Dummy Xbox Live accounts blocked, not banned

by James Ransom-Wiley { Nov 28th 2006 at 1:45PM }

never gonna get it, not this time, no, you're never gonna get it

Microsoft has begun blocking non-U.S. residents' access to exclusive downloadable content. Xbox Live users in Europe and elsewhere have long taken advantage of a well-known workaround, registering North American "dummy" accounts in order to access downloadable content exclusive to that region -- in some cases, North American users have done the opposite. Not anymore.

With the launch of a downloadable TV and movie service in the US, Microsoft is suddenly interested in controlling the destinations of the content it provides. The solution is simple: block access of region-protected content from any IP address that does not correspond with the country/region that the user's Xbox Live account is associated with. We are still awaiting an official statement regarding this new policy, but Microsoft's Chris Paladino has apparently confirmed, "I do know for a fact that we are not banning the accounts."

Tags: account, Xbox Live, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

EdZ @ Nov 28th 2006 2:52PM

Bah, just tunnel through to a server in the US and carry on downloading. Not a problem.

Spilt_Milk @ Nov 28th 2006 2:56PM

What about american servicemen stationed overseas?

MIguel @ Nov 28th 2006 2:04PM

I have a question...... I live in southamerica in my xbox i cant put my country sow i have it registered as USA...... whats going to happen to me?????

Sean @ Nov 28th 2006 2:06PM

use a proxy server

Austin @ Nov 28th 2006 2:16PM

"use a proxy server"
Thank you captain obvious, I would hope it's not that simple.

Judd @ Nov 28th 2006 2:24PM

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/26

Kyle Saric @ Nov 29th 2006 2:37AM

"Bah, just tunnel through to a server in the US and carry on downloading. Not a problem."

How?

--

I live in Greece where Xbox Live doesn't even exist so I'm registered under my friends grandmothers house (yeah bigtime lol) so would that affect me? Or are they just doing it continent or country by country.

Lobster @ Nov 28th 2006 7:47PM

It's not a big truck! TUBES!

OtakuCODE @ Nov 28th 2006 4:27PM

This is just mean. First they do the entirely brainless approach of limiting content by geographic region, ignoring all people who are interested in other cultures... now they're actively seeking those people out and making them unhappy for no other reason than they want them to be unhappy.

How about this? Internationalize the Xbox Live Marketplace. It desperately needs a redesign anyway (New Releases doesn't know what releases I've seen before? How stupid is that?). Add an International section, and let us with an interest in the "Japan-exclusive" content access it and buy it if we so desire.

Licensing issues? Stop being idiots and buying localized licenses then. Make it known that global licensing is the only thing you're interested in.

Region coding on a service that runs over the Internet is just ludicrous. One of the primary advantages of the Internet is the fact that it makes geography irrelevant. USE that advantage rather than fight it, MS!

Stuart @ Nov 28th 2006 3:50PM

I think this is crap. If Microsoft would stop playing games with the consumer, and just let people download all the same materials, there wouldn't be a problem at all. Obviously people have a problem with it if they're doing it in such great numbers that Microsoft has had to block it off.

Snafu @ Nov 28th 2006 3:56PM

The site never said it is a fact they would ban them. They said blocking/deleting because they didn't know what will happen. That seems to be a translation error made by some us sites.

But it doesn't matter, fake accounts were only made to access foreign marketplaces and MS found a way to end this.

Halaster @ Nov 30th 2006 8:38PM

It actually "IS" as simple as using a proxy server. Though each time you switch user names you are going to have to enable and and disable it for different regions. If you want access to Japanese content use a proxy server located in Japan so you are reporting a Japanese IP address.