Looks like its happened as expected

I think most people with modded consoles are IT literate and just download the ISOs and burn them to disc. about 3 hours dowload time on an 8MB connection and pretty much any DVD burner will burn a dual layer disc these days, with, as said, the discs costing about 60p each.

Put into perspective with some of todays other news.


Microsoft buys ad firm for $6bn

Blog Rumour Knocks $4bn Off Apple Stock

I don't think Bill's going to loose too much sleep over a few $million.

Any reports on the ban and gamer achievements? If after a ban can you still gain achievements (which I think are stored on the HDD) and then access LIVE via an unmodded console and upload to your gamertag?

Only the console is banned (ID), your account is unaffected as why people are able to use thier hard drive with account on non-banned xboxes.

What I'm really trying to ask is, do points gained on a modded console still get added to your gamertag?

Don't see why not!

But if it's on a banned xbox, you will need live to update the system so you could put your drive on an unmodded xbox to update!

interested how there is a post over at xbox.com which is dated 11-10-2006 regarding not being able to connect to xbox live and has the same error code status:

W: 0000-0021

X: 0000-F001

Y:00AB-6820

Z: 8015-190D

On my console when I run the test it fails on xbox live but the more info doesnt say ive actually been banned, it displays an empty text box but if I view the error status code i get the same as above.

yep not everyone banned this is fact, for how long is anyones guess, seems some who updated before spring update may have escaped and have not spoofed their drives and are using ms28 drives.

To me it just looks like a ham fisted attempt of mass banning thats gone abit wrong and let some escape, some banned and worse legit users banned also, in other words a right mess to sort out

I think mine showed this code the other night. No text in the error report. I thought it just meant that a server is down or something is wrong with your provider.

I just called MS support, I was told to check firewalls, check with ISP and try wired connection instead of wireless all of which I have checked and everything is fine, I insisted in giving her the status code but was told to try it tomorrow and contact them again if the problem persists as they have been having server problems and resetting the servers.

Well i use a wired connection and when mine went offline i checked if i could still use the browser on my Wii and it too couldn't get online.

I've been following this on numerous forums and everyone that has a modded 360 who has called MS has had the same feedback. From what i've gathered so far only samsungs running 5.3D firmware are avoiding the ban but how long they don't know.

You guys with modded firmware do a connection test then check the codes
if z is 0000 then so far your ok but if you have numbers but can still get online they are checking you and you may be in line for a ban

I have a Hitachi with extreme 2.3 and I'm not banned

YET !!!

back onto the original firmware for now, see what happens...

No ban here yet.

Not especially bothered either way. Cant remember the last time I played on live - apart from today to test, it was probably over 3 months ago. After the early promise of PGR3 I found most other games incredibly frustrating to get a decent online game and tend to play mutiplayer games on the PC again. Went on today and played original version of PGR3 and it was fine. Didnt risk the backup version.

Cant even remember what firmware - did it about last august/september. Samsung MS25 drive.

Hitachi 78 with maximus 1.6 firmware on my machine. I only used a live gold account for my free month and did play backups online, since it expired though i've just had a silver account and downloaded the odd demo and not much else. So far everything is working fine, downloaded some demo's tonight and loaded up a few games but so far no problems. Has anyone on here with a silver account been banned? I can understand them banning gold members to be fair to the online community blah blah blah but can't see the point in banning silver accounts. If I get banned i'll still play the backups the same as I have always done as Live was never a selling point to buy a 360 it was purely to play by myself

And for those taking the moral high ground in this thread, we live in a digital age according to Bill Gates & his Vista spin doctors but what they can't control is how you choose to access it. Choose your path and go with whatever makes you happy

I would stay well clear of live if you have modded at some pioint.

A guy has reported that he flashed back to original when not banned, now he's been banned 30 mins ago.

It's coming sooner or later.

I knew this would happen one day. Can't believe other people didn't. It happened on the old xbox. I think the people who are suprised this has happened have either lived in a cave or have a low IQ.

Also people talking about suing a company are not going to get anywhere. I'd imagine the T&C's that you accepted for xbox live will cover MS from doing this.

I'm kinda glad this happened. I think the net result "may" actually be an increase in sales as there will be a number of people who will go out and buy an unmodded 360 to get live. I'd imagine "core" sales will go up.

Also ebay is going to get a load of these. I feel sorry for the buyers over the next weeks/months who will buy one of these not knowing they won't be able to get on xbox live.

I wonder how long before modded machines start showing on the classifieds here..I can imagine it may become quite tough to sell one unless between known traders. Will admin/mods come up with a rule?
May need some consideration IMO..

Nice to see someone is taking it on the chin like a man

hehe... Ironically, I'd quite fancy buying one of these blocked machines to use as a media extender in another room.... as long as it was cheap enough

sweet..good call mate. there's always an upside

Just one other thing, why do many people seem to think that now everyone who has a modded machine is going to sell it? They still play games!!

People who have modded machines are obviously not interested in paying retail prices, so just because they are banned from live doesn't mean they are going to throw it on ebay now and go legit. It would still be cheaper in the long run for these people to buy a non modded core and play live on that with a select few online titles. I think the only games I have hammered on live are Battlefield 2, PGR3 and a little Gears Of War, it's not like the majority of games available need to be played on Live.

Dave.

Same here, I need two for my kids.

I doubt they'll be the bargains you think anyone would think MS have come into peoples homes and confiscated the console..

we still own an xbox360 that plays games backed up or legal that is a media centre with HD-DVD

just no live

common sense prevails

xbox 360 core ?149.99

http://www.boots.com/shop/product_de...ductid=1068111

But it does stand to reason that there will be a lot suddenly up for sale. If little billy with his now semi crocked console wants to play live, he'll have to go and buy another. So why keep the old one? Clearly, this will also be worth less...

I didn't say I'd buy one for a quid... obviously I would like to, but it does stand to reason that cheaper ones will now be available. Seeing as you can buy a brand new core for 150, how much for a second hand, banned console on it's own?

more info here....

MS stops hacked hardware accessing Xbox Live
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05...cked_xbox_ban/

yea i dont play many games online apart from the odd gow , but will keep the brick as a stand-alone dvd and the odd games release that wont be on the ps3 , my nephew has a non-modded so will bring it round to download the odd stuff


but can some of u guys stop with the good guy routine were all pirates in some sense (music , movies , taping off radio 1 )

Thats a little out of perspective I think. Taping off Radio 1 Its kinda like saying my farts don't smell

His new console won't play all his old 'backed-up' games.


Online games = new core 360 and buy the few online games.

Offline games = old banned 360 works fine with 'backups'

Getting an update for XP or Vista with a dodgy key is still very easy. All our business machines have legitimate keys / licenses of their own. Every system though is a copy of the same image with the same key, etc. These have no issues with updating. I also ran a cracked Vista for a week to see what the fuss was about (trust me and stick with XP), no problems with updates there either.

I am sure people will figure out a way round this too, but don't whinge if you have been caught with your pants down

That's exactly the same as me that is.

I've god a overflowing 200+ disc wallet thingie upstairs with the old xbox nd i've barely even played most of them for more than 20 mins.
I only really played it when mates came round.
With the legit 360 i'm on t avery day almost without exception and it's not just the online play either (although that is a big part of it). When i'm at the girlfriends (no router) i catch up on my single player stuff. Very few games got played single player on the original xbox.
I even bought halo and halo 2 to replay when i have copied versions upstairs on the old xbox

But that is because your Company has a select agreement with Microsoft and they are issued the same key for all machines. That key is assigned direct to your company, same as all ours are. I hold our Companies Select registration and have keys for everything even Vista although we don't use it.

Let that key get into the public domain and then see how many problems your company will have.

100% right & sure thats how most companies buy software these days.

If you got 100 pc's needing software you buy 1 cd with 1 key code and a piece of paper from mircosoft saying you can legally load that cd onto 99 other machines. Alot cheaper to buy licenses that way than buying 100 boxed versions of the software with 100 cd's and 100 different key codes

Think you will find that you probably have an MSDN volume license for them.. Dont go giving the keys to your mates

With the old xbox it was a case of getting a new mobo, which basically means a new console.

They might be able to make a new firmware to combat detection, but I doubt there will be one to reverse the banning of a console.

If you took the risk, you got banned, take it on the chin.

But all this is gonna do is cost MS cash, it won't stop piracy.

Banned people will just stay offline, no more live subs or sale of MS points, while at the same time, games are still downloaded and played offline.

MS lose money, & games companies continue lose money, lose/lose situation cash wise.

It's like they've only done it to show they're anti-piracy, which they have to.

Agree mate, although I personally cont see the point of owning an xbox 360 and not being able to get online! its its biggest selling point!

In the grand scale of things, its like dropping a penny when you have a pocket full of purple queen heads. It will not even be noticeable, online is where it is at, and as a result if people wanna mod they will have to make that decision. It will not stop piracy, but it will mean for a better online community IMHO.

MS make their money from software and licensing deals so all they are doing is trying to protect their investment, developers rely on healthy sales to finance future development and copied games damage this and ultimately will lead to higher prices. People may own the hardware but MS own the firmware and modifying it is against the user agreement that is supplied with all consoles. Those people with modded 360's should be thankfull that MS have only blocked access to Live and not locked the consoles out completely.

Most of the posts on xbox-scene were "I was playing HALO3beta using a pirate copy of crackdown" or "I was playing crackdown online with a pirate copy" so these are pirates with a desire to play online.

Do you think many of them will be happy to play simply offline? Sounds to me like they enjoy online and enjoy not paying for the games.

I suggest they might go out and buy legit kit to continue playing online rather than shun it.

I think it's far from lose/lose - the future in connected and online, and in the future, software thieves will be banned from live and pretty much the console experience.

How does having less players beneift any of the other members of Xbox Live As the 360 firmware changes don't allow the running of unsigned code the pirates cannot cheat any more than a standard user.

The sensible option IMHO, would be to either not block modded consoles using originals on live, or to unblock consoles using originals with the firmware returned to original state. That way customers would be encouraged to buy originals for decent games. The current bans will mainly result in the large number of pirates just never buying a game, a 360 or any Live products again.

I only found out this morning that one of my mates on Xboxlive has been banned, we all knew he had a modded machine and pay's about £5 for his games from a mate of his, its allways kinda bugged me but i would never go on about it to him as its enitirely upto him if he wants to pirate, i've never been into pirates as i like to have the actual disc with all the packaging as i do with my dvd's, anyway each to his own.

I did find it funny when i found out though, like you guys are saying if you pirate and now your banned your in no position to moan, although it may seem a bit extreme to say but its technicaly no different than nicking a game from a shop shelf and then moaning when the security guard grabs you and calls the police.

My mate who's been banned says he thinks Bill Gates is an A-hole which just makes no sense, i think the timing isnt just a coincedence either, it was people with modded xbox's that ruined Halo 2 so it would seem fair to suggest that most if not all of those people would have modded X360's now aswell and are probably looking forward to a month of Halo 3 via the beta, obviously they have been denied this privelage, obviously its been done to try and stop piracy but i also think its kinda been done to send a message out to say they are on top of the modding situation and that Halo 3 will not be destroyed by modders as Halo 2 was.

The modding is the one thing that was even ruining my excitment to just get Halo 3 let alone play it, atleast now we know its less likely to happen which is only a good thing

what ridiculous arguements from the obvious firmware hackers on this site. MS will lose out big huh?

Look at the PC gaming industry, now thats dong so well with the rampant ease of piracy - in fact piracy has pretty much killed it off in terms of its once thriving gaming industry.

As for the guy who promises 'he hasnt modded himself' but seems quite concerned with finiding a fix for it. Saying XP doesnt ban you; indeed they do not want to lock millions out of their computer. Their fix was to do this with Vista, and in Vista if you run pirated software it will lock you out pretty much.

When firmware came out i looked at how to do it, i could of flashed it myself but i decided not to as live is better than the games available, im pleased ive been proven right. If not why dont we all mod out ocnsoles and play free games and that can spell the end for the 360.

For those that say they will buy a PS3 - good luck to you. Im sure Sony *doesnt* want your custom, and you'll run out of games to pirate fairly quickly. Well done MS i was beginning to get slightly worried they wouldnt take action, earnt my respect Mr Gates.

Hi Sibeer - How many people do you think statistically these 'pirates' make up?

0.01%? 1%? 10%? 30%?

I think this will be a tiny, tiny fraction, and can only mean that 100% of the online 360 community is the paying factor, which I think will mean a better environment to be involved with.

Do you think that the peopl who would do this are more or less likely to be the kind of people you want to play online with, meaning they will be friendly, and decent, or do you think that they are more likely to be problematic.

If you ask me someone who has bought the kit, the title and the live subscription is likely someone who is willing to enjoy the online experience as they are part of the event, rather than a fringe player, who has little investment.

no one on here seems to be concerned with the wider implications of this move by Microsoft. Are you happy that Microsoft are able to scan your 360 in this way, are we not moving even further towards a Big Brother situation, where corporations dictate law. Trust me folks, this is going to be the tip of the iceberg.


Another point, while we are talking about "stealing" etc, are Microsoft going to pro-rata and refund the XBL account holders for the balance they have paid for until their accounts expire? I think not. In my book this is also stealing.

i thought it was against e-bay's rules to sell modded games consoles and games , as was the original xbox ?

There we go, double standards!

"Well i only taped a few songs and it was along time ago so it's not theft really is it.?"

There's always been xtreme modded consoles available for sale on ebay, I doubt that any listed today are a knee jerk reaction to todays bannings from live. So your point is????.....

Dave.

HAHAHAHA Genious.

Guilty as charged, thanks for that. I needed that to get my life back on course, I repent.

I would reply but I am just nipping down the local Rozzers, to hand myself in...

360 Core at Gamestation for ?149.99 with 2 games, trade the controller and 2 games in and you are looking at a less of a hit.

I understand that, but you don't think that those that choose to buy a new one to replace it, won't want to reduce the financial hit by selling the old one?

Given how much backups would get played, if it was me, I seriously doubt I could be arsed to be changing over my console all the time...

I'm not saying it won't happen, but I don't think it will be as black and white as some make it out.

Ultimatly this is bad for the 360, because ppl will still play backups, all it means is xbox live has just lost a large chunk of gamers. If you want an online game then the more players that a 2D40 re out there the better for you, who cares if there playing from a backup or not. Will be a lot more waiting for a player match.

Deserves those dirty modders right, for illegally modding there consoles.

@ pinkerton You got to remember Microsoft cannot trust any modders now these days, since most of these modders only mod there consoles to play illegally downloaded games.

Not really fussed if they scan the hardware, that's how Live works.

As for refunding part used accounts, the Live account is not banned..it is the hardware, as has been said already.

There is a large community of modders but this will be a tiny proportion of live users. If you think this will effect MS you are right - they will probably make more money from games sales and modders will lose money.

There is so many people on live it wont make any difference. I sugget modders stop complaining and just be glad that it was good (for them) while it lasted.

I really do think that the "tiny" percentage is not that tiny. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more like 20% +. To me this is enough that it will significantly impact Live.

Also why is it naturally asumed that someone who mods their console will be bad for the Live community. Just because people draw their lines at different points doen't mean they are w@nk?rs.

To all the people who are just too legal to pirate games please note that any form of recording of material you do not own falls into the exact same category. As such I hope all the whiter than white crew have no copied music, DVDs or unlicensed PC software. This also includes recordings from TV and Radio which you are only allowed to keep for a certain number of days. You had better start deleting the old shows from Sky + you criminals

Oh and it even theoretically included borrowing things as that constitutes unauthorised lending. I also believe that if you fully read the terms of your game purchases you do not have the right to resale either.

Will importers please note that when they do so part of the cheaper price is because the country you are buying from pays less for the original product. As such you are still mugging the developers, as well as the wages of people working for retailers in this country. You are also contributing to global warming by getting a single unit delivered from half way around the world, so well done for dooming us all. Region coding is not about licensing, it is about control of who can buy what.

Apparently non-modded boxes are also affected. If this is true, then it is extremely worrying. Just what is M$ scanning consoles for? And is it possible, as is being discussed elsewhere, that these unmodded consoles are ones that hsve come from M$ themselves as replacements for faulty consoles and had already been modded prior to returning to M$ by the original owner?

M$ would be better off getting it's 360 house in order first before rounding on console modders. Once the 360 is established as a machine of "merchantable quality" then it can start persecuting modders.

Also, lets not forget those consoles that turn discs into coasters by scratching them to buggery and then M$ refusing to acknowledge there is a problem. Why shouldn't the owners make inexpensive backups of games that cost upwards of ?50 and play these on Live?

What I cannot believe is that it has been said on this forum that Microsoft would do this time after time and yet people have still flashed their consoles and they are now moaning ( ).

To be honest I think the overall effect that it will make the games cheaper and more money will be put into developing the high end games which isn’t a bad thing.

I am sure that there are lots of people that have copied dvds, cds etc which I am not saying is right but when your talking about hacking a state of the art online next generation gaming console and you think you can get away with it then you must be thick.

Just a shame that they only stop you from using Live as I think they should have just stopped the 360 from working if it detected a dodgy firmware in the dvd drive. They should have also done it so that if you put the original firmware back onto the drive then the 360 is removed from the banned list.

try reading a review on the internet or downloading a demo off the marketplace (well you cant now ), hardly rocket science is it,

I feel for you mate. I can't afford these nice Porsches and Lambos I keep nicking.......

Great news! Can't stand thieves . It was obvious that it would happen at some stage and with some great online games like Forza 2 and Halo 3 heading our way, people who say they are not bothered are either not really gaming fans at all or they are lying.

Virtually all games have demos these days and there are loads of reviews and forums like this where views of games can be had so there really is no reason to buy poor games if people do some research. It's certainly not an excuse to just steal the games anyway.

Just because MS is a big successful company doesn't mean that people should steal from him. Infact it's not even MS that people are stealing from on the whole anyway, it's 3rd party software developers.

What I am unsure of is why only some consoles have gone down and others are working perfectly. Is this to do with the difference in drives or is it something else. If it is the difference in drives, I wonder if this means the ones that are still going are undetectable or the antiflashing ban has just not been implemented for those yet. I don't really expect anyone on here to actually know for sure, just rambling really..

Reviews are somebody elses opinion so no good to me and the demos on the marketplace are hardly a representation of the final game. I remember playing the Need for Speed Carbon demo and thnking "OMG what a load of crap" i eventually tried the full game and thought it was pretty good so picked picked it up cheap from the net.

Your right my comment wasnt the best and was fueled by many beers and a few whiskeys last night

I used to use a modded console which overheated and stopped working , I had no hesitation about going straight out and buying a new unmodified one. The 360 is an amazing console, there's lots of great games and live is fantastic.

Furthermore why pay ?50/40 for a game, and I've never paid more than ?33, just wait a month or two after a game comes out and you can usually find a good deal. I still think if you choose the right games they're great value for money, I've had tens of hours playing each of Fifa 07, Call of Duty 2, Test Drive Unlimited ...

Basically though you can get a very good idea from reviews if you read a few and whilst personal opinion does come into it, reading multiple reviews does highlight the personal opinions in the reviews.

Also the demo's are very representative of the final games and nearly every demo i've played has been virtually identical to the finished product. I played the NFS:Carbon demo and it's just the same as the final game which I also own.

Whichever way you look at it though, it doesn't justify stealing.

I'd have thought we can get a rough idea by looking at our friends lists over the next couple of weeks... wait and see how many users turn out to not have been online since 17 May.

I don't personally know anyone who has a modded console (that I know of anyway) so there's no reason to expect that any of my 100 or so contacts on my friends list will be "offlined" - but I wouldn't be surprised if some do.

As for playing pirated games - I don't know how anyone gets the time to play them enough to enjoy them. There are games I've bought that I don't play enough of. But then I accept I'm not the hardcore gamer I once was... sadly, as you get older, life gets in the way!

I agree that there is NOTHING that can justify stealing, but unfortunately when games cost ?40 a pop its a lot of money to be throwing away on potential crap, so as much as you might hate me for doing it, its something i dont loose any sleep over. Do you think Bill Gates looses sleep when he thinks of the hundreds of thousands of customers that have paid him ?80 to get something fixed that shouldn't have broken in the first place?? I bet my life on it he doesn't.

Can people honestly say a game like graw2 is worth ?40 i mean i completed in a mornings session !!!

I am also sure Bill looses no sleep whatsoever about his recent move of forcing Vista on gamers by making it the only option for DX10 and some of the new Games For Windows titles. Come on Bill, 1. It's rubbish and 2. Loads of my old games and apps don't work on it.

If you could be sure that every penny you didn't pay for the games was coming out of Bill's profits, many people would feel that justified the stealing. Unfortunately you are hurting the developers far more.

I dont mind buying games like GRAW and i think they are worth the ?40 simply for the LIVE play

Yes thats very true but as i said, i WILL buy games that are worth the money so in my eyes developers are not loosing money from me. At least Bill has just made another console sale from me

No arguements from me Beasty, I take the same attitude with most of my media. I download and try more than I could ever afford, but I also spend far more than most people would buying anything that I actually get fair use and enjoyment from.

With regards buying a second 360, I would wait for the improved 360 that doesn't melt it's motherboard before purchasing again .

Not took long to find a work around.

http://www.xbconnect.com/index.php


I don't know how it works, seen it on a forum, can't see it being the same though.

It's great that MS has finally closed down the loophole. I'm sure they could of done it sooner but they will have their reasons for doing is so close to the H3 beta.

The only thing I would add is that people are coming on here throwing their righteous judgement about over game piracy but are the same people with MP3's by the dozen on their Ipod's or PC's, avi's on their HDD's etc........ Of course game piracy is wrong but so are alot of other things and we all still do them.

Brad

i wonder if people were to sell the modded 360's on ebay or something and the innocent person were to get banned , could that happen ?

Xboxconnect is an 'alternative' live service to Microsofts XboxLive - Your only going to get to play against other people on that network.

If they're banned from XboxLive, they're banned.

Not wishing to sound "holier than thou" but every MP3 on my ipod is from a CD i own. I do feel slightly sorry for those who used their 360s for supposed backups of games they already own just in case their 360 eats them. However, my feeling is that once you start off down the road of paying/or being able to pay ?5 for a game, you are not going to want to pay the ?40 they see a new game for in a high street shop. It's just human nature.

I fixed it for you.

to everyone putting the modders down in this forum I trust you have never bought an imported game from Play-Asia or the likes.

Or is it ok to steal from distributors but not developers ? thier jobs are worth less i suppose ?

a lot of high horses on this forum today

That's a rather badly made point there fella... It's like saying that by buying from game I am stealing from HMV....

What an irrelevant post

Doesnt matter which way you slice it, modding to play 'backed-up' AKA almost free titles is theft.

I too own all my kit be that MP3 or 360 title or licence or otherwise.

Its not a high horse, it's just legal. Simple really.

If you have modded there is a reason why you modded, and there is a strong chance that was to play hooky titles.

you mght see it like that but I doubt distributors do..or whats the point of region locking anything ?

but so much is a crime , not paying for music u download is just the same but im sure the good guys dont do that

only jesting , my box got done today but i really dont care i knew what i was doing and i pay the price , im lucky as my ps3 will keep me ticking by , just hope they dont look at my torrentlech account

I don't really see what all the fuss is. This has been on the cards for sometime, and now it's happened. Big deal.

Everybody has choices, if you're not really interested in Live, then your modded machine will still be fine. If you're a live junkie, and are only interested in online play, then sell your modded machine and go legit. Or as it's pretty cheap to get hold of a new core these days, have both!

Dave.

Region locking anything is usually down to licensing issues..

Guys a bit of a technical question here:

I have 2 xbox 360s at home 1 modded the other not and is for spares/repairs. The motherboard is fine on this 1 though, so if i am banned from live (havent tried yet) would it be possible to swap the motherboards over along with the drive as ive heard they are banning serial numbers on the motherboard only?

Cheers

I am more than happy these people get banned, I see no reason why they should complain.

As regards to people saying 'if i get banned I am going to sue' I have never heard such tosh!

If my none modified console was banned by mistake, I would either

a. Ring Msoft and sort it out
b. Take it to where I bought it and get a new one, as i would if I got the ring of death.

Either way would be ok, as my security sticker has not been tampered with and, IT'S JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS! A slight irritation at most!

All these people belly aching is really quite annoying.

*dismounts soapbox*

Actually its mostly reported once accessed the Halo 3 beta via crackdown when using a backup. The new xtreme 5.3 'jitter' firmware was ment to prevent this, but looks like M$ delayed the release to be onee step ahead of the game.

This has been rumored for some time though, and is an exact mirror of what happened with the original xbox.

About time too

Well done microsoft

Cant believe people are complaining about this!!

looks bad over at xbox.com,

100's of legit users are complaining of being banned.

Ms are saying they hope to have the problem fixed, like last time

I know I couldn't get onto Xbox Live at about 7.40am this morning as MTU failed... hope the two aren't related!

I have a modded console but not sure If I'm banned yet as I've not turned it on since this was reported ..

I wont be rushing out to buy a core though as there is still not a killer online game that I must play for me ...

If banned I'll use it as HD-DVD player and will try games offline until somethings comes out that grabs me...he'll if there is I might by an elite

If its multi platform though I'll use my pS3

I've noticed a lot of people (not just here) are saying that it's 'over for MS, PS3 here I come!' and such like...

Why exactly? Do they think Sony won't do the same if they have a similar problem?