XBL Account Bans, Unauthorized Storage Devices Blocked In New Dash, Wave4 Update

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XBL Account Bans, Unauthorized Storage Devices Blocked In New Dash, Wave4 Update

First off, yes I copied and pasted most of this, but this is a very useful message to all Xbox 360 users.

Read this closely and pay attention....

If you don't read this, you might be getting banned, might loose all you hard earned game saves, and might even just brick your system

Microsoft began banning XBL accounts yesterday for "illegitimate pre-release title play". This is believed to be related to a pirated copy of Forza 3 which recently leaked early. At this time they appear to only be banning gamertags and not consoles. As always, FST is against piracy so a disclaimer saying not to download and play games that leak early should go without saying. However, there are also a good number of people who have completely legitimate access to games prior to their release date...people who work in a video game store or rental store for example. Now that Microsoft has taken this step, they should also be careful about playing a game early, even an original disc.

Major Nelson also announced on his blog yesterday that "unauthorized Xbox 360 storage devices" will no longer work after the next major dash update.

When Preview Program members start receiving the Xbox 360 system update next week, one of the changes is that unauthorized Memory Units will no longer work with the Xbox 360. If you’ve moved your profile or saved games onto one to “back it up,” you’d better move it back onto an authorized Xbox 360 storage device prior to taking the update. If you continue to use an unauthorized Memory Unit after the update, you will not be able to access your stored profile or saved games.

This appears to apply to 3rd party memory cards that do not have an official Microsoft seal of approval, and possibly also the "hacked" 120GB internal Western Digital harddrives that users commonly purchase and flash to work with the 360 themselves for less than half of the price of the official one. We won't know for sure until the preview program starts and some brave users with these devices test the waters.

In better news, iXtreme 1.61 is currently being worked on for all drives to add support for new wave4 games. There is still no ETA but it's good to know it's already in the works. Also, the team behind abgx360 has announced that they will be releasing version 1.0.2 with wave4 support in the near future. The release of abgx360 1.0.2 will probably coincide with the release of iXtreme 1.61.

:source: Source: 360mos.net | Major Nelson Blog
:view: Homepage: Microsoft Xbox 360 | ABGX
:pic: Screenshots: Email for "early" release play, or unauthorized title play

So basically Microsoft wants to whore money by forcing people to buy their overpriced hard drives =/.

Thats corporate America for you...

Yeah, but there might be some "off-brand" hard drives that come on the market for cheaper maybe...like the Mad Cats controllers and stuff like that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SonsOfLiberty

and possibly also the "hacked" 120GB internal Western Digital harddrives that users commonly purchase and flash to work with the 360 themselves for less than half of the price of the official one.

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Shit I hope not! :angry:
It's bullshit to make us pay triple the value of the 120gb drive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SonsOfLiberty

Yeah, but there might be some "off-brand" hard drives that come on the market for cheaper maybe...like the Mad Cats controllers and stuff like that.

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That's exactly what they're trying to eliminate though. :lol:

I almost bought an Xbox but the RROD and HD restriction made me settle for a PS3 instead (also the 54% repair rate!!!). Funny, Sony will be offering a PS3 with 250GB HD next month for only $50 bucks more than the 120GB version!

from other articles i read, it only seems like they are blocking the third party memory card units that plug in the usb ports that allow hacks and cheats to be installed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darth Sushi

I almost bought an Xbox but the RROD and HD restriction made me settle for a PS3 instead (also the 54% repair rate!!!). Funny, Sony will be offering a PS3 with 250GB HD next month for only $50 bucks more than the 120GB version!

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+1.

Went and got a Slim because of the power saving I'll get and better codec support.

:lol: PS3 has a failure rate to, Sony just doesn't want you to know about :)

Have fun avoidng the RROD and you power saving, because you will get alot of power savings with no games to play :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SonsOfLiberty

:lol: PS3 has a failure rate to, Sony just doesn't want you to know about :)

Have fun avoidng the RROD and you power saving, because you will get alot of power savings with no games to play :lol:

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Have fun watching blu-ray movies! :noes:

Exactly you just made my point, lets see, maybe 5 games at most for PS3, Drake Fortune is pretty cool...Home sucks, its nothing compared to XBL, and lets not forgot, it's good for Bluray, so that's PS3 selling point?

Never heard of a BD Player? For $100? Or a BDREader for $50?

Or this? Microsoft chief hints Blu-ray add-on for Xbox 360 Thu October 22, 2009

Quote:

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Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer may have inadvertently tipped off his firm's plans for an external Blu-ray drive for the Xbox 360 in a talk in advance of today's Windows 7 launch. The executive is doubtful that it will ever be built-in but does tell Gizmodo that an external Blu-ray drive will be an option. He doesn't provide details but is unexpectedly confident that the hardware is enroute.

"Well I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there -- you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories," Ballmer says.

Company spokespeople asked about the statement wouldn't confirm or deny plans but do say that immediate plans focus only on 1080p streaming video through the upcoming Zune Video Marketplace on the Xbox. Microsoft is "not ready for comment" on any longer-term plans.

Microsoft has been reluctant to incorporate Blu-ray ever since the effective death of the HD DVD format in early 2008, when it had no choice but to phase out a USB-based HD DVD reader for the Xbox 360. Since then, it and observers have cited multiple reasons against building in Blu-ray, including both a shift to online video streaming, the high prices of Blu-ray drives and the possibility of splitting the Xbox market by offering the possibility of Blu-ray games.


http://www.electronista.com/articles...external.only/

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There goes PS3 only market standing.