperate greed that we see all over in every industry, while I don't claim to be a rebel sticking to the man one game at a time, its just hard for me to feel bad about it. In a perfect world, everybody would purchase their games/movies/music as intended, but in a perfect world, everyone would be financially able to do so, which is where I believe this all stems from, "necessity is the mother of all inventions".

http://intensedebate.com/people/JustinMMOMFG JustinMMOMFG

Corporate greed is what makes capitalism work unfortunately but you do have to remember the people behind that corporation are actually very talent artists, developers, coders etc… that have nothing to do with the corporate face of the company. They come in, clock in, and do their work ya know?

http://intensedebate.com/people/DustinBlackwell DustinMMOMFG

LOL. $20 motorboats sounds like a steal.

This guy

I too, have a modded box, I have it solely to play games that I have owned in the past, but had to trade off because glorious capitalism is causing our economy to shit bricks. I also pay for the few games I feel are actually worth a damn. I'm not paying $10 to rent a game at Blockbuster to take it back 30 minutes later after realizing it sucks.

To be completely honest though, modding my xbox was lame even in my own eyes. I've lost the want to play any of the games and I'm actually getting rid of it today for the Call of Duty version which I will not be modding.
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Major Nelson cracks down on pirates with XBOX Live bans

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