Microsoft fires off salvo of Halo: Reach pirating permabans

by Griffin McElroy on Aug 25th 2010 12:01PM

If you were one of the ne'er-do-wells who thought downloading a leaked copy of Halo: Reach and then playing it online was a really, really great idea, you might have received a stern email from Microsoft like the one recently dug up by MaxConsole. The document informs these red-handed pirates that "your Xbox LIVE account privileges have been permanently suspended due to illegitimate prerelease title play."

Xbox Live Director of Policy and Executioner Stephen Toulouse commented on the bans on Twitter, explaining "as with all unauthorized play on Xbox LIVE, anyone playing any unauthorized title runs the risk of account permaban and console." In short, you do the crime, you pay the time. Wait, is "forever and ever" an actual measurement of time?

Via: GamePolitics
Source: MaxConsole

Tags: ban, bungie, Halo-Reach, microsoft, permaban, piracy, stephen-toulouse, xbox, xbox-live

Reader Comments (70)

If you have a J-TAG, and you're playing online, then you DESERVE to be banned.

@Cheesus Crust You basically can't play them online, the system's memory is modified and it'll basically be auto flagged the second you try to -.-

@Cheesus Crust
But they can unban themselves with a key vault. That's how that prick Jester can Snipe keeps using aimbots in Halo 3.

@Cheesus Crust

Seriously.

@daytripper
*Jester Snipes

@Cheesus Crust
That's why there is xlink for the xbox so you can play with a modded or a JTAG console. True there are less players but enough to play.

@daytripper There's a finite amount of keyvaults though. They're bound to run out here within a few months ;). It's really weird saying how people will get a console ban if they play the game early, because if they play the game early - they're playing it on a JTAG, and will get a console ban within a few hours anyway.

@XU5
I'd have to agree, but if you play online you have to update yourJTAG console thus breaking the JTAG?

@XU5
You don't need a jtag for playing pre-release games. They're just like every other game that you pirate on the 360, they just aren't in stores yet.

@daytripper

You can't unban yourself from live. Thats a fact.

@GQ1980

You can. You just need a special type of xbox.

Who would be that stupid? Why would anyone think playing a pirated game before release is a good idea?

@SitriStahl

But what happens if my local store decides to actually sell a legitimate copy of Reach earlier than September 14?

If I buy this copy, and play it online, will I get banned!?!?

:/

@Joseph9307 Nah. If that happens then Microsoft knows that and checks if you live in that region where it was leaked. If you are, then you won't likely be banned. If you're on the other side of the world, then yeah, you're gonna get banned.

@Joseph9307 You won't get banned for buying it early. They can tell the difference.

@Joseph9307

If you just play offline, I doubt anything would happen to you. I'm sure Microsoft has some mechanism to check if a game is a full, retail copy and an unfinished, beta version. At least, I hope so.

@Joseph9307
You'll have to read the Xbox Live Terms and Conditions for the answer to that one.

@Joseph9307

You'll be fine in that case. A lot of big games have been released early by stores and I don't know of anyone that has been banned for that. The "early" copies MS is talking about here were stolen off the Live servers via a download meant for professional reviewers and such.

@Joseph9307 Game in the UK usually get games to you a day early, even 2 days early sometimes if the game was really popular & you get yours in early,

Serves 'em right!

Nice.

Natural selection, Xbox Live style.

Wow.
Whoever actually tried playing it online needs to screw their head on a bit tighter

Anyone who is smart enough to jtag their xbox knows not to use their xbox on live ever...they cant get on live anyways because it will ask them to update their xbox to a newer kernel which in turn screws up their jtag and pretty much renders their xbox useless...

to sum it up...they have one permanent offline modded xbox and one for online stuff, the end.

@A F 1 G 3 That read like your going from experience and thus a suspected pirating douchebag.

@iFester ummm actually no, but thats for the assumption! what i typed is wrong...i just realized there are 10th prestige lobbies which mean jtags indeed go online. just because i read about something for my own personal knowledge doesnt mean ive done something illegal, jerkoff.

@A F 1 G 3 thanks*

@A F 1 G 3 - Since when did being a tenth prestige mean you had a modified 360? The tenth prestige glitch in MW2 had absolutely nothing to do with the console and everything to do with not enough beta testing by Infinity Ward. Glitching to get tenth prestige is lamer than modifying your 360 but does not require a modified 360.

@carbonize i thought the 10th prestige lobby always had to come from a jtagged hosted xbox, then anyone that joined that room got the hacked xp? anyways i dont know much about all this jtag modding stuff and it clearly shows so i guess its only fitting that iFester has gone into the depths of joystiq comment system hell :-)

@carbonize
You are wrong in everyway

When I see someone on the tenth prestige (always at 70, never somewhere short) I know one of two things: This person is a cheater, or this person has played way too much MW2. Either way, I probably don't have any business playing with them.

It's not quite as sad as the people that mod their consoles and make their name "Right Button, Left Button, Right Button, X Button, Square Button, Start" in bright colors though.

@AntiSniperSpy
as a owner of a jtag i can say you are wrong,
first, tenth prestige lobbys can only be hosted on a jtagged xbox 360 with a type of lobby patch and second you can go online with a jtag but buying and switching the kv is a tedious task plus each kv cost 60$

@A F 1 G 3

yea i might be late but your kinda right but the thing is that people with J-Tag consoles use system link to get online in modern warefare 2 because like you said they cant get on with a J-Tag xbox

[expletive deleted] deserve it too.

@iFester
What did the Fry Cooks do to deserve that? :'(

So instead of waiting 3 weeks to BUY the game like the rest of us, they decided to hack into the system, get the game, and then PLAY IT ONLINE? WTF? Well, I guess that adds a plenty of new assholes to my list :D

Even if they played it offline, when they go online AFTER reach comes out, can't microsoft detect that they played it prior to the 14th?

@Esat Dedezade

They flag the save games and then release a patch on release day. The patch can check when the save game was written or perhaps look for some other marker that will be updated on the retail release. These way they can ban them.

@SmokemeaKipper

Thanks for the info.

@Esat Dedezade
I'd say yes for sure. Especially if they got a couple achievements. Although one could just set the console date and time to the future. Not exactly sure how that stuff works. I'm curious at just how many people were playing online?!
MS has an uphill battle. How do you fight those who are not afraid of a ban, when your only punishment is a ban? They're like suicide banned-its?

@SmokemeaKipper I would think they have a more sophisticated system then that in place. Otherwise you could just defeat it with the old school method of changing the system time. Worked back in the PC days for time lock demo's, etc.

So, not allowing people to pay $50 a year to use their own connections, while simultaneously not allowing custom content AND putting restrictions on how developers can release new content and it's considered a bad thing?

@Themoreyouknow
Reading that made my head hurt. Are you saying MS should let people play pirated games on XBOX Live, or that you agree with the bans?

@xreadmore
I'm saying that people consider getting banned from XBL a bad thing when all those things I said are true.

@Themoreyouknow
It is a bad thing if you use Xbox Live. Are you really that ignorant? Or just a troll? Probably both. Just because because you don't care doesn't mean no one does (or should). If your PC died I know I wouldn't care, but I'd at least respect that you might.

I'm sure the people that downloaded the leaked version care about being banned. If they didn't care about playing on Xbox Live then they wouldn't have in the first place.

@Themoreyouknow

Dude shut up. Your an idiot.

1. Leak game
2. Make headlines
3. Achieve sympathy from non-pirates
4. Ban pirates
5. Make more headlines
6. Sell new Xboxes to banned pirates
7. Release much hyped game
8. Profit

@Pure Black World Tendency
I think you need question marks in between 7 & 8.

Thought you could only play the leaked version on Jtagged?
Jtagged = banned but you can unban so no point lol

Those Spartans look surprisingly good with pirate hats on.

@Bubbameister33

Sp-ARRR-tans!

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Halo: Reach

Microsoft fires off salvo of Halo: Reach pirating permabans

Reader Comments (70)

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:04PM Cheesus Crust said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:19PM jynxycat said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:24PM daytripper said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:24PM Deschain said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:26PM daytripper said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 2:17PM Ikser said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 2:51PM XU5 said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 4:52AM Ikser said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 10:51AM thenutman69321 said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 12:21PM GQ1980 said

Posted: Aug 27th 2010 5:58AM LuckyEMS said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:04PM SitriStahl said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:30PM Joseph9307 said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:35PM YimYimYimi said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:35PM gwangi said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:35PM thisredengine said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:36PM xreadmore said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 1:33PM Vidikron said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 2:58PM Mazrael said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:05PM trendscenedental said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:06PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:07PM Brodo said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:07PM A F 1 G 3 said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:17PM iFester said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:21PM A F 1 G 3 said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:21PM A F 1 G 3 said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:44PM carbonize said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 1:11PM A F 1 G 3 said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 1:26PM AntiSniperSpy said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 2:33PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 5:33PM rule breaker said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 9:12PM Clinton O said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:07PM iFester said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 1:21PM RyanS said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:09PM Iron Man said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:11PM Esat Dedezade said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:20PM SmokemeaKipper said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:21PM Esat Dedezade said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:23PM xreadmore said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 1:08PM KAL326 said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:14PM Themoreyouknow said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:26PM xreadmore said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 1:46PM Themoreyouknow said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 3:31PM xreadmore said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 5:08PM Cyro 117 said

Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:16PM Pure Black World Tendency said

Posted: Aug 26th 2010 1:30AM budboyy2k said

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Posted: Aug 25th 2010 12:25PM Uncle Jesse said

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